Butchers Grill and Arj Barker

Last night Spuey and I hung out.  We had booked tickets to see Flight of the Conchord's Dave (aka Arj Barker) strut his stuff on stage and appropriately thought that we should eat before the show.  We were both pretty geared up to try out Mrs. Parma's but when we strolled inside at 7pm, we both a bit surprised to see it was very pub-by and worse yet, people had reserved tables!  Obviously these parmas must be mighty good if people go to such effort. 

Disappointed, we still wanted a parma fix and searched for a nearby alternative.  We seemed to find salvation in Butcher's Grill who offered a mediterranean-style parma on their menu. 

The restaurant had a pretty nice ambience with it's chandeliers and rustic cigar lounge kinda feel (not that I have been inside a cigar lounge before, but I figure it might be something like this.)  It was a balmy night and the waiter seated us by the open window. 

Waiters often feel obligated to make small talk and ours was no different.  His first question to us was "Is this a special occasion guys?" which made a most inappropriate inference.  Eeeeeerrr... how about a big fat NO, this is most definitely NOT a special occasion because Spuey and I are of the same spawn, you nitwit!! 

After debating whether to order two parmas or just one parma and another dish, we decided that it would be better to try and sample more of the menu and opted for the venison ragout. 

Spuey happy to not be in Geerong and happy to be eating. 

Our fruity drinkies.  Me enjoying my fruity drinkie. 

My parma with proscuitto - nums.  Spuey's ragout and our steak potato chips. 

The food was nice enough and I would consider going there again BUT only on the proviso that their service levels get a major overhaul.   While there was nothing specific to complain about, overall it was just too damn slow.  We were seated and ordered by 8.05pm and given that Arj didn't start until 9.30pm, we figured we'd be in and out by 9pm tops.  There was no excuse for the snail pace either - the restaurant was only half full!  We were served our mains close to 8.45pm and even after that, they'd forgotten our side order of chips! 

Lucky that Spuey and I are pretty fast walkers.  We managed to squeeze in a pre-show pee pee (if only just) and were seated in time for Arj to walk on stage.  I'm not going to delve into the show, but Arj was funny as expected and if you like humour based on 'Balls', you would find it funny too. 

Our night ended with the collection of a drunk Mooey from a house party.