by JK » Sun Dec 31, 2017 3:34 pm
Think my last review was the first negative one I've given, but unfortunately here comes two on the bounce, strap yourselves in, it's a fair ride ...
Family dinner at Zak's (Greek Restaurant at West Lakes) for 6 adults, 3 teenagers and 2 under 10's. Zak's has been around a long time (maybe 20 odd years) so I've been there plenty of times previously and it's always teetered between very good and excellent in my experience, unfortunately thats a thing of the past.
Our waiter was officious and had no sense of the customer being right (and we weren't being Fwits) ,, We waited 1.5 hour for our mains to come out (after waiting about an hour before we could place orders). Probably a result of a largish group they had in for a Birthday (probably around 30 people in that group).
The wait was something I was alright about, it was a nice evening to sit outside over the Lake-front to just chill out and catch up with family over whats been happening over the Xmas period.
However, once the food came out, these were the experiences:
- Mixed Grill (my meal) was OK - The Pork & Chicken Skewers were dry but flavour was OK, Lamb Cutlets were actually very good, Chevaps were the standard Beef variety you buys at Coles or a Butcher so nothing special, but cooked well enough, Chips were very good.
- Kalamari (nephews meal) - Had two pieces and couldn't eat anymore due to how chewy/rubbery it was. I swapped most of my Mixy with him and whist the squid was edible it was definitely chewier than it should have been (Estia's and Ellenika's etc would never serve it like that), and pretty poor for a $35 dish.
- Lamb Salad (Missus meal) - Supposed to be Lamb, Feta, Pine Nuts, Pumpkin. Lamb was the driest Ive ever tasted, came with Walnuts instead of Pine Nuts and there was no Pumpkin so they chose to replace it with Olives.
- Octopus (Old Mans meal) - He only had two bites and left it behind, dry and chewy and such a waste of what should have been a heavenly tasting creature.
- Spaghetti Bolognese (kids serve for my 8 year old). Looked and tasted like it was straight from a Heinz can.
So, nothing impressive about the food, service or wait times .. At $35 a meal, and a bill (with quite a few drinks) around $700 I don't think it unreasonable to expect a half decent meal.
Waiter then returns with the chef and/or owner to hear about the unsatisfactory meals, and he asks my missus who said "Well my salad was supposed to have 4 things in it and 2 of them were missing" .. Owner dude laughs and says "Oh yeah we had no Pine Nuts after the big group, so we just used Walnuts". I said to him "Look mate I get that things like that can happen, but surely if you cant supply the advertised meal you inform people BEFORE, rather than just taking it upon yourself to change aspects of their meal?" They offered us free desserts but we all declined.
Throughout the waiting period, my young lads (7 and 8 year olds) are playing along the balcony and slipping out to play outside then returning. Both had been warned (by me) not to interfere with other diners, or pull/hang on the fence etc. Well post dinner, the waiter is pulling the Roller shutters down as my 8 year comes back in for fear of being shut out, and he pulls the shutter down straight on his head with a pretty bloody loud bang. I immediately check on my lad and tell him play time is over, go sit down .. I then mention to the waiter that I don't appreciate what he's just done to my son. He avoids it until I pin him down on the matter and he just flippantly brushes it off "Oh that. that was just an accident" - I said "Im sure it was, but it was easily avoidable with the slightest bit of care".
Now, this is the bit Im probably going to cop a spray over, so I hope I choose my words correctly .. I hadn't realised until the end of the evening, that the previous owners were no longer there, and the new owners, operators, chefs etc, are all Indian .. Lol no disrespect intended, but they aren't cut out to be running a specialised Greek restaurant. The quality and authenticity of the food all kinda made sense then.
Terrible experience, and the first time I've ever started a banned list, but these guys are the only ones on it ... BANNED!!
Rating 1/10 (The chips were actually pretty decent)
FUSC