cataract on paterson

uncomfortable dining arrangement. cold vegetables, soggy and chewy chips and more importantly the stone grill steakexperiencewasn't satisfying.

will be back. cataract on paterson is so much nicer then the previous occupants of the building!
since taking it over they have upgraded the interior giving it a more cosy and intimate feel. where previously the areas was high ceiling, bright lighting and large tables it had more of a function centre feel to it and often wasn't busy. now, the ceiling has been lowered slightly, lighting dimmed with funky hanging bulb lights, the length of one wall covered to provide an 'exposed brick' appearance which is all the rage at the moment, with the back wall being covered in a bookcase and ornaments, the tables are separated by 'boards' which help close off each area into a more private space. all these changes make it more appealing to stay for longer and enjoy the experience, although i would mention the carpet could do with a change!

so, we went for my partners mothers birthday and were quickly seated and offered menus, the place was fairly busy and our drink orders were taken. having previously looked at the menu on their website i already had my sights set on the stone which i had heard was amazing. for entre my partner and i shared the calamari, which was enough to share when we were having a main each and having seen other meals come out they looked substantial. the calamari was extremely tender and as a seafood lover i rate it highly.
for main i ended up ordering the seafood stone, which allows you to cook your own seafood on a 400 degree hot stone right at your table! don't be alarms though the waiters offer assistance if your unsure of how to cook it, but i'm not sure though that don't know would bother with the hassle so really its a non issue! the selection of seafood i was provided with included oysters, mussels, calamari, prawns, scallops, scallops in prosciutto, salmon and flat head, served on ice and with amazingly crisp chips, tarter and some veggies.
other mains on our table were the eye fillet on the stone and the lamb rack all receiving good comments!. noticing other meals being taken out the crumbed scallops looks huge! and i am very tempted to try the slow cooked lamb shanks next time. one critic of the menu is the lack of variation with the sides, the only option is really chips or mashed potato and steams veg or salad, so some changes here may be beneficial.
the timing of the meals to come out was very good and our personal waiter was excellent, i will note however one female waiter was rather rude when she walked over to out table without consulting if we were done with the wine list and taking it out from under us.

as it was a birthday my partner and i had made a cake for the dessert and i quickly signalled to the waiter we were ready for it. after half and hr and still no cake we did have to let the birthday girl in on the surprise as she was ready to leave. i informed the waiter of this and when it came out the chefs had tried to move the 2 layered choc mouse cake from the container base i had it on onto their own to make it look nice, however the end result was that it appeared as though they had dropped it and tried to rectify it by decorating with their own cream. a funny result had they been upfront with us straight away rather then make us wait the 30mins, and i understand the intention of presentation but perhaps to think that next time a mouse cake taken out and fiddled with in a hot industrial kitchen may not last to well. the end result is that while the cake still tastes great (less the cake base which they seemed to have lost) they did remove the cakeage for the inconvenience and we found it hilarious.

with all of this i am happy to say that we have booked in again within a week of our diningexperienceand i am taking my family their for mothers day! it will be very busy as i know they are booked out so hopefully they live up tot he diningexperiencei have had. i will be ordering the seafood on the stone again i think, perhaps extra chips as they were so crisp i cant go past them, but i might try their dessert this time and see how they present theirs ;)

woeful - i’ve been in launceston for 2 months now, and this was hands down the worst meal i’ve had so far. bells should have gone off when the restaurant was almost empty at peak lunch period on a weekend. service was nice, environment is fine, meals served promptly. however the quality of the food was not high. the calamari was chewy and oily, with a ‘vietnamese’ salad (assuming they’ve not been to vietnam! totally tasteless), oily croquettes, grazing platter – supermarket style cured meats – (did not appear to be cut onsite), average cheese not served at the right temperature – heavy gnocchi which we believe gave this diner a mild case go food poisoning given this was to only thing different he'd eaten to me in 24 hrs.  will not be returning, cannot for the life of me understand how this got such a high rating based on ourexperience- but given we couldn't find any real redeeming feature to the food, we won't we returning anytime soon

it's a bittersweet experience. the food tastes 4/5 and the service was also great. coming here as a tourist, i had lots expectations. it started off really well and i was more than happy to give the restaurant a rating of 4. the only drawback to theexperiencewas when they forgot our orders and rushed to cook everything. as you can see in the last 2 photos, my steak was rare when i have ordered medium rare. it went downhill after all they could do is to reheat the steak and not to give a new one. i'll revisit and give another review in the future.

the service was exceptional. we were seated, ordered, and received, food, and drinks, within 10 or 15 minutes. this was without the quality of the food being compromised or any evidence that the food was cooked prior to it being ordered.

i ordered the eye-fillet with moroccan spices. the steak was generously portioned. it came on a grillstone which i thought might be a gimmick but it is a fantastic way of cooking meat. the steak cooked quickly, evenly, without burning, without drying, without sticking to the cooking surface, and without need for oil. the end result was a juicy, thick, beautifully cooked steak. the sirloin was accompanied by a peppercorn sauce but it was so delicious per se that i felt there was no utility to the sauce. the steak, as far as i could tell, was seasoned with coriander seeds, rosemary, garlic, and turmeric. i added a parsimonious dusting of salt and it was the best steak i ever had. my meal was chaperoned by baked potatoes and green vegetables. the baked potatoes had a thick, crispy, shell and were soft and fluffy inside. two distinct textures and qualities within a single vegetable portends at least two modes of cookery. the green vegetables were composed of broccolini and bok-choi. these were simply steamed but are a nice supplement to the dish.

the cataract on paterson offered me a novel, and memorable ,experiencewith one of the most traditional dishes i can think of (steak with chips, or baked potatoes and salad, or vegetables). moreover, the steak was markedly better than any i have had before. altogether this place provides extremely attentive service, exposure to new, and interesting, methods of cooking, and a far superior interpretation on a dish that i have tried countless times before.

i could eat at this place everyday if i could.i am still thinking about the seafood platter for 1 which i had for dinner.what a generous array of seafood...a delight to see (fantastic presentation) and even better to savour. i loved the smoked salmon and pan fried salmon best! the side salad was enticing,in fact it was very good...you could taste sweetness,a hint of sour and some bitterness as one crunches into the fresh leaves. and don't let me get started on the night's special -stonegrill tbone. stonegrilling is a fun experience,you "cook" your own at your table.it's a greatexperiencetoo.but for now,i want to say hooray for my seafood platter for 1.

the food in this restaurant i personally like from the presentation to the taste i just like it.  what is consistently an issue is the time frame across the whole experience.
our booking was for 18:30 so seated on time we ordered our meal and wine at  18:35  we received our wine at 18:50.  this is wine not mixed drinks and as we had direct eye contact with the bar  it wasn't busy which would have delayed the process. wine should be on the table within 5 minutes of the order being given as rule of thumb i would have thought. the food came out in a timely manner , from pastexperiencethis is a restaurant to be at earlier than later as it can be a wait if your seated from 19:30 onwards.    i personally believe there are too many junior staff and a senior maitre to oversees the restaurant and the delivery of orders in a timely manner is what this restaurant needs.  everyone needs to learn and this is taken into account and respected having that senior person on the floor at all times i feel may be the answer to the wait times this restaurant is lacking.  this is my 5th visit  i clearly like the food it brings me back i clearly see a lacking in waiting times.  also staff being trained to say excuse me when reaching over tables  general courteous manners are perhaps an oversight also.
in saying this i will return at again a early eating time.

mm..... i am sitting in the restaurant right now. ordered over an hour ago. we only ordered a fish and chips and a seafood platter for one. the restaurant is filled with smoke from the guy near us who ordered a stonegrill...they clearly didnt think of ventilation when they offered this option. food is decent but ourexperiencewas average considering the restaurant wasnt full

poor customer service. the place is usually busy with decent quality food however we just had the worst customerexperiencetoday on the 2nd last day in 2014. we were sitting outside in a windy/cold evening (although we were moved inside after about 1 hour) but that should not be the reason to be ignored.

1. no one serviced us in the next 20+ mins since the order was taken. i had to get inside to ask for the water and wines that we ordered earlier. after that it was another long wait for our dishes, which our waitress mentioned that would be ready within just 30 mins when she took our order.

2. we wanted our dishes (entrees and mains) to be served together and confirmed it with the waitress. however we received our dishes in a very staggered way - the 2nd dish wasn't served until 30 mins after the 1st entry was served. the waitress had to made a lousy excuse of kitchen's fault to mess up the order - they did cook/serve mains after the entries are finished. i suppose she just didn't noticed that we had 2 entries in the same order.

3. our dishes. atlantic salman, on the menu it's medium-red by default (as per chef's recommend), mine was very well-done. risotto, very oily. the quality of the food is okay however it's probably just not worth such a long wait.