Squires Loft, Nunawading by Bureaucrat

Having heard through word of mouth that it's a good place for steak, Ms S decided to have her birthday dinner at Squires Loft.  A bit of Googling showed that there's actually quite a few Squires Lofts around town (including some overseas) - and the one we went to was out in the burbs in Nunawading.  For those who know of Brand Smart, Squires Loft is situated on the exterior of this discount shopping outlet.

According to Ms S, organising the birthday dinner was a bit of hassle with the guys at Squires Loft.  While I can't comment on all aspects of the pre-dinner service, I did note that they made it clear that there is a minimum $45 dollar spend per person - so Ms S had to be sure that there were no empty seats for her dinner booking, lest the rest of us had to pony up the outstanding monies.  In addition, for a 6pm booking we were told we must be finished by 8pm.  All of this gave Squires Loft an impression that it had rather fancy airs about itself.

With 12 of us for dinner, all but two people went for the steak (the others ordered a grilled vegetarian dish and grilled lamb chops).  I only took a photo of my dish - a 200 gram eye fillet which came with chips.  For extra, you can order a side salad and sauces (which I didn't).  There's lots of different cuts of steaks on offer but most went for the eye fillet and a side dish.  

I got my eye fillet medium-done.  This was still a tad bit pink for my liking but it didn't mar my enjoyment of the steak.  It was lovely and tender and juicy.  The chips were also very nicely done - crispy on the outside and lovely and soft on the inside.  From what I could see of my fellow diners, the garden salad looked squeaky fresh but I did think the sauces looked a bit gloppy.

Bread was served before the steaks came out.  These were nice and warm.

As 8pm came closer, we finished and settled the bill.  We all felt this was ridiculous but were all happy to leave to continue the birthday celebrations elsewhere.  I mean, what establishment would willingly kick out a table of 12 diners who would otherwise be willing to stay on and order more drinks and food?!  The restaurant was, at most, two-thirds full and on the night we were there it seemed so unlikely that they had another booking for 12 people waiting to be seated.

Verdict

We liked it.

Splurge.

Overall

The overall impression for many on our table was that the steaks were pretty good.  However, the dining policies cheesed off many of us.  Given that all the main meals were $35+ and over, it seemed unnecessary to impose a minimum $45 spend per head (a main and a drink or two would get you there easily).  And while I understand why restaurants have time settings, it seemed so unwarranted at Squires Loft - while it was a nice steakhouse, it was definitely not the place that seemed to be fully booked-out or have queues of people lining up to get a table.

Find it at

Squires Loft
54/288 Whitehorse Road
Nunawading VIC 3131
Phone: (03) 9894 0583