Cafe at the Concert Hall - Perth

An oldie but a goodieThere's no other venue with acoustics like The Perth Concert Hall.

For many years, my wife and I have attended many events at Perth Concert Hall. For convenience, we often arrive early and grab a bite to eat and then, after the show, might have a drink or coffee, while waiting for the car park to clear. There are not many venues nearby at an easy walking distance, so they really have a captive clientele. Perhaps for this reason, we have rarely found the dining enjoyable here. Resigned to a bad experience, we usually shrug our shoulders and try to make the best of it. This place never fails to disappoint, so at least they are consistent. We have sampled many of their dining options. The food usually varies from mediocre to bad and it is always overpriced. The menus often hark back to food we stopped eating in the 1970s. The service is usually patchy, at best and varies from embarrassed explanations from staff to a shoulder shrugging take it or leave it attitude. I hope that, for their sake, the staff find work at a more satisfying place, with better training and some hint of jab satisfaction. To add to the excitement, you never know what will be on offer. Sometimes, the restaurant area is open, as well as the bar snack/casual dining area. Sometimes, we have turned up to find no food options offered at all, on a night when the show is booked out. Other times, dinner is offered, but, after the show, the bar and coffee areas are closed. The post-show tea is usually stewed, the coffee substandard and both are cold and unsatisfying. Any sweet fare offered with coffee is usually unimaginative and unappetising. And, always overpriced, given the low standard. We usually feel cheated and used and always question why we allow it to happen to us so often. For the past couple of years, we decided that enough was enough and we have avoided eating here at all. Since then, on several occasions, we noticed the restaurant section was full and the bar snack or casual meal area seemed well patronised. Last night, we let our guard down. What a mistake. There was no cafe section open. However, in the corner of the foyer, there was a makeshift food stand offering tandoori chicken, fish and chips, a chicken burger or chips. That's it...for what is supposedly one of Perth's premier, sophisticated venues. We opted for fish and chips, on the basis that they surely couldn't wreck simple food. Three lovely, smiling young staff said that there was a wait for the fish and obligingly offered to bring our meal to us when ready. I noticed the chips in the bain marie, under the hot lights, looking as if they had died a long time ago and said a prayer, hoping that fresh ones would arrive with the fish. After a short wait, the meal arrived. There were two small strips of fish, with a serve of the dead, dry, tasteless chips. At $15 per serve, it was a disgrace. I spoke to a server, who, after a wait, brought us fresh chips. As we ate, we noticed her go to the blackboard menu and draw a line through the tandoori chicken option, and watched other diners wading through truly awful food. The average country roadhouse offers better fare at better prices. After the show, there was no tea or coffee on sale. Really, this is a disgrace. There is a huge, bare, cold, uninviting plaza at the front of this venue and an equally unwelcoming area at the back. This area should be a hub of activity, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. I can't believe that after all the time the Concert Hall has been in existence, the food is worse than a grotty old pub or a country roadhouse. Once again, we resolved to explore other options and, as we have done many times before, decided never to eat here again. Who knows when we will weaken again.

2 families having light lunch after pantomime. Good service. Good choice of menu (for kids too). Nice food reasonable priced.

The Cafe at the Concert Hall is good for concert goers, at least, in part, because there are few other nearby options for the audience, many of whom are elderly. It's a good place for a light meal, before or after a concert. It seems to be a typical West Australian institution. The staff attitude seems to be why hurry, the sun will shine tomorrow.

My mother was a keen concert goer. She loved dining here before a performance. The Concert Hall Cafe serves good food at an affrordable price. it's aslo a good place for a coffee.