I am not one to say bad things about restaurants. I don’t think it’s fair for people to base whether one is good or not from a single perspective. I could have had a bad day or the chefs might have been a little off, but here goes.
The North Beach Pavilion. Upon walking in, we were immediately greeted by an amazing smell coming from the kitchen, a smiling hostess and a restaurant jam-packed with people. The hostess led us to a table next to the window and the view was just breathtaking.
Looking at the menu, everything seemed a little pricey but judging from the room full of happy looking people I decided that it was probably worth it. What I should have realised was that almost every table had ordered a pizza. My mum, auntie and I decided to order the bruchetta, the salmon, the chicken and the john dory.
The bruchetta, listed as an entree arrived after the mains had. Technicalities. I was rather famished by the time the mains had arrived but having had experience in the hospitality industry these things happen and I just let it go.
My expectations were at its highest once the food arrived. The presentation was fantastic, the service was friendly and aside from the bruchetta incident I was pretty happy. It was once I started eating that I realised I was going to pay way to much for my meal.
Yes it was a half chicken but it was a dry flavourless half chicken on quite a nice bed of green beans. It was also meant to be a crispy skin chicken and to me, it was too soft to be considered crispy. A lesson I learnt from this, stick with the restaurant’s specialty. I had initially craved the pasta and the pizza was up for consideration when we first arrived.
As for the other two dishes, the salmon was cooked well but again lacked flavour and the john dory just tasted like overpriced fish and chips. Now, just because my experience with the food wasn’t great, I will still come back to try the pizza. It is worth the visit even just for the view and the lovely service.
