chancery bistro

meeting some friends forlunchin town, we decided to dine at a place that was close to all of us, which served something european, and was a quiet spot for us to catch up.

chancery bistro wasn't my first choice, but i must say the food was good although a bit pricey forlunchin the cbd.

our portions were good and we had the fish/ chips, chicken pasta and cajun chicken. cajun chicken definitely felt like the winner for us.

showstopper: attentive service and a good spot for catching up with people.

overall grade: b

enjoyed ourlunchhere today. the menu was varied and interesting and something for everyone. great place to meet friends with a great ambience and relaxed yet smart location.

decided to try this place for the $15lunchspecial. greeted by wait staff as soon as we were at the front. seated promptly and menus presented along with water for the table.

ordered the lamb shank and bolognese.

lamb was soft and fallin off the bone. presentation was good. taste was quite bland. even with all the sauce. best tasting thing was the pumpkin.

do not try the bolognese. pasta was over cooked and really soft and mushy. sauce was below average.

food 1.5/5
service 3/5

visited this cafe yesterday as was very keen for their $15lunchspecial! i ordered the pasta , which was very bland . it said smoked chicken and feta , where it had neither , just wasn’t the best. also ordered hand cut fries but when they came out they were just normal frozen fries which was a disappointment . the waitress wasn’t very friendly either , very disappointing experience as coming from a hospo background.

came in forlunchtoday. ordered a chicken fettuccine and duck risotto. the duck was real tender and the risotto was super creamy. however the fettuccine on the other hand, tasted quite bland. the chicken inside had a bit of flavour. the portion sizes were huge and it only cost us $15 per pasta. customer service was great and environment was real nice. they have a heater by the door so i would recommend sitting there.

just came back from havinglunchalone at the cafe, ordered schnapper burger with fries. i sat outside as its a nice day..here's what spoilt mylunchthere. dirty table,lunchbrought out with no salt n pepper or sauces for the fries, no cutlery...had to go find my own...couldn't find anyone to order aoli or tomato sauce. so just ate and left....wanted dessert but no one came over with a menu or to ask if my meal was nice. there are better places to have lunch.

went here as they were offering a studentlunchdeal. service was friendly and fast, lots of help with the menu and very genuine people. great portions and the lamb burger was good, unfortunately the spaghetti bolognese was very oily and there was little meat for how much sauce there was. this dish also had a hair in it but the staff replaced it quickly. disappointing having to eat separately from the person i was with however.

came here forlunchwith 2 friends.

initially was browsing through the niesh app and i found this so decided it was a good place to go to.

we ordered a cheeseboard , 2 pizzas and pasta. everything but the cheeseboard was around 12 bucks each due to the niesh deal (since it was discounted) and it was well worth the value.

the cheeseboard was more of an impulse buy and it tasted really good but we couldn't finish it since we were too full from the pizza/pasta :((

customer service was ok and the ambience duringlunchwas average as well (seemed pretty empty).

try this place and make sure to use the niesh app for the deal (screenshot below)

the quicklunchmenu offers decent, fresh and affordable food. the chancery square area is also a welcome getaway from the hustle and bustle of queen street or britomart duringlunchtime. good, simple and unassuming food and service.

nice place, nice service, but very bad food! i was there forlunchon 21/08/2016.



for starters we asked to an entrée of seafood chowder. the calamari was soaked on oil, not crispy at all.

the creamy garlic mash potato had no salt, no garlic and was definitely not creamy. it looked like the potatoes were simply just mashed and put on a bowl to serve.

i ordered also a bolognese spaghetti which had basically no tomato juice and the quality of the meat was quite greasy, second quality.

the moroccan lamb was greasy as well, the carrots were still not quite cooked and not to mention that the seasoning on the rice was hard to swallow.

the only good tasting on my view and my wife's experience on this restaurant was the espresso, which was the lifesaver.

honestly, i don't recommend chancery bistro to anyone.

service wasn't very attentive and our server didn't seem particularly interested in accommodating us. we went for an earlylunchand we were the only customers at the time. not a good place to bring children and the server seemed as though we were a hassle to them. ordered the big breakfast and the waffles. food was beautifully presented and was delicious. the big breakfast "steak" was a bit of a joke and chewy but the waffles were yummy. it looks a nice place to eat but wouldn't go back again due to their lackluster service.

great place forlunchbut definitely not a dinner spot, got th egrab one deal and thought it should be checked out because it showed great food but there was only one waiter that was lovely enough to  even check how we were going, the food was good, and presented beautifully though so a+ to them for that, and their vanilla ice cream dessert was very good

went in forlunchon a very hot day, went actually because caravanserai was too packed. not much in terms oflunchdeals apart from a few $16 meals and $18 being the cheapestlunchmeals. 

i ordered prawn tacos, my friends the steak, tandoori chicken on bulgar wheat, and a lamb pizza. the prawn tacos were such a standout dish! super tasty and very filling. the pizza i did not try, but my friend did say the steak was quite overdone when asked for medium rare. the tandoori chicken was good but not a fan of the bulgar wheat underneath. 

service was good and attentive. drinks were strong and decently sized.

i came here for lunch, the service was extremely welcoming and friendly. i ordered from the $16lunchmenu and had the seafood pasta which was delicious and great value. my friend had the salmon cesar which she said was delicious - the salmon was char grilled so a nice variation on the usual salmon you get in cafes. the unfortunate thing about our experience was the desert. we both ordered strawberry panna cotta which sounded delicious. however we were horrified when it was presented, as it was literally a florescent orange desert on some kind of weird base - i have never had a base on a panna cotta before. it wasn't great, but didn't taste as bad as it looked - but it was a real disappointment after a lovely main and unfortunately left us on a bad note. it was actually more like a strange coloured cheesecake - not like any panna cotta i have ever had before (left over from halloween?). i would go back forlunch- but would never order desert again - hate to think how much food colouring was used in that.

had the $16lunchspecial here today. there was about 6 choices,all looked pretty good. i went for the lamb tagine. the chancery bistro is split into 2 sections, a bar-island with a few tables around it in the middle of chancery square (this is where we were) and the main al-fresco dining area. overall the dish was good and came out quite quickly for fridaylunchservice. the portion size was usual and the lamb in the meal was plentiful. good stuff. with the tagine, the flavour definitely was there. a nice, slightly fragrant lamb stew on rice. only downside is $5 for a small glass of coke (not even a can full). that's outrageous. i'd usually expect $4 for one at the most. quite annoying.