So, first things first, I need to make it abundantly clear that Maze, and Maze Grill, where we ate, are GORDON RAMSEY restaurants! In case there was perhaps a teeny tiny bit of doubt, due to something not having his name stamped on it..
Yes, that’s the first thing you notice, the design of the place will not let you forget you’re dining in a Gordon Ramsey restaurant…. You do forget it, however, when the morbidly obese girl finally argues her way to getting a table and you’re greeted by a member of Maze staff. I think we had six or seven waiters, and a bonus sommelier. Some of the waiters even spoke english!
The food was good, after some yummy little fresh rosemary and onion bread rolls we ordered fish cakes and soft shell crab for entree, and pappardelle with wagyu bolognese and NZ rib eye with a side of thick cut chips for mains (no desserts, we had had our fill). The entrees were definitely the stand-out, and good value too at $11 and $14 respectively. The steak was bloody yum, and the chips near perfect. The wagyu could have benefited from being a slow cooked ragu style dish, rather than the minced variety. Interestingly, the food was delivered extremely quickly. We waited perhaps five minutes for our entrees, and after finishing them maybe another 10 minutes for mains. I’m sure Gordon would have preferred us to have some more time in his restaurant (which wasn’t full) to perhaps enjoy another bottle of wine.
Speaking of, the sommelier was given the task of recommending a “ballsy shiraz under $100″, which he pretty well failed to do. We ordered his $75- suggestion, which was very nice, but didn’t really deliver what you’d expect for that money. He also proceeded to tell us about shit we weren’t interested in every time he dropped by to top up our glasses. As a side note, the cock on the bottle of wine was pure coincidence.
All in all, take the overpriced wine out of the picture and the value is pretty good, considering the name attached to the venue. A little bonus for us was also the full tour of the kitchen we were given, after my nosey (but extremely attractive) wife showed an interest in the preparation stations in view of the restaurant.
Ambience: 5/10
Staff: 5/10
Food: 7/10
Value: 6/10
