Orpheus (24 Allen Street)

If I had to give this place a star rating, I would probably give it two stars. One for the decor, and one for the pork sliders, which were exceptional. Other than that, Orpheus fell flat in every regard.

We arrived to our booking and were seated, only to be forgotten about for the next 20 minutes, with no water or even menus. We weren’t in a rush, so didn’t particularly mind, but in hindsight it seemed to set the tone for the evening. We both ordered cocktails, and after the waiter came and double checked what we had ordered (as he hadn’t written them down) we finally received our drinks.

We were dining on a GrabOne voucher, and so for $55 we were entitled to receive two starters and two mains between us. The menu prices were out of this world! Well no, they weren’t quite, but after seeing what you get for each of those prices, then I think you’d agree. As entrees we ordered the pork sliders and the calamari. The sliders were so yummy, I could have eaten 10. No complaints on the calamari, it was crispy and tasty. But it was from there that our time started to significantly worsen.

Never before have I been asked by a waiter “Your mains are already ready. Did you want them now, or did you want us to leave them for a bit?” And sure enough, when we looked over we could see them already served, sitting under the heat lamps. Ew. Naturally we said bring them over now, but when we got them my fries weren’t even hot! I ordered the pork ribs, curly fries and corn cob and Andy ordered the chicken and waffle combo. Although the fries were only luke-warm they were still pretty nice, better than the corn which felt like it must have been cooked from frozen for about half an hour, and the pork which was quite fatty (but tasty). The waffles were very stodgy, and the fried chicken was pretty good, but the sauce that tied them together only kind of worked. It wasn’t sweet maple as you’d expect, but when eaten in combination it tasted alright.

We weren’t tempted by dessert. We’d already spend another $40 on drinks on top of the $55 voucher, and I think we were both slightly protesting what felt like an already overly expensive meal. Lucky we had the voucher though – that was a definite saving grace.