Brisbane's a city that plays to its strengths. Quiet nightlife? Well, that means low crime rates Brisbane's one of the safest cities in Australia. Not much to do in the city? Well, it's close to beaches and bush regions, and the weather is consistently perfect. With that in mind, it's hard to pick overrated places in Brisbane unlike Sydney or Melbourne, there's not a lot of hype flying around in the first place. Still, there are a few places worth avoiding, such as:
The Burrito Bar
On 5/167 Grey Street, Southbank, the
Burrito Bar is in an excellent location. On top of that, it's a Mexican restaurant perfectly placed to take advantage of the strong Mexican food culture in Brisbane. Unfortunately, it falls far short. The service is very inconsistent: one day the staff will be attentive and friendly, the next they'll forget your order and serve up barely-warm microwaved food.
Behind that thin layer of meat is a kilo of plain rice.
Some of the beef burritos have excellent amounts of juicy beef, but that's because all the others are mostly rice. Whether you get a beef burrito with rice or a rice burrito with beef is down to luck. Putting it charitably, treat Burrito Bar like a lottery, and go there if you feel like taking a risk. Better yet, don't go there at all.
Vapiano
The Vapiano logo: Italian food and hatred of Tasmania.
Vapiano, located on Albert Lane in the CBD, is an Italian restaurant that prides itself on innovation. It's a classy pizza and pasta place with a fast-food twist watch your food being cooked in record time then collect it at the counter, complete with plastic buzzers for second courses or dessert. But wait, it's also nature-focused little pots of fresh herbs sit in the middle of each table, to be torn off and placed on the dishes by the patrons. And instead of a waiter presenting you the bill, you're given a credit-card thing that tracks how much you spend.
None of these innovations actually make the food taste better, though: the fast cooking time means the staff have to take shortcuts (from okay ones, like placing prosciutto onto pizza after it's been cooked, to awful ones like undercooking the zucchini on a verdure pizza). Most dishes are disappointingly bland expect to strip the herb pots bare in an attempt to fix this yourself, or bring your own condiments.
The Smoke BBQOn 85 Merthyr Rd, New Farm, the Smoke BBQ is practically a temple for carnivores. The portion sizes are tremendous, from the pork ribs to the buffalo wings, and you'll need to run a marathon afterwards to sweat out all the grease. Once upon a time this place was amazing, but recently they've been trying to cover dry and substandard meat with gallons of barbecue sauce and salt. This would be forgiveable when money's tight, something has to give if not for the inflated prices, which have risen as the quality of the food has fallen.
You'll still have a good time going here with friends, and the tables will still all be full, but think about it if the conversation's good enough, you'd have a good time over day-old pizza and stale soft drink. Which is what they'll probably be serving at the Smoke BBQ in a few years.
Remember, taste is subjective you might love Vapiano's bold menu choices or Burrito Bar's obsession with rice. In that case, why not share your own choices for Brisbane's most overrated places? We'd love to hear from you.
