There is no creativity here and quality control is a big issue. When you are charging city prices in the outer suburbs you need to be serving really good food and this is not even nearly occurring. Staff themselves, have told me that the chef cannot cook a steak, let alone anything else, and urged me to contact the proprietors of the restaurant about my all-to-common experience. When you order a medium rare eye fillet you do not expect a blue raw piece of meat to be served to you, dripping with juices when you cut into it, and full of sinew and nasty fat. Poor quality meat, not rested, and cooked terribly. The picture doesn't look that bad, but the meat really was. And for the record I actually don't mind properly rested rare steak, and I love tataki and tartare but not this poor quality meat.
Dessert wasn’t much better – a so called special of chocolate millefeuille was a poor quality block of ice-cream with cream, store bought topping and nuts. The kids would probably love it.
I am not a snob but this is not what you expect to be served in any sort of a legitimate restaurant.
Service here is friendly enough. Though some staff are lacking the most basic knowledge. When asking for a pinot noir from their wine list, I am asked whether that is a red or a white wine that I wanted. Others though do their job well. After kindly informing the waiter about my terrible steak, which I ate just two small bites from the sides (the accompanying vegetables were OK) I was offered another glass of wine and a complimentary dessert, although no offer of a replacement meal. Fair enough I did eat all the vegies.
Overall I left terribly dissatisfied and hungry, out of pocket nearly $50, charged for my steak, a glass of wine and a starter of poorly cooked damper. The Dig Tree used to be a really good restaurant, or so I am told, but it certainly is not anymore.
Even establishments like McDonalds put the Dig Tree to shame.
My score: 5.5/20 – quite possibly Melbourne’s worst dining experience, certainly mine!
Food 1/10 (Seriously bad steak)
Service 2.5/5 (Acceptable, although somewhat slow for a fairly empty restaurant with a myriad of staff, and some uninformed)
Ambience 2/5 (I don’t know – the place is decked out nicely with lots of wooden benches and an Australiana theme but it was not working on the night and felt very cold).
There are plenty of good places to eat in Berwick. Sadly this is not one of them. I won't be going back - not even if it was a freebie.
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UPDATE:
The Dig Tree, Berwick has closed its doors and been replaced by a fabulous new establishment: Eighty One Fine Food & Wine which features a lovely modern ambience, tapas bar and restaurant serving up really good food at very reasonable prices. Staff are friendly, food is great and its exactly what Berwick needed: a buzzing venue full of happy locals day and night.
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