Down Under Wines & Bistro

I think this place is closed… Drove by and it looked verrrry closed.

I’ve been here twice now. The food is not very good. I’m not a wine connoisseur by any means so I can’t honestly give a wine review. I had the Pinot Grigio and it was decent.
My husband and I came the first time for the jazz music on a Friday night. He had seen an ad for this and, not knowing anything about the place, had called ahead to see if reservations might be needed. He was told that reservations we always a good idea and they reserved us a table for 7:30. Well, the table reserved was near the back and against a wall. Not exactly what you would expect with a reservation. But once we got there we realized this was not a «reservation» type of place – really just a bar with a menu of select entrees and appetizers. Ok, no big deal. Two guys played jazz guitar and we enjoyed that enough to try it again.
When we returned a couple of weeks later the music was a guy also playing acoustic guitar but mainly 90s music of which we aren’t really fans. Still, it would have been ok because he actually played very well but it was way too loud to have a conversation even though we were seated in the back. I pity anyone in the front of the place.
As for the food, the only thing I’ve had here that was any good was the bruschetta with cheese and spinach. I don’t remember what they specifically called it. Other than that, my first visit I had the Shrimp on the Barbie, which was so-​so (rice was cold and tasteless) and on the second visit I had a salad which was ok but nothing great. My husband also had the shrimp the first time but ordered the Kobe burger on the second visit. He took one bite, and totally lost his appetite because it tasted to him like «wet dog.» The waiter apologized (I’ll elaborate on that later) and claimed it was definitely the Kobe burger even though I asked if maybe they accidentally gave him a Kangaroo burger. He offered to have them cook up a new one but my husband declined as the first bite had turned his stomach. My son had also ordered a Kobe burger and his was okay, so I’m pretty sure they just gave my husband the wrong type of burger or the meat was just bad.
The service was good enough on our first visit. The second visit was all around very strange. We walked in and a gentlemen told us someone would be up to seat us in a minute, then came back and took us to a table himself, saying someone would come back and take our order. Several minutes later he returned, apologizing for the wait, saying he guessed he would be taking our order. He took our drink order and left. After several minutes he returned bringing one drink at a time (there were 3 of us). Finally, he came back, again saying he was «so sorry,» I guess for the wait. It was too loud in there to really know exactly what he was saying. He took our dinner order and then returned a few minutes later apologizing that they did not have Ranch dressing as two of us had ordered. A bar that doesn’t have Ranch dressing? Oh well, maybe they don’t have Ranch dressing «down under.» It seemed like a while before we got our food. He came by and apologized at least once for the wait again before he actually brought it to the table (one order at a time again). When he did, he apologized that he thought they had plated the fries with the wrong burger (the burgers were ordered cooked differently) but in fact they had them plated correctly. I was pretty tired of hearing him say he was «so sorry» by then, but I was about to hear it again after hubby couldn’t eat his burger.
My husband says the waiter reminded him of Phil on Modern Family and I have to say he did resemble him a little in looks and manner. He was very nice but apologized WAY too much. Unfortunately, he had a lot to apologize for, which explains the low rating given. Won’t be going back :(

I had bought a groupon so My husband and I could try this out. We ended up getting a bottle of wine and bruschetta, but after looking at the menu we were intrigued by the kangaroo burger and crocodile brats! They were both delicious!
They have some awesome happy hour menu and awesome times on Sunday and Monday :) We will be back!

Took my Aussie friend here for dinner last night, with lowish expectations.
Pros:
–the kangaroo steak and barramundi were both prepared well
–Nice wine selection and our server gave us a great recommendation on a bottle
–Surprisingly good music playing (Radiohead, etc.)
Cons:
–Really, really uncomfortable seating.
–The cheese plate is uninspired – the offerings are pretty pedestrian (not even a goat cheese), and the prosciutto was cut in thick slabs. Eww. Also, the nuts on the plate were just silly – the paper-​thin almond slices were hard to even pick up and the small, cinnamon covered nuts didn’t complement the cheese or the meat. I’ve seen better cheese plates at Fry’s deli department.
–I had to point out that our check had been calculated incorrectly (overcharged).
Now that we’ve satisfied our curiosity about this restaurant, I can’t see driving all the way out to Gilbert again to dine here. If it was just up the street, I could see stopping in to have a glass or two of wine, but then we’d go someplace else after for better food and more comfortable seating.

I came here for Happy Hours with my hubby after reading the reviews on Unilocal… the wine and beer selection are great at Happy Hours, but I was not pleased with the Happy Hours food. Their portions are quite small.
After we finished there, we walked next door to the sushi bar and ate again!
I would return for the beer and wine definitely!

My girlfriend and I have been here twice. I’m not going to write some long boring review like I usually do so I’ll sum it nicely like this:
1. Plan to stay a couple of hours.
2. Order a cheese and meat platter. There’s a killer of selection of both.
3. Tons of great wines to choose from and always local beers on tap. If you don’t know what to order, the wait staff are completely knowledgeable.
4. Speaking of the wait staff, chit chat with them. They’re happy to be working there and take their job seriously. This adds to the awesome ambiance of Down Under.
5. Order something out of the box. I mean most of the items here are but don’t just settle on the Kobe Burger. Try the barramundi or lamb chops. Both are awesome.
6. Tip the hired local musician. Compliment the chef.
7. See out the owners and tell them how you liked or unfathomably, disliked your dining experience. They are super personable.
The End…

Sooo… if they ask you if you want to sit in the ‘lounge’…just say no! Trust me… Artichoke brushetta is good but garlicky which I like

Great wine selection and very friendly staff!
We’ve been coming here for months now and it’s always a fun, laid back experience. It isn’t like many wine bars that can sometimes be uptight so it’s great for first dates or even a Sunday afternoon. People bring their dogs on the patio and instruments to jam on on Sunday so it makes it feel really local.
Often times they can be out of various food selections, but there’s enough to choose from that it’s never made us want to leave. We’ll continue to go to Down Under whenever we’re looking for a chill time out.
REVISION: We’ve since changed our rating on this place due to consistently slow service and our food being hit or miss. While we still enjoy coming here every once in a while, we just can’t justify waiting 20 minutes for our drinks. The atmosphere is still very laidback and we do enjoy the wine selection there, but with this type of place popping up all over the valley now I don’t know if this restaurant would be in our top choices anymore for date night.

Great happy hour place. They have a unique menu with kangaroo meat in there. The service is great and they take wonderful care of you. Everyone was super friendly. I got the fish tacos and it was good and cheap. I doubt I will come back though.

Came here with a huge birthday group and the staff were very accommodating and the service was quite fast. Ordered a bunch of the happy hour (3−6pm) menu items such as the Hummus (garlic and edemame), Flatbread (chicken, cheese, mushrooms), and fish tacos. Also ordered a IPA from firestone, b/​c I’m not a huge Wino. The food was quite good. I think my favorites were the Edemame hummus and the flatbread. The hummus was sweet and had a great texture. Fish tacos were so so as I’ve had better, but I’m not expecting much when I’m ordering seafood in the middle of the desert.
I think it was a good find, but not sure if it will be my regular due to the fact that I’m not really a huge wine fan. Great service tho!

Decent wine deals. Horrible food.
I mean horrible.

I really want to like this place. I do. But unfortunately, I don’t.
I love me some wine, but although I am not much of a wine snob I still like to know the vineyard of the wine I’m purchasing. It’s disappointing (and overwhelming for some) to choose a wine, and when I’m not given the country/​region of the wine this task seems more daunting. That being said our waitress recommended a Pinot that was delicious, and even offered me a taste prior to purchasing the bottle.
I’ve eaten here twice, my first visit was on Friday night a few months back with a group of girls. I enjoyed my chicken satay, although the meat was a bit on the dry side. The other girls all commented they enjoyed their meals, and overall the experience was great! Our service was top notch (I believe the owner) and kept our glasses full and did not balk at our request for separate checks. Because of this experience I was excited to return!
Last night I returned with my boyfriend with high hopes and was utterly disappointed. With the exception of the pinot mentioned above, nothing was all that great. We started with a cheese plate, and concluded they should not be allowed to call what was served to us a cheese plate. The manchego cheese was good, but the rest of the plate was a mess of crumbled feta with walnuts and dried fruit and some dry bread. I love bread but couldn’t eat it. Blech. Not even close to being worth the charge.
I ordered the curried beef kabobs with a side salad, and the boy got the steak panini. My meal was dry and bland. The meat was seasoned well, but had no dipping sauce and was sitting on dry rice. The side of the kabobs was also on the smaller side. Average at best. The panini was a bit better in my opinion, but the boy wasn’t too impressed. Overall, the main meals: fail. Big bummer, because like I said… I REALLY want to like this place!
Will I return? Yes, but only for happy hour. Unfortunately, I’ll have to take my $ 65 and have dinner somewhere else.

Had our monthly book club here. Great atmosphere, but being on the vertically challenged side I didn’t really like sitting on a high stool, and the table was a little low for the stool. Only ordered a beer and the cheese/​fruit plate. They forgot to bring it to me, but hey I’m easy going and we were a big group. Their hummus was also very good and fresh tasting.
All in all a nice place. I wouldn’t mind going back and trying an actual meal, but not any of the Australian fare. Just can’t bring myself to eat crocodile or kangaroo.

This used to be a Baja Fresh and is a nice little bar now. We came on a Saturday night and really enjoyed the live jazz band.
The service was GREAT as well and I’m a sucker for great service. :)
We tried their Crocodile Potstickers as an appetizer, which were just ok. You can’t go wrong with fried foods when you’re having beer. We also tried the fish and chips and these were REALLY good. The beer on tap was also okay. Next time we’ll try the wines — they had a really good $ 20/​per person for 4 wines and an appetizer on weekend nights that we’d like to order.
The attire seemed to be jeans and a dressy top. It was a pretty casual and relaxed atmosphere.

An australian theme place with a real nice atmosphere. The staff was very attentive and pleasant. I ordered the pulled pork, ostrich, kangaroo sliders, crocodile pot stickers, bruschetta and the beef and guinness stew.
All the food was excellent and my personal favorite was the Stew. One of the owners «Raul» was very pleasant, he made sure everyone in the place was taken care of. The prices were extremely fair considering the high quality of food and service.

This place has ok food and great wines but the chairs are extremely uncomfortable. First off, we were unfortunate enough to get a table with the stools with no backs. So, there was no lounging in a relaxed posture while enjoying our wine. Secondly, the stools were too high for the table which means you have to stoop down to eat in a very awkward way. Third, they had live music. The guitar player/​singer was actually really good but they had a full amp and speaker system even though it is a pretty small place and so this made it very difficult to carry on a conversation with the other couple we were with.
I didn’t feel comfortable enough to eat a full dinner since the height made it difficult to use utensils so I just got appetizers. The red pepper hummus was good but the plain one was not too good. I also tried the potstickers — fun to try something different (they were made with crocodile meat) but nothing to write home about. My husband got the Roo burger which he said had a good taste but a weird texture. I also tried one of the bruschetta pieces that someone else in our party had ordered. I love brie but this one was nothing really special. They had a variety of bruschetta options but they were pretty much the same options that have become trendy with all the wine bars in the valley that I have been to. I think the best part of the meal was actually the sweet potato fries that came with my husband’s burger. These were really, really good.
Two of us also got the evening’s tasting flight. All the wines we sampled were very good. However, you only got four two oz pours for $ 20. I noticed the prices were very good during Happy Hour so I would consider going back for that but I don’t think I could take those horrible chairs after working a full day at work. I won’t be back unless they get new furniture.

Like most have said on here, the service leaves a lot to be desired. We did however, go on a night when they were in the midst of planning a birthday party for an employee later that evening, and there was a lot of attention on that and very little on new patrons trying their place for the first time. We told them right from the beginning that it was our first time there and purposely sat at the bar, hoping that would keep their attention, but it didn’t.
As I sat an watched all the people and the interactions, I got the distinct feeling that for regulars it’s probably a great place and maybe commands better service, but for «strangers» they just aren’t as attentive. Seems like an odd philosophy if you want to build your business and welcome new business. I had to ask for service a few times and it was really frustrating because I could see about 5 employees and wait staff all standing around just chumming with each other and talking about the upcoming party, rather than paying attention to customers.
They have great potential, but maybe need to get their priorities straight if they want the business to succeed. I would go again and give it another try though, that said, since we only had a cheese plate appetizer and I’d like to see what it’s like on a regular night when they weren’t so wrapped up in a special event.
The wine selections were good and the cheese plate okay (nothing special), but like I said, I feel like I should give it another try to be fair, and I’ll write up a new review then.

I went to Down Under the other night with my boyfriend for our date night. We’ve worked in the service industry for years so we hold the bar pretty high on food and service. We ordered a cheese plate, the Barramundi and some wine.
When the cheese plate came out I almost laughed. Everything on there that wasn’t cheese clearly came from a can and the cheeses looked like the ones you can buy pre-​cut from Fry’s or wherever. Fry’s cheese plate may actually be a cut above what we received.
After the blasphemy that was our cheese plate, we were both a little nervous to see the Barramundi. Barramundi is supposed to be a tender, flaky, white fish. What we got was a sad piece of ocean chum that looked like it came out of a microwave. To say it was bad isn’t saying enough. It was totally devoid of texture and taste.
To round out the evening, our wines (and the selection of wines) were mediocre at best and the service was not worth mentioning.
All in all, this was the most disappointing dining experience and waste of $ 75 that I’ve ever spent since moving to Arizona.

I really doubt Down Under will welcome my review, but I HAVE to do it just to get this off my chest.
I spent a very long and frustrating hour+ this morning on the patio with my dog and some friends. My dog, Peekaboo seemed to enjoy it, but I HATED it!
There was a «Doggie Day Sunday brunch on the patio» event going on on. I had scheduled a FindMyDogADate AZ Meetup there for this doggie event. All of the tables and chairs were taken when I arrived by the people running their doggie event tables. Eventually I found a table with two wet chairs directly under the very wet misters. (It’s no wonder no one wanted to sit there). Since I had four other people coming, I scrounged up more chairs. All of them were directly under the dripping misters.
After my friends arrived, I went inside to grab some brunch. They were charging a ridiculous $ 12 for rubbery whatever that was, cold eggs, rock hard pancakes and a tiny dish of grapes served by a lady who couldn’t even tell me the price of the brunch. The orange juice was extra so I asked for a glass of water. I got a plate full of yuck, sat down in the wet chair while the water dripped on my plate of yuck making it even yuckier. I took my uneaten plate back after one bite and told them I would go eat at McDonald’s. YUCK!
The patio needs to be condemned! I was tempted to call the health inspector! Dogs had pooped on the gravel behind the tables and it wasn’t cleaned up. No doggie poop bags were to be found anywhere at this doggie event. Luckily I had brought some with me (and always do when Peekaboo is with me). After cleaning up the other dog’s poop, there weren’t any trash cans available to dispose of it!!!
The «waitress» never stopped by our table the entire time!
All on all it was a very dirty and disappointing experience. Is there a –1 star rating and a «good for:» option of Nothing?

I joined a meetup group that was meeting here, and while that didn’t go so well, I had a great time at Down Under. I arrived late and it appeared everyone from the group was already together and there were no other seats, so I took a spot at the bar and enjoyed the tasting alone. The tasting was $ 20 and included 5 wines plus an appetizer. I went with the mini kangaroo loin salad, because let’s face it, how often do you get to eat a kangaroo? The salad was very good and I enjoyed all of the wines. The white «Y» Viognier 08 was my favorite until I tried the MGS 06 (although I didn’t have a bad one in the bunch).
The evening turned out well as one of my friends stopped by for a few minutes and I was able to strike up a nice conversation at the bar with another lady. The restaurant was busy and there was a singer that helped pack in the customers. She was very good — not too loud, good tunes and a nice voice.
As it approached ‘10 I noticed more and more people leaving. I asked one of the guys what time they closed and he said whenever the last paying customer leaves. They do not have set times to close because as long as people are having a good time and still buying things, they will stay open. I met Phil, the owner, and he was an excellent host.
I always saw Susana check in here, but never tried it. I am glad that I went out today and met some people, even if it wasn’t the people I was supposed to meet. I will definitely come back! Maybe next time I will try the emu wings — and I saw someone get an incredible looking huge piece of chocolate cake — I must try that!