Nobu Melbourne Crown Casino

As a regular to there crown precinct I always enjoy visiting itI don't always win but that's how it goes.

Blackjack plus should be called blackjack minusIt's a complete racketDealer gets dealt last.

As soon as you walk in here you can smell money , and what a smell it isFrom the time you enter the main foyer .

We had never ordered Japanese before and our waitress was wonderful helping us order from the menu. The food was amazing! We were given a lovely table and service was the best. This restaurant will not disappoint!

It's a simple reality that any big name restaurant in the Melbourne Crown complex is going to be expensive. It get that. These places would be paying exorbitant rents. They are inevitably big venues with high staffing costs,and their fit-outs are done to dazzle. If that restaurant has a "name" associated with it, then you can expect to pay a surcharge on top of the already steep price.The reality is, Nobu is a big-name chain at Crown, so it ticks all the boxes for a big ticket bill at the end of the night. OK, I get all of that. High prices are one thing; value for money is something else again. I've been to plenty of expensive restaurants at Crown, and I love the Neil Perry establishments there. Sure, they're expensive, but you always come away having enjoyed a real dining experience, and if you come away hungry, you simply haven't ordered well.The food at Nobu is great, but I question whether it offers value for money. Had I paid half what I paid, I expect I would have rated it five stars; but when you end up paying $250 a head for the eight course chef's selection, and the half your dining party end up eating bread, cheese, and pate when they get home, you have to start asking a serious question--have I been ripped off here. Sadly, I answered that to myself in the affirmative, which is why Nobu will be a "oncer" for me; I'll be taking my big dollar somewhere else--somewhere where I feel I get value for money.But let's look at the positive. As with all high-end Crown restaurants, Nobu is a delight to look at and is fitted out beautifully. The tables are spacious--perhaps even a little too big--and well distributed. There is an excellent sense of privacy, and, while it's not a quiet room, conversation is easy enough. I've read other reviewers complain about the volume of the background music, but I didn't have any issue with that. I felt that the ambient noise was very manageable.Service is provided well by the mostly young staff, who carry that casual efficiency so distinctive in high end Melbourne eateries. There were a few glitches at the start of our night--we were asked repeatedly whether we wanted drinks, drinks were initially very slow to arrive, and my martini was not made to order and had to be sent back--but it picked up as the night wore on, courtesy of our excellent young waitress who looked after us very well. A point away for the poor start, however; that shouldn't happen in a restaurant of this calibre.We chose the eight course chef's selection, which required a bit of negotiation, because one of our party was allergic to shellfish and didn't like seafood of any type. To their credit, they accommodated him very well--a big tick for that.The food was excellent and appeared at nicely spaced intervals. The standout dishes to me were the cod marinated in miso and the waygu rib in beetroot.These were superbly prepared dishes. Our table was nicely located with a view into the incredibly efficient Nobu kitchen, and it was great fun watching the succession of dishes emerge.The other dishes were very good and showed wonderful technique and a good understanding of the nuances of modern Japanese flavour. But were they worth what we paid for them. I think not. For half the price you could get modern Japanese food at other venues in this fine city that would certainly not be half the quality. Perhaps I'm a philistine, but my view is that there's only so much you can do with sushi and sashimi, in the same way that I can't really tell the difference between a $50 bottle of wine and a $500 bottle, I couldn't really see why Nobu's raw fish was worth five times as much as anyone else's raw fish. I'm sure there are aficionados who would disagree, but this is one man's view.The wine and cocktail lists were comprehensive and interesting, and the staff showed good knowledge of what was on offer. But, again, those prices! Few bottles of plonk were under $70, and that's just too steep for someone who grew up in the glory days of BYO and no corkage.As I said, Nobu is going to be "oncer" for this reviewer, but I know many people who count it among their favourites and are happy to go back repeatedly. Sure, if money's no object, it's great, and, don't get me wrong, the food is terrific, but for $250 a head, I simply want more than what Nobu provided.