cinco bistro

bad night?. cinco has been one of our favourite suburban restaurants for years. however last saturday night they really disappointed us. theservicewas very, very slow, yet the waiters had a continual harried look that almost made you feel guilty for asking them to follow up. goodserviceshould not look like that, especially when the prices are not inexpensive. speaking of prices...$4.50 for a baby chino for our granddaughter. silly stuff. the paella was very rustic, with several very large pieces of chicken, 4 very large and untasty chorizo "pieces" and 2 large , unshelled prawns. good paella to my mind is more attractive than that. i really hope they get back to their past performances, because this was below par for a restaurant of their reputation.

stunning food & presentation. a great saturday night, went with another couple to their favorite restaurant. we learned it was a hat restaurant so i was keen to try it out!
we had spanish dish as starter with tangy dipping sauce....yumm
then steak for main that was crusted with pepper...ahh it was beautiful, moist and just melted in my mouth. the steak fries were a hit with the table. dessert we nibbled on small tiny dessert pieces that were lovely and presented well with cheese platter of variety of cheeses. the place has a friendly vibe with greatserviceon all points.

i read in the good food guide that cinco bistro was awarded a hat this year so i have been wanting to check it out for awhile. i was pleasantly surprised to find this little gem so far out from the city too. the food was not too bad and theservicewas ok. a little expensive though. the venue itself is quite plain, nothing fancy. it was definitely not what i was expecting when compared to other hatted restaurants in brisbane but still worth a try if you've never been.

beautiful dinner at cinco bistro. nice relaxed atmosphere and greatservicefrom the waiters. we had the eye fillet and haloumi and almond crumbed chicken. the steak melted in your mouth and the chicken was sensational. will be back again

my husband and i celebrated our 100th month anniversary on the weekend and boy oh boy.... how have we not heard of this place before??? we had a fantastic experience from booking to walking out of their doors. the night started off with the quail for entré my husband had the market fish (barramundi) and i couldn't go past the duck confit. the flavours were beautifully balanced with good portion sizes. furthermore, theservicewas attentive and surprisingly very quick! if you're a brisbanite and haven't been here... do yourself a favour and check it out!! 👌🏽

arranged the new year eve dinner at this one hatted restauarant. since it is the only one-hatted at this side of the town, my expectation was set slightly high. it was a busy night and there were only three wait-staffs running the show. we were told by the manger that some of the staffs rang up to take sick leave in the afternoon.... however, they did manage to offer fineserviceand it was much appreciated. well, food was another story. first of all, we were let down because they stop serving any quail as the entree so we ordered the charcyuterie board to share, which was average. the wagyu rump was slightly overcooked on some portion but the portobello mushroom deserved thumb up. hero should be the lamb rack which was done perfectly. side dish of the roasted cumin pumpkin was delicious. the serious let down should be the desserts of apple tart and greek custard. we did not have the feeling of enjoying the dessert. one comment is that they should be careful on chosing tea leaves since the lemongrass & ginger was bland. as an one-hatted restaurant, cinco sounds weaker than the others in town, say deer duck bistro (milton), public (cbd) or thomas reserve (spring hill). these restaurants did showcase why they are one-hatted with fine dining standard meals and nice drink menu. i think the chefs should pay attention to the dish plating technique and overall cinco needs time to be more mature.....

cinco is definitely a little hidden suburban gem.serviceis, and always has been, absolutely fabulous.

food is a bit hit and miss depending on what you order. the arancini balls, risotto, and duck tart were hits, not so keen on the new quail. loved the fish and steak, but the pork belly was just average. would order the panna cotta and almond mousse, but the chocolate marquise was very thick with not enough ice cream to balance it out.

what a gem of a restaurant! great inventive classy dishes. cape grim steak was magnificent, and the signature foie gras tartlet is superb. great vibe goodserviceand byo as well. how can you go wrong. ill be back often.

we had breakfast here one sunday & were able to sit outside with the pooch in tow! interesting breakfast menu, but they didn't have the very item i wanted -the egg curry dish. so that was a disappointment for me. ended up having the house beans which were very tasty other than the fact i forgot to request chilli on the side.  coffee was a let down too they attempted to make it three times for me so give them credit for effort! third cup i could actually taste the coffee, but it was still rather a wishy washy brew.servicewas very good & they went out of their way to be helpful for us

wow wow, best food in a while, and i eat out a lot, exceptional food,serviceand experience 11/10
so impressed, will return many times

ok food, appalling service.. we went to this restaurant 3 years ago and waited for food that never turned up. we said we would never go back there but gave them the benefit of the doubt and try out the pizza takeaway side of it. big mistake. how could this possible happen again. the staff new we were there waiting and let us wait 20 more mins after i queried why it was taking so long. they then found our pizza 3 boxes under somebody else's order. when i let the staff know what i thought about what had happened the manager stood in the background like a gutless wonder and never said a thing. in saying that the pizza was ok but the staffserviceis appalling.

lovely food. just add a very nice meal.servicewas a tiny bit slow but still very good. the food was excellent.

came away very pleased ... again.. i admit i'm a big fan of cinco. but, why not? i come away more than satisfied every time i go. so here's another testimonial to this southside gem. last night we started by sampling the fried aphrodite cypriot haloumi cheese, and it was fab. my hervey bay scallops in squid ink sauce were divine, and i could have easily eaten a big bowl of same. the serve of pork belly amongst the scallops was an interesting twist, with crackling prepared expertly. my wife's coffin bay oysters had been delivered the day before, looked sparkling fresh and tasted so, too. i had a taste of her salmon prepared a la tetsuya before she scoffed it, and it was great. i chose one of the specials for main: duck neck sausage, a herb-filled rustic delicacy which inspires visions of france and tasted superb. i really don't mind paying corkage of $8.50 pp when i can bring along a reasonable bottle of wine, or even something very special, have it treated with respect, decanted and served in high quality stemware. thank you again, dirk and peter.


-----10 sep, 2013-----

never disappoints!. my family has been dining here regularly since cinco opened some years ago, with local convenience being a factor, but the quality of food andservicefar overriding any other consideration. i can't remember ever being disappointed over a meal here, and tonight was no exception. being mid-week, it was relatively quiet, which is not a problem for us. peter stubbs was on hols in bali, but the food was as good as ever, if not better. dirk looked after us with his usual graciousness and aplomb. the hand-cut chips we chose to start were sensational, and i cannot understand how the chef does so well with so chunky the pieces of potato. the aioli dip was lovely, even better than lovely. my wife's ravioli was to die for, and just what she needed after a rushed drive from the airport. my smoked wagyu brisket with kale and speck, spinach and a gorgeous crumbed green tomato was exceptional, and both meals matched perfectly with our 2000 nine popes, which we were able to bring along (thank god, there are still a few byo establishments in this city). we simply couldn't fit in a dessert, and we left feeling totally satisfied, as usual. cinco never fails us. this place is a treasure!

salty and over priced. i have dined at cinco camp hill twice now and won't be back.
the main meals, as well as the sides, were laden with salt. the reverberation of noise was annoying as was the crazy wall paper on the feature wall. the $8.50 corkage was exorbitant for a suburban restaurant. the wait time for a wednesday night for our main meal, being over an hour, was not acceptable. theservicewas average. over priced for the location and quality of food and service.

i have dined out in quite a few places in brisbane and they never seems to hit the mark in all areas good food goodserviceand good atmosphere. this one does. we has there desert sampler and it was yummy. goodservicethat are tentative but don't try to be your mates and ambience is crisp and clean. highly recommended