Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth | Burswood
The new Rockpool Bar & Grill Perth in Burswood Entertainment Complex was one of the most exciting events to happen in Perth’s entertainment scene for quite some time. My husband & I were really looking forward to trying it out, as we had enjoyed a wonderful meal at Rockpool Melbourne a few years ago. Joining us for dinner were three other people who had virtually no knowledge of Neil Perry & his culinary reputation, other than seeing him on the Iron Chef Australia television show occasionally.
Well I have mixed opinions on our Rockpool dining experience. The food was exquisitely flavoured, absolutely. But there were several jarring elements to the evening that distracted from the wonderful produce. It was a mid-week dinner booking, the restaurant was probably 75% full & it was three weeks from opening night. There was a seamless process of arriving at the restaurant & being seated with menus. Reading the menu was a challenge in itself. Minimal lighting from a single small hanging pendant in the centre of the table. We literally took turns to push our menu into the lit area to determine what to order. I already felt slightly uncomfortable.
Then, once our orders were taken, some crusty bread with butter & olive oil was delivered to the table. Thank goodness, because it would the only sustenance available for at least 30 minutes until our entrees arrived. (I will only comment on the dishes I personally tasted).
Alaskan King Crab cocktail. Presentation was disappointing. A pile of crab on one third of a circular bowl, a pile of shredded lettuce on another third & a pool of cocktail sauce on the remaining third. Thankfully the freshness of the sweet crab meat was the winner here.
Lobster Omelette with prawn sauce
Charcoal roast squid & pork belly. Unsurprisingly, this is my dish. Whenever pork belly is listed on a restaurant menu, I just can’t resist. A light fresh dish served with roasted tomatoes, an olive oil base & a few slices of crusty toasted bread.
Warm salad of wood fire grilled quail with smoked tomato & black olive
Traditional garlic prawns
There was ample time to take in our surroundings, far too much time really, between the entrée & main course. I gradually realised there seemed to be a problem with the flow of pedestrian traffic. The custom designed waiter stations are beautiful displays of glass, timber, concealed downlights & drawers. However, based on where we were sitting, we could clearly see that the 2 main waiter stations, located on opposite sides of the main circulation path down the length of the restaurant, created frequent traffic jams with guests trying to squeeze past the staff standing at the stations. The open corridor was simply too narrow to accommodate all users & increasingly awkward to watch.
And then our mains finally arrived, after a ridiculous delay of more than 45 minutes. During this time, we chatted of course, ate too much bread, drank too much, & more than once, peered around the mesh curtain to see Neil Perry in the kitchen surrounded by at least two dozen chefs & metres of sparkling stainless steel.
Charcoal oven grill red emperor (with herb salad & aioli)
David Blackmore’s dry aged full blood Wagyu Rib-eye 200g
Rangers Valley dry aged 300 day grain fed fillet 250g
Charcoal oven grill Bar Cod (with herb salad & aioli)
Sides to share:
Charcoal oven roast pumpkin & sweet potato with burnt butter & garlic yoghurt. So satisfying.
Royal Blue potatoes sautéed in Wagyu fat with rosemary & garlic. Heavenly & addictive.
Once again, the food was outstanding. The beef rib-eye & fillet were fine examples of how steak should be cooked (apparently not more than medium rare please). Cooked on a wood fired grill, the resulting smoky slightly charred exterior is a delightful contrast to the almost buttery, fat streaked tender meat inside. For those unfamiliar with Rockpool’s serving style, – when you order a steak, you get a slab of sliced meat on a large white plate, a slice of lemon & nothing else. It’s up to you to order accompanying side dishes from the comprehensive list, such as hand cut fat chips or roasted peppers with onions, capers & fresh herbs. My husband & I knew to order a couple of sides to share to round out the meal, but our dining companions were extremely surprised at their minimalist-style plates.
So, I was the only one at the table not drinking sparkling water. My water glass was not topped up automatically from the jugs kept at the nearby waiter station. I had to ask 4 separate times for more water throughout the evening. Finally, after our mains were eaten & our table seemed to become invisible to any nearby wait staff, I stood up, walked over to one of the 6 staff standing at the water station & asked him for some more water, please. He was rightly embarrassed & I was thoroughly annoyed at this stage by the lack of general staff attention to our table. Our dirty mains plates were also not collected for more than 15 minutes. Unbelievable.
We were apprehensive about ordering dessert, due to the fact it was now quite late in the evening & who knows how long it would take to arrive? But we soldiered on & ordered:
Fresh strawberry tart with balsamic vinegar ice cream. The less successful of the two desserts. The ice cream had a very subtle balsamic vinegar flavour.
Bar & Grill Cheesecake with berry marmalade & sheep milk yoghurt sorbet. This cheesecake was incredibly light & airy, quite unlike any cheesecake I’ve ever eaten. I couldn’t get enough of the crumbly biscuit base as well. At least we ended the evening on a high note! (Notice the lack of photos? My little camera couldn’t handle the shadowy interior, so I recommend that you head over to The Aussie Bite for a comprehensive Rockpool review & photo gallery).
Food There’s no doubt the food is amazing. Disregarding some of the eye-watering prices, there should be something to suit all tastes on the large menu of entrees & mains.
Service Despite the seemingly abundant number of staff on the floor, service was irregular & simply not good enough for this level of dining establishment & price range. Regardless of the fact it had only been open for three weeks.
Design Neutral tones & restrained palette of materials, a mix of fine metal meshes & hanging chains to create separate dining areas, polished glass, leather inlaid tables, timber veneer, strategic lighting pendants, dozens of chunky candles, leather banquettes, solid comfortable upholstered dining armchairs. A beautiful, elegant & ultimately luxurious space.
Highlight David Blackmore’s Rib-eye. Easily the best steak I’ve ever eaten.
Lowlight Definitely the inconsistent service & lengthy food delays.
Rating 2.5 super crispy & fluffy roast potatoes.
Will we be back This wasn’t easy to answer. However my husband was quick to make his decision – no, he would not be back. Whilst the food was ultimately enjoyable, it was too expensive, overrated & a generally disappointing experience. This was surprising as he greatly respects Neil Perry’s ethos & reputation. As for me, yes I would like to dine at Rockpool again, but not for a while.
Details Rockpool Bar & Grill Burswood Entertainment Complex Great Eastern Highway Burswood T 08) 6252 1900 W www.rockpool.com.au
Updated 18 March 2011
P.S. I’ve just heard that Chef Nobu Matsuhisa was in town recently & will be opening a new Nobu restaurant at Burswood Entertainment Complex this year!!
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I am curious to try it out, but am too fearful of being disappointed in similar ways to you. If a restaurant is charging these sorts of prices, I need to be wowed. Might continue giving it a miss, and hoping for a lotto win..
Unless, of course, someone else is picking up the tab!
Upon reading this review, I am left pondering the question that the “reviewer”( should we bestow them this title) proffered criticism with the slightest comprehension of the workings of finer dining in the hospitality industry. Further, is there any understanding of the food dynamic and producing the freshest quality product to the table?
30 minutes from ordering to delivering entrees is perfectly acceptable, as is 45 minutes between entree and mains. I,m sure it was not the intent of Rock Pool to emulate a fast food concept!! Considering aspects of the comment pertaining to decor…..one would have thought it an advantage ,to pause between courses. Not only to consider the digestive system but to truly “experience” the surroundings.
I have not been to Rock Pool” but have in fact, despite the “tone” of this review ,made a reservation. I will be posting summary post experience.
Beer tastes are a waste on champagne budgets!! One sure way to discourage massive investment and “self” to this state is to insight negative momentum in inauguration! No accolades to the writer for this piece of “work”!! If the experience left you considering a return then maybe a review at that stage. ( inclusive of a reflective comment) would have been far more appropriate.
With hope this encourages Mr Perry to continue regardless.
Sincerely
Lynette
To Lynette,
Thank you for visiting food sponge & your comment on my review. I have worked in the hospitality industry myself & my husband works as a professionally qualified chef. We are also keen local, national & global travelling diners – so I would say I have some degree of insight into how good food is prepared & delivered to the diners table in a timely manner. A 45 minute wait between entree & main is not acceptable for me. Many restaurants would strive for only a maximum 15-20 minute period between courses, fine dining or not.
I arrived at Rockpool expecting an overall ‘wow’ experience, just like I was incredibly impressed by Melbourne’s Rockpool Bar & Grill. Taking into account the food, decor, service & ambience. But I wasn’t. Our dishes were perfectly produced on arrival, but for me, the whole experience was less than satisfactory.
I do hope you enjoy your future dining experience at Rockpool Perth.
Regards,
food sponge
That was an unexpectedly polite response to such an arrogant, condescending load of wankery posted by Lynette. I would have torn her to pieces.
As someone who has also worked in the industry I understand the gravity of your complaints that Lynette fails to recognize, especially those pertaining to the amount of attention being given to your table.
Thank you for the honest and informative review.
Thank you Brendan. I really appreciate your feedback.
Myself and five other people dined in Rockpool Perth Fri 11 March. Overall the experience was extremely disappointing and a return visit at this stage is highly unlikely. The fit out and feel of the restaurant is amazing, superb job. But it is a bit like a school with great facilities with average teachers; one without the other is futile.
Upon arrival we ordered some cocktails and beers. I ordered 2 cocktails. The first one was garnished with a miserable piece of mint, nothing else. The second cocktail did not arrive until we had been moved from the bar to our table. I had to ask the waiter 15 minutes later whether the cocktail would be arriving. Apologies were voiced from this very pleasant waiter (heavily freckled face, white jacket) who seemed genuinely concerned about the delay. The second cocktail eventually arrived with an unimaginative offering of pineapple. Where is the imagination and art?
Entrees were fine apart from the over charred rock hard bread on the pork belly entree. My colleague’s sirloin steak was full of sinew. Inexplicably some of the steaks came out cut into neat rectangles. There may be a valid reason for this but the result compromises presentation and the feel of eating a steak. The effect seemed rather amateurish and reminded me of cutting up food for my young child. My T-Bone came with no sauce, if I was supposed to order sauce as an extra this was not indicated to me by the waiter. The chef must have had a moment of culinary inspiration when he decided to place a poorly cut lemon wedge beside the steak. The steak itself was poorly trimmed with too much fat and overdosed with sea salt. The béarnaise that accompanied some of the other steaks was way too acidic and had very little warmth, little aeration and almost splitting.
The side of potatoes fried in wagyu fat and rosemary was average, basically overpriced Pommes Parmentier. My colleague ordered the boiled green which she indicated was laced with salt and unbearable to eat, I tasted and had to agree. One of our party requested mustard with her steak. The mustard condiments arrived just as the steak was finished. The waiter’s retort was that the steak was fine just by itself, very unprofessional. She offered to take the steak off the bill. Alarm bells should have been ringing at this stage and her supervisor should have been alerted.
The wine waiter brought the wrong bottle of wine and upon pouring the wine managed to pour part of it over my colleague’s hand. Those who declined wine were not offered an alternative. We had to ask for our water to be topped up on two occasions. The bread had to be asked for. Coffee was served yet we had to ask the waiter for sugar, my local cafe can these basic procedure right.
There seemed to be a total lack of management of staff. At no time during the meal did the maitre d’hôtel or someone approximating management approach our table and enquire about the quality of the meal or our enjoyment of the night.
Overall the experience was extremely upsetting and disappointing. Neil Perry was present on the night, in what capacity I am not sure. It seems to be me that his attempt to replicate his other offerings in the eastern states has been severely compromised by the recruitment process. His staff are you letting him down on too many accounts.
On the top of the menu is quote from Neil Perry, “The cornerstone of good cooking is to source the finest produce”. What he has failed to add is that you need chefs to cook it and waiters to serve it. The best fit out in the world and the finest ingredients does not a restaurant make. Most of the problems encountered are a reflection of average recruitment, poor training and absence of quality control. Did the chefs even taste their food? The average punter might be impressed but discerning diners will not be impressed. There is absolutely no excuse for these defects in a restaurant that is charging these prices.
A visit to Jacksons, Star Anise or Loose box will provide you with lessons on how a first class dining experience is catered for and the essential match between price charged and expectations met. The Wild Duck in Albany with it limited pool of staff manages to surpass this restaurant. Rockpool on this occasion has failed to deliver a quality dining experience. I do not normally subscribe to critiques on the Internet however I am so incensed with this dining experience that htere are not many options for recourse.
Wow Rockpool has such mixed reviews – judging from personally chatting with people & reading Urbanspoon etc. And it’s almost always a service issue.
Very very interesting comments made above. I just kept shaking my head when reading it. My steak was also cut into strips. It must be a chef-thing, because my husband also does it. I prefer my steak to be served whole, so it looks like a steak. I can understand just a lemon wedge on the side, it’s highlighting the premium produce & quality with little else needed.
I know the Rockpool waitstaff went through an extensive training process, with many staff not making the cut. But clearly something is not functioning properly, for there to be so many service complaints.
Great review of your experience. :)
I have seen a few people comment about the service being not up to standard, and I did notice early on that they were having issues with service.
Myself, I haven’t had any issues with service and have never felt like my wait periods were long. The only mishap that happened to me was on opening night when a young wait person proceeded to serve me a glass of white wine whilst I was drinking from a bottle of red (the glass belonged to the other table). However, on opening night, I did notice other instances where staff were either bringing dishes to wrong tables or food orders were incorrectly filled.
Since then service has always been great for me – wait periods relatively quick, plates cleared very quickly, and always prompt and attentive service which have been better than some of my other experiences in Burswood restaurants (and this is keeping in mind Rockpool B&G is not intended to be fine dining). Strange there seems to be inconsistencies, or perhaps I’m just lucky?
Service aside, which I totally agree is very important, I’ve enjoyed the food because as you say they use (very) fresh ingredients and the food on offer is generally great.
Good to hear you have had minimal service issues at Rockpool. Most people I’ve spoken to, friends & colleagues, know how difficult it is to find hardworking wait staff with the right attitude to provide good service in Perth. But there are restaurants here that do get it right & makes such a difference.
Neil Perry replied to my email and has given permission to publish it. I replied to this email and the return letter was less than appreciative. I emailed again and he replied again. In summary, my exchange with him led me nowhere and as outlined to him I shall continue to let everyone I meet what an horrendous experience we had at this restaurant and his manner of handling the complaint was beyond belief. I am disillusioned.
Hi Aine,
Thanks for your feedback.
I attached a letter I got on the same day as you went to the restaurants so you could see what a crazy life I lead.
Every day is full of highs and lows.
I’m terribly sorry you received such bad service, I can assure you I don’t set out to have it that way and spend a lot on training and recruitment.
We will continue to train with the staff and try to make sure every customer gets looked after.
Your letter will be used as the one below in staff training.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy the food either.
Cheers
Neil
Neil Perry
Director
ROCKPOOL | SPICE TEMPLE | ROCKPOOL BAR & GRILL
107 George Street| The Rocks | NSW | 2000 | Australia
Telephone +61 2 8248 3803 | Facsimile +61 2 9252 2421 | Mobile 0417 212 678
Dear Sir/Madam,
I would like to say congratulation on a great night.
My boyfriend took me to Rockpool last night to celebrate our One Year Anniversary and I was so terribly impressed with the evening.
Firstly, the entrance is AMAZING. I absolutely love what you’ve done with the initial corridor. The candle light is such a nice touch. Makes is very enchanting!
The venue itself was beautiful. We were seated next to the curtains and the table was great. It wasn’t crowded and the fact that there were no table clothes was a nice touch. I have been to other restaurants and I am not keen on the table cloth and even less keen on the white paper table cloth.
The service was great – Very attentive and friendly people. Our particular waitress was really nice. I would definitely recommend your restaurant just because of the quality of service. It’s something that unfortunately isn’t that common in Perth.
The food… What can I say about the food… TO DIE FOR! The entrees were a good size, not too big and not too small. Our steaks were beautifully cooked and our sides were delicious, especially the potato’s in waygu fat and the steamed vegetables.
But I must say – My most favourite part of the night, this is not to say there was anything wrong with the rest of our night, but the desserts! I had the hazelnut macaroon and it was divine! The taste of the banana ice cream initially over powered, but then it melted away to this lovely and delicate hazelnut biscuit. I will be talking about last night for a long time to come.
Thank you for a lovely evening – And please thank the servers and the kitchen! They did a great job.
We will definitely be returning.
Kind regards
Name blanked out by me but not by Neil
Sorry but have to agree with Lynette, those wait times are entirely appropriate. Especially, if you want a perfectly rested steak. Criticism is fine, but not on that count.
A steak only needs to be rested for half if it’s cooking time. Therefore a 200g medium rare steak, for example, would take about 3-4 minutes per side. Then kept in a warm place to rest for 4 minutes or until ready to serve. A restaurant like Rockpool would start cooking the mains before the table was called away, and then finish off the order when required. I still believe there was no need for such a lengthy delay between courses, had the kitchen been coping with service on that particular night. I’m sure it’s improved since this review was written though.