12 August 2010

The Waterfront Restaurant - Gungahlin

| grumpyrhonda
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Took Mr Grumpy out for a birthday dinner last night and have to mention this place.

Sensational food, awesome service.

We discovered they were down on staff due to illness and still they had awesome service.

Cannot recommend highly enough.

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rcnlmargaret12:08 am 20 Aug 10

we use to be regulars at the water front, kids use to love the chiken salt w/ chilli,we have`nt been there for some thime now. We have been to Da Nunzio several times in last two months for dinner, and on weekends for b/fast and lunch.We also had take away pizza (superb Italian wood fire pizza) it is a place to try good food nice ambience friendly staff and very good limoncello.

grumpyrhonda10:25 am 19 Aug 10

essfer, I know you well and from the looks of the comments in the forum, it seems we lucked out and had one of the few good experiences.

Hey grumpy, glad you enjoyed it. Even tho you know I am a whinger, a cynic and an all-round nice guy… I had a shit time at waterfront.

The Mrs had her birthday dinner there back in March – a family do with heaps of adults, about a dozen kids and a few babies. From memory it was a weeknight, certainly not peak time. They stuck us upstairs, which was fine as they needed somewhere to stick the gigantic horde, but it was basically their storeroom, so we had kids running around collapsed tables, stacked and loose spare chairs, old curtain tracks, some lumber (serious!), excess cutlery and all the other crap they had nowhere else for. Made us feel like we were valued about the same.

If that was it then it would’ve been ok. Not so. Many of us ordered the banquet – a simple solution for a large group. After an almost unacceptably long wait for entrees and then subsequently for mains, of 5 dishes there was about 10 minutes between us finishing dish 1 and them bringing dish 2. When they did finally bring it out we had to ask them for more rice – when I did the waiter looked at me like I’d just asked him to go out to the ‘lake’ out the front and catch me a fresh lobster.

Maybe I’m wrong but I figured that part of the joy of a Chinese banquet was that everyone gets a chance to sample a bit of everything – together. So after receiving three of the five dishes over a half hour period I sought the boss’ permission to make a scene on her birthday (I had a hunch where this was going) and went to open discussions with the staff.

After trying to have a polite conversation with the head waitress and getting nowhere I was forced to make a right asshole of myself. Seeing as she refused to acknowledge the validity of any of my complaints I ended up ignoring the stated price for the food and just making an assessment of what we should pay. To my mind it was pretty generous for half a meal and really shit service. She disagreed quite vocally but by this point I had stopped listening to her.

Grumpy, I think you know that I don’t suffer fools lightly, but I think you also know that I will tolerate a fair amount for the sake of keeping the peace. This was too much.

I have never had such a woeful experience at any restaurant. I’m glad others have had a better time but if anyone asks my opinion I would rate the eating experience about on par with sticking a big mac up your bum and breaking your own nose with a house brick.

Used to be regulars at the Waterfront…..used to be.

Not a patch on what it was to begin with. Used to have a captive audience in Gungahlin but now there’s more variety around the area the Waterfront pales in comparison. Service has always been OK, the food just became less than average.

Tried the Chiang Rai Piri Piri place a few weeks ago. Absolutely tremendous.

Being ‘busy’ is no excuse in the hospitality industry. Put extra staff on to meet the demand.

I went to Da Nunzio a few weeks ago and was impressed. Casual dining restaurant. Nice feel to the place, should be particularly good in summer evenings with sunsets across the pond. Good food, lots of interesting stuff beyond the usual Italian dishes. Good service. Quite noisy with kids at two nearby tables and lots of hard surfaces. 7.5/10. Give it a try. I think they do takeaway, not sure about breakfasts.

Note: Only comparing takeout, but would have to +1 to Jasmine House over Waterfront. The latter have many times given me a soggy cornflour mush with unidentifiable squares where I had expected something different from the menu.

Seriously, I grew out of eating clag in pre-school.

Okay so it was Grade 5, but whatever.

Jasmine meanwhile you get what you expect and it is Goooooood.

Meanwhile;

Buggles said :

Speaking of restaurants on Yerrabi Pond, has anyone tried the new Italian place called DaNunzio. Had brunch there a few weeks and was most impressed.

Is it a cafe style place or upmarket, evenings only affair? Any idea if they do breakfasts on weekends? Or takeout? Have not been a fan of Little San Severo, and Belconnen/Kaleen is too far away to bring back takeaway pasta that works.

I’ve to also mention that it’s not the wait that we’re complaining.
The price are expensive for ordinary food quality and taste.
We gave them another go about 3 months after Valentine day, however same experience. So we’ll never going back there again.

lizw said :

We go to Jasmine House in Gungahlin whenever we eat out. The staff are friendly, the service is speeding, the food arrives quickly, and they’re great with kids, while still maintaining a good dining atmosphere for people without kids.

We also do takeaway from them. We’ve had a wrong order once since they opened, and when we realised the mistake, luckily before we left the restaurant, they fixed it quickly, and added an extra dish as an apology.

Jasmine house is exactly as you described. Service is the best I have ever seen. Food is great for take away and dine in. Always happy to accomodate large groups as well. Their specials when dining in are normally highlights.

I have only visited the Waterfront once but as a regular of Jasmine House, I think the food wasn’t up to those standards. I remember I ordered duck and it was very fatty. I know duck has a fair bit of fat, but it should also be nice and crispy. The food was still nice and staff were pleasant. I always thought that location would lend itself well to being a bar/pub with some decent restaurant food.

Living in Gungahlin, I have been to the Waterfront on numerous occasions since it opened as well as regularly getting takeaway. In all honesty, I never been disappointed, great food and great service at all times. Love there Malaysian Chicken Satay dish…fantastic.

Speaking of restaurants on Yerrabi Pond, has anyone tried the new Italian place called DaNunzio. Had brunch there a few weeks and was most impressed.

Just hope it survives. Over the past three to four years, there has been four coffee shops that have come and gone in the vicinity.

Seems to be a few empty sites around the locality suitable for restaurants up for lease at present.

We go to Jasmine House in Gungahlin whenever we eat out. The staff are friendly, the service is speeding, the food arrives quickly, and they’re great with kids, while still maintaining a good dining atmosphere for people without kids.

We also do takeaway from them. We’ve had a wrong order once since they opened, and when we realised the mistake, luckily before we left the restaurant, they fixed it quickly, and added an extra dish as an apology.

sepi said :

Are there any decent but quiet/kid friendly restaurants around gungahlin?

For Italian pizza and pasta, you can’t go past Little San Severo in Gungahlin. True pizza. We go there every couple of weeks and have never had a bad meal. Worth the extra dollars compared to Dominos. Take away or casual dine in.

I had some good dinners at the Waterfront years ago. I would also suggest not going to dinner on Valentine’s Day, or lunch on Mother’s day – places are packed and service is always slow.

Are there any decent but quiet/kid friendly restaurants around gungahlin?

Gungahlin Al4:08 pm 12 Aug 10

Family dinner there a couple of weeks ago was quite OK, and as others have said, service exemplary. The location is outstanding, and I do feel though that there is so much more that they could do with it than they currently do.

neanderthalsis3:41 pm 12 Aug 10

I went there a few months back with a largeish mixed group of young folk, older folk, asians and caucasians; we had no issues with the service (it was a Friday night) and the food (one of the fixed banquets) was probably one of the better chinese meals I have had here in the ACT. The staff were friendly and the courses appeared at reasonable intervals.

I generally have little reason to venture up to the far north, but the trip to the Waterfront was worth it.

I’ve been here twice – both times were dodgy.

4 years ago we ordered takeaway only to get home and discover 2 of the dishes we ordered paid for were missing.

A couple of weeks back we decided to give them another go. The food had no taste and was very bland. The staff were not friendly and did not go out of thier way to make you feel welcome.

I won’t be fooled again.

Gungahlin does have a number of gems for Chinese. If you love Thai, try Little Siam. Even the Thai/Portugese place is good (unusual cuisine combo tho!).

Kevin – have you been to that restaurant at any time other than a peak period?

I have to ask, because I have friends who complain about the long delays in getting service (OMG 20 minutes before they took our order!) on St Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Easter, 25th July, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, etc. Strangely enough, these happen to be the busiest nights for many restaurants.

Even more galling is the way we’ll walk into a restaurant, see no tables free, and my friends will complain that it takes half an hour to get a table. It’s gotten to the point that I don’t realise I’ve said, “no shit, Sherlock” until my friends have started in a tirade about my “attitude problem.”

+1. Like their special fried rice, duck and portion sizes. Friendly atmosphere.

Its good that you had a great service. For me however it was the opposite.
Me and my partner went there for valentine days and the services was horrible. The waitress lead us to our table and left us there for about 20mins without any taking our order. Once our order was placed, the food arrive 1 1/2hrs later. The staff also treated us like crap and seem to ignore us on our request.

Here is my conclusion to most Chinese restaurant. They treated Asian people like sh@t and white Australian like king.

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