aquitaine brasserie

second time at aquitaine and once again am so impressed! excellent service, atmosphere and food! current faverestaurantin brisbane. definitly try the pork and scallop entree and the fish main was excellent! will definitely be back.


-----21 dec, 2013-----

went for dinner and was really impressed! delicious, good sized serves especially the entrees and really nice and professional service. will definitely go back. pork belly entree highly recommended!

i've already been here for twice! absolutely amazing! my favourite frenchrestaurantin brisbane so far. the environment and foods here are really authentic, delicate and elegant. fantastic experience, the service is good! highly recommend!

very poshrestaurantin south bank, brisbane. the food tasted average, but was excellently plated. it was a bit on the pretentious and pricey end of the spectrum. not really a family friendly restaurant.

food was ok but service was pitiful. food took well over an hour to come out and therestaurantwasn't even busy. a word of advice - steer clear of the "textures of blueberry" dessert: disappointment will ensue. to cap it off, therestaurantrefused to accept the entertainment discount of 25% until i spoke to the manager (and even then it was like pulling teeth to have them concede and fulfil their obligation). won't be running back.

my thoughts on thisrestaurantare somewhat negative. we arrived and were given the normal menu however we mentioned there would be 9 of us so that menu (which included a range of interesting appetisers and share plates) was whisked away and a new, less choice menu took its place. two of our party were "plain food" eaters so found it hard to find anything on the new menu. the waitress then suggested they might like the kids meal of steak and chips but as one of them was not a child she would be charged an adult rate. 50+ minutes later the meals came out...
no apologies or forewarning regarding food service delay and venue not full.
the two 'children's ' steak and chips were identical cuts of meat on top of a bed of chips... same amount of chips.....1 cost $15 and the other $39 when the bill came and then add the 15% surcharge. "
another member of our group had the fillet steak from the menu advertised at $39 ... guess what ... different cut of meat, thick and delicious looking with interesting additions to complement the meat. when bill was challenged it was basically " tough luck" and we don't care.
so very long story short ... great company (our family :) ), ok but certainly overpriced food with exceptionally poor customer service from inflexible staff and owner. needless to say we won't be back ever.

rather let themselves down.

this is a fine location, perhaps a touch cool, semi-outdoors in late autumn, but the heaters are nice. the service is competent without being warm.

six of us - three couples who know a bit about food and about france and speak french - had dinner there one friday night in may 2015 and very much enjoyed the food. the "all things duck" entrée was seriously good as was the special shellfish.

we actually chose to go there because we saw there was a bouillabaisse. well, there is a limit to how good a bouillabaisse can be in australia, since we don't really have the right sorts of fish and anyway australian diners won't come at the ugly, bony little numbers that make a fish stew great (rock cod for example) but these guys get pretty near to that limit: plenty of saffron, a strong broth, a nice variety of textures and flavours.

one of us is a vegetarian and she was pretty well catered for - except that the rest of us kept pinching her stuff because it was so nice. go for the mushroom with cheese and egg!

a nice selection of cheeses for the grown-ups and a hugely chocolatey dessert for the rest.

and a good wine list: not too expensive, by brisbane standards.

all very happy so far.

but then, the bill.

so we are three couples and - this is australia, you know - we want to pay for ourselves, so we will just divide the bill in three and pay a third per couple.

and we all have credit cards.

well, it appears we are in luck because they will take separate cards but no more than three.

but my card is amex. well, there is a surcharge. ok, i'm used to that. i know that amex actually doesn't charge so big a fee and it does deliver higher spend customers to therestaurantso the surcharge is just a lie, but i just accept it and mark down therestaurantas a place not to go back to.

but wait! the amex surcharge does not just go on my portion of the bill - if one card is an amex, then all the cards get hit with the surcharge.

"oh, the system just works that way."

what utter rubbish! this, guys, even in france, is the 21st century. cash is going out. people pay with plastic. you are not a hole-in-the-wall mum-and-dad eatery, you are a major player that can handle hundreds of diners, you want my money - you take my plastic.

and people split bills. you know that every time more than two people turn up at your restaurant, it is almost certain they will want to pay separately. you don't like this? then only have tables for two!

what worries me is that, if you have trouble with this, then what other basic 21st century technological issues also challenge you. food safety, perhaps?

severely disappointed. dined here for valentines day, the offering was a set menu which is understandable on one of the busiest nights of the year. also allows the kitchen to have enough of each meal, as well as enables a fast preparation and service of the meals. with the intention that the customer does not have to wait long for their meals and therefore a higher turn over of tables.

except which was not the case for valentines dinner!

the issues:

wait staff were not organised and seemed in complete kaos. wait staff didn't have designated sections to look after. resulting in customers being forgotten. i saw a number of hands being raised to catch wait staff attention.

the meals were pre-prepared a number of days in advance which is normal, except for some particular items. for example goat cheese in vine tomato and charred lavosh. the tomato was at the point of turning bad with loss of flavour & watery taste. the lavosh was far from charred as its texture & taste resembled a stale water cracker lacking the crisp factor.

the portion sizes were not consitent across the board of the meals.

on an important date for couples looking for a special experience to enjoy with a loved one, arestaurantshould have well rehearsed staff and faultless food!

the chefs at aquitaine should ask themselves would i feel confident to serve up that slop to someone that i am trying to impress?

the apprentice chefs and wait staff south bank college easily put you lot to shame! perhaps you should go back to college?

on a positive note the bar staff were outstanding, mixing the cocktails to perfection! pity that experience, presentation and taste perfection did not carry across the whole night!

if intend dinning at aquitaine lower your expectations to the level of that of broncos leagues club!

ten thumbs down!

good dining experience. my family came to therestaurantto celebrate my brother's upcoming birthday. although we were incredibly late, we were still seated as therestaurantwas not too full on a monday evening. the atmosphere is fantastic, as are the drinks (according to my brother). the service is mostly as expected but on occasion great.

the food itself was an interesting mix. the entrees were absolutely superb and the dessert godsend, although i can't say the same about some of the mains. we were all a little disappointed with my father's wagyu steak which wasn't as smooth to eat as it should've been (although the price tag is also pretty low considering it was supposed to be "wagyu"). the seafood in my bouillabaisse although not bad, didn't seem to be the freshest. the others found their mains to be good, but nothing rave-worthy. otherwise, the portions were good, not too big, not too little, as was the price (for the food, atmosphere, and location).

all in all, thisrestaurantis a place i'd like to one day return to again, even if it was just for the entrees and the dessert.

incredible service. aquitaine saved our night. after a booking mistake in therestaurantnext door, they accommodated our group and the food was brilliant. really enjoyed how inventive and creative the food was.
but most of all, the service and staff were a+, and we brought out own birthday cake which they plated, wrote happy birthday on it, provided candles and plated it with ice cream, all to our surprise.

lee & rachel buckingham. we had lunch today at aquitaine
and all i can say is wow.
the service was great and the food will give and two hattedrestaurantin brisbane a run for there money.

we are looking forward now to our next visit

i dont eat desert but the snickers desert was just amazing

great jobs we will spread the word, and we will be back soon.

oh great views and the price was good too.

lee

amazing!. i went to thisrestaurantwith my family for my 18th birthday, we were a little late but the staff were not mean or anything about being an inconvenience. our waitress was very stunning and was great at her job. had a lot of valuable product knowledge regarding the menu, which helped. we ordered a bit of everything, the entree of scollops were absolutely beautiful. the atmosphere and surrounding views of aquitaine are very beautiful. 10/10 and not complaints.

favourite restaurant. beautiful food, both lunch and dinner, we've been back many times. great atmosphere - always buzzing with lots of people. gorgeous outlook onto the river & staff were excellent. favouriterestaurantby far!