Spare a thought for anyone trying to find a restaurant on New Years’ Day. That’s us every year thanks to a family celebration falling on that date. This year we ventured to Market and Co.
©The Ponder Room
Located next to the Crown Casino complex we took advantage of the free valet parking for anyone with an ACROD sticker. This is a fantastic initiative.
To begin we shared the bread option. Crisp batons of Turkish bread served with an olive oil, balsamic and a dip option. It was one of the best bread options I’ve had in a long time.
Our party’s organisor had checked the menu online to ensure that there were options for our guests with strict dietary requirements. Unfortunately there was only a smaller lunch menu available. We thought maybe this was because it was New Years’ Day. Still we were all able to find something among the handful of options. But then when we ordered we were told some items were already sold out, this when there were only two other small tables of diners and it had just gone noon.
In the end most of us chose the Barramundi with fattoush salad. Given our culinary challenges we asked what the salad included, and were told it was a Lebanese bread based salad. None the wiser we ordered it and then googled to find out what to expect.
I’m pleased to say that the fish was excellent, but then Barramundi never disappoints. The salad however, comprised of a couple of pieces of lettuce, some red onion, a few pieces of tomato and cucumber. The addition of a few tiny squares of a crisp pitta on the top was the only thing that set it apart from a very average salad. It looked nothing like the photos on the internet.
©The Ponder Room
Another member of our party chose the seafood fettuccine option. We were a tad surprised as this person doesn’t like Italian food. Even more surprising was the glowing report he gave it. It certainly looked a lot better than our sad salad.
©The Ponder Room
We could have had ordered dessert but the service didn’t come. We should’ve known better having read comments about this online. While the staff were lovely when they did appear at the table this was rare. Instead we were left to keep topping up our own glasses and eventually had to stand up and hunt down a waitress to order coffee. There were only three other tables of diners.
Pleasantly surprising was the price, around $19 for each meal. This was definitely a bargain for the pasta meal.
When we came to pay we mentioned about our Entertainment Book coupon but were told it isn’t valid on New Years Day. Fair enough we thought. Dishes rung up, we were handing over our card when the receipt was taken back and we were told they’d forgotten to add the public holiday surcharge.
As we drove home I pondered:
- Yes it can be hard to find somewhere open on New Years Day, but if you are going to be open, please let people know upfront on the internet what is on offer and any additional prices you’ll have to pay.
- I wish other places would offer the free ACROD valet parking service. This makes a world of a difference.
- The pasta meal is worth a repeat visit but not until we’ve read that the service had improved.
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