Welcome to Griff's Restaurant

My partner and I went to Griffs (I think renamed 'The Mannors' recently) for a lunch on Saturday. For starters we ordered the 'trio of dips' with warm turkish bread and three dips to share. The turkish bread was fresh and the dips nicely prepared and very tasty. We both ordered the 'ocean and earth', steak with prawns, one medium well and the other medium cooked. The dishes looked 'interesting' to say the least. The amount of colour on the plate was overwhelming, with so much garnish on the edges it ended up on our arms and on the table. The abundant garlic sauce had oil puddles, the veges were frozen packet type, and the medium steak was so undercooked it wasn't even bleeding. The potatoes were nice, however overall, it was dissapointing.

The service was good, though when we arrived the place was practically deserted, with 3 othere diners in the large restaurant. We were seated prompltly, our orders taken at an appropriate time, the meals were perfectly spaced, and we were waited on throughout the meal.

It was very quiet as the place was empty, the decor was ok if a little mixed, there seemed to be a lot of purple hues but it worked well with the black and white table themes. There were minimal wall hangings and the walls seemed a bit empty, but overall it was spacious, tidy and relaxed

Unfortunately, the main meal was just too dissapointing and ruined the experience for us. Too much oily sauce overpowered the (undercooked) steak, all the flavours were mixed due to the food being piled on top of the others, frozen packet veges and far too much garnish made it look like a hospitality class experiment, not a main meal from an established restaurant. We may dine here again, but not anytime soon. The meal was reasonably priced ($100) for both of us with entree, drinks and mains.

Quite frankly the worst meal I have ever had.
Garlic Bread came and it tasted like there was some type of chemical cleanser in the mix, and there was little garlic or herb flavour to it. The drinks were mostly ice.
The food was the worst part of all. The parmigiana was processed chicken, like it had come from a packet. My partners pasta smelled off (like vomit), and was incredibly salty. I suspect they had salted the bacon to prevent it from going moldy, but it was so disgusting it could not be eaten by either of us, and needed to be sent back. Replacement meal was offered but by that stage was not required, and not really wanted anyway.

The service was poor, they ignored us for a few minutes when we came in, then finally came over and seated us. When a waitress finally came back to the table, she opened with "you know what you want?" After waiting 10 minutes to send our meal back (see above) I had to take it to the bar myself.

None -fluorescent lighting, plastic chairs and poor service from surly staff.

Exceptionally poor, would recommend that no-one goes there. We have now been there twice and both times were very poor. Food is very low quality and over-priced. Staff are not particularly friendly.

Caught a movie then had lunch on a Sunday. Service was fast, meals came out max 15 mins after ordered. I had fish and chips, partner had a chicken pasta meal. My fish and chips tasted so fatty, the batter seemed too much for the meal. I've had quite a few fish and chips in my time and this one left me feeling like I had drank a whole bottle of oil. Partner's meal also tasted like there was a lot of oil and perhaps cream used, although I did like his meal better. The bill came to $33, we just had table water, no drinks. When we went to pay the bill the lady went to serve us at the till but then started a conversation with one of the other people working there. When she went to find out docket she couldn't and finally when it was found she barked it at us, like it was our fault she couldn't find it and we were taking up her time. We found her to be really abrupt.

I like the actual layout of the restaurant and the meals do look nice on the menu. I went on father's day and had a vegetable meal which was far better than the fish and chips. Maybe it was the meals we chose and the day we went. It's so convenient having it there near the movies that I will probably venture back for a third meal and then decide if we would eat there again. I am also looking forward to sharing a jug of margaritas.

I have wanted to try here ever since they opened but for various reasons did not make it until today. My mum wasn’t feeling great, so I thought I would pick her up and take her to lunch. The lunch menus were nice to ponder, including a two course set menu for $14, although pizzas are not available at lunch time. The restaurant used to be La Porchetta and it was laid out in the same way although with a different colour scheme, black and white alternating chairs, with blue and purple counterpoints of colour. Relatively stylish although a bit of remodeling would have made it less cafeteria style. Having the movies directly outside a rope (acting as a wall) is also a bit distracting. And unless you like the smell of cinema popcorn (I don’t!!), sit AWAY from the rope. (The walk to shared toilets part way through my meal was a tad nauseating with the popcorn smell.)

I started with a Kiwi Mocktail (passionfruit and kiwi syrups, pineapple juice and fresh kiwis) ($6) which was very, very tasty. Finished it all too soon! We started with a share plate, which while it was nice enough, was nothing to write home about. The standout item was the two oysters. The platter also included kangaroo skewers, sausage, meatballs, crumbed sardines, fetta, olives, sundried tomatoes and grilled Turkish bread. Everything came in twos (including the fetta, olives and sundried tomatoes, which was a bit of a joke really) except the bread (4) and the sausage (heaps).

Mum went with the steak sandwich which for the most part she enjoyed. Feeling too full though, she ended up abandoning the bread and just ate the filling. A bit of the steak was rather tough but the rest of the sliced steak was tender. I had the calamari and salad with aioli. I thought at first that the calamari (lightly floured) had been cooked in too cool an oil but I realized later into the meal that in dressing the salad with balsamic and EVO, that they had poured the EVO over the calamari as well. Not a good thing. Just made it greasy. Still the serving was so large that I couldn’t finish the calamari, which I should add was a combination of rings and baby tentacles (a la baby octopus more so than calamari).

With another soft drink and a coffee, and less an Entertainment book discount, our total bill came to $44.50. Definitely will be back - provided I don’t have to sit by the ropes!

Overall this restaurant is fairly good, but it was the quality of the food that really made the night!

We happened to dine on Thursday night - which is apparently live music night! The musicians were decent but unfortunately loud enough to make conversation difficult at times. So if you like to talk and eat, avoid Thursdays!

The service was reasonable - slightly on the slow side but we were at a late sitting so this is perhaps understandable.

But of course, now to the food. I had one of the most flavoursome meals I can remember! It was the BBQ lamb skewers, which may sound fairly plain, but I assure you that once they added honey and ginger to the meat, lemon aioli, chutney and thin char grilled bread on the side, and served it all on a bed of tabouleh, cous cous, raisins and some very nice spices it was a wonderful treat to the tastebuds! And for around $18 it was decent value as well.

My friends had the fish which was OK and the salmon salad nicoise which was also tasty and good value.

So all in all, a place worth visiting!

Nice food. It's well presented and offers some originality. I recall a Fettuccine with Tiger Prawns that was rather zesty - a nice surprise to the usual garlic ensemble.

The service is just better than average. Speed of service is ok, but the staff usually appear a little grumpy (or pretentious?).

I probably would go more often than I do, as I've never been disappointed with what I've received in Griffs, but with Han's next door, I usually swing for the cheaper option.