Bella Vedere, 874 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream

Bella Vedere An unfortunate experience... We had recently moved to the Yarra Valley and had heard great things about this restaurant. As it was our anniversary and also our joint birthdays in June we decided that we needed a special restaurant to help us celebrate. My mother had also flown over from Perth so it was even more important that our evening went smoothly. What a total disaster choosing Bella Vedere turned out to be.We arrived at 730pm and were promptly ushered to our table. A wine list was presented and we were asked if we would like drinks. I chose a bottle of white and red from the Yarra Region and the waiter instructed us that we should wait until the menu was announced (a five course set menu for the entire restaurant) and that we should perhaps choose a selection of wines to match the meal. Why give me a wine list if I am unable to select a wine? I declined the offer and again asked for the wine to be brought to the table. Almost an hour later we were still waiting for the wine (I guess they were hoping that we would change our minds) however eventually we received our wine and settled in for the evening.When the menu was announced the meal sounded enticing... Quail, Squid, Lamb... it would all go well with the wine we had chosen. How wrong could we have been! The food was uninspiring and verged on being bland. The risotto must have been precooked as it was floury and unappetising with a barbecued quail plonked in the middle of the over cooked rice (the chef couldn't get the quail off the rod they were skewed on so he used his hands instead of the tongs... a very 5 star experience). It looked like a total disaster on a plate. No adornment, no greenery, no flavour. The next dish was squid ink pasta (overcooked) with sautéed squid. The main course was lamb that had been infused with mandarin (which did have some flavour) but again there was no finesse in the presentation. As we eat with our eyes before we smell and taste our meals, these little numbers had us poking our eyes out so we didn't have to view them. But the best is yet to come...After leaving the restaurant we headed home to bed and it was at 2 am that all hell broke loose in our home. Three of our party of four had severe food poisoning that night, myself included, an my partner was rushed to hospital in an ambulance after collapsing from wave after wave of vomiting hitting his head and knocking himself unconscious. My mother's partner became sick the following morning. The hospital couldn't believe the severity of the poisoning and the doctor insisted that we report the restaurant to the Victorian Health Department, which we have done. IT MUST BE NOTED... this was the only place in 2 days that all 4 of us had eaten the same thing at the same time so there is no doubt in my mind where the source of this food poisoning came from.I reported the incident to the restaurant and one of the owners called me to discuss. His arrogance and total lack of understanding of the severity of the situation astounded me. I believe that his words were "We are so well known and respected that it couldn't have been us" and his closing remarks "I am sorry you feel that way but we hope to see you back again soon". Well that certainly won't be happening because the next time you could kill us.

Very, very nice but be prepared for a decent price too. Well worth it though :)