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philippe frostvia Google

2 months ago

Our annual Charcoal Christmas lunch was sadly a let down. The crumbed Camembert entree was still solid in the centre, not melted and goey. My medium-rare steak was cooked 'well done' and was dry and tough. The waiter did not offer me a glass for wine or asked if i wanted a drink after arriving later to the party. He also wasn't taking away empty beer bottles or replenishing our table water. Worst of all they charge $76 for a bottle of Argentinian wine that still has the label 'Aldi Stores' on the back . It's sold at Aldi for $12.99. Pretty dishonest mark-up! This place is trading on its good reputation, but i would rather go to the Hellenic club down the road and pay a fair price for a nicely-cooked steak.

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Tim Watlingvia Google

3 months ago

Shockingly bad, incompetent and shady. After literally decades of wanting to try it, I finally had international visitors who asked for a steakhouse. Where to start? Most of the steak options were unavailable. The prices were seriously high (yes, I know steak is expensive, but how does $85 for a modestly sized eye fillet sound, and $325 for a 2016 Penfolds St Henri?). If it had been good, I wouldn’t be complaining, but the steaks, ordered medium, were totally grey- I would describe them as very well done, and mine lacked any moisture. I politely noted to our waitress that we were a bit disappointed. We should have sent them back but we’d been waiting a fair while and one of our party was a hungry youngster. So eventually the bill comes, and the waitress mistakenly overcharges one credit card $400 instead of $200. We politely ask if the charge can be reversed, and are told it can’t be. We are offered the $200 difference in cash (seems odd) but even that offer is subsequently withdrawn by a different waiter who was appallingly rude and belligerent. Our only option it seems is to call back tomorrow and sort out the situation with the owner. Consequently, my international visitors were left with an overcharged corporate credit card to explain to their company, while I needed to scout around to find cash to repay them my share. Messy and embarrassing for everybody. And having had overpriced, badly overcooked steak! Completely, utterly unacceptable and embarrassing. Definitely not recommended.

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John Koulourisvia Google

about 1 year ago

If you want a great steak in Canberra this is the place to go to. It is an old school steak house. Has not been renovated in a long time, which adds to the character. The steak and service was great.

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Syndy Marrvia Google

over 1 year ago

Tucked away in a little nice venue that's been around for many years, so it must be doing something good. The order - Camembert to share between my husband and I (yes, finally we manage to find a babysitter and off we went on a date night! woohooo!!), Sirloin with Béarnaise sauce, Scotch with Pepper sauce (400g each) and manage to fit into the other stomach on dessert to share (creme brulee and it crackled!!). Steaks came with baked spud (parmesan, cream and chives) and veggies. Yum! Increasingly, it's hard to find a place that can do a rare steak actually rare.....I'm happy to report back that Charcoal is one of those places that do it right! A tender, flavorsome cut of beef - it's an example of a great steak done properly. Worth a visit if you like steak and I can see why they've been around and stayed around for so long. Will definitely support Charcoal to get my Rare steak fix. Thank you to Debbie for making our date night memorable.

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David Gvia Google

about 3 years ago

Overall our experience at Charcoal was relatively decent. The furniture is quite dated but in my opinion it adds to the overall charm of the place. However because the walls are carpeted, it feels like you're in a cauldron. It's fine for winter but on a 30 degree day, it is quite uncomfortable and there is no air-conditioning. As far as the service is concerned, there is only one lady servicing and waiting all the tables. She definitely does her best but she is overworked. Her name starts with 'D'. The owner just sat around and didn't bother to help. When we walked in, we were made to sit at a table that was not cleared. It was messy and the owner did nothing. We had to wait for a good 15 mins before the one lone server was able to get to our table. Not a good start to our experience but thankfully it picked up from there. In terms of food, we ordered the fried Camembert which was quite a sizable portion and could well be shared between two people. The fried skin was absolutely delicious! For mains we ordered the Prime Rib and the eye - fillet with peppercorn sauce. The prime rib being a premium cut of meat was quite underwhelming. We ordered it medium rare but it wasn't cooked evenly at all. Some parts were well overdone but the eye fillet with the peppercorn sauce was way way better. The peppercorn sauce was to die for. Dessert was also a hit and miss. The creme brulee we ordered was warm on the inside and didn't have the glass shattering sound from the burnt sugar. The sticky date pudding however was outstanding and definitely compensated for the hot creme brulee. It's definitely one of the best sticky date puddings I've tried. Overall, our experience wasn't too bad but in my opinion if you're paying the steep prices, the quality of the food and service needs to be impeccable.