Hank's *A Restaurant — Restaurant in Victoria

TLDR: Hilariously bad. Service was poor and the food was even worse. Was served a hockey puck for a burger and ribs drier than jerky.

Food: middling flavors with disastrous execution.

Service: inattentive and unapologetic.

Vibe: tries to be both industrial and rocker, ends up as neither. The ambiance was, like the food and service, lacking.

Review: This was, without doubt, the WORST dining experience I have ever had. That is not hyperbole. I am not exaggerating for effect. Everything, from the service to the food, was so genuinely awful that I'm laughing just thinking about it.

Things got off to a rocky start the moment we stepped inside. We had a reservation for the countertop so we could see the chef at work, but the restaurant was clearly not on the same page. All of the counter spots were already taken, and the server had erroneously thought we had a booking for a regular table. When I showed him our reservation, which read "kitchen counter", he offered no apology. So we stuck it out in the dining room. Fine, not the end of the world, I thought.

We ordered their tasting menu for one, as well as their dry-aged burger, the latter which came highly recommended. Somehow, it was not until after we ordered that we found out that what was featured on the tasting menu for one was different than if it was ordered for two people. I guess explaining that to guests was too much to ask. We should have taken the hint that this was an unserious establishment, but decided to give the food a chance to speak for itself.

The first two courses, the carrots and cucumbers, weren't bad. But neither were they very good. The choice of ingredients were more interesting than they were harmonious. The lamb moussaka that followed was flavorful, but was so utterly drowned in salt that my wife could not eat it. Rather than send back what was a rather small portion, I ate the rest, hoping the next dish would offer redemption.

Nope. The BBQ chicken was an equal miss. Again, the flavor was fine, but the meat itself was overcooked and dry. My wife would later say the best bite she had at this place was the coleslaw on the side. Wow.

Next were the ribs, served with a basal and berry salad. I wish I could have infused all of the moisture from those berries into the ribs, because just like the chicken, this thing was dry and barren to the bone.

And then came the burger. Oh my god, the burger. This was the most horrifyingly dry burger I have ever had the displeasure of sinking my teeth into. Not just in a restaurant, but anywhere... ever! The most novice dad at any backyard cookout could make less lifeless patties than this. Even the water-boiled burgers from the elementary school cafeteria were A5 wagyu compared to this bite of the Sahara I had to choke down. How on earth could anybody, let alone a professional chef, let this mummified carcass of a once proud bovine leave the kitchen? Dry aged beef? No, this was just DRY.

When I told the waiter this "thing" was inedible, I asked him to take it back and said "thank you" out of politeness. He responded with a simple "you're welcome" and walked away. Again, no apology for serving up a leather sole and trying to pass it off as meat. No condolences for my palate having to suffer its texture. Just... "you're welcome."

The final dish would have been dessert, but at that point, we had enough. We paid the bill and left before any more culinary torture could be inflicted. An extremely disappointing (to put it lightly) end to what was otherwise a great time...

There’s a thin line between innovation and pretension — and unfortunately, this restaurant lands squarely on the wrong side of it. With a high 4.6-star rating on Google and a menu packed with aggressively creative dishes (think: eggplant with chocolate and curry, or noodles with pig head), expectations were naturally high. My dining companions were genuinely excited for what promised to be a bold and boundary-pushing experience.

That excitement lasted until the first dish arrived.

To put it bluntly, by the end of the night we found ourselves debating whether to stop by the Burger King across the street — not ironically, but because we were still hungry and desperate for some form of culinary satisfaction to help us fall asleep.

Before getting into the food itself, let’s talk about the service. We asked our server if the dishes were meant to be shared — the answer was yes, which aligned with our intent to sample much of the menu. Yet no effort was made to provide us with additional utensils to actually share anything. This lack of thoughtfulness set the tone for what followed.

Dish 1: Eggplant in Chocolate, Curry, and Lime

Avant-garde? Sure. Edible? Barely. The dish was a confused mess — wet, chewy, bitter, and incoherent. It vaguely resembled a poorly executed Indian-inspired creation with no balance. The chocolate and curry clashed, and the lime offered no real brightness. We were left guessing at what the chef intended — and not in a good way.

Dish 2: Street Corn

Corn on the cob, slathered in cheese sauce and topped with a mound of whole, unchopped cilantro. It tasted fine, but the presentation was baffling. How exactly are we supposed to share a single corn cob? Pass it around the table? Pluck off strands of cilantro like grazing animals? The dish felt lazy and strangely careless.

Dish 3: Steak

At over $40, we expected quality — either a tender cut or a generous portion. What we received were small, tough bites of steak served over jalapeños and a forgettable sauce. The meat was small, chewy and underwhelming, and the flavors clashed more than they complemented. We were left wondering not just about the dish, but the direction of the kitchen as a whole.

Dish 4: Fried Pig’s Foot

The low point of the meal. Instead of a crispy, golden, meaty cut, we were served a scorched, jet-black piece of bone. It looked burnt beyond recognition, with barely any meat to speak of. The accompanying dipping sauce was underdeveloped, as if it was thrown together as an afterthought. How does one even burn a pig’s foot in a fryer?

We had originally planned to order more — but after these four dishes, we simply couldn’t justify the risk of another disappointment.

Final Thoughts

The restaurant is overpriced, and while the concept is daring, the execution is a disaster. The open kitchen setup meant the chef and staff were visibly watching us for much of the meal, which only added to the discomfort. And while the chef clearly has no shortage of confidence, the reality is this: great cooking isn’t about combining the most unexpected ingredients for shock value. It’s about balance, intention, and — most of all — taste.

Here, the dishes weren’t layered or thoughtful. They were chaotic — a mashup of ideas without direction. Style without substance. And when you strip away the performance, all that’s left is the question: is this the work of a culinary genius, or simply someone trying too hard to be one?

Unfortunately, the answer couldn’t be...

If I were to manage the restaurant, (1) I will fix the exhaust/ventilation so the guests would not smell all that grease, (2) instead of selling $70+/person “surprise” menu, make it $70+ for two, and upsells them on wine parings, (3) tasting/surprise menu is supposed to be more than just food. Was I tasting the pacific seafood? Was I tasting the spices of Southern Asia? I was so confused. Please take your guests on a culinary adventure. Tell them the inspiration of today’s menu. I am perfectly fine with getting less food but seeing the labour of love and creativity. Show me that u love cooking by scoring the skin of the fish so it won’t curl, poking more holes on the skin of the pork belly without puncturing through so the skin crackles and not overly thick, garnishing your dishes so they have more than 2-3 colours. In summary, think of a coherent menu, and get AI to write a speech of what you are making (4) compliments the couples that drink. They have some alcohol in them already. Shouldn’t be that hard to joke with them. One of u should be a people person. So go out there and make them laugh or make the girl think that her date knows the owner or the head chef or something. (5) offers discounted menu past 8:30pm on certain night. I can’t say that I liked the flavour profile, but the halibut was cooked perfectly and the prawns were close to perfect due to the size difference of individual prawns. I understand u need to portion them by weight instead of portioning them by size, like 4 bigger ones or 6 smaller ones. So u did a really good job cooking the prawns. Lastly, I think the dessert tasted great. I wish the ice cream would melt a little more on the warm cake tho . Perhaps that was the perfect time to ask which dish we like most, or how we heard of u guys.

Considering everything, I would wait to see some photos on google reviews that pique my interest first before i go...