Majuba Bistro — Restaurant in Western Australia

“Terrible experience at Majuba Bistro, Albany WA.”

We dined here as a group of four, and the experience was incredibly disappointing. From the start, we were not informed that the wait for food would be at least an hour. We ordered a bottle of wine and an entrée to share. After 40 minutes, the entrée arrived alongside two main courses, forcing us to eat at completely different times.

I want to emphasize that the waitstaff were incredibly kind and did their best to assist us throughout the evening. The issue was not with them but with the poor management of the restaurant. I spoke with the owner to express my frustration about the lack of coordination, and while she apologized and offered a bottle of wine as compensation, things only went downhill from there.

We selected a mid-range wine priced at $81 AUD (the most expensive option was $180 AUD), which we genuinely wanted to enjoy. However, 20 minutes later, the waiter came back to apologize, explaining that the owner had decided we could only have a bottle matching the one we originally ordered. When we chose another mid-range option, the owner flatly refused it.

In the end, we waited over an hour for our food, ate at staggered times, and the owner showed little genuine concern for our dissatisfaction. The waitstaff’s efforts were overshadowed by poor management decisions, which ruined the dining experience.

This place tries to sell itself as a sophisticated dining experience, but the management fails to deliver a service that matches the quality they aim for. I do not recommend Majuba Bistro—save your time, money, and patience for a restaurant that values its customers and respects...

In Albany unexpectedly on a Saturday night.

A night straight from a Gothic novel with gale force winds blowing up from the Antarctic. Hail. Thunder. Torrential rain.

Not a good night to be restaurant hunting in a town not well known.

Albany is blessed with very fine buildings and Majuba on York St is in one of them.

Large plate glass windows revealed a restaurant that glowed in the gloom of a dark and stormy night with touches of gold and a spkendid bar befitting such a fine building.

I entered and closed the door and was in another world altogether.

The restaurant was packed to capacity while mindful of turbulence of another kind - the current pandemic.

A warm welcome. A glass of Porongorup pinôt noir very quickly in hand. A menu that offered me Italian, French or Spanish threads.

I tracked Italian - entree of cracking arancini - heaven on a plate! Creamy inside contrasting the crunch outside. Presentation 10/10.

Mains - silky handmade papadelle smothered in rich, slow-cooked lamb ragu. Total dedication to great cooking.

Dessert - wanted the lot! - so beautifully presented affagato - a glass of amoretti and an espresso coffee to be poured over creamy vanilla icecream was worth my labour!!

Albany - you are so lucky to have Majuba Bistro. Support it...nuture it...it will reward you many times over.

Besides - I have a selfish motive. I I'm already planning an Autumn return trip to what is arguably Western Australia's most beautiful...

Came here for my Birthday dinner upon seeing the lovely ambience and good reviews. Service was okay given that the place is severely understaffed. Ordered French Onion Soup for starters; was okay but watered down and could barely taste the truffle and cheese. Asked to have the garlic prawns as a main but it came together as a starter. As a result the rest of us had to wait for our family member to finish her mains before we had ours despite having clarified the issue/miscommunication. Garlic prawns tasted great but overcooked.

When the rest of the mains came, we suddenly had an extra pot mussels which we hadn’t ordered (but we think its miscommunication due to the lack of staff).

The rest of the mains that came 30 mins later were okay. We had the ribeye which was fantastic and the seafood bouillabaisse was very fresh but cooked miserably. The sauce was watered down and tasted like shimp water and the fish was overcooked. Would be better if the prawn deshelled as eating it was a mess and could have benefited from a bowl to keep the shells in.

Overall the waitress really tried her best and was really polite so the experience was okay. Definitely think the place is trying their best to keep up but probably wont be returning...