Mary Mae's Bar & Kitchen

What do you look for in a restaurant? It sounds like a simple question, but maybe it isn't so easy to list. We all go to different restaurants for different reasons that extend well beyond the food. Restaurants can serve as meeting points to set an evening in motion. They can serve as back drops for catching up or celebrating with friends, family, or colleagues. It was for the latter that we found ourselves at Mary Mae's. As with the real estate market... location, location, location is of utmost importance for restaurants and Mary Mae's has an excellent location in New Farm! Located along the Brisbane River, I can't think of a better location for meeting up with other 20-somethings to 30-somethings for daytime drinks on two levels overlooking the water. The atmosphere and vibe screams San Francisco. The bad news for me is that Im a little past that age and I need a little more when dining. Case in point: for such a lovely building, I find it cheap to have to place my order at the counter. This reality created an unsightly cluster of people that extended past the DJ booth and onto the patio. It may sound like a small thing, but it impacts the aesthetic. After placing our orders, the food tricked out to our tables. The orders were spaced in a way that some in our group waited longer than others for their food to arrive. This will help an artifact of dining here with larger groups who are paying separately. The food was OK, but not memorable. The menu is a little uninspired for a refined pallette but can be adequate for a daytime gathering. I would like to specifically call out two of the staff members J (server) and J (bartener). You both were lovely and were patient with me as I asked questions and snapped photos here and there. It is always good to interact with staff who are genuinely smiling and friendly while working. Thanks for adding a pleasant texture to my time at MM's. If you're not 20-30ish, do not be deterred from paying a visit to MM's. The river, sun, and drinks can be enjoyed by all!

Lunch at Mary Mae's Bar & Kitchen. Situated under the Brisbane Powerhouse this restaurant fits the bill for casual riverside dining. Indoor/outdoor seating , an extensive food & drinks menu and quality service all added to an excellent place for lunch. The flat white coffee that I had was perfect. We ordered a light lunch of burgers and chips, both cooked to perfection and ready to go in a short amount of time. The food & coffee were excellent. Great location ( the views are worth it), fantastic food, coffee & service, try Mary Mae's if you are in the area and are looking for somewhere to eat.

Get the Fish Tacos!! They are an awesome value for money and very tasty. Ordering at the bar and pick up your own food is a little 2020 but it does give you the flexibility not to rush.

As an event vendor, working with the staff of Mary Mae's on the day of wedding bump in couldn't have been easier. They allowed us uninterrrupted access to the venue and helped with any queries. Can't wait to go back. (Honey & Hive Designs)

The perfect place to hangout with friends! Amazing service, good environment, and the food was delicious! You can’t go wrong! Came to do Puppy Yoga and Breakfast and was an unforgettable experience. Thanks to Mary Mae’s for the fun time!

The Egg Benedict with smoked salmon was scrumptious. Great atmosphere with friendly staff. Will definitely come again!

Didn’t expect a breakfast with packaged chips. The dish I had is not bad but I would not order it again. Presentation needs to be more appealing from a restaurant like this.

Situated right on the river front underneath the Powerhouse Museum this place provides both indoor and outdoor dining. It's an easy stroll to the nearby parkland and stroller friendly. They have live music which adds to the ambience of the place and meals are always well presented. It can get pretty busy here tho, so be warned. No pics today, maybe next time. I have gone here a few times and always enjoyed myself. Update: OK so we went back for breakfast with friends and were not disappointed. See pics for reference. Food and coffee was delightful!

We booked for a special birthday dinner last night. Our table was in what could only be called the cafeteria section. Despite requests to be moved to other obviously vacant tables perhaps with later bookings(?) the staff were resistant & almost rude. Atmosphere was awful. Don't assume you'll be seated in the lovely looking dining area displayed on the website. Staff didn't know the daily specials, didn't even offer to relay them to us unless we asked. Food was nice, but not exceptional. Also, if you don't have a taste for pig based products, you'll find this menu a challenge. This was a pricey dinner, spoilt by average to poor staff, extremely noisy & basic furnishings.

Great spot for a cheeky wine on a Sunday afternoon. Take a seat outside and enjoy a view of the river while doing some people watching. The food looked great so we will have to go back to try it out

What is not to love about this fabulous space, the food, the wine, the staff. After many many afternoon strolls that ended up here. I love being a local at New Farm!! I have to say that this is my favourite New Farm location. Whether we are after just a casual drink after our walk, or a coffee in the morning (definately with their amazing Macarons) then occasionally a more substantial feed, this place nails it. The bar food is delicous and generous in portion size - they do great Pizza's. The Menu changes seasonally and regionally, love the Italian theme too. The staff behind the bar are always friendly and helpful and make great coffees. Not to mention the awesome restaurant section staff, very friendly and happy to set up plates for sharing. Such a great maître d, he's a gem. Add the benefits of the live music, comedy, art on the walls or just sitting in the outside area ... it really is winner. Thanks Bar Alto - you rock.

Bar Alto is serene. Situated in the Brisbane Powerhouse, Bar Alto can be found around the back, right on the river. Whether you go there for a quick drink or bite to eat before or after an event at the Powerhouse, or just go to sit on the river on a lazy sunday afternoon, this place is perfect. Albiet a little pricey, they have a nice selection of fine wine and beers and tastey food to accompany them if you please. The best thing about this bar is the location. It picks up a pleasant breeze from the river. You can gaze across at the city cat making its way to and fro, or daydream about which of the large mansions perched across the way you would want to live in. My mind easily gets lost in my imagination here. The bar is just that little bit fancy while still staying casual and relaxed. Definitely worth a visit or two.

We've always been big fans of Bar Alto! It's our 'go to' place for dining when we see a show at the Brisbane Powerhouse. Excellent service and the place to go before or after a show at the Brisbane Powerhouse. The dishes are rich and unique, and the service is always pleasant, prompt and excellent. Highly recommended Brisbane dining at an awesome venue!!

The not fishy perfect fish, wine list and chocolate volcano - go with your foodie mates and lament on your first world problems ... delightfully decadent

Amazing service, food and atmosphere. This was such an amazing dining experience that was certainly worth travelling for. Each dish that was served was fresh and beyond delicious. And the deserts were to die for! The staff were all friendly. accommodating and extremely approachable. They were phenomenal at filling up water glasses as well, which seems silly but we were all super impressed! :D The environment of the bar and restaurant was unlike any other and the exposed kitchen really added to the atmosphere. Will return ASAP!!

Housed in the magnificent Powerhouse complex Bar Alto was abuzz with people for Sunday lunch. The staff had us seated quickly and were very attentive. We shared the quail and sea scallops for starters, they were delicious and beautifully presented. We both had the roasted lamb with figs and water crest. It was ok, should have order some extra veg wth it. Washed it down with a very nice SA rose. I had a desert of tiny donuts which was not impressive. Overall the ambiance was excellent, the service terrific and we felt very satisfied. Would certainly recommend to friends and revisit.

My intent of visiting the Powerhouse was to watch the live jazz performance, and instead I got impressed with the fact that this place is located in what used to be a power station. I think it still has that industrial heavy duty feel, but with modern bits and pieces stuffed into it (such as working toilets, a bar and a restaurant...). So after watching the show with an adequate amount of "hydration", we decided that the consumption of food was in order. The dining experience here at Bar Alto is just amazing, mainly due to the excellent views of the river. I found it all to be very comfortable but slightly fancy atmosphere and the staff are all friendly and ready to serve. The food is good too - I had the barramundi served with some water crest and fried crushed potato. The fish was done perfectly. My only gripe was that the serving size was fairly "lean" and so while it was nice, it wasn't quite fulfilling enough for me. But overall, I like this place. Its a good combination of a great views, semi casual atmosphere, and good food and drinks.

Randomly decided to stop in for a coffee here, opted for Bar Alto cuz they had indoor seating and it was a bit chilly outside. I had a coffee and a brownie, they were both ok...my coffee wasn't really hot, barely warm and the brownie was....a brownie. It was really rich, but nothing amazing. Decent enough spot to grab a coffee, casual couch seating which is comfy.

Location, location, location! Oh, and food and wine. All very important for a good night out in my opinion. Bar Alto has the best of everything. Right on the Brisbane River, in the Powerhouse, I love the atmosphere on a busy Saturday night. Everyone is there for a good time with their mates. Last time I went was with my boyfriend and another couple. We go there early, had a few drinks on the deck outside, then progressed into the restaurant section. I am a big fan of Italian food and the menu had me spoilt for choice. I opted for ravioli verdi. Hand made pasta, rich fillings and a delicate sauce, 10 out of 10.

If you haven't sampled the fabulous Food at this Restaurant, then you haven't dined with some of the finest food available in this country. Big Call?? Try it out, and I am sure you'll agree and write a similiar endorsement Magnificient Food Mr Chief Chef, Simon and Team. Congratulations and 'keep the Great Work up'

The powerhouse is an awesome location, and the service, and atmosphere are great. But my meal at Bar Alto, the "Venetian style crespelle filled with ricotta, pumpkin, burnt sage butter" was a little more burned than I would have liked, and surprisingly, the flavours were a bit bland. With high hopes, I followed up with the apple and ricotta tart - which was also a bit burned. And though artistically presented, the cold caramel sauce and the cold tart were not so great. Honestly, there are more impressive desserts at Pie face for $6. Perhaps some of the other dishes on the menu are better?

We live in Brisbane. We have an amazing river. Most of us like to drink. So why is it so hard to find nice places to drink on the river? Thanks to Bar Alto it's not as hard as it used to be. Its location in the Powerhouse means Bar Alto is smack on the river bank, and the breezes are delicious. There are large communal tables plus smaller, more intimate arrangments. Getting a seat can be a challenge but I treat it as a good excuse to turn up early and get a few more vino's in. Bar snacks are good, the calamari comes with tempura zucchini slices which are my favourite. My only boo is that because it's government owned you can't book tables.

I'm a big fan of anywhere that combines a view with food, drinks, and a show! Alto is such a perfect place to relax and have dinner or a drink before or after seeing something at the Powerhouse. The atmosphere is very urban and cool what with all the graffiti and raw brick walls, and the deck outside overlooking the river is fantastic. Alto is one of those places that manages to achieve in the restaurant stakes as well as the bar stakes. If you just want a nice pre-show cocktail, they'll whip you up something quickly and professionally and you can rely on it being a quality tipple. If all that music/comedy/drama has made you starving, you'll find a great dinner or lunch here too. The place is always bustling, but not unpleasantly so. The staff manage to maneuver the chaos with ease, and provide friendly, efficient service despite the often three-deep queue at the bar. If you sit down at a table you'll be treated to attentive table service and the food always comes quicker than I expect it to. The zucchini fritters are an excellent entree to nibble on while you wait for your main. The Powerhouse is one of Brisbane's gems, and Bar Alto contributes a lot of shine!

Let's start off with amazing service friendly staff great location to go with a few friends.. The food it's good, apart from my experience there I had a massive long hair in my homemade pappardelle goat ragu, excuse was we all wear head bands must of just magically flew into the middle of your lunch oops,, They said it will be taken off the bill, when we went to pay it wasn't. I had to remind them that there was a hair in my food. Apart from that the desert was great.

Went to a wine dinner, great food, set menu, nice little canapes to start, followed by risotto, with porcini and gorgonzola, what can I say, yum, Wagyu with baby root veggies good, but needed work on meat, also portion was small but flavour very good, panna cotta for dessert all matched with wines from Vietti in northern Italy.

I would HIGHLY recommend the goat ragu and the zucchini fritters. My go-to dish :)

Beautiful food! A group of us went for a birthday dinner and were impressed with pretty much everything here! The atmosphere and setting was great with views looking over the river. I ordered the duck ravioli which came in a beautiful mushroom sauce which was just Devine. Friends also ordered the mussel gnocchi and the parpadelle with goat ragu. All delicious and all decent serving sizes. Dessert was also great. Service was friendly and attentive. All round great evening!

I heart Parpadelle and anything on it, but the Braised Goat Ragout was UH-MA-ZING with it! Couldn't have made a better choice... Try it, try it!