I find Harbour Town/Docklands as a weird place – I say that with no real reason and full of bureaucratic prejudices. I work in a tall building in the city, and I can see all the wonderfulness of Melbourne below me. Everything looks nice, green and populated until you see Docklands. It’s sparsely populated, accentuated with the fugly expensive but cheap-looking apartment building complexes and the big, ugly, broken Ferris wheel (don’t get me started on that....too late. Who are the morons who think that having a Ferris wheel adds class or interest to a city?! I know London has one, as does a few other European cities. But at least with London, the Big Eye isn’t so much an eyesore – mainly because the building density is such that it fades into the background, and what little you could see is effectively masked up by the pea soup).
Anyhoo, we ensconced ourselves in a horseshoe-shaped booth. I’m not a fan of horseshoe-shaped booths – it’s bit of a pain to get in and out easily (especially if you need to go to the loo).
Bubba Chuck went for the children’s chicken nuggets with chips, which she enjoyed. I was lucky enough to try one of the nuggets – only because Bubba Chuck wanted me to give her my calamari....
...Beaker went for the chicken salad...
...Mr P went for the chicken parma...
...Mother Hen got the club sandwich. Unlike the rather ‘meh’ and deconstructed club sandwich that we had at Cafe Vue at Heide a few ago, the club sandwich here was properly toasted, stacked and stuffed full of ingredients....
...Mr Strong got the seafood pasta, which he quite liked. He particularly liked the good mix of seafood and the white wine sauce...
....and I went for the calamari salad. I was quite impressed – lots of fresh calamari, which was perfectly grilled. The salad leaves were fresh and crunchy. Bubba Chuck wanted in on the calamari and convinced me that it would be a fair trade for me to give her three pieces of calamari for one of her nuggets.
Overall
The GT is a pretty good place for us. Lots of menu options and the service was prompt, friendly and the food was big and tasty. Afterwards we wandered around the shops in Docklands and made an obligatory trip into CostCo (and that’s when I bought a 1.8kg bag of Reese Peanut Butter Cups... yummo!).
Verdict
Food - 7
Ambiance - 7
Service - 7
Price - 7
Address
Groove Train
Level 1
3-6 Star Circus
Harbour Town 3008
Telephone: 9670 4662
I think that The Docklands is in a bit of a catch 22 situtation. Its only half done and won't be completed until more people go there, but until it's completed people wont go!
ReplyDeleteAnd 1.8kg of peanut butter cups!
Fil
yes, 1.8kgs of delicious peanut butter cups.... I had intended to send the whole thing to the Lawyer in London.... but let's just say that the peanut butter cups didn't find its way to the UK ... :D
ReplyDeletehey I've been to a few of the groove trains before and found that they were really bad.
ReplyDeleteThere is an Entertainment book voucher for them, but even with that they are still bad.
I'm glad they closed down in Melbourne Central though. A new wood and chimney place is there now.
Service was shocking and so was the food for the price I paid.
I guess not all Groove trains are the same :(
hey katy
ReplyDeleteyeah, i read the reviews of the other Groove Trains - bad service and food.
but this one in Harbour Town was actually pretty good. the manager even came and asked if were enjoying our food (which we were) and even joked around with us.
I have to say... I have never ever experienced such fantastic service, as what I experienced at the groove train at harbour town!!
ReplyDeleteMy family and I arrived on a Satirday night a couple of weeks ago, where we were greeted at the entry by what seemed like the manager (found out it was the owner later), who looked at our little children and said "sorry no kids allowed", before laughing and enjoying the joke with all of us, after winking at us parents... and stiring the kids. I've never had such a greeting. That was great!!
He let us know that it was a little busy and there may be a little wait for our meals tonight, perhaps a 30 min wait, but he'd arrange for some quick nibblies for the kids.. Great!! The food arrived in 20 min!! Not only were the meals fantastic, but a cake arrived by surprise at the end, and John the owner together with a couple of his staff sang happy birthday to my youngest daughter!
It's sad that once in a while, some customers have a bad experience, but this place was simply faultless.. They have secured us as customers for life.
Thanks John & staff..
Jimmy Chambo & family..
Hi Jimmy
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear that you got such great service! :)
Bureacurat