Average Food, Abysmal Service
Prior to a one-night stay in Canberra, we spent a considerable amount of time reviewing restaurant options since we had heard numerous glowing reviews of many of the city's eating establishments from friends that have visited or lived there.
We finally settled on Artespresso, a restaurant that has an Italian look and feel, and offers a majority of seafood dishes as well as some meat and pasta meals. I had greatly been looking forward to dining there for most of the week. Upon arrival, the decor was very chic, and with excitement building, we opened our menus and were asked for drink orders.
I asked for a Negroni (Gin, Campari, Cinzano Rosso and a spritz of orange citrus) to which the waitress replied with a smile "We don't do those."
While I get the impression that she doesn't know what a Negroni is (does a restaurant that boasts itself as one of the best in Canberra really not have the ingredients to make a Negroni?), she didn't bother to enquire about the ingredients or suggest another drink.
When my friend ordered a Bombay and tonic, she returned to the table a few minutes later and informed us that they only had Tanqueray, but "It's really just the same as Bombay." From there the situation only got worse.
When I asked about the 6 course degustation menu, the chef needed to come out to explain the plates. He disinterestedly spit out 3 entrees that were on the menu, 2 mains from the menu and a dessert. He then abruptly said "I'll match each course with a glass of wine." This presentation is very different than any degustation experience I've had. Normally the staff take time to explain how each dish is prepared, the type of wine that will be matched to the plate, and what is in the wine to make it a good match. Therefore we each decided to order an entree and a main over the uninspired degustation.
My friend asked to order the "Crispy Pork Belly" (main) to which the chef snapped back "We don't have that, but the sashimi (entree) is nice." Crispy pork is about as different from Sashimi as apples are from oranges.
The fig and prosciutto entree was very tasty except that each of the 3 1/2 fig pieces on the plate seemed to have a varying degree of freshness from not ripe to overly ripe.
The "Artespresso pie" is a great idea, but the cod and prawns were so overcooked that it was difficult to tell the difference between the two. The scallops were also slightly rubbery from over-cooking.
My friend ordered the veal dish that was served practically raw, and even though he ate most of it, when asked about our meals he was the only one that had the courage to say how disappointing the meal had been. The waitress that had asked the question showed complete indifference to his critique. If I were running a restaurant, I would be eager to know how I could make my dishes better... She didn't ask "why", she didn't show any sympathy, and she didn't offer to comp us for the undercooked veal.
For such a price range, I would emphatically recommend Ginger Room over Artespresso.