the two of us had booked a table at the grove for our anniversary on a friday night about a month ago. we had heard so many good things about this restaurant and the fact that it was chosen as the supreme winner of the restaurant of the year awards in metro magazine for 2011 raised our expectations accordingly.
we were seated at our table immediately when we arrived and the evening started off rather well. the atmosphere was lovely with pleasant furniture, dimmed lights and a bearable buzz of conversation among the diners around us. we chose to have the tasting menu with matching wines so we could sample the best of the chef's much recommended cuisine. the best of the entrees was probably the tortellini of saffron and goat's ricotta dish, which had beautiful melt-in-the-mouth textures and smooth, subtle flavours, although the terrine of quail and pheasant was quite tasty also.
as we were eating our food we noticed that the table to the left of ours was being served the tasting menu as well and were just slightly ahead of us by one dish, although we managed to catch them up by the time the last main of beef fillet came around. we were just settling back to chat while we waited for our beef dish to be served when two enormous plates were planted in front of us with quite sizeable portions of the beef fillet and its accompaniments on them. as normal, the waiter politely explained the elements of the dish and its matching wine, then left us to it. we were quite surprised by the size of the portions, as all of our previous portions were much smaller than regular mains and entrees, as would've been expected in a tasting menu.
however, just as we had picked up our knives and forks to get started into the food, the two plates were whipped out from under our noses and placed onto the table next to us that we had noticed was also having the tasting menu. we were very surprised this had happened, as we had near enough been sticking our noses in it to savour the flavoursome aromas and almost started cutting into the beef! if the waitress who took the plates away from us had delayed it any longer, we would definitely have been chewing! the only explanation we got was a bland, "sorry, they're not yours - yours are just coming now." we understand that sometimes mistakes can happen and dishes can be placed on the wrong table from time to time but when two tables are having exactly the same menu, should not the portions for each individual eating be exactly the same? we would also have appreciated the waitress being a bit more savvy and empathetic of the faux pas committed. we were not, after all, dining at mcdonald's for $10 a meal.
unfortunately, despite the high quality of the food, we could not help but continue discussing this incident throughout the rest of the meal. perhaps it coloured the rest of our experience at the grove that night, because we also did not particularly appreciate feeling rushed by the wait staff towards the dessert end of the meal, especially as it was only around 10 pm and hardly any other guests were still eating. new wine was poured into new glasses while we were still in the middle of drinking our previous wine, but then when we had finished it the used wine glasses remained on the table until after the dessert had been served, which ended up being strange behaviour from the wait staff - should a place of the grove's lofty status not have wait staff who keep track of their guests' eating and drinking speed? we did find that the first dessert of pedro ximenez ice cream with granny smith apple was absolutely lovely, especially paired with some very nice pedro ximenez for us to sip on. we resolved to have a nice chat with the maitre d' of the restaurant at the end of the night, trusting that he would set our spirits at ease.
the end of the night came soon after and we came over to the bar to settle the bill and speak with the maitre d' who informed us that he was also the owner of the restaurant. what luck! we thought. who better to speak with about an unsatisfactory service experience than the owner of the place himself? to cut a long story short, we explained to him our thoughts and feelings about the service, expecting to be reassured and comforted. to his credit, the owner did seem to listen to our feedback with all seriousness and sincerety, but his response was more than unsatisfactory. after apologising briefly, he advised that mistakes can sometimes happen in a busy restaurant, which bemused us somewhat because the restaurant was not exactly bustling with customers at the time our incidents occurred. we decided to also bring up the wine glass issue, which the owner near enough laughed off as mere nitpicking, and all in all seemed in a rush to put through the payment transaction, as he fiddled with the eftpos machine, and get rid of us without taking anything too seriously. when we tried to broach the issue of our concerns once more he broke off the conversation to advise that our taxi was waiting outside and waved us to the exit.
it is such a shame that a restaurant rated at such a high calibre did not match our expectations in service as well as food. in all honesty, we thought the food wasn't bad but did not find it all that spectacular, nor the matching wines, a couple of which were downright strange. we had had a beautiful, highly enjoyable experience with food, service, atmosphere and everything overall at the french cafe just a few weeks before we went to the grove, and were wondering what had made the latter rated just a bit higher in metro magazine this year. sadly, we are still left wondering, because all in all we would definitely rate the french cafe higher in every aspect and would definitely be much happier to spend our money there than return to the grove any time in the near future. consequently, the grove is not a place we would recommend for anyone looking for an all-encompassing top notch experience.