Iron Creek Bay Estate — Hotel in Hobart

We were winners of a radio competition winning a nights accommodation with dinner. We won our entry stating we wanted to create new family memories for Christmas.

Sadly our memories will be memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Arriving for dinner at 6pm, the power going out at 7.30pm and the children not receiving any meals until after 9.15pm!

One family never received one single meal and left the restaurant having not eaten. Their meals were gradually brought to the table, 1 meal at a time in takeaway containers over an hour plus duration and taken to their rooms at 10.15pm by one of the radio station hosts!

My children received their chicken nuggets at 9.45pm!! We ordered them at 6.45pm.

The power outage was no excuse for the terrible organisation, lack of service, lack of experience, lack of apologies and just sheer lack of hospitality last night.

The restaurant wasn’t even 1/4 full.

The two waitresses had no idea what they were doing and had no urgency about chasing up our meals on the multiple times we had to ask for them.

Our two tables were not cleared at all until we started cleared them ourselves after our mains came out after 9pm. So 3 hours with no table service. No fresh water at all the whole night.

Our breakfast experience was the same again the following morning. We were the only table in the cafe at this time. The scones came out without any butter and no cream. Just jam. Our coffees came out and both were wrong - we only ordered two.

Our accommodation was yet another issue. We were booked with another family when we were all supposed to be in separate pavilions. The sales and marketing manager called at 6.45/7pm to sort that out and told us it would be.

At 10.30pm the male in charge had no idea. He had to find a pavilion available and then told us there was no swipe cards to use and he only had a main. Another half hour later - after 11pm with two 6 year old children we enter a pavilion with no access keys to get in and out.

This male comes back a little later, unannounced with swipe cards.

Then he comes back again unannounced after 11.30pm with a bag from the General Manager, apparently as an apology to us. Two packets of pringles and two cans of coke!!!

Seriously.

And then we used two showers and both flooded.

Had it not been for the other guests, we would have left that night.

Another family was relocated at 10.30pm as their toilet would not stop running.

Absolutely appalling. It was a combination of poor experience from management to wait staff. And a complete lack of care at all.

The absolute worst. Spoke with management and nothing. Emailed them and nothing.

Also, the accommodation is a very long way from the cafe/restaurant and play area. And it’s not a farm stay as there are limited animals that are not accessible to guests.

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We visited Iron Creek Bay Estate on Christmas Day, looking forward to a memorable experience. Unfortunately, while there were some bright spots, the day was overshadowed by several disappointments.

We started with cherry picking before our pre-booked lunch at Orani Restaurant. While the cherry picking itself was enjoyable and the cherries were of excellent quality, the entry policy felt exploitative. Every guest, including children, was required to purchase a medium ($25) or large ($30) container to participate. There was no option for adults to share—small boxes were only available for kids but still required purchase. For families like ours, this quickly became costly, with our group of five spending over $100 just to take part. To make matters worse, we noticed groups of three entering with only one large container and not being stopped by staff. This inconsistency made the policy feel unfair and left us questioning why we were held to a stricter standard.

Lunch at Orani Restaurant started off well with a decent entrée, but things went downhill from there. Despite the event being scheduled from 12 to 2:30 pm, our mains - along with the kids’ meals - didn’t arrive until 2:15 pm, leaving us waiting for over an hour. For children, this delay was especially unreasonable, as they were left hungry and restless. Adding to our disappointment, the long-awaited main course was a tough and dry pork belly, which felt rushed and lacked the quality one would expect for a premium Christmas menu.

Dessert was equally underwhelming. Most of our chocolate profiteroles arrived unfilled with custard, except for one person’s portion. Even after pointing this out, the replacements brought to our table were also unfilled, compounding the frustration.

Service throughout the meal was inconsistent. Most of the staff appeared inexperienced, struggling to explain the dishes they were serving. The restaurant manager seemed visibly anxious, which only added to the chaotic atmosphere. That said, one server stood out with her professionalism and attentiveness, and she was the one bright spot in an otherwise disappointing experience.

While we understand the challenges of running a service on Christmas Day, the premium price we paid set high expectations for quality, consistency, and attention to detail. Sadly, those expectations were not met. The cherry picking and one standout staff member prevented this from being a one-star review, but the overall experience left us feeling disappointed and...

This place is a little confused about what it is trying to achieve! Farm stay - camp style or high quality accommodation. Who knows. Farm = Orchard. No parking beside the accommodation, long walk to car park and or cafe and restaurant. No ironing board/ iron in room had to be delivered by reception. One way system with the cars so you have to go out onto the main road and leave the property to come back in further down the road (so you can pack your car). Shared kitchen, tiny fridges in room.

The food in the restaurant and cafe was lovely - possibly slightly overpriced. The service staff were lovely, however the food took a long time between ordering and receiving considering there were minimal patrons on all occasions. (We were told we had to book because it was busy - they were not busy)

The accommodation is comfortable, however noisy when other people turn up late at night. Air conditioning is very lacking and some rooms have little ventilation. Probably great in winter. Not so great on those really really hot summer days. Management were informed on two occasions and we were promised multiple times it was fixed and give it some time and the rooms would be cool! We gave it ‘all day’ arrived back late only to find the rooms were still hotter than it was outside. Asked to move to rooms that air con worked only to be told they were fully booked (however it didn’t appear to be the case going by the carpark and seeing no other people). In the end we were provided a fan and portable air conditioner to cool the room down. Mind you the slot out the window to put the pipe out was so tiny it became a crumpled mess. But alas cooled the room (was extremely noisy). Some rooms had doors and windows which meant it was easier to cool them down. The room I had only had 1 tiny window with about a 5cm opening. Poor ventilation.

Upon returning to our room on our final night - after 9pm - we found we were locked out of one of the rooms (we had two rooms as it was cheaper than a family room). The staff on duty tried to fix, however were unsuccessful so we had to ensure we had something chock it open if we left the room to get back in.

So nice location, confusing style, lack of management forethought. If you want a Fawlty Towers type experience this is the place. I hope they...