Chez Laila - Ascot

The restaurant used to offer a fantastic menu, but they changed it about six months ago. Unfortunately, they lost many of their delicious salads in the process. Since the menu change, the salads are now wilted and brown, the chicken is rubbery, and the risotto tastes like undercooked rice and is watery. The atmosphere is nice and the desserts are great, which brings the overall ranking to 'average'. However, be cautious of the whipped cream in the desserts as it has been known to go bad.

This is my first time writing a review, but I feel the need to share about our terrible lunch experience at this restaurant. My husband and I ordered a chicken burger and a chicken BLT, but they were both so awful that we couldn't even finish them. When I mentioned this to the cashier when paying, they were grumpy and still charged the full amount of $39, despite us only taking a few bites. Unfortunately, this was our final meal before leaving Brisbane, and we had hoped Portside - being new and trendy - would be a great choice. It turned out to be a very disappointing end to our trip.

I really liked the salads, they are super light, they have very fresh vegetables, and the mushrooms were the best, unique flavors and textures for the palate.

Had dinner last night at this restaurant after seeing a movie at portside and just felt like something light and not super gourmet. The cafe was almost empty compared with all the other restaurants at Portside which is never a good sign. Service is almost non existent. Menu was confusing and it was difficult to figure out what was a pizza, what was pasta etc. Noone explained the specials to us. I ordered a penne pasta with proscuitto and mushrooms, which did come out fairly quickly. The meal was fine though nothing to rave about. This place is okay for a snack or quick meal, as long as you are not expecting something extraordinary.

At first glance the menu seemed a bit overpriced for a casual lunch, but the specials board, had Tuna Nicoise and a glass of house white for $15.90 so we thought it worth a try. Unexciting tinned tuna but freshly shaved parmesan and a nice cold Sav Blanc brought it up a notch. Music way too loud near riverside for good girlie chat fest, but tables on the side, shady quiet and delightfully cool and breezy. It looks every bit like a table service restaurant but actually you order and pay at the counter which was a bit confusing and slightly awkward for the waitress who had to spell it out to me!