Chino's Bar & Restaurant

Wow! It has been over three years since my last review here. Drove past and found a handy parking spot so re-visited it for a cup of coffee this morning.  
Service is consistently good and thanks for the lady who served me this morning with her professional attitude. Coffee came to the table with nice latte art and just spot-on strength for my palate. Vibe is cosy with last lay-out.  
This restaurant deserves my recommendation.  
Rating 3.5/5
 
April 22, 2016   Rating 3.5/5 
I meant to explore one of the café but it was the off day so I drove around Woolloongabba and discovered this place. It was early in the morning so I managed to get a parking space inside the property. This eatery is the dining facility of Chino Hotel and opens to public. Walked in and found a group of hotel patrons having their breakfasts. Ordered my coffee and the Banana Bread and took a seat then started to have my visual inspection. Actually set-up is comfortable and spacious. Coffee and banana bread are all decent food and drink. The most appreciated thing in this place is the passion of staff, who show case the passionate attitude in looking after all the customers by heart. Thumb up!

On the entrance level of Hotel Chino is Chino. Taking the translation of Wooloongabba (the meeting place) to heart, that is what it aims to do whether it be guests at the hotel or residents nearby, there is something that is accomodating and close for this quiet little place. Dimmi was doing the rounds again, releasing a place to have 50% off the total bill and this time around it was Hotel Chinos. Booking it in, this time around my housemate/dining buddy opted for it to be a breakfast meal since some of the stuff sounded quite unusual. Despite the rainy weather that morning, it was off to here on a weekend morning for Chino's. This is one of the most mixed I have been about a place in quite a while. There were elements of competency but it never fully held together as it should have done so.

Starting off though, the owner/chef Alex saw us out there with the rain and let us in. That was a good start to the experience. He welcomed us and was pointing us to take a seat. Little was wrong with the service regarding him; he was a decent enough fellow. That is a bit more than can be said about the waitstaff. When it comes to the service, there needs to be a bit more training there. In saying that, there was nothing overtly terrible with how we were served, and when the attention was needed but ultimately it was bare minimum that the young lady seemed to do with customer service. It does not take a veteran to know that it is the little touches that really add up to a place. For example, filling up the water - or even getting water for the clients without asking is a good start. A top up here and there is also good. Additionally, she didn't make the effort to go up and ask how the meal was. Just a word to Alex, if this place is going to remain in the mind of the client base, having service that is attentive and forthright is going to make it more memorable and add to the place. It is all about little gestures such as a few that I mentioned just before hand, but those can really cumulate.

Depending on what time of day you come here, the menu will be different. Breakfast is a range of wholesome and fairly substantial choices, having a bit of everything to please the most people possible. That is from toast to health food, to a full on meal, it is all there. Dinner and lunch is a bunch of plates, with tapas style stuff on small plates and big pieces of meat on larger plates. For that hotel sort of restaurant; it has what is to be expected.

As usual when it comes to the meal, coffee was the first order of business. With me that means doppio. They use one blend that I have not seen before, which is Abrisca. From this one coffee, I can say that it is quite good. The strength of the buzz is fairly medium, and the beans have a good depth and range of flavour - sort of on a chocolatey note - and that it was a well-extracted shot making a nice cup of brew.

I was going to order something else before the waitress mentioned a special that was not on the menu. This was kind of a big breakfast that consisted of bacon, eggs, sausage, tomato, mushrooms and toast, plus I asked for some black pudding as well (it was on what I was going to order). For the most part, I thought it was okay. The black pudding was delicious, with a soft texture and slightly dark flavour - you either like it or you don't, and my sentiments is that a Full English breakfast must have it. The sausages were tender, and the bacon well cooked with a tad bit of crispness to it. With the hash browns, they were kind of standard - obviously gotten from a packet and I feel the egg might have been a bit overcooked. Both the tomatoes and mushrooms were fresh and tasty, adding a good bit of variety to the plate.

Not having had it for ... let's say longer than I have been alive, my dining buddy looked at lamb's fry and thought to give it another try. Getting to the end of it, he told me that there was a reason that he had not had it all that time - it is not a pleasant cut of meat. I didn't think it was as bad as he was making it out to be, but the texture was certainly quite off. It was not really chewy or tender or whatnot - just a bit of an off-cut used as budgeting. There is not a whole lot of appeal with lamb's fry, so I will suggest 86 it for the future.

This place does have some elements of being good, and as per usual I want to like it as much as it can be. The major issues that I have with it did relate to a slack standard of customer service, and also about what Chef Alex wants this place to be. I am merely postulating and guesstimating that this is English cuisine, as it has a number of old classic English dishes though that is not been made clear. I do not whether to say it is off to a good start or not; what is definitely apparent is that they need a bit more engagement with the clientele and try to find what could work for them, then carve an identity out from that. Basically, it can do a whole lot better than it is currently doing and needs to act on it pronto.

Got to sample this place for breakfast courtesy of the entertainment book (it pays for itself!) offering 2 for 1.

The coffee came first and when the waitress came by another time she asked if I was happy with my coffee to which I said "no complaints" and she said she wasn't happy with it and then went to make me another one! My brother greedily drank the rest of my first one and I got a fresh coffee. I really didn't think anything was wrong with the first but the second one was better. Kudos to the staff for having pride in her work.

I ordered the French toast whilst my brother got the big breakfast. The menu was pretty basic but that's fine. The only thing with the French toast was that it came with half a grilled banana (which was fine) but the skin was still left on it which I thought was odd...

Went here on a breakfast living social deal and must say the staff were really friendly and it really stands out seeing as great customer service usually lacks at a lot of places. i had the bacon french toast which was really good and my partner had the pancakes. His pancakes could have been cooked a bit more. Setting is really nice and i think well be back to try the sunday $10 big breakfast.

Some of the best Italian you will find around brisbane, hands down! Reasonably priced with generous positions sizes. The taste is phenomenal. Best carbonara, yet to find one that beats it & the prawn and salmon pasta is to die for. Yet to try the pizza but you bet we’ll be back for more. Would highly recommend coming here for a meal!

The Pizza's were big with great portion sizes with lots of each toppings on. The Pasta was also terrific, carbonara left my mouth wanting more, and again good portion size. The meal deal is brilliant with 2 pizzas, pasta, garlic bread and drink for only almost $50. Was very filling and amazing, will definitely order again, the service and staff was also awesome. This is my first review, i dont do them at all, so you know its good

Is it too difficult for dominos or pizza hut, to do something like this? I like it

Delicious Pizza, perfect amount of toppings and cheese!!