Pialligo Estate - Canberra

My husband booked dinner at the Pavilion for my 30th in March 2023. The atmosphere and venue were beautiful but unfortunately we both got terrible food poisoning. I have not been that unwell from food ever. I was sick within 3 hours of eating and violently ill, luckily it passed after 24 hours. I advised the restaurant that we had become unwell in a polite email. It took them 5 days to get back to me and when they did they basically indicated they didn’t think it was food poisoning because none else complained, although were apologetic we were unwell. I was really disappointed by the management of this, given it was an extremely expensive meal. My birthday was ruined by the food poisoning at a time where I really needed a win. We would not return. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: A$140–160

On the last Saturday night in February we ordered the new $95 per person Grazing menu which was four entrees, one main, one side all to share and one dessert. And like all the other recent reviews we were shocked at how small the portions were and how bad the food was. Firstly our waitress was attentive and lovely. She offered for us to taste a couple of wines before we settled on a bottle. The wine list had changed since we were there a month ago. The wine was good and that was nice of her. The music was too loud but someone must have complained cause they turned it down. Our table was in a side room and my husband had a view of the machinery shed. Others behind us moved from their tables but we stayed put. We probably could have moved but we didn’t ask. The entrees were a portent of what was to come clams which had about seven empty shells and about five clams the size of swallow tongues underneath a pile of either zucchini or eggplant (not sure cause the dark, oily, unpleasant sauce made things unrecognisable), some sliced tomato with black garlic, some raw zucchini flowers and gherkin with basil oil, two lamb riblets the size of half a toothbrush and simultaneously fatty and dry. These took an hour to come out. The complementary bread rolls were better than any of the entrees. The best part of the entrees was the basil oil. We did mention the clams were very unpleasant and to the credit of the waitress she did come back and say she’d spoken to the kitchen and they had offered for us to have something else, but we indicated we were in a hurry and just wanted the main brought out. At this point we were hoping the main would be outstanding. It was described as Berkshire rare pork with sugarloaf. Another forty five minutes later (we’d finished a bottle of wine by this time) three bits of pork approx 10cm x 3cm with a wedge of cabbage came out. All charred to bits. Again, simultaneously fatty and dry. We each had a bite of one rib and tried the cabbage (that’s the sugarloaf). An insult. A shared main for two people at $95/head? We left the table. At the cashier the gentleman there was very nice and kind and calm and offered for the dinner to be free, but we had a gift voucher and we didn’t want to come back. It was that bad. And look, if it was a once off maybe we would try it again but we have been here about five times for various occasions and three times in the last three months and it’s never been good. If you’re going to do the paddock to plate thing, I think that’s great, but the simple things have to be done well and the protein (the expensive part) needs to be a substantial serving size and needs to be great. What we had was quite frankly insulting. My husband went home and had sardines on toast. We joked that we could open a food truck just outside the gates called “Still Hungry?” and sell pies and make a fortune. I’m writing this because $200 plus just for the food is a lot of money for a lot of people and by the time you add drinks, the experience better be very good especially if you are celebrating a special occasion. If you are in any doubt then err on the side of caution and go somewhere else, cause we wouldn’t even go back for free. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: A$120–140

Having a child and an infant with our party of 5 was really well accommodated as we were just on the outskirt of the main dining room which was nice as being able to get up with a baby and not disturb other diners was appreciated. As a Sunday lunch we settled for the $95 grazing menu which included 4 small plates, a main and side to share and individual serving dessert; some wine tasting; a few mocktails; and a spritz. The service was great, perhaps a bit more attention to refilling water glasses, but otherwise friendly and responsive. The unfortunate part of our experience was the portions of the dishes. What we were given would’ve been suitable for a couple or group of 3 to share but between 5 it certainly was not enough to graze on or share. The dishes as pictured (just missing one of the starters) were presented beautifully but as pictured was the size of each dish with the exception of the pork rib main which had another 2 ribs on a separate plate. Flavours were exceptional and perhaps if served as a degustation it would probably have been better experienced at its price point. I’m not sure how different this new menu was to previous ones but i would be unlikely to recommend to larger groups. Service: Dine in Meal type: Lunch Price per person: A$100–120

As the menu had recently changed, our table of 8 were a little confused. The waitress ran through how the menus worked. The waitress explained that the whole table has to agree on one menu. This was difficult as some had allergies to seafood (seafood entrees) and others didn’t eat red meat (only steak main meal option). They were accomodating with replacement options so we got the new share plate menu which was $95 per person.. The portions of the meals were tiny. I can’t believe you would charge $70 for an extra main when the chicken dish was literally the size of quarter chicken wing. Desert came out at different times so we were all about to share a 3 bowls of ice cream as we were under the impression this was shared too. Luckily we all got a bowl each eventually. We all joked we needed to go to McDonald’s after as we were all still hungry! The atmosphere was lovely and the design of the restaurant is beautiful. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: A$120–140

We were very impressed and pleased by how accommodating the chefs were of our numerous, annoying dietary requirements. They were kindly willing to modify the chef's tasting menu to suit our needs. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: A$140–160 Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5