Review D'browes - Canberra

I’ve eaten at this restaurant a few times but this time I had experienced something I’ve never experienced before at any restaurant and I do not recommend this place at all. First of all, I decided on the eye fillet as I love a good steak. Only to find out that it was a scotch fillet and the price had shot up an extra 10 dollars on top of it which makes little sense to me. Seems like the price should be lower considering eye fillet is generally a more premium and costly cut. Secondly, I ordered the meat medium rare, which is how I always have my steak. As soon as the steak came out, I had two halves and just assumed that the steak had fallen apart while cooking. Presentation is not important to me so this didn’t change anything. However, one of the steak halves was clearly a different cut and was colder, over cooked, under seasoned and was completely different to the other seasoned and medium rare half I had. It was almost like they had run out of the meat and just given me someone else’s half eaten steak off their plate. It made me feel sick eating it and I have been feeling sick all day today. Lastly, I never expect a refund for this kind of thing even though I think it’s ridiculous to pay for something that’s lower quality than you could get from McDonald’s. But after bringing this up with the staff, I received absolutely nothing acceptable from the them and the chef. Not even an apology! An acceptable treatment for this scenario would be to offer a round of drinks, a refund or even a partial refund, but after not even receiving an apology, that’s where I drew the line and decided I’ll never go back. I’ve never had this happen before to me, even at a club or a pub where steak could be expected to be poor quality. I will never eat here again and I advise you avoid this restaurant. I’m embarrassed to ever think this was a fine dining restaurant.

Wonderful dinner on 11 June, sensational food, excellent attentive staff, lovely atmosphere. Highly recommend.

Tasty food, a warm and inviting venue - love the decor! The young lady who waited on our table was super friendly and helpful. We'll definitely be back as there were so many things on the menu that we want to try.

Been to D'Browes a few times now, and it has always been great. We had another wonderful dinner here last night. Waitress and Chef were very friendly, and it is great that Chef Damien comes out to let us know the specials, sets it apart from other restaurants! The food is always excellent, and mains are very generous serves which is one of the main reasons we prefer D'browes over other restaurants! Definitely prefer it being a BYO restaurant too, can have the exact drinks you want!

Good and ambience is excellent. Especially the crisp white tablecloths! Both waitress and Chef very friendly and food is to die for 🍽. We had a special lunch 20/10 for my birthday and could not have wished for a better venue Thanks

Had the kidneys and duck. Delicious. Very reasonable price for what you get too.

Great little find serving old-school Mediterranean fare in a modern setting. Good, hearty meals. My wife remarked that if we lived closer, this would be a regular for us.

Best service, great food - we travel from the other side of town to eat at D’Browes. Every special occasion we have is here. Thanks Damien, Maddie and staff.

I can't recommend this place highly enough. I love it when you are in the hands of a quality chef<br/>who takes care that your experience is a good one. This place is like stumbling<br/>across one of those small village restaurants in Europe, that do a small menu<br/>exceedingly well. Quality ingredients, prepared with care and attention. And a<br/>firm feel for flavour. Natural oysters, steak, pork chop, goulash. OMG. Have been here three times recently and the food has been first rate. Thanks for the memorable meals D'browes.

BRILLIANT. Thanks Damien for providing an incredible surprise for my wife's surprise 60th. The night went off without a hitch. The food was extraordinary and the service was excellent.Your staff must be commended as they could not do enough for our many guests. Comments from our interstate visitors the next day were many and very complimentary. What an incredible setting for hold a function. Thanks.

Was taken here by my parents when they were up from Melbourne. <br/><br/>Intimate setting with attentive wait staff. Was a little disappointed with the attire of the wait staff however. The chef personally went through the menu with us, which was a nice touch. <br/><br/>Overall the food was pleasant but was lacking some finesse. For entree I had the scallops, which were well cooked but the buttery sauce became overpowering and left a greasiness. Was appreciated of the cooking of my salmon main, which I am quite particular about. The crispy skin was quite nice but the accompanying sides uninspiring. <br/><br/>Overall a pleasant experience and could certainly improve with some careful thought and attention to detail.

Terrible food and no drinks available (wine or soft drink). The calamari wasn't crisp, just oily and soft. The fish pie was not edible. The cream sauce had split and was very oily. At least the place is BYO.

Friendly dinner for 2. My partner took me here for a surprise date after work on a Thursday. At 7:30 it's was just ourselves and one other table. The personal service from the chef was a lovely touch and we were sold easily on the freshly baked bread. Luckily we weren't drinking other wise we'd have had to duck into the IGA next door for some byo wine. Taking a punt on ordering something a bit different, our snails marinated in rosemary n tomato and oysters Kilpatrick came out quickly and smoking hot. Just what we needed! My partner went for the spicy Hungarian goulash and was not disappointed- perfect large quantity and with a real kick! My vego option of goats cheese, capsicum n walnuts was equally filling and we'll assembled. <br/><br/>I can imagine a bustling full restaurant on a Saturday night might have given a completely different experience, but for us this was the best dinner date. Hot tastey food, fast service with an intimate touch, and a desire to return to eat the rest of the well priced menu. <br/><br/>A must for all Canberran's, we've already sent our friends their way.

Good food, service and value for money. Shame about the detail!. This is a lovely place it really is, great food at a great price! And talk about portion sizes, these guys are generous! The only let down is their attention to detail, poorly presented food that looks 'thrown' together and lacks finesse... the place looks like it could use a repaint too! Even so it wont' stop us going there again.

Great value and food. We (7) recently ate at D'Browes on a Friday night to celebrate a number of birthdays. The food was very good with a wide range of well-priced dishes. My three courses ~ a generous entree of scallops, a superbly cooked pork chop on garlic mash, and a dessert of pears with zablioni, were great and good value.<br/><br/>Despite the capacity crowd, the service was timely and highly proficient. Including a tip, we paid $60 per head which included corkage and coffee. Highly recommended!

Fantastic food, great portion sizes, brilliant flavours and attentive staff. Will definitely be going back for more. Highly recommended!!

My wife had the lamb shanks I had the pork both were delicious and filling.the waitress was great always smiling.excellent alround

Third time a charm?!. Our third visit to D'Browes with past expectations we were looking forward to fine food and excellent service. The menu had not changed dramatically. We went to dinner with 4 friends and had 3 courses. The scallops were cooked to perfection, soft and dripping in garlicy butter and parsley - all the more to lap up with the crusty bread! The lamb shanks just melted off the bone and were a huge serving size. The beef was again huge in serving size but cooked perfect medium rare, the only downside was the potato 'crisps' were burnt. Creme brulee was more like a firm custard which let down the dining experience, however the generous serving of toffee seemed to make up for it! We had two waitresses attending to us, one was friendly, the other was surly and very rude! Big prices for big dishes. I would suggest they vary the menu to keep it interesting and fresh. Nice atmosphere for a romantic dinner or a get together with a large crowd. Won't be going back in a hurry...

Great restaurant in Narrabundah. Tasty food and decent portion sizes. The osso bucco was massive and topped up like a massive volcano on the plate. Didn't finish this meal as there was too much food. Profiteroles filled with icecream were delicious and drool-worthy. Professional service. I came here for dinner one night also and the only complaint is that it was so dim that I couldn't read the menu. Would definitely recommend this place.

Quality feeding zone. Given the limitations of the venue (a shopfront), the owners have made some effort to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere, but the spartan decor left me cold. Service was friendly and knowledgeable, with sensible suggestions for matching and sharing dishes.<br/><br/>The dishes are well put together, though the standard side salad is a bit ordinary. I enjoyed fish & chips immensely - a light tempura batter, perfectly cooked fish, and crispy, hot galettes of potato. Sister-in-law's salmon pie was popular, and brother's rich and hearty lamb shanks were flavourful and rich.<br/><br/>Ridiculously generous serves - even my hollow-legged brother was unable to complete his main - a first!<br/><br/>The profiteroles were a disappointment - choux pastry was cardboard-like and huge scoops of icecream overwhelmed any subtlety.<br/><br/>Stick to the mains and enjoy a terrific feed.

Really excellent food. Fantastic soft-shell crab,the meat dish are well executed and are a good size. Service was adequate. Price is reasonable... check them out.

One of my favourites. When I want to have a special night or have interstate guests D'Browes never lets me down. The pork and lamb dishes were great last time. The restaurant is small and a little noisy but the staff are great.

...crispy duck Maryland coated with poached pear jus The pear was amazing- sweet and juicy and covered in spices but it overpowered the taste of the duck, it was almost like eating a duck dessert. The meat was also a little dry.