213 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9663 9288
Looky looky at what I found.
Is this the sister of the famous Pacific Seafood BBQ House? If so, I can’t wait for some kickarse lunchtime BBQ duck and pork action.
The place is still under construction, but I’ll be sure to post my observations soon.
how exciting! my tastebuds are salivating at the thought…
Ooh! I’ve only been away for a few weeks and new restaurants are popping up on Lonsdale! Yum!! Thanks for posting about it!
Hey jfox – yes, it is still not open ((sigh)), but I am salivating in hope!
Hiya hungry hamster – welcome back! Yes, many things can happen in a few short weeks
BTW, have enjoyed reading your OS posts.
Hey Mellie,
Thanks for dropping by to tell me about the new Pacific BBQ cafe on my Pacific house post. I just saw it
There will be a lot more OS posts coming up
Hey hungry hamster – excellent. I’m looking forward to your OS posts. So far, they look absolutely wonderful!
This is so close to work! Fantastic!! Thanks!
Hi!
My family actually runs Pacific House was googling it to see anything comes up for the new restuarant and found this page). I can confirm this indeed is a new one from the same people that bought you Pacific House in Richmond and South Yarra.
Further note this joint on Lonsdale St will be open on the 12 March 2008.
Cheers and thanks for the support!
Oooh…thanks for that anon-of-the-pacific-house – I’m so bummed that I’m not going to be in the city for the next little while, but when I get back I’ll definitely check it out. I can’t wait!
After reading your blog, forwarded to me from my dad. I forwarded your blog to my friend who adores a good blog.
So one day we went into the Restaurant in the city and we waited for a while to get a seat. We had a look at the menu, and I might say it was the strangest menu I had ever come across, mostly they tried to westernise the dishes. My friend commented that they seemed like the sorts of things Uni students without much of a budget would concoct in their kitchens.
We however ordered the duck, and two drinks.
We waited for our duck to arrive, for a while actually.. We looked around and saw other people being seated getting their orders taken pretty much straight away. While we had to flag down a waiter to get our order taken.
We finally received our order of duck and it was the most wonderful tasting duck I had ever come across.
However I found being the only two westerns in the restaurant we did not receive the same service as everyone else in the restaurant. We had to wait a very long time for one dish and our drinks. We had to flag down a waiter while other people got wonderful service.
In conclusion I would have their duck again, but only take away, I would not go and sit inside again.
Hi there Trish – thanks for your great comment. And welcome to tummy rumbles!
Pacific BBQ Cafe is certainly an interesting place, (though not always in a good way). Yes, the duck is good – which is what most people come for (along with the other BBQ meats). The menu can seem a little weird as it is typical Hong Kong cafe style – where you get dishes such as pork chop and baked spagetti or spam and rice (uh huh). But there are also some good Canto dishes in there as well – a matter of experiementing beyond the usual “duck, greens and rice”. But you knocked the nail on the head – the menu is designed for students, of which there are many in this fair city.
Customer service can kind of suck too, and it’s not because you are “western”. Basically you have to understand how service works in places like this. It’s not a matter of sitting patiently with a smile on your face expecting good service (which is what I normally do). It’s a matter of raising your hand and calling a waiter (in a very forthright manner helps as they tend to do the eye aversion thing), and then being brusque with your ordering. That way you’ll get good service, and fast. Next time you go watch how others order. You’ll normally see them walk in, sit down and probably even order straight away without consulting the menu. A guaranteed way to get your meal quick,
Hi thanks for your feedback, Well being first timers at the restaurant we didn’t know what to expect so of course we took our time. I guess we just got annoyed that we had to wait a long time for food and drinks, while everyone else seemed to have fast service including order taking and serving of the meals. Even though other people came after us. I have never worked as a waiter so i am unsure of how they handle the orders and what not. But being first timers would of been nice to have someone explain to us the food and reccomendations. Ah well, I perhaps have High Standards, but don’t get me wrong i would definently go back for the duck.
The service is rubbish!!! The staff there are unfriendly, they scold customers and ask them to pay as soon as they finished eating!!
The food there is not great either…As quoted by 1 of the managers….”you can’t pay 10 bucks and sit there for hours…” what disgusting service!!!!
Everyone, pls stay away from that place…unless you want to be treated like dirt!!!!
Hi AXA – thank you for your thoughts. Yes, I too have found the service to be less than friendly as well. I haven’t been back in ages, as last time I came away feeling a little ill after an MSG and fat overload
Nothing beats duck nut from Pacific Barbecue House on a Friday night following a few frothies after work.
We will no doubt be smashing this place up during the footy season before a footy game at the Dome.
Yes well worth a look as did the world renowned foodie munchbrother http://munchbrothers.org/2008/pacific-barbeque-bbq-review-melbourne-australia/
agree with AXA.
I hv been there quite many times. the service is either normal or bad. we had a friend worked there, so it’s ok when he was the one who serve us. (of course there are some ok ones too). but me and my friends had bad experiences.
there was once we asked for a fork, and the person seems like a person with higher pose(coz he was wearing white shirt instead of black t-shirt). and he gave us the fork with ‘don’t give a damn’ face. but we did not make any noise coz we thought it’s juz a small thing although we felt unhappy. that was long time ago.
yesterday, i went again with my friend. coz she said she felt like having roast pork, so i suggested to go to pacific. when we were ordering, again, the ‘don’t give a damn’ face appeared. on a different waiter’s face. it’s ok. serving, another ‘don’t give a damn face’. that’s alright.(kinda getting use to it) paying, we brought the bill there and this happened:
waitress: (looked at the money and the bill) What do you want? (with super unfriendly face, and makes me feel like we are getting scold)
*we were splitting bill which the shop strictly not allowed. it’s our bad for doing that but…
me: huh? (shocked. coz i’ll never expect that sentence coming out in this kind of situation.)
Waitress: what do u want? (unfriendly face)
Friend: er..we are splitting the bill..
waitress: sorry no splitting bill. what do u want?
Friend: ok, erm can we change the $10 coins to note?
Waitress: (instantly) no. (took the money away and left the coins there)
me & friend: *stunt*
while taking the change ( a bit slow coz we were too shocked)
waitress: (very inpatient face) people are waiting.
i know it’s our bad to spit the bill. but we do not require the staff to serve us with smiling face all the time coz i understand that they could be very tired working in restaurant esp for a busy restaurant like this. but at least not a ‘don’t give a damn face’ or unfriendly or ‘what do u want’ face. if split bill is not allow then juz say “sorry we don’t accept split bill.” if we ask for change juz say “sorry we can’t do that.” that’s all!
this gives me a really really BAD impression. I don’t feel like going there anymore whenever i think of the faces. it’s disgusting.