TAKEAWAY REVIEW: Marinara Cafe & Restaurant



I didn't take any photos of the actual restaurant as I didn't know I was going to do a review til I got home.

Well, this is a first. A takeaway review! I wasn't on planning on doing takeaway reviews but Marinara at Hawthorne has made me so disgusted, the rage has pushed me to do it. So that's something good that's come out of this.

Mr Cakes, Puppycakes and myself were out walking when we noticed that an Italian restaurant had opened up where previously there was a pretty decent fish and chip shop. I used to live just up the road from the fish and chip shop. When my friend and I were broke, we'd get a couple of dollars worth of chips for dinner and all would be well with the world. What a shame that they have now gone.


Ew.

Once we had walked home, I called up and placed an order. The gentleman on the phone kept calling me 'darling' which did not bode well with me as I find it a little patronizing and a touch sexist but since I might be a touch of a headstrong feminist, I tried not to be sensitive about it. We ordered Gnocchi Bolognese ($28.50), Chicken and Mushroom Cannelloni ($28.50) and a Chilli Prawn Pizza ($25.50). The man taking my order let me know it would be a 40 minute wait and I said that was fine. As we only live up the road, we waited 40 minutes before leaving the house so we arrived after when they advised the food would be ready.


Closer up. Ew.

However, we were then advised it would be another 20 minutes. An hour for one pizza and two serves of pasta seemed excessive and we debated forgetting about it and going to Crust instead. I remarked to Mr Cakes that perhaps restaurant chains are not as sophisticated or cultural if you will as independent restaurants but at least they're efficient. There were about 15 staff working there who seemed unable to achieve anything as they buzzed both back and forward from the kitchen empty handed.


This looks better than it was.

Shortly after arriving, we spied some gnocchi come and sit on the front counter. We conferred that that box had better not be our gnocchi since the rest of the meal wasn't prepared, we didn't really want cold food. There seemed to be a lot of back patting of the customers, perhaps some sort of consolation for people having to wait for their food? Some customers had a better experience than us as about 3 lots came and went without a delay.


Undercooked. That's 'Everybody Loves Raymond' on in the background. Which is shit too.

I returned to the car shortly to sit with Puppycakes. Mr Cakes was offered a free drink while he waited so credit must be given their for the acknowledgment of the wait.  After about 15 minutes, a few containers arrived on the kitchen pass and Mr Cakes began to ponder if they were ours. Another 7 minutes elapsed and finally Mr Cakes asked if the food cooling was ours. Indeed it was. Maybe 7 minutes doesn't sound like long but when you're hungry and have already been waiting close to an hour, it's an eternity, goddamn it!  


Doughy. Undercooked.

The gentleman who took our order finally passed the food over and then offered a prepacked dessert of what appeared to be cheesecake. He proffered the container with a "For you, my friend!". Kind but when Mr Cakes said there were two of us, the probable proprietor of the restaurant said he could only give him one. What the hell? You can't give another dessert for two people who've been waiting over an hour for their order? That certainly didn't sit well.



Ew,



On the short drive home we both agreed that all would be forgive if the food was phenomenal. Since Marinara was already on a roll with disappointing us, it won't come as a surprise that they decided to stick with it. As I unpacked the food, the bottom of the admittedly huge Styrofoam container was cool. So it looks like the gnocchi that made an appearance early on was indeed ours. And it didn't get better when we opened the container. It looked like cat food, tasted strange to say the least with some out of place citrus taste. The gnocchi was gluey and the Bolognese sauce was watery. Frankly, if I ate decent Bolognese and threw it up, it would probably would have tasted like this.


Fancy Feast.



They did give us 3 pieces of stale garlic bread and I really would have preferred if they hadn't. I have just started a compost bin today so at least they gave me something to put in it. The pizza was the best dish we got but that's not saying much. It was a bit oily, the prawns weren't deveined and the base of the pizza was undercooked and I doubt it had been cooked on a hot stone. Maybe someone sat on it for a while. Puppycakes enjoyed the prawns so every shit pizza has a silver lining.


FYI, this was shit too.

Things didn't get better with the chicken and mushroom cannelloni. I opened up, had a spoonful and that was it. The filling was like Fancy Feast. Maybe Marinara was trying to make us feel extra special with Fancy Feast Royale. It was like a grey paste. It's where chicken and mushroom went to die. Cos they hate each other . And it was a murder suicide. A moments silence for where that chicken could have went. Like a can of Roasted Succulent Chicken Fancy Feast.


"What is this? Fancy Feast? I ain't no cat, you fool!"...I love the look of absolute bewilderment in her eyes.

In short, bad service, bad food. Not even Puppycakes liked the look of the bit we gave her. The rest went in the bin.

Food: 0/5
Service: 1/5
Price: 1/5
Atmosphere: 5/5 -my house! best atmosphere ever!
 

REVIEW: Our Haus

Here's the sign for Our Haus...not the greatest photo but anyway. Now you've seen the sign,

Last weekend, we woke up and got out of bed before 9 which is a bit of an accomplishment. We were due at breakfast with Mr. Cakes' lovely family. We walked the short distance to Bungalow 4171 to meet our fellow diners with 6 of us planning to eat. Unfortunately, when everyone arrived, we were told it would at least be 20 minutes until they would be able to seat us and that there were few tables large enough to accommodate us. It was a bit of a shame as I hadn't been to Bungalow 4171 for a while and was keen to try their new menu.

So instead we went to Our Haus on Riding road. We've been to Our Haus so many times as it's so close to us and we're always satisfied, especially with their serving sizes. They have recently changed owners in the last few months, so I was curious to see if things have changed. We were seated straight away and had menus as well as water for the table promptly. The services is always very attentive.


Our table in the lovely winter sun.

We were seated in a pleasant seat in the dappled winter sun and drinks were ordered! For drinks, we ordered one pineapple juice ($4.50), two Haus Frappes Fusions both for $6.50, two cappuccinos ($4 each) and for me...can you guess? Yep! A large caramel milkshake ($5.90).


The pineapple juice being all ananas-y.

The pineapple juice is from a bottle, not freshly juiced so it's nothing extra special but pineapple juice is pretty special anyway, right? One of the frappes was Mango Lime and the other was a rather exciting sounding Copacabana, which is pineapple, lime and mint. By reports, they were very good! The Copacabana looked particularly good.

The Copacabana on the left and mango lime on the right. Look at that pineapple juice in the background, pulling focus. YOU'VE HAD YOUR TURN, PINEAPPLE JUICE!

The coffees were good and nicely presented. They did look a tad small to me but I don't even drink coffee so I'm not sure how much of a right I have to judge.

A pretty little coffee. Is that called crema on the top? It's good looking froth anyway.

Now, down to the serious business. My milkshake. You should know I take dairy VERY seriously. Ice cream, and ice cream derivatives of which milkshakes are one, is my jam! They're my bae! They're my BFFs! And I ain't even joking.

It is a nice looking milkshake, I have to give it that. Ohh I see you pineapple juice! Go home, you're drunk!

So this milkshake...I gotta say. Meh. It's flavour was alright, I can't complain but it didn't knock my socks off. It was okay. The texture though? Mmm. Not that great. I couldn't even say it was like thick milk. It was like milk. And I would have liked a bigger one,(that's what he said!) but I think I might say that about every milkshake. So I don't know, overall, milkshake was meh.



That is a big Big Breakfast hey!

The milkshake did not ruin my experience though! Because here came breakfast! First up was the big breakfast at $21.90 It came with the standard big breakfast items - bacon, eggs, toast, mushrooms, wilted spinach, hash browns, grilled tomatoes and sausages. The usual suspects. But then there was a steak! A nice bit of steak! I don't think I've seen that outside a country pub and I think it was very much appreciated! It was just that little bit extra. Good work, Our Haus.

This is the Eggs Benedict with the extra haloumi and the second one is there in the left corner too!

Next up were two Eggs Benedict with bacon ($18.90) and one with an extra side of haloumi ($6). The eggs benedict at Our Haus also comes with avocado as standard too, which is another nice touch. The hollandaise sauce was tasty and the eggs were poached very well. The side of bacon was very generous and I have to say I got a little bit of bacon-envy. Happens. The haloumi was cooked well and not greasy as it can be. Both of the eggs benedict were well received.



The healthy breakfast option - The Gym Junkie!

Two servings of the Gym Junkies ($18) were ordered, with the Gym Junkie being an egg white omelette with mushroom and sweet potato served with rocket and spinach on top with a extra side of toast ($4). I didn't see any rocket on the plate though, even though its stated on the menu. I don't think that was particularly devastating. It was cooked well and the sweet potato went well with the omelette. It's nice to see such a healthy option on a menu that is also a hot dish.



Looks good hey! I like the little pumpkin crisp.

Finally, I had Eggs Riding ($16) with a side of hash browns ($4). One of my hash browns was pilfered by Mr. Cakes but since I'm so good at sharing, I didn't mind. I really liked the dish, with pumpkin and wilted spinach and I swapped out poached eggs for scrambled. It all worked well together and presented nicely. The tomato compete and little pumpkin crisp on top was a nice touch too!

I like Our Haus because it can always be relied upon for a decent breakfast. The restaurant achieves what it sets out to: it's a nice, simple suburban café. It's not a place for fancy, haute cuisine but it doesn't want to be. It's my neighbourhood café where we can rock up and get a table pretty much straight away.

Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5