Review Mean Fiddler - Albany

Came for dinner on a Saturday night. Seated straight away. I ordered the duck and scallop dish. Presentation was lovely and food was delicious, portion size was good too. After the main i ordered the chocolate brownie sundae. That was a mistake, get a jar, through a brownie in, pour chocolate chunks over it, then ice cream, then cream then candy floss. They should have called it diabetes in a jar. I guess I was probably the wrong demographic for it, it was just too much. Staff were lovely and attentive, pretty pricey

**Kids under 10 eat free** (with accompanying adults) We go back for the $25 pie + pint, WIDE variety on the kids menu (that are actually awesome tasting esp the pizza and pork sausage), YUMMY burgers and appealing cocktails. Some of the other menu items are a bit more pricey, but there's definitely something for everyone. Located on the main street of Albany and open on public holidays when most other restaurants in Albany aren't. A MUST- DO each time we visit Albany. **highly recommend

Absolutely amazing food and lovely service... Very thankful for the birthday song sung to me and my brother! Aswell as the amazing dessert given to us😂

Food once you got it was very nice. Service was slow, basic entree took 60 Min to come out. Friendly staff!

The food was amazing, great service and great prices and portion sizes. 3 course meals for $40 and this is one of the desserts.

Food was amazing and service very friendly. Check iut the kids eat free special.

Fantastic place. Fantastic food. And very kind and helpful chef. We visited Albany recently and went there for my husbands birthday. I am on a very restricted diet and the chef went above and beyond anything I could have imagined to create a beautiful meal - my husbands was excellent too. I felt special and not like I was on a restricted diet at all. We had a lovely evening.

My friend and I were looking for a nice restaurant which offered something suitable for vegans. The very friendly chef Pete came and had a chat to us about the options. We gave it a go and were not disappointed. We were served one of the best meals either of us have eaten. And the staff were very friendly and helpful. We were so impressed, we returned the following evening. In hindsight we should have pre-booked so Pete had time to think about what he could serve us. However, once again, we were not disappointed. Our meal was delightful. Couldn't recommend highly enough.

As with other Albany eateries on Zomato, I’m not sure how this place has a rating below 4 stars/isn’t at least 3.8. Food is good, they are very child friendly and service is friendly. A little bit pricey but it beats out many other restaurants for lunch. Sichuan duck was yummy but nowhere near and spicy as it could have been, carbonara pasta was full of mushrooms which doesn’t quite seem traditional but still tasty. Kids meals are well priced at $7 each. Would definitely return.

The Mean Fiddler is always on our schedule when we visit the area! 👌 really wonderful staff, made us feel welcome, are speedy with their service and accommodating to children too. We chose the set menu, couldn't fault any of the meals! Everything was delicious!! Especially the sundae 😍 If you're visiting Albany, you must fit in a meal here! You won't be sorry!

We stumble across this place while looking for a place to eat lunch. The service was great and this time the chef came out serving us the food. It gave an awesome personal touch to the whole dining experience. The food was good but a bit over priced for what it is.

Dropped in last minute. Excellent meal and service. Would return and highly recommend. My wife ordered the curried red lentil soup which was brilliant. And the polenta chips also great. ENJOY

This was an amazing meal and great service AND children friendly. It was sure value for money.<br/>We made a night of it but some tables turned over twice while we were there.

I always have an amazing experience in the Mean Fiddler. The staff go above and beyond to ensure I have a great experience, and the chef caters to my every need. I have multiple food allergies, so I'm a difficult customer, but they rise to the challenge with great gusto. The chef knows that apart from my allergies to dairy, gluten and MSG, I eat everything and all spices. I get him to surprise me with courses, and I must say, I'm ALWAYS pleasantly surprised...My rating out of 10..would be 12 :-)!

This seemingly approachable cafe, bar and restaurant sits along the main foodie strip of Albany. We were greeted by a soft spoken lady who showed us our table and immediately brought us our menu and glasses of water to drink. Our glasses were topped off by the same lady. The burger I had was good, the portion a little smaller than expected. Chips were nice and crunchy, but was a bit heavy on the salt.

Cold night with warm hospitality was Amazing. <br/>Lollypop Buffalo Wings with blue cheese dipping<br/>Southern Chicken <br/>Pan fried local shark <br/>Sirloin Steak <br/>Creme Brulee<br/>Bailey's cheesecake<br/>Kids eat free.....pizza was tasty and yummy suitable for kids.

We went to The Mean Fiddler last night for a nice family dinner with my husband, 4 year old and 9 month old. It was amazing! The staff were perfectly friendly and bent over backwards to make us comfortable. The food was absolutely perfect new could not fault a thing and would not change a thing. We had the set menu. I had the buffalo wings in hot sauce and blue cheese dipping sauce for entree, fettuccine carbonara for main, and a brownie concoction (not sure what it was called) that consisted of brownie, ice cream, sauce, marshmallow, fairy floss, melted chocolate. Everything was wonderful! My daughter inhaled her fish and chips. Was a great night out. Will be back again (have been coming here for years).

We visited Albany recently and found this place while walking on the main street... We really loved this place as the food was just so delicious..was a good value for money as we got a 3 course meal for only aud 38. The ambience was good and the place jam packed..you actually need to reserve tables here unless sitting anywhere in the middle is not of concern (like we did!) We will definitely visit the place next time we visit Albany and will recommend this place to anyone who loves value for their meal coupled with super tasty food!

Yum!!. We had the classic burger, was tasty and filling. Lemon lime bitters gets a thumbs up from us and then we had the brownie for dessert......... we would go back a million times if all this place served was that brownie! The gelato and sauce in combination was absolutely amazing. The lady who served us was really welcoming and the atmosphere was great! :D

We settled on this restaurant as the one we had tried to get in to was fully booked. <br/>We all settled for the set menu which at $35 was an absolute bargain for three courses. The food was good with very generous serves , two large tasty spring rolls for entree (which three of us had) followed by a slightly undercooked sirloin, a chicken "parmy" which had a nice tomato sauce, tender and tasty salt & pepper squid, and a carbonara that was deemed to be nice. This was followed by a round of very yummy creme brulees!<br/>The one drawback was the two young waitresses who were on duty when we got there, being referred to as "you guys" and being asked if we wanted a drink while one of the young ladies picked at her nose was a bit off putting. They were later replaced by one olde and clearly more experienced staff member which changed everything.<br/>Overall a good place to go for if you are looking for a simple meal in relaxed surroundings  - just beware if you are greeted by the under 19's wait team!!

Rolled up for a Wednesday 6:30pm reservation and they were trying to clear our table by 8:15 in an obvious hurry to get rid of us.It was a quiet night in Albany, but we were happy to take our time over a meal that involved a discussion about our business strategies.The menu was interesting and looked very good, but the quality of the food served was far below what was expected.The worst part of the experience however, was the obvious rush to get us out of there so they could close for the night. They were offering us coffee while we were still finishing our meal and with half a bottle of red on the table. Dessert wasn't offered!!Will not return and would have been better off at Due South just down the road.

Probably should have ordered from the a la carte menu rather than the special. Very friendly service. Large portions if that's what you want. House white wine was a bit aged but drinkable.

Good food and great service. A fantastic night

Dinner at The mean Fiddler. Had dinner on Monday night after a drive from Bunbury. Set menu of three courses was good value and there was a good choice of dishes from the set menu. Service with a smile. Welk worth a visit.

Very overpriced for what is on offer. Seafood not all fresh, generic frozen prawns, generic salt & pepper squid. Salad underwhelming although was fresh. Very old and tired menu. Tasted better at Manly RSL.

The Mean Fiddler was one of many restaurants surprisingly opened on Good Friday in Albany. It is located on York Street in the town centre.<br/><br/>We reserved a table for 7.30pm and made our way down about ten minutes early. The restaurant was quite busy as we were shown to our table by the window.<br/><br/>We had the option to order from a 3-course-menu for $35 or an a-la-carte menu. We had a look over both menus and were happy to order from the $35 menu.<br/><br/>We ordered starters and main course to begin and would order dessert after our mains.<br/><br/>I ordered the Asian Noodle Soup for starters and Pan-Fried Local Shark and Chips for main course while Mr. T decided on Fantail Crumbed Prawns to start with and the Sirloin Steak with Red Wine and Mushroom Sauce for main course.

The seafood salad was excellent! The sirloin steak was tough and served with fries - no choice on that. Very average for the price. The filet was good, but nothing special. One server was very grumpy (the reason I bothered to write this review) and detracted from the experience. Prices were very high for what was offered.

Great value for money. $5.50 soup is the cheapest I've seen! The $35 set menu is outstanding value. All food was lovely.

Really good food. The steak was medium rare for Ed and my vegetarian tasting plate was delicious. The restaurant was crazy full and they were pumping out the meals at the rate of knots.

Have heard good things about the mean fiddler- my husband and I went to suss it out- were beyond impressed!<br/>From soft lighting and a warm vibe, friendly waitstaff, and able to scribble/draw on the butchers paper with crayons- a fun touch. We enjoyed the set menu- garlic bread, chicken parmy and brownie- cheap and cheerful- for $35 it was a steal, and good quality food. The second meal was the soup of the day ( sweet potato, bacon and maple) served with Ciabatta bread-so delicious!, main- the waitress was so helpful and assured me the entree size would be plenty for the chilli pork belly and scallops- little tips like this take a place from good to great!. This dish is so well put together- and a real stage stealer! Definitely worth ordering- you won't be disappointed! For dessert I had the special, chocolate sandwich, the photo doesn't do it justice, was a delicious combination of Crisp chocolate pastry, strawberries, chocolate pastry cream and vanilla ice cream- large enough for two people- and a conversation silencer-Yum!<br/>Overall a great spot for seriously good food whatever the budget!

Disappointed with the PR at Mean Fiddler.. Very disappointed in your PR “Mean Fiddler”. You never followed up on my email (requesting a booking) and when I telephoned your restaurant the young lady who answered the phone told me for some inexplicable reason that she has to “ hang up – sorry”. Eventually after persisting I was told "sorry we have a private function on that night – so we can’t take your booking". We felt quite offended - we waited days for that reply. Most off putting!! Why couldn't a return email advise us accordingly? Our guess is that you didn't care. <br/> Just as a comparison the 'Venice" which was also booked out prefaced their comment with "we do apologise - we are very sorry, but we are fully booked" - The Venice has been in Albany for many years, wonder how long Mean Fiddler will be there?

Great food and service. Fantastic service and food, we had 3 course set menu it was really great value and quality

Good value + great food. Really nice food and service. You can't go wrong with the $30 3 course meal. Cheers

Disappointed ... Again. I really, really wanted to like this place and the first time I went here I did. It was recommended by a friend as having the best steak sandwich she had ever had and, on that occasion, it lived up to her hype. I took interstate visitors there and was severely let down by the ordinary service, the prices and the far-from-amazing food. Yesterday was even worse. $19 for a chicken salad ( fried crumbed chicken atop finely shredded veges with some noodles drowned in a sweet sticky dressing ) left me wishing I had ordered a chicken sandwich up the road. We weren't thrilled to be asked, "Anything else you guys want?" And to to have to repeat the order five minutes later. Didn't love having the water poured out of an old plastic jug from the kitchen, or watching a staff member ( maybe she was a family member - she took her bowl out to the kitchen after she'd finished) eating her meal with her fingers and simultaneously texting at the table. It was not cheap fun, all quite unprofessional and we left vowing never to return.

Interestingly fantastic. We had pizza+beer/10$ on a Fri night, which was fantastic for the price.<br/>The cream brulee was excellent specially if you like it less sweet. The special dessert was interesting with ginger ice cream, but a bit too sweet for me.<br/>In one world I was very happy after my dinner :)

Excellent food and service. My wife and I tried this place for dinner on Tuesday night after reading the menu board out front during a walk. Well, we are glad we did as the food was excellent and the service bright and attentive. I had the chicken saltimbocca which was by far the best I have ever had, full of flavour and just the right balance of cream and cheese. Delicious and we will certainly return during our next visit.

Everything is either full of cream or us fried. Feel like a restaurant from the 80's.

Chef comes out and has a chat with everyone. Found it on urbanspoon thought I would give it a shot...excellent food. The shark I ordered was cooked perfectly And the atmosphere was great and comfy. A+

Went twice during this easter weekend. excellent food and very friendly & welcoming staff. highly recommended!!

Oasis of good food in the evening. Albany shuts down at the end of the business day except for bars and restaurants and the restaurant that stood out was the Mean Fiddler. Excellent 3-course Dinner offer ($30) with a variety of dishes. Good idea to book. Serves Guinness (but not draught) and local WA wines. Friendly welcome. Now been twice. (UK Visitor)

Do not bother. Went in wit.... Do not bother. <br/>Went in with my dad after he'd seen the menu the night before and he liked the look of all the seafood but when we went in on Sunday it wasnt til after we'd been seated by the less than warm chef/owner that we were tild the menu was a hugely reduced set menu with barely any seafood. The only vegetarian option available was a polenta stack. The chef told us it wa basically because he was too cheap to pay his chefs sunday penalties. <br/>Polenta was so awful. It had poorly cooked eggplant on top and it was not seasoned. <br/>The chef was an ass. An arrogant ass. Although he did give us a free port because i hadnt touched my main. There was a lovely dutch (i think) waitress but the only other girl on the floor was the surliest waitress ive ever had the misfortune of being served by. <br/>Shouldve gone to the Indian round the corner.

Dissappointing. Not enough wait staff so the service was poor from the moment we walked in..If it is trying to be upmarket by being licensed only then it should provide service accordingly. Had to wait too long for food. When the waitress said "sorry there is a delay with the spring rolls because the first lot "burst" in the fryer"....We waited so long for the mains that we bought another bottle of wine -good for their business I suppose but not for the hangover today...We shared a fisherman's basket squid nice and fish but awful prawns fried too long-.We complained about the wait and boss threw in a very delicious salad so can't complain about that. .Also liked the idea of crayons to draw so I did a big scribble to accentuate my frustration before I left. Need a light going up the stairs to the toilet. .Not going back in a hurry unless Peter gives me a freebie!

Fantastic food,service and family friendly!

Excellent Meal Deal. Friday nite special - $10 pizza and a pint!<br/><br/>Tasty, thin and crispy pepperoni pizza with a pint of Little Creatures. Nice!<br/><br/>Friendly and attentive staff.

Good Service and Value. First time been there on a Saturday night for a team dinner with over 40+ people. The positive were good value menu ($30 for a 3 course menu). I tried the stuffed mushroom, pork belly and cream brulee. They were all good ! Service was good too given we got a big team. The only minor negative was the slow pace of the food delivery, but totally understood.

Never again.... I reluctantly came back here as my friend really wanted to try it out. We were going to a show at 8pm and so booked at 6pm. There was also a function at 7pm, another reason for the early booking. By 6.30, we went to the counter and asked to place our orders as we had a time limit (they hadn't taken drink orders at this point either). There was no sincere apology for the wait either, I think we put them out by wanting to place the order! The bottle of wine then took another 30 minutes or so, the food arriving shortly after. I had the pork belly, which was lovely but definitely not worth the $39 price. If I were to cook the meal it would cost me $7-8 absolutely maximum with no wholesale discount. Because of the time we couldn't order any desserts and luckily we hadn't ordered starters. I won't be going back again and suggest if you do go, put the whole night aside!

Very nice. The crab and broccoli on the Fuji plate were yummy but the batter on the prawns was very heavy. Also had the angle hair pasta with scallops and burnt butter sauce special. This was ok.

Have to go back!. The food here and the service is passionate, locally owned and always a delight!

May 2017<br/><br/>We visited the Mean Fiddler for lunch while in Albany.  I ordered the scallops and pork belly again and it was absolutely amazing.  Hubbie had a burger which he enjoyed.  The service was a little slow (but it was quite busy and there were 13 of us).  The prices seemed to have increased again and there were not so many lunch specials on the day we were in. <br/><br/>May 2013<br/><br/>Nice lunch spot. We journeyed to Albany for our yearly visit which included lunch for 14 at the Mean Fiddler Café.<br/>The menu leans towards finer dining, but the décor needs a little updating to meet the menu (and some of the prices!)<br/>The service was very good. Only one waitress, but she was very attentive and prompt in her service.<br/>I ordered the creamy garlic prawns and it was delicious. Very well cooked prawns and beautiful sauce. Others had the fish and chips which were generous and also tasty. Several ordered the stuffed mushrooms and the chill prawn fettuccine which was a previous favourite. They were a little disappointed this time. They were not bad, just not as good as previously. Two ordered the steak sandwich - but the steak was a little grisly.<br/>Overall a nice meal.

Great food and service - I'll be back !. Having read the reviews on Urban Spoon I thought I'd be taking a punt on dinner here last night. Happy to report that Bella Lincoln and I had a great night.<br/>Service was excellent, staff were attentive, friendly and happy to discuss the menu. The menu was varied, a meal for most folks and I went for the chicken vermonth. Very tender, lovely sauce, vegetables nicely steamed and a decent serve. Mrs L had the fish of the day, seabass, that came with prawns - big thumbs there too.<br/>We finished the night with desert, sticky date pudding and baileys brulee - delightful, finished off with short macs. The chef/owner, Peter, popped out at the end of the evening to ensure we enjoyed our meals and service.<br/>Overall, a great restaurant, service and food excellent and well priced.

We had lunch here and enjoyed both the food and service. I had the seafood salad and my partner had the king prawn chilli fettuccine. We both enjoyed our meals and would definitely return for more!!

Service was excellent, Shark was fresh and delicious, steak sandwich was well below par- very cold and quite tasteless.

Not a bad spot - the vegetarian pasta with green beans was sensational. Service was a bit slow as they were under the pump on Saturday night, very nice waitresses.

GREAT GLUTEN FREE MENU. Yes peeps a GF MENU! Lovely GF desserts too which are often lacking elsewhere. Best options at town currently. Yummy seafood! Locally sourced.<br/>Staff are friendly and helpful.<br/>Only one drawback so far.... : ( <br/>You need to book well in advance to get in! Suggest earlier time this is always helpful to you and the staff serving you anywhere you go. Larger groups tend to eat out later.

First dinning out experiance in Albany and deffinatly one worth trying out the service was amazing the staff very welcoming my boyfriend and I ordered the Red Snapper and it was delicious a little bit pricey but well worth it. I recommend the Mean Fiddler if your ever in the Town of Albany :)

Terrible. My family and I recently dined at the Mean Fiddler and were extreamly disapointed. We booked our table for 7pm, we waited approx 20 mins to have our drinks order taken... to which I was served the wrong beverage. We had to ask the wait staff to take our orders, to my amazment our meals still were not served by 8.45pm. After asking the staff if our meals had been forgotten we were told "sorry, shouldn't be to long" by 9.10pm we FINALLY had some food on our table. I don't know where to start.... my meal was served on a dish that must also be used in prisons or school canteens...a horrid metal tray... the Dahl was unlike anything I had ever tasted (in the worst possible way) My partners seafood was over cooked and the serving size was very small for the price. My gran's chicked was pink in the middle and my nephew found plastic in his lamb shanks. When we told the wait staff they appologised and we asked the chef to be informed. When we asked what he had said the staff member replied "I don't want to tell you what he said he is an asshole"..... The whole meal from start to finish was the worst dinning experince I have ever had.

Families beware - children not welcome. We went in at 6pm but didn't have a reservation, no matter only 3 of around 15 tables being used and it was still early on before most people book their tables for dinner.<br/>I asked for a table for 4 adults, the waitress turned to reach for the menus and guide us to a table but then I mentioned I had our son with us as well. No problem I thought, he can squeeze in between my wife and I and we saw a high chair in the corner we can use. The waitress got hesitant and talked with the lead waitress there. Suddenly we were told they were booked out, no tables available when only a few seconds earlier they could make room for 4 adults on their own.<br/><br/>Just awful customer service

It seemed so promising........ A girfriend and I planned dinner out, she was visiting from out of town. We booked in at The Mean Fiddler and were impressed with how busy they were for a Monday night. The staff made good initial impressions and were attentive at first. Our entrees were delicious - she had the Fiddlers Own Stuffed Mushrooms which were very much to her liking, I had the Margaret River Brie which was also delicious. The presentation was fresh and lovely. For main course, she chose the Garlic Prawns which had her in raptures, I had the Linley Valley Pork with Cherry Maple Red Cabbage Braise, Seeded Mustard Mash, Greens and Gravy. Sadly the Cherry Maple Red Cabbage Braise did not make it onto my plate. I queried this and the waiter told me he would find out what had happened for me. 40 minutes after our mains plates had been cleared, our water glasses had not been refilled and there had been no offering of dessert or coffee from the waitstaff. We decided to finalise the bill and I asked again what had happened to the Cherry Maple Red Cabbage Braise that was meant to have been served with the Pork. I was told that "she" had forgotten to put this on my plate. We were not charged the $5 corkage as compensation for this kitchen error. I am very disappointed that a "signature" item could be omitted and that I had to ask twice to find out why it had not been on my plate. What seemed so promising turned out to be a lack lustre dining experience, when I had wanted to share a good local restaurant with my friend.

I love this place - we ate there last year and couldn't wait for our return trip to Albany this year. I have absolutely no complaints with the service, price or the exceptional food quality. There were 4 staff serving and we never lacked attention from the staff. Both the entree and meals were brought out very promptly. Yes, you will around $35 for a main but we feel this is completely justified for the amazing food. Not really sure where you'd go in Perth to get food this good for less.

I concur. I agree with the other review here, the prices are extortionate. <br/><br/>I think this is the problem with Albany eateries in general, to make a living out of it, secondary to reduce overturn, prices have to go up??? I'm not sure, but most restaurants charge high-end Perth prices, when they actually aren't quite deserving of that cost-structure.<br/><br/>The meals I have had here though have been tasty and the service was very prompt.

Yes and no?!. It really is a shame that somewhere in Albany that uses beautifully fresh local produce fails, simply because of poor service and overinflated prices!<br/>The meal it's self was fantastic (fresh caught harbour herring) but was pricey at $38, and I felt sorry for the two poor girls who were clearly overwhlemed at a full restaurant. Our first round of drinks taking 20mins, entree taking a furth 35mins, then our second round of drinks and mains taking another 35mins.<br/>Such a shame really!