Torba Restaurant & Lounge

In case anyone thought that things have changed here since Samantha G did her review back in April this year - think again. We had exactly the same type of wine experience: ordered a Pinot Gris and a red; bottles brought to the table and the red opened before we realised that it was a St Hallets and not the Tatachilla we'd ordered- no prior warning at all. We looked at the white - this time before it was opened: a cheap $10 NZ Pinot Gris and not what we'd ordered; when we said we didn't want it, the owner came over to tell us it was the same. No attempts to explain the obvious - that it wasn't at all the same -were successful: the repeated response was that it was the same price. This meant we were going to be charged the same price for two very different wines of very different quality!When pressed, she was forced to admit that, despite the long list of white wines, they only had the NZ Sav Blanc, the not listed NZ Pinot Gris and a Chardonnay. Of course - our waitress did not say when we ordered the wine that it wasn't available.Until we checked TripAdvisor this morning, we were almost prepared to accept the explanation that the restaurant is just about to introduce new wines, about to happen next week etc etc. BUT, Samantha Gs review makes it really clear to us that this is how they roll.Food was incredibly underwhelming for the price: two small Coles looking bread rolls cut in half accompanied three small serves of dip; cabbage rolls ok but barely warm, as were the bland dumplings.When we asked what the fish of the day was, we were told: 'White'.Thankfully we hadn't ordered mains so we could escape what was a really really disappointing experience - and we had been so happy at the thought of tasting Russian/Eastern European food.Hate to say it but do yourself a favour and give this one a miss until they change what is clearly a deliberate 'bait and switch' routine with the wine.

My spouse and i spontaneously decided to eat there on a Saturday night. Thoroughly enjoyed the food, waiter service was attentive, ambience was pleasant and the live violinist was a plus. A bit overpriced perhaps

It's always good when you walk into a restaurant at an odd time, and they'll still serve you with a smile! We visited Torba at about 2.30pm, and they were very happy to look after us. $10 plates, just perfect to share. Beautiful regional wines and porters to compliment their meals. Thank you, Torba, we'll be back :)

Beautiful girls were trying hard to make it a nice experience but when you come to eat it's all about the food. The menu is small, which should be a good thing if each dish is cooked with care and arrives quickly. There was one special- the fish of the day which was battered Basa. Seriously? When was Basa owned up to on a restaurant menu, when was it caught in Queensland?!!Between us we had Goulash, Kebabs and Lamb Pilaf.(probably the best option) They were all extremely oversalted, which I could have forgiven if they weren't stone cold. Goulash is served in individual cast iron pots. These can easily be kept piping hot in the oven and with only 4 menu options you are bound to sell them. No,it was obviously spooned in from a large pot of lukewarm goulash, with cool mash and a slice of cold capsicum(?), no other vegetables. They also need to sort out the bathrooms. There are 3 taps into a trough basin with autostart functions. Only one tap had a spout, leaving the other 2 to eject a strong spout of water all over the customer's front whenever the sensor was activated. So now we are all wet, not warmed by our cold food and feeling massively ripped off by paying $120 per couple for main course and drinks. Sad really because the music was lovely, the position is great, the food flavour is good and the girls were really working hard to jolly us but the management obviously couldn't care less about their menu (Basa?!!), maintenance or quality. Come on Torba you're giving Eastern Europe a bad rap here!

This was our second visit here. The concept of mixed Eastern European food is good and our meals ( beef cheek, dumplings, lamb pilaf) were flavoursome. The service was very ho- hum. The place was almost empty but the cocktail took so long to arrive it came just before the meal. The staff could not answer questions about the wine and overall it felt somewhat overpriced.