My family and I first went to The Edge Fruit and Vege Cafe about two weeks after they began their dinner menu in May of this year and although the food was exceptional, the service that we received on the night was somewhat of a let down.  To quote a previous post about dinner at The Edge… “The food was great however the service was not.  This may be because the restaurant had only been open a couple of weeks and the staff were still learning the ropes and hopefully this will smooth over in the next few weeks because I will be back.”  I had finally found the time to return to see if this was the case.  We booked a table outside the restaurant up on the platform next to the road as last time we sat inside and found it to be quite noisy and to sound a bit strange, well, I don’t like the shape of the tables they have inside the restaurant.

Our booking was for 7pm but we arrived at 7.15pm as seems to be the norm for my family.  The restaurant was about half full and the waiter informed us that everyone had arrived at once and we needed to “bare with him for the moment”.  About 10 minutes later he came back with the drinks and dinner menu and proceeded to tell us that they had sold out of a few things on the menu.  There was no steak, no fish of the day (salmon fillet) and no osso bucco.  So out of the nine or so dishes available for main meals, three were unavailable and this was at 7.30pm on a Saturday night.  We were flabbergasted and almost got up and left the restaurant in search of somewhere that did have all the food mentioned on the menu.  We did, however soldier on and ordered our drinks and meals 25 minutes after we arrived.  It didn’t take long for our drinks to arrive but the waiter forgot to pour the red wine and instead bought out an empty cup, returning midway through serving our drinks to get the bottle of red.  We also ordered a beer and a bottle of Crowded House Sauvignon Blanc which was left in the cooler and we had to pour the wine ourselves along with the beer.  Our entree was Grilled Turkish Bread with Herb Confit Garlic Oil and Local Spiced Dukkah (AU$6.50) and that arrived about 15 minutes after we had ordered.  It was quite a big serve, good for the price of only $6.50 and quite tasty too.

Grilled Turkish Flatbread with Herb Confit Garlic and Local Spiced Dukkah (AU$6.50)

Our mains arrived approximately half an hour after our entree but we couldn’t help but notice that the four people seated next to us that had actually arrived before us were left waiting long after our mains turned up and they didn’t look happy about it.  Dad ordered the pasta of the day which was a Fettucine Seafood Marinara full of mussels and prawns.  It was a good sized serving and dad said that it tasted great but he was surprised to find a prawn head in it.  The prawn head didn’t appear to be for dish presentation as it was buried underneath the pasta and mussels.  My mum and sister both ordered the Caramelized Ribs – Pork and Beef with Vietnamese Salad and Taro Chips (AU$27.50), which they also ordered last time we dined at The Edge.  Last time the ribs were plentiful and succulent however this time around they were disappointed by the fact that there appeared to be no pork ribs, only beef ribs and the serving size was about half of what it was last time.  Mum even had a large rib bone that had been placed on her plate without even one sliver of meat on it.  Not only that but the meat that was served was extremely fatty and most of it got pushed to the side of the plate.

Caramelized Ribs – Beef and Pork with Vietnamese Salad and Taro Chips (AU$27.50)

Lastly, I ordered the Herb Braised Field Mushroom with Cacciatore Sausage and Goats Cheese on Wilted Rocket with Green Olive Puree and red wine caramel (AU$28.00) as a main dish.  We had ordered this dish as an entree last time we had dined at The Edge and it was fantastic in fact I said that I would come backjust for a main of that dish.  So it seemed I was true to my word!  The second time around I very disappointed and althought it was tasty it was no where near as tasty as the last time we had shared it as an entree.  The portion size was that of the entree and upon asking the waiter if what I was served was a main size, the waiter counted the mushrooms (I had three on my plate) and I was told that entrees have one while mains have three.  About five minutes later the waiter returned and said that after a discussion with the chef in the kitchen he was only going to charge entree prices for my ‘main’ because I was supposed to have five mushrooms instead of three.  He said he could arrange for the extra mushrooms to be served to me but I refused as I was actually a bit full by that stage.  Having said that it would have been nice to have received all five mushrooms upon the intial serving of my ‘main’.  The waiter also informed us that the usual chef for the restaurant was in fact sick on this particular evening and that was attributing to the slight confusion in the size of the dishes as well as what was actually being served to the customers.

Herb braised field mushroom with cacciatore sausage and goats cheese on wilted rocket with green olive puree and red wine caramel (AU$28.00)

Elegant Persian Sweet Plate (AU$13)

So the verdict: I had said that I would return to give the The Edge Fruit and Vege Cafe another chance after dining there previously.  The second time around the service was better than last time but then again the waiter didn’t have all that much to work with and obviously didn’t work well under pressure.  To run out of ‘big’ main meal items such as the fish of the day, steak and osso bucco at 7.30pm on a Saturday night is pretty poor and certainly disappointing for diners especially when the dinner part of the restaurant is only open three nights a week.  I understand that the usual chef for the restaurant was sick on the night and this only added to the overall bad dining experience. As the popular saying goes ‘If you can’t handle the heat, then get out of the kitchen’.  The Edge Fruit and Vege Cafe?  You’ve had your second chance.