Fix Restaurant

Fix Restaurant is one of the eating options at the Port Office Hotel.

I've eaten there a few times over the last few years, and each time the place has been busy, especially at lunch. Fix does a good job of getting the meals out pretty quickly, which is what lots of us are looking for during our precious 1 hour mid-week lunch breaks. Fix serves up modern Australian food, coupled with a range of steaks.

We weren't able to stick around all afternoon, so decided to give entrees a skip. But if you've got more time than we did, you could try the grilled Moreton Bay bugs with garlic butter & cress salad ($17), salt and pepper calamari with preserved lemon & cress mix ($12) or the goats cheese and sweet onion tart with baby spinach salad ($12).

Service was a bit over-attentive at the start of the meal. We had about 3 separate waiters ask to take our drink orders (even after we had ordered them). But the service did settle down a bit as the meal progressed. I suppose its better to be over-attentive than the other way round.

Main courses cover a pretty big range of options - chilli prawn pizza with tiger prawns, garlic, chilli, tomato and mozzarella ($22), chicken breast with olives, potato & spinach gnocchi and lemon herb gremolata ($21) and Atlantic salmon fillet with crushed potatoes, olive tapenade & peppercorn vinaigrette ($26). There are also a few grills, if you're really in need of some red meat - grain fed MSA rump ($27), rib on the bone ($30), rib fillet ($32), MSA Angus eye fillet ($28), roasted Junee gold lamb rump ($29) and OP Barkers Creek pork rib ($29).

I ordered the 300 gram 90 day grain fed rib fillet, which was served with roasted sweet potato & truss cherry tomatoes. The steak was cooked fine, I just found the steak I'd been served a bit too fatty (not in a marbled way). Unfortunately there wasn't a particularly large amount of actual beef in the steak. I know it can always be pot luck as to the piece of steak you can be served, but I was disappointed with this one.

My work lunch colleague had the roasted Junee gold lamb rump on a parmesan porcini mushroom risotto. I didn't try any of it, but he found it ok, without being great.

We had a couple of glasses of the Jimbour Station reserve merlot ($7), which went well with the main courses. It's great to see more and more restaurants supporting Queensland wine, which will only push our local wines on to better things. There is a good selection of well-priced wines by the glass, or if you have more time, you can explore the cellar selection of bottles (up to $1600 for a magnum of 1992 Grange).

For dessert I had the strawberry semifreddo martini with burnt honey & vanilla cream ($9.90), which was served (not surprisingly) in a martini glass. Sure it was sweet, but it was also a delicious way to round off the meal.

It can be a bit noisy at Fix, particularly when the place is full. However I suspect that most diners are there for a business lunch, rather than a romantic occasion, so it probably won't be an issue.

The food we had at Fix was ok overall, without setting our tastebuds on fire. Fix's strength is serving a range of fairly "safe", popular meals, backed up with good, quick service. If that's what you're looking for at lunch in the City, then give Fix a try.

What does all this mean? A good selection of upmarket pub food and steaks, with quick service and a reasonable wine selection.

food bling ratings
Food - Ok
Service - Good
Ambience - Modern setting with plenty of wood (which can get a bit noisy)
Value for Money - Ok
Wine - Good selection
Vegetarian - Ok

Fix Restaurant
Port Office Hotel
Corner Edward & Margaret Streets
Brisbane 4000
P - 07 3210 6016
W - http://www.portofficehotel.com.au