The value for money here is pretty awful when ordering off the regular menu, particularly for those acquainted with the specials you can find all along Cockle Bay. Having said that, if you can get your hands on a voucher that is available regularly through Scoopon then after reading the normal prices, your mind will be blown! We've hadn't eaten here on a Scoopon in close to a year but had begrudgingly paid full price only a few weeks ago. I'm certain, after that experience, that I will NEVER do that again!

The food is very good, the servings large (though they looked much smaller to us when we paid full price ... we obviously thought we were getting bad value for money after experiencing the Scoopon offer!) and the service is usually friendly and attentive, though the one time we paid full price was strangely the one time I had to apologise to my friend for the bad service!

When $49 is buying us three courses each for two, and a bottle of wine, this place is top of my list, particularly when they throw in a yummy rocket salad (which unfortunately did not find it's way to our table yesterday. When I realised this later in the day, I was DEVASTATED!! I'm not sure if they have scrapped that from the offer or our waitperson just forgot to serve it). The sweet peking duck pizza is our favourite though my husband discovered a new fav in their marinara yesterday.

This time we popped in for pancakes (yes, for dinner but we remembered how ridiculously cheap they were and had been wanting to try them for months) and the obligatory langosh. Combining deep fried garlic bread and nutty pancakes may seem odd to most but anybody who has tasted fresh langosh understands! People of Liverpool, just drop by for a langosh and a read of their menu! The cake selection was beckoning so our kids made their choices through the window. Every cake is the same low low price ($2.50, from memory) so maybe we bought more than was necessary ;) We loved it all, stuffed ourselves and didn't go broke in the process.

We've only been here a few times as it is not really local for us however Monkey Mania is probably the biggest and most impressive play centre that we've visited in the Macarthur area. You do pay a little more here but I suppose there is more bang for the extra few bucks. Unlike the play centre just down the road, you can pretty much keep an eye on your kids without having to chase them around corners but once they are in the biggest of the play areas, you will only catch glimpses of them (though I guess that's the same everywhere). We've also attended a birthday party here and were impressed enough to look into hosting a party of our own at MM, too. It offers something for kids of all ages.

My kids love this place as much now as when they first started visiting. The business has changed hands at least twice since my original review but one thing that is consistent amongst the owners is that they are friendly and they try to keep the prices down. They offer incentives to return such as frequent visitor cards with rewards to collect at certain visits (such as a free drink), half price entry afternoons and they run the occasional after-hours event for local families, such as a "Meet Santa" night and discos. Local families can see how Playmaze must be struggling to make any substantial profit but those of us who know about don't want it to go belly-up. There isn't really any similar type of play centre in the Camden-Narellan area so I really do suggest you make the effort to visit to support this small business that makes small (and even bigger) kids happy.

I'm reviewing OMC as a cafe however the cafe is just part of this small local wholesale meat company which also sells their meat and all sorts of deli products to the public from their new store in Gregory Hills. The cafe is consistently packed and locals brag about their food, particularly the burgers.

I was there for morning tea but easily convinced myself to replace the coffee and cake with poached eggs on brioche with bacon jam. I certainly enjoyed it and was impressed with the breakfast/brunch prices. The menu looks tasty and trendy, appealing to the masses (and to men and women alike!) but they seem to throw in a little bit of a curve-ball in a lot of their meals (like the bacon jam), perhaps to impress, maybe to make us question and probably to keep us wondering and so wanting to return for more.

It had been about a year since I had eaten a meal at Barenz then suddenly I visited twice in a week. On the Friday night, I had such an incredibly tasty chicken risotto that when I visited the following Wednesday ($10 pasta night), I just had to order another chicken risotto. Now the description was slightly less fancy (I can't remember the specifics but I do remember there wasn't asparagus in the risotto on the pasta night menu) but the $10 risotto was also great and happily, the serving size was also much the same as Friday's. My husband and my friend were also impressed with their seafood risottos. My kids shared a fettucine bolognaise which I found bland but it may have just needed some extra seasoning. The bolognaise, being simpler than the risottos, was quite a large serve. All meals were $10, promoted under a "winter warmer" menu even though we were into October by then. I want to go back!

Kios Fine Foods is an interesting place to visit, if only for a browse. Located out in the farmlands off Camden Valley Way, they have a little delicatessen-style store selling their homemade chicken products among all sorts of gourmet offerings such as deli meats, local produce, dairy, pates, sauces, etc. It's like an old-fashioned country general store run by a local sister team however they sell hard to get, country-market-style items that appeal to foodies with deeper-than-average-pockets. You're sure to want to experiment on a new dish or walk away planning a sumptuous picnic after a visit to Kios.

Enzo has a longstanding impressive reputation in the Macarthur area however after two or three very bad customer service experiences there over the years, I have vowed never to return, at least not of my own choosing. I also freely tell my Enzo stories whenever the subject comes up. They appear to have amassed a great fan base but I have also discovered after reading reviews through Facebook, my experience is not all that uncommon. Unfortunately, the service has been so disappointing that I cannot even remember how I rated their meals. For me, the food has not been the standout memory.

Enzo is the one restaurant I have ever visited where I have had to wait around an hour to receive a bill to pay because they were too busy/understaffed to tend to my table. On another occasion, the wrong meal was served to our table and rather than apologise (or even just turn around to the kitchen and pull out the correct dinner), the waitress argued that I was lying about what I had ordered so it was the wrong meal or nothing. That was it for me.

What a impressive find at Macarthur Square! Justinian's has a tasty looking selection of snacks, meals and desserts, even for those of us who aren't entirely impressed with the gimmicky offerings popping up at such cafes at the moment. I guess while the public are posting photos of mason jars, they are going to keep giving us mason jars. Anyway, all the desserts at our table were lovely and the four of us all walked away with plans to return. I was happy with the prices and also pleased to try a deep-fried Mars bar as (gimmick or not) they are not common on menus in these parts

I'm not one to waste hard earned money on this kind of thing but Nectar is certainly the kind of day spa you want to visit if you are after an indulgent spa experience in the suburbs. For me, the ambience was by far the most relaxing part. I really didn't get into the treatments but this was in no way due to the service I received. I'm just not into this sort of thing. My therapist was professional, respectful and tried to add to the whole relaxation thing by staying softly spoken and not talking more than was necessary.

Nectar is a beautiful, peaceful sort of sanctuary and the most relaxing part for me was to focus on the music and try to take myself back to holidays where I had indulged in such experiences. Certainly, I have never visited a spa on such a grand scale (it is pretty big inside that labyrinth of treatment rooms). They provide quite a lot of services and I was pleased to find I could find descriptions of their offerings, including the current prices, in their printed brochure and online.

I must admit I put off by the idea of eating a "gourmet meal" by myself (still at the day spa) at the end of the treatment package and I certainly stand by my original opinion! It was more than a little uncomfortable sitting there eating my lunch (which I would never have described as gourmet) in a robe while people queued for the toilet (the toilet being the adjoining room). I counted five flushes during this hurried meal. I would have much preferred to have saved $20 and not been fed or else to have walked away with a $20 Macarthur Square gift voucher which they could have promoted as a "dining voucher" or some other option. If I do return for another package, I will be sure to choose one which does not include a meal.