Rockpool Bar & Grill - BURSWOOD

Hot on the heels of my review of Santini Bar and Grill comes Rockpool. Here we have moved from a venue where the service was good but the food lacked, to a venue where the service can only be described as poor, but the food was great. We have had mixed experiences in the past with this restaurant and generally have found the service not up to scratch. This visit, a birthday lunch for 4 did not change that view. When you have to get up and wave not once, but 3 times, to get someone to 1. take your drink orders, 2. take your food orders and 3. order more drinks something is amiss in a place where mains can be over $60 I forget the 4th which was to get the sauce that was meant to come with a steak). That said, after a substantial wait to order and then receive the food we were all happy with the food that was finally presented. Given that the main dishes are pretty minimalist when it comes to accompaniments we ordered three sides. To me these made the meal, particularly the charcoal oven roast pumpkin and the cos, endive and radicchio salad. The Wagin duck breast and the Arkady lamb were also singled out for particular praise. So there you have it I'd happily give more stars if not for the service, which in our experience lets down the efforts of the kitchen.

Dined at rockpools on Saturday and the food was awesome. A lot of people ordered the duck and feedback was unbelievable. I had the due fish and felt a little over cooked. It took almost an hour and a bit from the order to we ate. Was quite long and we ended up buying another bottle of red wine but to be honest the sitting was at 7pm and needed to be out by 8:30pm. Never going to happen as it took over an hour for the mains.

Could have, should have … ? At this price point a 5 star experience should really be expected. We had a lovely evening but … there were a couple of misses. The scallops were sensational. How they trim them so cleanly and perfectly in the shell is a wonder. Beautifully cooked and the orange oil and herb was a subtle and perfect flavour addition. Our other starter was the octopus. The flavours were ho hum, oK but the claimed chilli was sadly absent and it was, in my opinion, overcooked and tough, though I accept this may be subjective. Both our mains were good, a moistly cooked piece of fish and a medium rare steak. Sides were acceptable and suited our mains choices, without being startling. The service was very good of course and the wine list was an astounding number of pages long. Overall it’s a good place to celebrate special occasion. But please Rockpool replace or properly clean the curtains/drapes which were laden with dust which was very obvious from our window seat in the low lighting.

Rockpool is one of those places where you feel cosy and comfortable as soon as you walk in. The smell of grilling meat is a big turn on for any meat lover. The menu is extensive with a lot of entrees, mains and of course sides to choose from. Unfortunately the prices are overboard and apart from the good service I received the food is very lack lustre. The meat is very overpriced and apart from the precision cooking of it, it's extremely average in flavour. If you travelled abroad you would understand what I mean. The steak is not even on par with its Sydney and Melbourne chains. The sides are poorly assembled and heated through and not really fresh at all. The wine list is probably the best in Perh but with a ridiculous mark up of at least 200% . Overall Rockpool is a good overpriced experience with average food. Especially the desserts are in need of a lot of work.

Came here for our 1000th day anniversary, and we loved it! Walking into the restaurant was already an experience, great service and we were looked after by one of the waiters. He was very friendly and attentive, recommended us with the right food as well, he definitely knows the food well. We had oysters and kingfish for entree. Oysters were fresh, the kingfish was Tasty! Definitely our go to entree choice if we come back again. Unfortunately the steaks that I wanted were not in stock, but they still taste phenomenal, seared very well, and boy to our suprise they cooked the steaks medium rare with minimal blood on the plate and still maintain that juiciness! Side dishes were okay but they are served in generous amount. We had the seared broccoli, make sure you have the creamed corn chipotli because that one just goes well with our steak. Definitely will come back here again for the steaks we couldn't get last time.