catch22 tapas & cocktail lounge

won't be going back. we drove 45mins to mandurah, for an early mothers day lunch.

three adults, an 11yo and a toddler. restaurant was clean and a nice temperature. the hostess who greeted and seated us was lovely and very accommodating.

unfortunately, that is where the positives end.

our 11yo chose taco cups. they looked lovely, and he enjoyed the top half of them- until he got to the mince at the bottom, which was so spicy that he struggled to finish even one of them. there was no mention of them being chilli/spicy on the menu (we eat curry and mexican at home, so he is not unaccustomed to a reasonable amount of spice).

i ordered a main garlic prawns- and received 6 lukewarm prawns for $32. the bed of 'smashed' potato on the bottom was really hot though.

my husband ordered fish and chips. fish was piping hot, but very average tasting (we love seafood and nice fish in particular. this fish almost tasted frozen?). his chips were so cool that we were able to give some of them to our little one immediately- normally, if chips are fresh and hot, we have to butterfly them and blow on them to cool them down for him.

my dad ordered the steak. it was a beautiful cut of meat, very nice quality, but was cooked to well-done, not medium well as ordered, and so was more than a little dry. the bed of creamy mash that the steak was served on was also only lukewarm.

overall, we were pretty disappointed at the quality of the meals- especially when their website tells you that they are gold plate winners etc etc we did not arrive until 2.15pm, and so i can't explain the kitchen's mismatched timing on a peak mealtime rush.

rather than risk 'blowing' another $50-$60 on what might have been unpleasant desserts and cold coffee (going on our current experience), we walked down the boardwalk to the nearby cafe for ice cream... unfortunately, it was the best part of my special mothers day lunch :(

and, yes, i did tell the waitress about the food (when she came to check about 5 mins after they were served), but that information was not passed on to the maitre d, or to the kitchen. i found this out when i was paying for the meal- the maitre d enquired about our meal and i had to retell him the whole thing.

very disappointing.

most amazing dish ever and this is the fifth time iv ordered and it....highly recommend this dish for the seafood lovers out there :)


-----09 may, 2014-----

most amazing dish ever that iv actually ordered it 5 times now....highly recommend this :)

suprising. despite the bad reviews we had a very pleasant sunday lunch here.
i had one of the nicest salmon dishes i've had in quite a long time. service wasn't perfect, but they were friendly.

the food here was memorable, for all the wrong reasons.... went to catch 22 a while ago with my mum and cousin and i have never had a meal that could turn my stomach like the one i had here. i love trying new flavour combinations and different things but the combinations on the meals here were off and made me question the palate of the chef. we shared 3 starters scallops with a weird overly sweet sauce that eclipsed any other flavour on the plate, corn fritters with another overly sweet sauce and i can't remember the third because it was completely forgettable. i had duck with an overly bitter sauce, goats cheese fritters (which were disgusting) and another sauce which included glacé cherries (the kind that you put on as a sundae topping) the whole plate was a mess that i couldn't finish and why any self respecting chef would finish a dish with glacé cherries completely mind boggles me. the nougat banana spring rolls for dessert tasted like old fryer oil and the dark chocolate sauce was the only flavour on the plate i could taste over the oil. i didn't try my companions meals but i could tell from their faces their meals were just as bad as mine.
the service was fantastic but didn't make up for the over priced, terrible meals. i understand that they have changed their menu since then but i don't think anything could entice me to visit catch 22 again to revisit that train wreck of a meal.

i was there last night with a group of friends. we found the service, food, decor and ambience outstanding. couldn't fault it really. we were asked how we were we going throughout the meal and all staff were extremely friendly and helpful. thoroughly enjoyed it, and would go back and recommend it to friends.

fantastic afternoon!. my family came here for lunch today (mothers day) and had a really lovely afternoon. although, the waitstaff were understandably busy we felt that we were constantly looked after. we started off with the deep fried camenbert and prawn twisters to share, both of which i would highly recommend, delicious! my mum and i had the crisy skin salmon for main and it was beautiful! the other meals were enjoyed, as well as desserts. overall a very enjoyable afternoon, i will definitely return.

lots of potential, but has missed the mark. decor is very mismatched but not in a good way. service is slow, even on a quiet night. quite a few options on the menu but i'd prefer a few dishes done exceptionally well than lots of dishes that are only average. basically for these prices i'd expect much more than what we got. perhaps a change of ownership or a serious re-think of decor and menu might tempt me to give it another go, but at this stage i won't be back.

we sat outside for a sunny lunch and split the fish tacos and pulled pork nachos. fish tacos were quite average, the taco itself was quite dry and ripped. the pork nachos were great and came with plenty of pork, cheese and nachos. location was spot on right by the water and the service was good. an added bonus it was in the entertainment book which is why we gave it a try.

g.b.. 32yrs anniversary 11th may, had to be special for my wife. chose catch 22, never been before. what a great way to celebrate. staff, ambience, food, service, all could not be faulted,----- and value for money!!!!. all this at one venue in one visit. i work at another resturant & won't hesitate to recommend catch 22 . in an industry where a large percentage of venues have a very limited understanding of the word "service", the experience at this resturant is up there with the best. we will be back. thanks to management & staff

been here a couple of times. great food, atmosphere and service. great location right next to the water, we had dolphins swimming past whilst eating our lunch.
has a retro theme with couches and tables inside and a nice outdoor setting.
would recommend about 3 tapas for two people, we had four the first time and couldnt finish them.

very disappointed. it was my 5th visit tonight and it may well be our last. we arrived at 6.45, ordered drinks and some bread to start. placed the orders for our main meal and proceeded to watch the tables around us, who arrived after us receive their meals. there were 6 in our group and our meals started to arrive from 8.35 over a period of 15 mins. coming from a family of butchers i'm not sure what the porterhouse steak i ordered really was considering there were two runs of gristle through it, i'd be more likely to say it was blade and it was cold.
we've had breakfast, dinner and tasting plates here but i doubt that any of us will be back

love the lounge area - very cool! love the food!! the cocktails are very interesting and very good!! catch 22 deserves to be a local favourite!!!

highs and lows @ catch 22!. we dined at catch 22 last saturday for a girls night in mandurah and had some high's and low's worth mentioning. there were 4 in our group and the service was very attentive when we arrived and placed our tapas style orders to share. the main issue arose after the 2 beef cheeks tapas meals arrived (see picture) and we discovered that there was visible raw fat within the meat and it was clearly not cooked long enough and was inedible and had the consistency of jelly! the other dishes arrived and were delicious, so i called the waitress over to ask for her opinion ...she looked at the dishes and announced "eeeoouuww gross, i wouldn't eat that - i will go and talk to the chef" the second waitress, then arrived and explained that beef cheeks were a fatty cut of meat, but she would see if there was something that could be done. then the manager arrived and announced that "beef cheeks is a particularly fatty cut of meat and there was nothing better than chewing on a bit of gristle".."you have just made a wrong choice and there is nothing we can do ..maybe i can give you some free coffees later"
for the rest of the night, we were avoided by the wait staff, no desserts offered, no coffee orders taken and the $32 still charged for the 2 serves of inedible beef cheeks
what started out as a great experience, soon spiralled downwards as soon as one order was challenged and left all of us with a sour taste and and a vow never to return!
poor choice catch 22 - you need to review your customer service commitment!

disappointed would be an understatement. table for four. my neice arrived first. just as we walked in (after being herded in by maitre de who almost ran ahead of us) a waitresses literally slapped down a beer on the table for my neice, no glass. then just walked off not even bothering to ask if the other 3 would like a drink. then meal was rubbish. a glass shattered in small pieces on our table a girl came to clean it up literally putting dust broom and shovel on the table to clean it off. only plus was the waitress with her hair in a bun (the others had hair almost hanging in your meal) and the barman bid us farewell as we left. woukd never go there again. disgusted all round. and it was expensive for what was offered in food and service.

disappointing - room for improvement. based on price, atmosphere, food and service i would rate this restaurant a 2 out of 5.

after noting this venue had received a golden plate in 2008, my girlfriend and i decided to visit this restaurant last friday night. it was not very busy, but that unfortunately did not stop the service from being quite slow. the waitstaff were very friendly and attentive but the food, decor and price were a big let down.


drinks: pricey and took about 10 minutes to be served. i had red wine which was unfortunately corked and quite sour.

entree (bread and dips): took about 20 minutes. the condiments were nice (onion jam, oil and vinegar, and butter). breads were a little over toasted and hard to chew.

mains: took about 35 minutes from ordering to be served. i had the pork belly and my girlfriend initially had the duck salad. my pork had nice flavors and wasn't a bad serving size. unfortunately it was very dry and had been left waiting under a heat lamp far too long.
my girlfriend was not so lucky. the duck was cold and congealed and after politely and specifically asking for no coriander, the meal was served with coriander all through it. the waitperson was very apologetic and offered us a replacement meal of our choice and a complimentary dessert. we choose the chili crab linguine. it was served nice and hot within 10 minutes. the flavors were full, strong and robust, but overall not a bad meal.

dessert: we order the chocolate brownie for our complimentary dessert, but i can't tell you how it was because it never came. after waiting for 25 minutes, we decided we'd had enough and left.

as we left, the wait staff were very apologetic and only charged us for the drinks, entree and the pork. the crab linguine was complementary.

atmosphere and decor: there was a nice view over the estuary and the restaurant had plenty of space and a good level of light. the decor was really mismatch and eclectic. i do not know what they were going for there.

overall, i do not think we will go back. there are much better restaurants in the area which have a comparable view, better quality and a more reasonable price.