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| pretty much deserted the day we went. |
When we first moved to Harcourt about three years back, we thought that the Theatre Royal was the greatest place in town. And not just Castlemaine either, it seemed like such a unique and amazing venue that it would be beloved no matter where it was. Our first summer we would go there just about every day. We'd have coffee and cake or just sit with a nice drink and chat, play backgammon and enjoy the summer evening. It was always busy, always fun and it had a great atmosphere. Through winter we would continue to go there multiple times a week, for coffee any time and lunches on the weekend. It was open for coffee till about 6.00 during the week and hubby and I really liked to rug up and enjoy our coffee outside. This despite the fact that really only one person could make good soy latte, and that person is still the only one who can. But I'm not going to name them!
But then they starting changing their hours, they'd be open, then they wouldn't be and then they would be again. They dropped dinners and then lunch on a weekend and it became so erratic that we stopped going altogether.
After a prompt from a comment on my blog I went back to give them another chance.
Well first things first, that one good coffee maker wasn't there so our coffees were pretty lack lustre, drinkable in an 'I've had worse' kind of way. But here's the thing - no food! Just icecream, cookies and cake. Luckily I'm not opposed to cake no matter the time of day, plus I was there to do a review, but ...hmm, just seems a lost opportunity to have such a big, wonderful space and not have it thumping with great food and happy customers.
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| Looks good, the presentation is great. |
So even though I have eaten lunch there in the past, it seems that they don't do lunch anymore so I have to base my review on what I had that day.
Despite the fact that there was only cake available on the menu, there was really slim pickings on the cake options. There was about three choices, so I chose lemon curd tart, because I LOVE it and it seemed the best choice. Was it? Well we'll never know how the other two choices might have stacked up but as the tart was actually really, really (okay one more), really boring, they might have stacked up well!
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| Clearly not made on site, or even for them off site. |
What's the haps down there?! The owners were there on the day and they seem like very lovely, genuine people but for whatever reason the vibe is slipping away.
I would love to start going there again, but if there isn't anything to eat and the coffee is meh, well ...I'm probably not going to.
Okay, well one positive thing I can say is that they have replaced the cinema chairs that used to be out the front, which is great because they were crazy uncomfy. So ...there you go,that's good.
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| The new and very much improved outside benches. |
Is it a Great Eat? Unfortunately not
The Theatre Royal
30 Hargraves Street, Castlemaine VIC 3450
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