staff was friendly and attentive, i will give them that. but this place has been very underwhelming for my expectations from what i’ve read from other reviews and images on their website.
the main disappointment i have with fancy hank’s is their signature meats, firstly, their victorian baby back ribs, on their website they state that this dish has to be pre-ordered 24 hours in advanced due to limited availability and perhaps maybe to serve it at it’s best served moment, i could not have been more wrong, the pork ribs were dry to the bone. for something you’d have to pre-order, you would expect the meat to slide right of the bone as you bite into it, tender, juicy, and full of flavour. as for fancy hanks, the white sauce just makes the pork taste creamy, perhaps an effort to mask the dryness of the pork ribs. i’m fairly confident those ribs did not come off the grill and were pre-cooked before i even arrived due to several factors:
1. pork was dry when ribs should have the meat slide off them
2. charred parts of the pork ribs, supposed to be crispy when off the grill, instead could not be bitten and was rock hard.
3. temperature of the meat when served was room temperature.
now, onto the brisket, oh the brisket. this is what american barbeque epitomises. slow cooked brisket that’s tender and falling apart, perfect smoke ring that infuses smokey flavour into the brisket. all of the above did not apply to my experience with their briskets. as you can see from the images i have attached, it was dry, very very dry. reminds of an overnight serving of dry pulledbeefonce i started chewing into it. the only tender part was the fat on the brisket. the meat itself was dry, and required a good bite to break the meat down. looking at pictures on their website and rave reviews from other people, i don’t know if i was just unlucky when i visited fancy hanks or their standards have dropped and i came to their restaurant too late. for the price i paid for the meal, i can easily name 30 other places in melbourne cbd where you can get better value for money with more memorable food experiences that have been consistent with their performance over the last 3 years i’ve been living here.
i was expecting a good meal in celebration of my partner’s birthday, i honestly waited a long time to come to this place, but i guess my cravings for american style barbeque will have to continue it’s wait. this has been disappointing for me, and if i ever visit them again and the experience is the same, i’m done hoping for anything better from them.
on a side note, the deviled eggs where delicious. that’s pretty much it. good service, good deviled eggs, but their “barbeque” did not feel authentic and felt like overnight servings. harsh criticisms but definitely justified and fair. i feel like this needs to be heard by them if they only want to improve and be consistent.