Hindsight is wonderful thing and believe me l wish l had practiced what l preach. I can’t award it any stars because there are no minuses. From the moment we arrived ( As l am sure many must know this ) It was a case of O.K doesn’t look the best but hey lets not be judgmental. Our initial judgment was confirmed within the first mmm…. 30seconds. We couldn’t book because the mailbox was full, we phoned 4 times and again got the same reply. We decided to turn up and to a very quiet end of cheap shop area found the Grill. I handed over our voucher to the reply of … wait … you haven’t booked. I explained we tried .. many times and the mailbox thing. In my opinion they are definitely using that as an excuse, over and over.
On to the meals. They had just sold the last eye fillet ( in an almost empty place (cant call it a restaurant). The steak we ordered were Pepper and Mushroom steaks. They were the SMALLEST STEAKS WE HAVE EVER SEEN IN OUR LIVES!…. EVER! The gravy was packet the chips overdone an the salad, lettuce carrot and a bit of cucumber on top. HELLO!! We did have desert on our voucher but could not bring ourselves to stay for that and escaped as soon as we could. By the way they are not licensed. The upshot is the water is the best part of our experience, it came from a tap and they had no part of making it. Review on an emotional level scale CRAP .. CRAP … CRAP. I have embarrased myself by buying something which was l trusted was the description given and found to be totally the opposite. For anyone viewing this .. Take heed! I wish l had view the previous comments.

This is an awful awful awful place. We’ve been calling since last week to get a reservation -but no confirmation provided whatsoever (despite leaving countless of voicemail messages). So we took a ride there just to check the place out. Why am I not surprised that it’s actually CLOSED despite the day/times at the front saying that it should be open?

This is a scam of a business!

What a terrible place!! First sent email no reply, rang did not return calls, then finally got hold of someone and demand a table for Saturday to be told they were full. they squeezed us in, they were not full at all… Were grumpy as they did not serve beer or wine, garlic bread was mircowaved not warmed through well, did not offer us more drinks, no childrens menu, meals ok, but what NO vegs!!! so poor hubby had mash and chips with his dinner… Banana spilt was the ok thing of the night, no offer of coffees etc. What a waste of time!! NEVER go back there again… so much for being full Saturday night… only 3 tables the whole time i was there. Oh and to top it off the EFTPOS machine was broken, lucky our friends and I could get together $10 for drinks, who has cash these days!!!!

How do I NIL rate this place! I am embarrassed to be a South African when I see how this place (because I can’t call it a restaurant!) is ripping people off! Get it together or close down and stop taking advantage of people!

One is a generous rating for this restaurant… if I had my way it would be ‘Star-less!’ I just hope in reading this you DO NOT DINE AT THE GRILL, ALBANY.

We also bought a voucher to this restaurant. After several attempts to book this restaurant and being told they were booked out, We were very excited about our dinner. We drove from Sandringham to Albany which is a decent drive and the best part of the evening was in the car. The experience was to say the least unpleasant… in fact one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had.

When we arrived we were surprised by the decor of the restaurant, it looked like it had just been set up in an empty shop, it had no decor and lacked style…. but we didn’t write it off then – simply put it down to good food in a humble environment… but no the decor was just the beginning. The service was poor, after being ignored for 5 minutes after we arrived, seating ourselves and then the waiter took half the order and disappeared. We ordered drinks, which they forgot to give us, and when the meals arrived they were stone cold… I thought how could ribs straight from the oven be cold?? in the middle? Then it dawned on me…. the ribs were Pre- cooked then FROZEN and put in the oven… they had defrosted in the oven but weren’t hot! AND they were served with powdered mashed potato. Absolutely revolting stuff. We sent our cold meals back, only to receive slightly warmer meals 15 minutes later. By this time we were really starving, our little 3 year old boy was over the powder potato and mixed frozen vegetables and it was time to leave.

We were then overcharged on our card for the drinks and when we queried it with the cashier we were assured the transaction had not gone through. We went to the car and checked our account. The transaction had gone through and we were out of pocket. Thankfully they refunded us.

We aren’t rich people who dine at fancy restaurants regularly, we are just a normal family who enjoy good food. If you have me a free meal at this restaurant I would not eat there… Will be very very interesting to see how long they stay open for as it seems my experience is just one of many. Sort it out The Grill!!!

The Goods:

Nothing.

The Bads:

Everything, including:
Bad service – staff grumpy and reluctant to help right from the booking stage
Untidy restaurant and tables
Bad ambiance – customers getting up to leave and refusing to pay before we even got our order
Order took half an hour to be taken, another half hour to arrive!
Entree came out AFTER the main course
All the higher priced menu options were sold out, the steaks when we got them were WAY over cooked. I was cautioned that when ordering my steak rare that they do it very rare – the steak was well done when it came out!
Garlic bread was an absolute joke – microwaved. soggy and chewy tough.
The veges were frozen veges re-heated in the microwave, and were still cold in the middle when we got them.
Our dessert order was taken incorrectly twice!
The dessert was so unappealing that we didn’t even eat it, the cream was not fresh, but from a pressurised can.

I wish words were sufficient to communicate just how awful this place is, we left after the meal and went somewhere else for a decent meal!

The biggest disappointment in years!

The owner was dressed in jandals and track pants – serving paying customers. Service was appalling to say the least. Ordered coke – no ice – just poured out of a bottle – hardly any gas in it.
No serviettes, salt and pepper or tomato sauce with the food. Three tables and they could not manage. We did not even bother to stay for dessert. Owner was adamant to grab voucher before even ordering. The decor did not match prices of food. The menu was sub standard. Will never go back or recommend.

Don’t bother. We got there and place was full but only one table eating. Not licensed so ordered cokes, got a small glass of cola. Waiter was dressed very scruffy, we left after seeing him take some cutlery to another couple and wiping his face while still holding it…his face had a small acne problem to say the least. Only given 1 star because there’s no choice of minus 5 stars….stay away!!

I bought a voucher through GrabOne, made a reservation, and had to change the date – I gave plenty of notice. I left a message on the answer phone advising this. When we came in we were told they were expecting us yesterday and our vouchers are no longer valid!!! Do they listen to their messages?? He did eventually agree to honour the voucher.
My daughter had the ribs, which had to be sent back twice as they were still raw (they were pork).
I don’t think I can add anything further than what has already been said in the previous reviews, they are all spot on. Will not be going back.

I tried to get Groupon to refund my money and emailed them 3 times but no way, they do not refund customers based on bad reviews on the website and told me to give the place a chance and to try it out for myself so I went and ate at the Grill on Sunday! Definitely not worth the money at all. Most of the stuff is cooked in the microwave apart from the steaks. You could hear the microwave beeping all the time. The sauce on the veggies is out the packet, we had cheddermelt sauce on the steak which was a piece of processed cheese. 3 youngsters are cooking the food. My daughter couldn’t have salad as they had no lettuce. The owner came in later and I heard staff telling him that there were complaints about the mash from customers – no wonder it is powdered stuff. My daughter who is 14 said that she could cook better than this when she was 9 years old.

Groupon advertised this deal as being worth over $100 so I feel as a consumer that I have been ripped off by both Groupon and the owner of The Grill.

We purchased the deal through Groupon and they deal they sold was not what was advertised. I think it is as much a Groupon problem as it is the owners problem. I think Groupon should take full responsibility as this deal was misrepresented and was not worth over a $100. The expectations set was very high but the end result was very disappointing. In light of this fiasco, we are asking for our money to be refunded in full and if Groupon are not verifying deals properly we will be hesitant to refer people to use Groupon as a reliable source to buy deals from.

Notes on the restaurant

• This is not a restaurant and the price of the voucher was definitely not worth the money that was spend, let alone the estimate that was advertised. I think Groupon should investigate a deal before advertising it as this is false advertising
• Furthermore this was not a groupon special but rather a widely advertised special which is also advertised is in front of is shop
• The place is more like a Diner where you have to collect your cutlery and sauces from a table instead of being served, obviously a brewing place for flies etc. as the bottles did not appear clean and flies hanged around.
• The menus we received were very mediocre, badly printed and had food stains on them.
• The cutlery was probably hand washed and not with an industrial washer as it appeared dirty, we had to wipe the plates before we could use it for the Garlic bread. Obviously, if this is what you see, what happens in the Kitchen??
• The “Garlic Bread” is basically something you get from Pack and Save, warmed up and placed on a peculiar plate. It was not arranged, rather just the long piece placed on a plate.
• This is a non-licensed restaurant, so expect to receive a few juices or a coke etc. no Wine etc. They are still waiting for their license
• The food was okay if you compare it to a place like MacDonald’s, basically something you could get from a Take Away Shop not what you expect from a Restaurant. The chips (from Gilmour’s) was nice but the vegetables was very bland as it was frozen veggies with a not very nice white sauce. So, overall very disappointing
• We were not offered any desserts as per the deal and only realized after we left that this was to be part of the deal. Why were we not offered a desert?
• DO NOT ORDER COFFEE – The coffee as very bad and had chunks in it, not sure what it was, but did not drink it to find out…..

Well what can I say. Everyone else’s review just about sums it up.
I live round the corner and when I saw this open up I thought great we need a nice restaurant. I went in for takeaways and I actually had to ask for the mashed potato even though it came with the ribs. After waiting about 30 minutes I was looking forward to taking my yummy ribs home. Wow. I opened the ribs and it was a pathetic 6 ribs which was as tough as old boots. Wouldn’t even give to my dog. The mashed potato was cold so was absolutely disgusting.
More fool me I should have driven back down there and complained but I didn’t.
This guy has another business and let’s just say I know people who wouldn’t go back to him.
Shame as really would have liked to see them make a go of it.

I had a voucher and booked for Sunday but after reading the reviews here, cancelled. Turns out when I called to cancel, he was ‘pleased’ that we did because they had a gas leak and it was getting fixed. I cancelled an hour before our booking but they didn’t even call me before hand to tell me this so I was glad I cancelled. I’m also glad that we ended up giving a refund for our voucher after reading everyone’s reviews here so thanks everyone for their reviews.

This place is a BIG joke!!!
everyones comments about this place is sooo true, the place looked like an abandon office feel with walls that still had marks of sticky tape and office ceiling lights and second hand furniture like OMGEE, the plates had scratchy marks all over like old plates and the FOOD lets just say portion was ridiculously small the salad wasn’t fresh the gravy was blotchy and my dessert was home style….NOT GOOD!!!

We were heading here for our 4th wedding anniversary, I thought I would check the reviews before we went… Glad I did! I have rung groupon to advise them this reastaurant is not what they claim. Didn’t want to be dissapointed on our wedding anniversary so thought I would ring up and cancel reservation and go somewhere else. Turns out they didn’t even have a reservation for us! Odd as I have an email confirming a reservation for tonight…! Glad I read the reviews… Thanks!

Pretty much the below comments made sums this place up.

We got a voucher for $50 to the value of $100 off a deal site.

Had to pre-order over the phone before we came so we didnt have to wait 40mins. A couple of items ordered were unavailable as they had no stock?

Walked into an empty restaurant. Lady outside playing with the kids ran in to cook the food. Soggy supermarket garlic bread, raw chips, watties sauce on the ribs, frozen veges heated in the microwave, jellyish sauce… We were not impressed!

The main menu said the ribs and eye fillet came with chips etc. but it doesnt! you have to add the sides on top of your already expensive $40 per meal!

Do not go here! Worst place we’ve ever been to for a meal!

Honestly, every other review is spot on. If you have already got the voucher, I suggest you call up groupy or wherever you brought it from and ask for your money back.
I, like 500 others, brought the voucher with the garlic bread, steak meal and desert. For $50 this was a good deal so I brought two for my 3 friends and I. Like many others I was fooled by the apparent cheap deal and the menu with the pictures which is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING LIKE REAL LIFE! This is so misleading and they need to take these pictures down.
I drove half an hour to this place. I almost drove past it because it looks like a takeaway joint. It is on the end of a takeaway, dairy block of shops and doesnt look like a restaraunt at all.
Upon entering, the owner was nice. However the tables were filthy. The whole place looked like a kitchen/dining area in some run down flat. There was a little play pen and his two children were running around whilst goiing in and out of the kitchen (especially distrubing as we were by the door.)
We were asked immediatly if we had vouchers then were given our menus. This makes me think- they perhaps cheapened our meals?! We got the garlic bread quickly, but yup it was the cheapest soggiest garlic bread I had ever tasted (the waitress was very lovely though ) we were given glasses for our water and the cups were dirty as well!!
Once we got our mains, we were hugely disappointed. I got the eye filet steak and the steak was smaller than my hand (Im a small girl). There were about 6 fries on my plate and the salad was tiny peices of lettuce!!!
My friends ordered the mushroom steak and again they were disapointed. One of there steaks was burnt to a crisp even though he asked for medium rare and his mash potato? It looked like runny clumps of sauce. I actually asked him if he ordered hummus with his steak cause thats what I thought it was.
This was so disappointing. Even tho we had a voucher, 25 each for this kind of food is appalling. I cannot phantom how anyone cold pay full price?!
Dessert…not much better. Only a few options. Sundae we all got which was a two scoops of icecream and a pink wafer stuck in it.
What I didnt like, was I assume the owners son waiting on us and as the doors opened I saw he was cooking as well?! Sharing with his Mum the cooking duties?! Argh. Their children also began to help clear tables. I understand its a family business but there are some standards that should be upheld for the price you charge!!
I would not go here again even if the meals were free. Warning: If you have brought your voucher already, dont use it. Get your money back from the website.

Well where to begin…We purchased a voucher as it seemed a great deal garlic bread, two mains and two desserts for $49 sounds good hey well think again we were had that’s for sure!!! We got to the ‘restaurant’ which was more like a takeaway bar with a few tables, as soon as we got there we knew we had made a mistake we just didn’t realise how big. We got the garlic bread which was like the ones you get from the supermarket with a bit of added butter but it was a bit stale tasting. Then the mains we were so looking forward to the pork ribs on the website they looked lovely two racks on the plate and lovely and juicy with lots of sauce well what turned up to the table was totally different, a rack of 6 ribs is all we received no where near the 750grams as advertised on the menu!! they were dry the salad was iceberg lettuce, shredded carrot, capsicum and tomatoes the dressing were help yourself from the bottles on the table by cutlery and napkins in front of the takeaway bar bit. So I though great but a nice chocolate brownie will go down nicely but NO we had NO CHOICE at all!!! it was sundaes all the way well that’s two scoops of ice cream and a bit of sauce not very good at all, We couldn’t even get a drink to drown our sorrows as they are not licenced!! so soft-drinks all the way the glasses were small and the prices high. We were totally conned by the pictures on the goupon website this is nothing like the pictures so be warned!! We asked for a receipt and theres not even a gst number on it! We will not be going back that’s for sure!!!

I have been putting off writing this review as I hoped things could improve for these guys but when I saw another deal offer come up for them today, I had to give my opinion, if for no other reason than to prewarn potential buyers to resist the temptation of a great looking meal deal. Unfortunately that is what it is. The previous reviews are spot on and the website looks terrific compared to what is on offer. Prices have been ramped up for the deal and I was told this, to which I told them that that they were shooting themselves in the foot if they do that. When told ‘Oh you wont pay that when you come back, that price is only for deal customers, I said how am I to know that when all you give me is the higher priced menu. I will go on what I got for the price ( that has already been said below, & I totally agree). and told him I would never pay that price for what I got. I am all for little businesses making a go of it but sadly, I feel they have bitten off more than they can chew here and if you have bought a voucher, use it quick as I dont see this place being here for long if things dont improve vastly.
Oh and with regards booking, they dont answer their phones, dont get back to you when you leave a message, and close early if they dont have bookings. This poor guy is trying to run 2 businesses, I just hope this one doesnt run the other successful one into the ground.
I am sooo sorry, I hope you can turn this around, but I would not return at any price for what you are offering at present. I do wish you the best though.
1/5/12 update. Currently another voucher is being offered thru living social. At least this time what is on the menu appears more accurate. However, I hope along with the change of name (now Steak and ribs Ranch or Steak & Ribs cafe) there has been a change of attitude, quality of food offered and better surroundings as without these, changing the name is only going to suck a few more people in only to be disappointed and will do nothing for your reputation. I might pop past to see if anything has changed but after our first experience I doubt if it would be enough to make me want to eat there again.

This place is a joke! I went there after purchasing a voucher. Not so sure what all the “famous” claims are all about. They are overpriced even if they served what they advertised. The website has way more options than what is actually available, and the in store prices are much more expensive than the on-line prices. There was only 1 dessert available, and it was no better than something you could buy from the supermarket freezer. They are inflexible with times, and when I tried to book for 2 at 8.30, they told me they stopped taking bookings at 8pm, because they had karaoke at 9pm! First red flag. Then when I changed it to 6.30pm, they were unsure they could serve quickly because they already had a booking for 6 people. Apparently 8 people at once is too much. When we pre-ordered over the phone ( we had a movie to catch) they left off the chips, because I didn’t specify them (even though they were included with all meals anyway), when we asked they brought out one small basket of poor quality chips to share. There is no way the steak we were served was worth the $40! they wanted to charge, and the “salad” was iceberg lettuce with a few cherry tomatoes and some cucumber. It was like eating at your mum’s house for a BBQ. There was no ambiance, plain white walls, an ugly TV with cable showing, and the owners kids running around, with one small child being taken in and out of the kitchen. I see over 500 people have brought vouchers off another deal site since, I only wish I had written this sooner. We paid $50 for $100 worth of food, and that only just covered 2 steaks, one basket of chips, horrible salad, 2 glasses of coke zero (from the plastic bottle) and 2 cheap desserts. They had no liquor license, so no beer or wine available. Be warned!!!

Well well another review much the same as the last.

From the website you would think it would be something like Lone Star. It is amazing what some good photography and a good website can portray. The place has no atmosphere whatsoever and is like sitting in a fish and chip shop. The owners kids are running around everywhere and there is a play area in the corner. It is tagged on the end of a block of shops which include a diary, fish and chip shop, etc. The main guy who runs it wears t shirt and shorts so dont bother dressing up.

The menu. The lamb shanks apparantly only available a few months of a year – according to his suppliers?? The eye fillet was available and I asked for a medium-rare, and I got a blue steak… only the outside 2mm of this steak was cooked which was obviously very dissapointing. None of the desserts AT ALL were apparantly in stock which is just pathetic so we were given icecream. The voucher does not include any alcoholic beverages, and the prices for these aren’t even on the menu.

We were first of three couples to sit down and ordered drinks first, and were given our drinks last out of the three couples which is just plain rude.

I cannot understand how this place could ever do repeat business. Dont buy the voucher, and if you have bought it and still consider going after reading these reviews – don’t expect much…

OK….. where do i start with an establishment like this.
This was so disappointing that it was actually funny.
Ill start with the food, don’t let the website fool you. The pricing is higher at the restaurant and meals are very small and average and look nothing like advertised.

My girlfriend got the peppered steak with veges. this included the thinnest bit of sirloin i have ever seen and a few chips like six! veges consisted of 1x piece of broccoli 1x piece cauliflower and 4x baby carrots (microwaved) at $39.95.

For a steak house they had no Eye fillet! or beef ribs as advertised on their website.

Their condiments consisted of Watties tomato sauce Pam’s light thousand island dressing and tartare sauce??

I got the pork ribs as there were no beef ribs on the menu we were given, and when i asked if they have beef ribs he said “yeah lamb but they are really fatty so we grill them up” WTF!!! the pork ribs consisted of a rack of no more than six ribs and the membrane on the inside of the rack was still attached. (this being one of the most important steps of preparing pork ribs). The ribs were tough and chewy. The rest of the meal contained a warm salad and a few chips.

Inside this restaurant was a complete joke they had a play pen set up for customers children when i am positive it was there to keep there own children entertained as they were running around wild on kids bikes most of the time we were there. They have a big screen TV playing music t.v way too loud and no remote to change it so i was asked to stand on my chair and turn it down manually witch i did not do to prove a point and i was asked twice.

And the best part!!!!! There understanding of Char grilled is cooking on a warehouse six burner LPG barbecue inside their kitchen all the while smoking out the whole restaurant with the doors closed.

We had used a groupy voucher and were asked for it before we ordered so i am wondering if the menu was swapped for a more expensive priced with less available.

As we left i spoke to an Asian couple that had just eaten there. He was as shocked as i was and he too had used a groupy voucher turns out his wife got the last piece of eye fillet and it was tiny! All the while we were talking the chef was standing a few cars down from us in the car park having a cigarette. She couldn’t even wait until we left the car park.

I could not serve this food to my own family and or friends. It was visually disgusting and tasted the same as it looked.