Max Brenner - Waffles & Banana Bread

Waffle with strawberries / Banana bread with chocolate

Price: $8.50 / $5.50

Atmosphere: Passable

Service: Lack lustre

Rating: 2.0 stars / 3.0 stars

Buy again:No, disappointing / Maybe


Atmosphere

It was a Thursday night and we had been out for dinner at Cookie but the somewhat strange tapioca type desserts weren't really cutting it, but we knew Max Brenner was nearby and we are both rather partial to a chocolate treat - so off we went.

Approaching Max Brenner, on a balmy evening, the outdoor seating area was buzzing and surprisingly pleasant - particularly when you consider this is essentially in a shopping centre.  The only trouble was most of the outdoor seats were taken (and almost exclusively) full of smokers.  So even if we had managed to scrape up a couple of chairs it was a little much for us mild mannered non-smokers - so inside we retreated.  Sadly the atmosphere wasn't quite as good and the air-con was pumped up much too high.  But in the interests of balance, and the fact I am probably a little harsher in my expectations, the much kinder Heidi did point out that it was rather calm and quiet (although by all accounts this is unusual and it is normally heaving with people).  

Overall its a nice enough atmosphere but nothing that engenders any particularly intimacy or emotion.  Although I would also like to know what happened to table service at Max Brenner...

Service is typical of how I find Max Brenner most of the time, you go through the motions, you get what you want but it is rather indifferent and lack lustre.   I always have the gripe that if you are going to work in/run a place that's all about chocolate and yummy things, something people are passionate about, perk up a bit!

Waffles with Strawberries

I haven't eaten at Max Brenner for some time and use to be rather partial to the Chocolate and Cinnamon Babka, but I have this annoying habit of wanting to try something new rather than going with what I know.  I procrastinated in my decision for so long that Heidi beat me too the banana bread and chocolate, and for inexplicable reasons I felt the need to have something different, so eventually settled on waffles, after all people rave about waffles, Americans (apparently) chow down on them all the time.  I was expecting a bit of a taste sensation...

Sight

When the waffle arrived I was a little flabbergasted - where was the chocolate...?  The waffle was drizzled in chocolate (not really enough for a taste) but the obligatory pot of melted chocolate that I thought all Max Brenner treats came with was not there.  And the strawberries, which had added a hefty $3 to the price, were this rather tiny pot of cut up strawberries.  Heidi too was disappointed at the lack of chocolate and buoyed by her dismay I went to ask about this.  And so it appears $8.50 only gets you one waffle, a drizzle of chocolate and some over priced strawberries.  A little pot of chocolate was going to cost me $2.50 but I think I had already stumped up enough.

Taste and Texture

Now to be fair, I'm not a waffle connoisseur at all.  I think I may have eaten one in my life a long long time ago in Belgium and that may be it.  And it was nice enough but to be honest a little like something I would expect to buy from Safeway.  It was warmed slightly, the texture was dense (I like dense) but a little too dry for my tastes and oddly enough this thing that I thought would hover between sweet and savoury was really sweet - maybe it was good there was no chocolate after all!

The overpriced strawberries were tasty however the drizzle of chocolate almost indescribable amongst the waffle sweetness.

Banana Bread with Chocolate

Sight

As already mentioned, Heidi stole my thunder with this one and a slab of banana bread with a pot of chocolate cost her a very reasonable $5.50 (reasonable when compared with my waffle).  And it looked good when it arrived, and I looked on with jealously...

Taste and Texture

My look of jealousy must have worked as Heidi let me try her dessert and it was better than mine.  However I will defer to her for the description as my one mouthful probably doesn't warrant a review (although there was heaps of chocolate available so I did score some of that!).  

The banana bread was okay, not the dizzy heights banana bread can reach but it was respectable although a little dry.  She also noted the texture was more akin to bread than cake (despite the misleading name).  But on the positives, and to quote Heidi, the obligatory pot of melted chocolate it came with was 'yummy as' and it went well with the banana flavour but without the chocolate it was a rather disappointing treat.

Summary

Neither of us were overwhelmed by our desserts, although Heidi's certainly wins out on value for money stakes and my waffle was definitely overpriced, nor was it delivering much in the experience stakes (something confirmed by Heidi) it was too sweet, too pricey and in need of some chocolate and better texture.  I would give the waffle a 2 out of 5 and not buy it again.

The banana bread fares a little better and Heidi rates this as 3.5 out of 5 although with the condition that is more about the chocolate than the banana bread itself.

Overall I guess we got dessert and it was reasonable but at the same time disappointing.  We were discussing this experience, and Max Brenner in general when we left, and noted that Max Brenner was at the forefront of Melbourne chocolate experiences and back then it was a novelty and most things were good because the offerings elsewhere were so poor.  But things have changed, but this hasn't.  I think people will still flock here for what it represents, but sadly what it represents isn't reflected in what it is offering and it really needs to pick this up to compete.  As it stands, this was an average experience, with average atmosphere, indifferent service (a problem Max Brenner seems to suffer from) and all for too much money.

I will most likely be back at some time for convenience, but I won't be seeking this out.  There's a cute little cup cake shop nearby in QVB now, I'll be trying that out for my next treat in the area.

Max Brenner, QV Building
www.maxbrenner.com.au

29/10/2009
Reviewer: Shari & Heidi