1908 Cronulla

From the moment we walked in we were greeted by a warm fire on a cold winters night. A lady said hello and came to show us to our table. We had pumpkin gnocci and rocket pear parmeson salad...best combo! Then aracini balls with remaining large salad we shared. Margaritas were great and Mairie Antoinette cocktail with fairy floss yummm! Desert was great ending at the bar with the fairy floss cocktail. Waiters/waitresses were top notch.. service and personalities. THANK YOU FOR A MEMORABLE EVENING! WE WILL BE BACK.

Those who've read my reviews would know the amount of times I've started a review with "the menu read well"...suffice to say I'm back at it again! 1908 sits in a side street off the main Cronulla mall... nestled amongst and around a throng of eateries (particularly in the Gerale St precinct). Six of us descended on a balmy Sunday afternoon...hungry and determined to find "good food" for a late lunch, and having passed 1908 on occasion we agreed to wander in. (We ranged in size from petite to my 194cm Navy colleague!) Like I said, the menu read very well. Impressively so. It's not often I find myself undecided between five different dishes! The prices are quite good, however unless you want a steak sitting alone on a plate, a chunk of brown @ $35.. the added cost of buying accompanying vegetables etc soon adds up..(I thought that practice died out in the early 2000s??). Between us we selected a decent variety, from their Redfish to Pumpkin Gnocchi to the Lamb Shoulder, salads and vegetables, with a couple of starter plates of Roti. Roti was good, yet as a "share plate" it was extremely minimal. It came with a chutney which had the sharpest taste...(I'd say piquant if it hadn't crossed the line to over poweringly sour!). The Redfish was excellent, although again the serving is quite small. Lamb Shoulder was superb, and yes small in serving size. Gnocci lacked flavour, but worse, it sat isolated in a small creamy pile without a single accompanying ingredient that would add colour. Yes, we eat with our eyes. Both ladies who ordered it immediately commented on it's lack of seasoning and it's entree sized serving. At $33 it was a big ask to justify. An elongated, slightly bigger than hand sized dish of vegetables will set you back around $14 which adds substantially to the overall cost. A similar dish with honeyed baby carrots would be a single serve in any other restaurant, yet will set you back another $14. (For some reason the waiter tried to impress upon us that these side dishes were "share plates"..as in "would you like some side dishes for the table?".) The answer is NO..I'd like some accompanying ingredients WITH my dish, as in, alongside or included in the presentation. There were a couple of issues with incorrect dishes but a favourable point was that most dishes arrived for ALL of us within an acceptable time (pet hate ..eating while others wait interminably for their meals!). Desserts sounded interesting albeit the usual suspects of Panna Cotta, Mousse etc... However the serving size was eye poppingly small...!! Overall (once we readjusted the Bill) the final tally wasn't shocking. However the general consensus was a slight lacking in presentation, portion size and a seeming focus on attempting to present a certain class of restaurant that the produce and staff couldn't attain. In essence, a pretentiousness that wasn't nor isn't necessary. Again...that's just our experience and it's not that common for businesses to necessarily take notice of comments that are even slightly unfavourable.

Honestly the perfect place. We went in with no reservation after a booking in the area getting cancelled on us. We got a table, place is super clean, nice relaxed atmosphere. Food came out super quick, everything was delicious. We had 4 different cocktails, all amazing. Our waiter was super nice. Then the bill came out way cheaper than what I was prepared for. I'd go back any time.

I thought it was a great restaurant. The food was a little different but really lovely. They went for different flavours and combinations but it was really good to try a creative menu. The portions were perfect but the best thing about it was the staff. Friendly, attentive, polite and thoughtful. All in all a great local restaurant.