OK, so we made a booking for 20, sadly a couple had to cancel. They insisted we pay for them anyway. Arrogance knows no bounds. We didn't skimp when we were there, everyone had the banquet at $70 a head, plus many drinks(there's no BYO). I would have thought the $1600 would have sufficed?

The food was quite good, although you can do far better for the price, and they were very skimpy on the meat, which was served very last, right before dessert. To be honest, we were all outraged and wont be going back.

We have dined at Hellenic twice now and both times have been absolutely amazing! The first time was juts my wife and my 18 month old daughter and the staff were very accomodating for us. The second was with a group of twelve friends and I must say that the food, service and quality of the evening were all spot on. I would highly reccomend Hellenic Republic to anybody wanting a good fee. Beautiful flavours, great wines (served by the kilo!) good wait staff and fun times await!

Frankly I was extremely underwhelmed. We were a party of six for a Sunday night dinner. The decor is great, attention to detail in many aspects, especially the acoustic baffling in the ceiling which allowed us to chat with ease, and the chairs were extremely comfortable.Somewhat reminiscent of jims greek tavern been brought into the new millenia, with marble finishes and greek evil eye charms, a good start.

The service and food however failed to deliver in many aspects. the wine list had an extremely brief australian component, chardonnay and sauvignon blanc as the only 2 whites listed, the reds only 2 or 3. the greek section listed about 10 wines, which we were interested in but our waitress had next to no knowledge about them, so we had to take pot luck. I am strongly of the opinion that if you are introducing an unknown variety to the customer it should either have a good description of the style of the wine or an educated server. It turned out to be OK, nothing more.

The food sounded better than it was. Given that the menu was prefaced with a page declaring love of food, family etc, it came off seeming like an overly aggresssive PR machine at work. The bread we received was stale, which upon complaint we were told that "it had been cut today". Bread has to be cut to order.. please! The tomatoes in the village salad were from the fridge and underripe. The calamari was, I am fairly certain, squid, as it had a squid body, wasn't as sweet as calamari and was reasonably tough. The pork spit was extremely dry and tasted like it had been cooked some time ago and warmed up. The saganaki was barely luke warm, the octopus was mushy and the vegetable salad with the "barley rusk" was disgusting, the bread completely inedible.

What we did enjoy was the taramasalata, the snapper and the rice pudding.

The establishment seems to seat about 200 so the service can be extremely slow, given that they do 2 sittings. A barn to make money, not much "agapi" in sight

I had a beautiful dinner at the Press Club late 2008 - apart from them charging my credit card twice - the second time for $2500!!! (original bill was $300) The food was fantastic, waiting staff the same - couldnt fault it.

This meant i was really looking forward to experinceing Hellenic Republic. Unfortunately the whole experience lacked everything it promised. My husband and i were seated at the bar - which we were told was used for dining, however, we spent the whole night dodging waiting staff and their trays.

At this point I was hoping the food would make up for the bad seating allocation - yeah right! We ordered the Alpa Banquet - entree selections were cold, and dry. The main was the same - the lamb was dry - chips were the best part.

The waiting staff looked stressed and the carryone got to the point of being unprofessional. We could here the staff behind the bar bitching about patrons in the resturant...We also overhead waiting staff asking for completemetary drinks to be sent out to various tables - were people not happy???

The atmosphere was loud and totally uninviting for a second visit!!! Sorry George, Hellenic Republic needs alot of tweaking - starting with your staff!

Once more thing, one of the contestents from MasterChef was part of the kitchen staff, so i thought i would aks our waitor about it! He proceeded to tell me he doesnt watch any telly and has no interest to. He also added that people come in and ask for George and i tell them 'George? Hes just a fat kid from the burbs'!!!! I bet George would really appreciate you saying that! Very Pro!

Over Rated.

My wife and I got the Alpa Banquet. I was expected meats, seafood and other Greek assorts. The entree was nice, but then it came to the fish meal. It was a tiny triangle bit of sword fish with a bean type stew side which was nice, but where was all the seafood!!. The meat, lamb off the spit, which was dissapointing. It was dry and very fatty with not much of a serving. It came with home made chips which were better then the meat. The meat wasnt juicy and lacked any real flavour. Very dissapointing after seeing how strict George is on Master Chef! If your after a dining experience with small portions and little meat and seafood this is your place.

If you want true Greek food with various cuts of meat and seafood go to Pireas Blues where its more value for money and tastier food.

Sittings are arrange on a 2 hours basis which is not sufficient to enjoy the meal.

Waiters constantly hover over the table and tend to rush you through the meal.

Quality of the meals is very average, with serving being extremely small for some of the entrees.

The environment is very crowded and noisy, overall I would not go back.

An extreme disappointment.