Welcome to Verve

Food was good, service was excellent and ambience was perfect for a quiet dinner for 2 on a weeknight (Thursday).

We thought the service was friendly and unpretentious. We received water in glasses without asking, soon after we were given the menus. And our water glasses were topped up several times over the evening. There was quite an extensive menu for food and drinks, including a full page of daily specials.

We shared a "turkish tasting plate" for 2 for entree; the turkish bread was very fresh and lightly toasted, with chorizo (very mild), fetta, kalamata olives, and a dip ($17).

For mains, I had scallops with grilled peppers & mushrooms served on garlic herb potatoes (one of the daily specials). Beautifully presented, scallops were plump with roe attached, and although I enjoyed the soy/honey glazed meal overall, it was probably a bit too powerful for the delicate scallops ($32).

The other mains dish was lamb rump, which again had a lovely presentation, but the lamb was a little overdone and dry, but had a great flavour ($34). Both meals were served with a good amount of vegetables.

We then also indulged in some desserts, which were delicious. I had a lime brulee tart. It was served with rich cream and white chocolate shavings. The other dessert was a chocolate fuge cake (which wasn't too rich). Both were very well presented on the plate, with a strawberry and mint leaves for garnish.

We were seated in one of the booths, the music was not too loud and the lighting soft. Unlike some restaurants, we could hear each others conversation clearly. We were seated well away from a group booking of 20 people, which was good. It helps that the restaurant is fairly large, so that a group booking can be at one end of the restaurant and smaller tables can still enjoy a quiet meal at the other end.

The new owners at Verve have done a fabulous job. I have dined there quite a few times now both with clients and with friends. Every single meal I have had there has been sensational!

The service is terrific and the choices of food and wine is fabulous.

The last time I dined there my friend said that her meal was probably the best she had ever had in her life. I thought that was quite a statement.

One of our colleagues was leaving so 20 of us went out to lunch to say our goodbyes.

It was a beautiful day and the sun was streaming though the huge glass windows and to top it off there was a band playing in the courtyard.

The wait staff were very attentive, perhaps a little too attentive when I saw a wine glass being topped up with a different wine than what was already in the glass.

As we started at 1pm and it was obviously a very busy lunch time for them (being a Friday and all) they had run out of quite a few of the specials which was a little disappointing as two of them sounded particularly delectable.

As I felt like fish I got the fish and chips. The batter on the fish was beautiful and the chips and salad both crisp. The people closest to me at the table ordered the King Snapper (apparently the fish was piping hot, the mash was warm and the tomato on top was cold in the middle) but still very tasty, and the Rump Steak which he thought was lovely but perhaps a little underdone (?).

With 2 glasses of St Clair Sav Blanc (chosen from the very impressive wine list) my meal alone came to $45 which is quite pricey (more expensive than the usual Friday pub lunch) but nonetheless a very pleasant dining experience which I am sure to repeat.

I organised a friends surprise dinner here with about 20 people attending. I went expecting typical bad service, long waits for food, etc. etc. due to the large group, but oddly enough this restaurant didn't do that! The service is quite good here, food brought out on time, not cold or badly presented, and the staff was friendly.

The food is good; decent quality, nicely presented and tasty, but not especially memorable. The menu variety also good. My group was diversely multicultural, we all preferred different tastes and meals, so it was good to find a menu to please everyone.

I like the environment of this restaurant. I was curious to see what the restaurant located in the Woodside building would be like - million dollar business deal lunches and guys in suits?? I was thinking a sort of cold atmosphere. But it was actually quite nice and trendy, together with the friendly staff, the bar and the overall ambience it was perfect.
Conveniently close to Bar One and other such places to go to for drinks after dinner - although the restaurants bar is not too bad itself.

I ate at Verve today for the first time with my boyfriend and we had a great experience. It was lunch time but the restaurant still served a full menu and had a long list of specials. The service was both friendly and fast.

We started off with the natural oysters and one of the specials, a soup with potatoes, bacon and leek. Generally trendy restaurants serve up big prices and small food. Not the case here. While this is not an inexpensive eatery, the generous portions (I could have eaten only the soup for a main and been satisfied) more than make up for that. The oysters were fresh and delicious. The soup was rich and creamy, served with two pieces of fresh tasty garlic bread.

Our mains arrived shortly after we finished our entrees. I had one of the specials, lamb chops with a tomato relish and hazelnut risotto. Everything was cooked to perfection and melted in your mouth. My boyfriend's fish and chips featured snapper and were neither heavy nor too greasy with the chips cooked crispy, just the way we both like them. The tartar sauce tasted home-made and had a great tang to it. We chose glasses of wine to accompany our mains from Verve's extensive list (I was pleased to see such good selections by the glass - though there aren't many, the ones they featured by the glass were really nice).

We didn't have room for dessert. Maybe next time. I would definitely recommend Verve, especially for a business lunch.