Welcome to Chi

We decided to try Chi during a weekday for lunch. Unfortunately we found the food to be below expectations and recommendations.

The food was, in my opinion, of average or below average standard for chinese/malaysian food. I ordered mee goreng and it was too sweet and had way too much garlic in it. However the serving size was large and had good proportions of yellow noodles and seafood. My colleague had the laksa and it was of average (mild) flavour but was a big serving. Perhaps their noodle dishes aren't the best and their forte lies in a la carte and bbq rice dishes.

The service was okay but the waitress who handled our bill was quite rude - she did not say a single word (besides stating the bill total) to us whilst putting our bill through. Is a please/thank you too much to show your appreciation of our patronage?

The restaurant has a dark wooden interior and is decorated in a modern style. We were seated in a booth which was a nice change from the average chinese restaurant. The restaurant has a point of difference in their decor but from this experience their food is pretty average. Overall, I'm not sure if I'd return in a hurry but they do have some interesting items on their a la carte menu.

Last night my lady friend and I revisited Chi Restaurant in Vic Park. It is BYO, licensed and has an open kitchen. Got an ice bucket for the wine and a jug of water. We were seated on the lounge seats and so we had a lot of room.

If you want your steam rice in a bucket (which I strongly recommend) you have to ask for it otherwise you may get it in a bowl. Our 3 mains were delivered within 10 minutes of ordering close to 7pm in an almost full house:

1) Sizzling Cantonese Beef Fillet, which I am happy to recommend;

2) Stir Fried Combination Seafood with mix Veg, which was top class;

3) Three Treasures in Black Bean Sauce. The three treasures are stuffed green capsicum, stuffed eggplant and tofu. This is the only restaurant that I am aware of that serves this dish and it was superb. I like a menu that offers less common dishes.

The servings were generous especially the very large Three Treasures; so took some home. Corkage is on the high side. Total cost came to approx $56 less 25% with Entertainment Voucher.

I go to this place ALL the time for lunch. It's great value for money, the food is always fresh and well presented and tastes GREAT! The decor is contemporary, but it's not a fancy restaurant.

I usually order the BBQ duck or pork on soft noodles with some green Chinese vegies and jasmine tea on the side. Perfect every time!

They can get busy, so sometimes the service could be better but it is by no means painful. I'll be going back again and again...

Having never eaten in the Victoria Park precinct and noticing plenty of Entertainment book vouchers for that area, we picked Chi Restaurant at random. Having heard of parking problems we thought it strange that Albany Highway was practically deserted on a Saturday night between 6-7pm. Perhaps, the crowd congregates here at midnight or maybe it was due to the earlier game where Eagles thrashed the Crows and everyone was partying at Subi.

Anyhow, Chi must be glad for our patronage as the place was empty save for another two couples. I had checked the menu on the website beforehand and had more or less picked the hawker style dishes that caught my fancy. Bummer, glanced into the menu and it was totally different. On offer were only dishes usually shared communally and eaten with white rice. Ordered the egg tofu with chicken ($12.80) and although not untrue, I felt misled that it was mince chicken instead of the slices/diced pieces that I envisaged. The sauce was pretty unusual and not to our liking. The crispy skin chicken with vinegar ($11.80) was good with the skin perfectly crisp but sadly, they skimped on the sauce. Lastly, the beef brisket claypot ($10.80) was a generous portion and quite tasty. Although, we have had more tender beef at other restaurants, it was still easy to chew.

Albeit small, Chi had about five cosy lounge style tables and the other tables were covered with clean crisp white tablecloths with cutlery all laid out. Water was swiftly brought over and food served within 10 minutes. Unfortunately, the service was marred when we were overcharged. I did a mental calculation and even after the 25% discount, I told my hubby that it was not right. It beats me how mistakes can be made when the restaurant was practically empty!!!! The reason they gave was that they charged us for a takeaway but this was not even on our bill chit but on a separate slip which they inadvertently added it up. A silly mistake like this creates mistrust more than annoyance. If we were ever to go back and that is a strong if, it would be to check out the lunch menu and probably be at the city location.

My husband and I went out on a "hot date" some weeks ago. The idea was to have a romantic dinner followed by a night out to the theatre. Things almost didn't turned out that way as we were running late (sorting out baby sitting). Running out of time and in desperation, we decided to go to Chi Restaurant as we were driving along Albany Highway. To our horror, the place was packed and we did not book! We explained our dilemma to one of the friendly staff. We told her that we only had less than 20 minutes to order, eat and leave. Thanks to her quick thinking, she gave us a reserved table, took our order immediately and within minutes, our food was served. The quality of food was excellent and up to high standards. We had Singapore Spicy King Prawns and Sizzling Egg Tofu with Chicken in Szechuan Sauce served with rice. Even though we were rushed, we still enjoyed it immensely. Highly recommended. Thank you Chi for saving our night...and the theatre was great!