Toscani's Cafe Bar and Restaurant
Christmas is a time... for realising that Christmas is December 25, not December 5. That said, all of December has become Christmas party season. Seeing as I couldn't make it to Melbourne for the IS Team Chrissy party, when my boss was up on Monday Dec 5 he took myself and Jason (IS HelpDesk guy up in Brisbane for the week) out to dinner and a movie.
Tonight, dinner was in a nice Cafe across the road and up a bit (he doesn't like travelling much outside SouthBank when he is up here).
Ambience
Nothing special - so I guess nothing really disgusting or horrible. Kinda squished inside, but on the whole some nice subtle oranges and browns with some original black and white photography on the walls. It was a pretty stinking hot day in Brissy, so we ate inside (much to my cigarette smoking boss's chagrin) but to be fair it didn't seem to make much difference - it was still just plain hot.
Food
The ordering was interesting enough - we ordered a pizetta and a calzone - and after the waitress checked they had the stuff for it, 10 minutes later she retured to tell us that the calzone was unavailable. Oh well, another pizetta for us.
George had the seafood platter (no oysters, but other things replaced that for him), Jason had the sirloin steak (he said it was good), and I had the Tandoori Chicken pizza. To be picky about my main, I expected the chicken to be tandoori cooked however it was only cooked chicken with some "tandoori spices" sprinkled all over the place. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't spectacular.
BTW, stupid me forgot to take photos of the mains before we ate... even after asking the other guys to remind me!
Drinks were a mix of Crownies, Bundaberg Ginger Beer, water (still and sparkling) and an iced coffee. No dessert - that was saved for the movie!
Service
One good, one average. Sadly, we never saw the good one enough. The main difference between the two of the ladies was their personality - one of them was almost phoning in her job that night, the other seemed interested or was at least applying herself to work.The chefs certainly aren't worked too hard... only because they spread out the cooking and delivery of the courses for that bit too long, and it wasn't because it was busy when we were there.
End Result
Ambience - 2/5
Nothing great, nothing disgusting, nothing outstanding. Just nice, I guess.
Food - 2.5/5
Again, nice, but pretty middle of the road. The menu wasn't overly spectacular for dinner - but if you turn up before 5pm they have a pretty good breakfast and lunch menu available until then.
Service - 1.5/5
All for the nice red-headed lady - at least she made us fee like we were customers and not an interruption.
Overall - 6/15
For a place that specialises in offering franchises of the Toscani's concept (there are already 9 across Qld & NSW), I think they need to spend a little time and look the little things again, and ensure that these things are played out across all the franchises... or be prepared for a lot of failures. Do the simple things good.
Shop 1 & 2, Southbank Parklands
164 Grey Street
Southbank Parklands Qld 4101
Tel : (07) 3846 1000
