Consumed: Arancini Balls and 400g Rump cooked Medium with a side of Wedges
Drank: Lemon Lime Bitters
TDT: 1.0/5.0

Look, I heard good thing about this place and thought, yeah sure. Why not. But you know what. I should have not gone. No. Just No.

Location

Balsamic has the opportune location of being in close proximity to Hoyts Cinemas Eastland. If anything, the new renovations in Hoyts have really driven up their prices. So it’s no wonder that people choose to go to Balsamic for a bite before or after their meal. I liked their location and their menu looked good. We rocked up on a Wednesday night without a booking in the evening and were prompted to a seat quickly.

Food
I was recommended two things from the menu – the Arancini Balls and their steak. I ordered their Lemon Lime Bitters and it was really well done. So my hopes were raised.

Then the arranchini balls arrived. They seemed tiny on the plate that they had served. Their sauce was nice and spicy but the balls itself was a little too dry on the outside. And when I cut into a piece, it seemed too wet. Literally dry on the outside and too wet and not sticky on the inside. My hopes were starting to fall. At $10 for 5 pieces I was ok with that amount.

I ordered the 400gm Rump Steak with Mushroom sauce with a side serve of wedges. And boy am I glad I did. Because when I asked for Medium, it came out Medium well done. The chips looked way overcooked and tasted too crunchy. There wasn’t a hint of soft mushy tenderness. And the sauce? Their claim was that it was all made fresh. Well, it might be fresh, but I have never known sauce to be watery. Nor have I seen mushrooms look so sorry within it. It just didn’t make sense. Any of it. First the arranchini balls and now this? If I wasn’t tired, I would have just left.

TDT: .25/2.0

Cost
Yeah, this whole meal came to $44. The steak was 27 and the sauce an extra $2. The Lemon Lime Bitters was 5, though ordering a coke in the same glass is $4. Go figure. Plus to top it off, the bill was ridiculous. They separate the steak out and the side that comes with it. They explained that this does cause confusion because of the itemised list. Well… I would think this would warrant it being fixed. But sure, chalk it down to “customer confusion”

TDT: .25/1.0

Ambiance
I like my early 2000s music as much as the next guy but they had the same 7 songs on repeat. 1,2 step, Pussycat Dolls, NeYo, Eminem, Destiny’s Child and two others that I just stopped paying attention to it. To add to this, we sat on a table that wasn’t wiped down, there was bird crap everywhere (we chose to sit outside) and all the decor looked like it had been there for years and in need of some TLC. Oh maybe that was another song… ungh.

TDT: .25/1.0

Service
I couldn’t fault the waitress here. She was prompt and open to our needs. If anything, she did help me sort out my order with her honest recommendations. But it was the end person, that had the gall to say that customers get confused with the itemised bill, oh please – just fix it.

TDT: .25/1.0

TDT: 1.0/5.0

I will definitely not be going back of my own volition. It would have to be someone that is both, close to me AND celebrating a milestone for me to come back here. Dear reader, please avoid it. I would be doing you a disservice if I tried to cover parts of this up. I hope the management take the time to read this review and do something about it.