Essa Restaurant

Essa Restaurant reviews from people who’ve dined at this restaurant. Based on recent rating.

Review summary

1. C

   Carly

   Melbourne1 review

   3.0

   Dined 2 days ago

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 2

   A good reminder that dining is about so much more than just the food. Every plate was delicious and so carefully prepared by a talented team of chefs but unfortunately the quality of the food was let down by overall experience. The 5 plates menu is promoted online and even has the weekly menu listed on socials for $66 per person, but when we arrived it was $76pp, with no explanation as to the change. This immediately left me feeling like I’d be lured in at one price and it was too late to change when we got there. If there was an explanation I’d have been ok with it but it just felt wrong. Service was fine but it didn’t feel like anyone was excited to share the food with us. We asked questions about the menu, out of interest in the food the work of the chefs they were profiling on the night and were given yes or no answers. I had to get someone’s attention to order a drink after waiting quite some time, despite it being a quiet night and literally sitting at the bar. It all just felt a bit mis matched. An attempt online to sell a menu for a fixed price and celebrate new and upcoming chefs but when we got there it didn’t align with that we were sold. That said, food was great and it’s a nice setting but the experience left me feeling like they really didn’t care about how we felt.
   

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2. J

   Jemma

   Brisbane2 reviews

   5.0

   Dined 5 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   The Sunday school set menu lunch was definitely a winner. The food and wine was superb. The background music choice was perfect. The service couldn't be faulted. Highly recommend!
   

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3. J

   John

   London1 review

   5.0

   Dined 7 days ago

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Classy good value ($68 Prix fixe three course) lunch way to try out before going back for dinner one day. Which will be soon.
   

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4. J

   John

   Brisbane49 reviews

   4.0

   Dined on 6 April 2025

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 4
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 4

   We very much enjoyed our Sunday School lunch, incredibly generous servings. Also enjoyed the wine by the glass (rose sparkling and rose). Definitely coming back....
   

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5. R

   Rowena

   Vancouver2 reviews

   3.0

   Dined on 5 April 2025

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 3
   3. Service 4
   4. Ambience 4

   We chose this restaurant for our anniversary dinner based on many great reviews and recommendations. Unfortunately our dining experience was disappointing. The food was quite average, not bad but also not great. Usually there’s at least one stand out dish but everything was a bit lack luster. Service was good and ambiance was nice but probably won’t come back again.
   

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6. M

   Michaella

   Sydney5 reviews

   4.0

   Dined on 5 April 2025

   1. Overall 4
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 3
   4. Ambience 3

   We reserved a table for 4 people over a month ago for the Chicken and Wine event, only to arrive and get told “just find a table and sit down”. We reminded the waiter that we had a booking and he said that they don’t have actual table reservations and the only table free at the time was for 2, so we had to squish together. What’s the point of taking reservations if you don’t actually get a reserved table?? From this moment on, the waiter was really rude. No water, no napkins, no cutlery. Every other table got them.
   

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7. K

   Katie

   Brisbane1 review

   3.0

   Dined on 4 April 2025

   1. Overall 3
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 2
   4. Ambience 4

   The service was great in the first 5 mins but after we had ordered the food and bottle of wine, it was like they forgot about us or didn’t care. For what we paid for the service was very underwhelming but the food was great. There were moments we had to wave down a waiter after waiting 15mins to get another glass of wine from the bottle we had ordered.
   

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8. P

   Philippe

   Sunshine Coast1 review

   5.0

   Dined on 4 April 2025

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Everything was excellent thank you! We had a great evening
   

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9. B

   Billie

   Brisbane1 review

   5.0

   Dined on 2 April 2025

   1. Overall 5
   2. Food 5
   3. Service 5
   4. Ambience 5

   Five chefs five plates this Wednesday was the best eating experience of my life. Outstanding.
   

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10. M

    Mikayla

    Sydney1 review

    5.0

    Dined on 29 March 2025

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5

    Absolutely fantastic meal. The staff were able to give good recommendations, informative with drinks and dishes, the attention to detail was world class.
    

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