Catfish - BALLARAT CENTRAL

The decor is wonderful, the service was exceptional. The wine list was impressive, although a bit pricey. The food was outstanding, showcasing high-end Thai cuisine at its finest. Overall, it was a fantastic dining experience.

We have visited this restaurant a few times in the past and always had a great experience. However, tonight was very disappointing. The food was mediocre at best and the service was clumsy and inattentive, at times even inappropriate. The wine selection was limited and overpriced. We will not be returning on a Thursday, or possibly ever again.

We had the pleasure of attending the first BYO wines dinner at Mr Jones, an event that Damian Jones plans to host on the first Monday of every month. The meal was exceptional from the beginning, with a delicious lineup that included rock oysters, wagyu beef, and a duck liver profiterole. All of the appetizers were beautifully presented and tasted fantastic. The perfectly cooked Skull Island prawns were a highlight, so much so that we couldn't resist ordering more. The grill-aged duck breast with pomelo, watercress, and mustard leaf salad was outstanding, as was the duck neck sausage that followed. A refreshing whole mandarin sorbet preceded the delightful strawberry and rose ice cream. I am looking forward to experiencing this dining event again, as it was hands down the best dinner I have had in the 8 years I have been dining in Ballarat.

We enjoyed the set menu meal very much. The blending of flavours were wonderful. The staff were attentive and friendly. We will be back soon!

This restaurant was quite nice but could so easily be much better. The web site doesn 't explain the menu to you (and doesn 't provide a price and even when a menu is handed to you (one per table!! it 's incomprehensible. Basically, just so you know, there is a set menu, which they call a 'banquet ', and each course has several dishes within it, which appear in some pattern that only the staff seem to know! We were greeted and shown to a table by possibly the rudest staff member I have ever come across in a restaurant, but the waiter assigned to us after that was very pleasant and attentive. We were upstairs which was good, as downstairs was very crowded and noisy, with very strong cooking smells. The food was very nice, well above usual Ballarat standards, but although there was a set menu, we had to wait a long period both before the 'mains ' and before the dessert. I don 't know why, as most places with a set menu bring out the courses quickly. One of our party doesn 't like fish, and when we mentioned this on arrival, the rude greeter told us we should have put it on our booking. Actually the booking site says 'Please alert us to any food allergies or intolerances '; and when you go to book there is a section for 'comments and dietaries '. The problem is that unless you know there are no choices you wouldn 't have thought to mention preferences, as normally in a restaurant you can avoid things you don’t like. So, unless the web site becomes more informative, best to say what you don’t like. Anyway, to be fair, after we had been rebuked by the initial staff member, alternatives to fish were in fact brought to the relevant person for every fish related dish (of which there were many – too many for me, personally, although I do eat fish . Our appreciation for this thoughtfulness waned, though, when we were charged for five meals instead of four. I don 't think that was deliberate, but if we hadn’t picked it up when looking at the receipt, we would have been very much overcharged and the prices are not low. The ambience is nice (upstairs but the restaurant is perhaps over rated and could provide more explanation to guests. And a menu per person would be nice, especially as you need the menu to hand all the way through, to interpret what is being put in front of you. The menu consists of one printed sheet; it wouldn’t cost a fortune!