aquitaine brasserie

visited this renowned french bistro last month. it was our first time to try it out.
lay out offers a comfortable ambience.serviceis good too.
we ordered escargots and steak tartare for entrees dinner duck breast and wagyu rump cap 5+ for mains.
both entrees were nice and tasteful. hero should be those mains. chef’s culinary skill was good to prepare the duck breast with slightly pinkish at the central portion. i particularly appreciate the accomplished bone mellow with the steak, which makes the steak to another level.
overall impression is good.
😋👍😋

food andservicewas top notch. we were sat beside each other, overlooking the brisbane river. the waiter provided excellent information and catered to my pregnancy needs. going back and forth to double check with he chef on what i can and cannot eat. the duck and pork terrine was devine, paired it with some starter bread. the spatcoq was bigger than expected and went perfectly well with the crispy kale. the wagyu rump was perfectly grilled. will love to come back!

great food in wonderful riverside location
this is a great spot for lunch on a sunny afternoon. we had a team lunch here on a saturday afternoon and everybody loved the food and wine. the views are lovely and theserviceis attentive! it's nicey but pricey!!

sorry to say but l was very disappointed with the food andservicewe received at aquitaine. we had a 12pm reservation for 10 people and we were finally done by almost 330pm. theservicewas extremely slow and the food itself looked beautiful but again sorry to say it just lacked flavour. it was also a double birthday booking so it was quite disappointing to treat birthday guests like that.

i had a delightful leisurely lunch here while on holiday from new zealand. the beef tartare to start with was generous and seasoned beautifully. the raw beef was cut into larger pieces than i'm used to, but it was perfect because it gave it a lovely chunky mouthfeel. i reckon anyone who's never tried beef tartare would find this texture less daunting than the more traditional finely-chopped version. the crispy home-made lavosh bread was really novel and delicious because i think it was deep fried rather than baked.

my main was the pan fried barramundi. i've never had barramundi before and this example of it was cooked perfectly. the skin was so crispy it was like a chip, but still attached to the moist, flakey flesh. i can see why is an aussie favourite. the dish was missing the candied fennel chips listed on the menu but i've only just realised that now that i'm referring to the menu as i write this. it would've been interesting to see what they added to the dish. despite their absence, i'm still giving 5 stars. i'm glad the apricot remoulade was served as separate blobs because i could control how much i added to each mouthful. i have a sour palate so i used the quite sweet (to me) remoulade very sparingly. the pearl barley and shaved fennel accompaniments made it a compete plate, with no need to order any side dishes.

despite not having much of a sweet tooth, i'm a bit of a sucker for french desserts. i knew a whole dessert would make my tummy explode so i opted for the petit fours. at $10 i thought it would be a couple of small morsels to go with my coffee. oh my god! those petit fours have to be the best bargain in brisbane. i'm still in a happy, happy sugar coma so i might have misremembered some of the flavours. there was a square of ginger and caramel fudge, a sesame(?) macaron, a piece of hokey pokey (honeycomb to you australians) and a square of lychee gel that was like a very light turkish delight. these were definitely not small morsels; each one took 3-4 bites to consume. the fudge is the best i've ever had. i'm used to fudge that is so sugary that the sweetness 'burns' your throat as you swallow it, which is why i'm not a big fan. this was not like that at all. it was also super creamy and not grainy at all. now i have a benchmark by which to measure excellent fudge! the macaron was very dense, but not unpleasant. maybe that's what brisbane macarons are like - might have to hunt when another macaron while i'm here in order to compare and contrast. i would've been more than satisfied with the petit fours on their own but aquitaine took them to a higher plane by serving them on a generous bed of white chocolate powder studded with pieces of fresh raspberry. the powder just melted the instant it touched your mouth and was like a separate dessert in itself.

theservicewas warm and solicitous but not obtrusive. aquitaine calls itself a brasserie, but i thought the food was far more elevated. the very good thing is that it charges brasserie prices!

i'd planned on what i was going to do with my day before i fly home tomorrow, but now i think i'm going to have to rearrange those plans to include another lunch at aquitaine!

even if you aren’t in the mood or timezone for a full meal, aquitaine is an excellent venue for an afternoon glass of bubbly and a few appetisers with friends. the ambiance and proximity to the river can’t be beaten in a 20 degree “winter” day in brisbane. and the cheese platters are delicious!!! best of all, theserviceis friendly and professional. highly recommend to any local or tourist.

really disappointing experience here - we had a 12:30 booking, ordered three courses each not long after 1. entrees came not long after and drinksservicestarted off very well but after that things fell apart. we didn’t receive mains till close to 2pm. desserts didn’t come till well after 3pm! we had even ordered and finished coffees before they arrived. pretty sure pre-made lemon tart didn’t take an hour to slice up and put on a plate. we had to rush through dessert and what had been a lovely lunch out became stressful and basically a total drag. all the other diners had eaten, paid and left and we were still waiting for our orders.

i get that there are mishaps with timing in kitchens sometimes but we were there with a (very well-behaved) small baby so you’d think they’d make a small effort. the worst thing was that even after we’d had to politely chase the mains, and then dessert, and even though we ended up sitting there for more than 3 hours basically being ignored, no one apologised or explained or made any attempt to make things right. when we went to pay the $400 bill my guests complained about the delays and the server agreed to comp our coffees. wow, how generous. the food was good but i won’t be back.

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

we had a lovely meal here a little while ago.. fabservice& view but we particularly enjoyed the food. just wonderful flavors, the charcuterie was on point & i'd definitely go back. enjoy x

food was ok butservicewas pitiful. food took well over an hour to come out and the restaurant wasn't even busy. a word of advice - steer clear of the "textures of blueberry" dessert: disappointment will ensue. to cap it off, the restaurant refused 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.

great location, nice view, friendlyserviceand the food was very good (but not great).  i've dined at aquitaine four times, including hosting a business dinner for 10+, but haven't been compelled to return for business lunches or date nights with my wife in the past 6 months.  i wouldn't be opposed to it, but there are other, more interesting options nearby.  my wife enjoyed the escargot and i recall the steak chasseur was nice.  i got excited to see pommed de terre sarladaises on the menu - i guess duck fat excites me - but they were ok at best.

very nice view, friendlyserviceand a nice wine list. it's a great spot for a casual lunch or dinner date. the food is good, very good actually but its just a little boring to me. the food tastes great and the chefs execute it well but it's nothing new.

my thoughts on this restaurant are 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 foodservicedelay 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 customerservicefrom inflexible staff and owner. needless to say we won't be back ever.

situated in the new section of southbank near the goodwill bridge, it offers a nice view of the river and the city on the other side.  it was a shame that on the night we went it was raining. servicewas okay; it did take them a little longer than usual to take our order and bring our drinks, considering it wasn't busy at all.  food was enjoyable, the escargot in butter and herb sauce were to delicious as was the pork belly and scallop.  mains was also good with the beef being tender and juicy.  all in all a good night out.

very disappointing experience overall. wait staff were friendly but inconceivably slow. my partner and i shared the jamon flatbread as a starter which was delicious. 
my main, snapper fillets with clams (and other stuff) had bones in it. no apology or any attempt to reconcile this was made. had to ask 3 times for the wine we ordered, and side dishes came out 15 minutes after our mains.
asked the waitress 3 times to get the bill and when it never came, i walked to the counter to pay. the manager told me to go and sit back down, and when i told him that we'd asked for the bill, he rolled his eyes and slammed the eftpos machine on the bench.
considering acquitaine wasn't even half full, theservicewas atrocious and we certainly won't be returning.