Tall Timbers Tasmania — Hotel in Tasmania

At the tip of Northern Tasmania, where the sun always shines upon its extensive beaches, Tall Timbers offers a resort installed with prolific facilities and luxurious, 5-star quality rooms. It is also home to Kauri Bistro and the newly established Cape Grim Grill that commands a spacious dining room with friendly wait staff.

Our reservation came with their homemade bread roll which appeared pillowy soft on first impressions. It easily crumbles apart into a chewy dry pieces but it's nothing that butter can't solve.

The mains arrived with each protein spotlighted in the centre of the dish by its dignified accompaniments. Beginning with the pressed lamb shoulder that was fall-apart tender yet extremely gamey to the point of being unpalatable. I believe the minted yogurt is supposed to minimise the intensity of the lamb but it simply masked the gaminess with a more pungent sourness rather than complementing it. Underneath the hodgepodge, the preserved lemon chat potatoes were excellent with the right amount of acidity retained. The same can be said for the harissa spiced beans which were unpredictably the best thing on the plate with a mild, piquant heat coating the clean-tasting beans.

The case of a side vegetable stealing the show occurred again with the Tasmanian salmon darne. This time, the starchy texture of the parsnips was the impeccable vessel for the gentle sweetness of a Leatherwood honey glaze. A well-cooked salmon was diminished by the lack of seasoning and with a squirt of beetroot gel tinier than the petit vegetables, the whole dish felt stagnant. Only one question remains: Where was the aforementioned onion soubise?

The desserts held our last hopes and fortunately, the sticky date pudding came through with an addicting butterscotch sauce. The pudding itself is a dainty capsule of dissolving deliciousness that becomes irresistible once combined with the butterscotch. You can thank the clotted cream for capping the sugar and your mind from being blown.

Before cracking into the toasted lemon curd tart, a few seconds will elapse from pondering on the bizarre plating choice to splatter raspberry coulis across the dish. The candied sweetness of brûlée top is fantastic with the sour custard, not to forget the smooth, buttery crust. But once you pair the lemon tart with the berry coulis, it's bluntly sour versus sour. I rarely eat meringue but the baked meringue was a light and airy palette cleanser compared to the overbearing sweetness I remembered from my last encounter with meringue. As I don't regularly venture into the fine dining scene, maybe my lukewarm dinner at Kauri Bistro was representative of that ignorance.

Receding from my initial distaste, the breakfast buffet then dropped the bar lower than it should have. Powdered scrambled egg, canned baked beans, the run-of-the-mill bacon and sausages is quite unseemly for a high-class setting but I understand the cost-effective reasons behind it. The poached egg, however, is absolutely delightful with soft, creamy whites that spill out into a runny yolk. The sautéed mushrooms are also splendid and full of umami juices. Besides the typical cereals and toast, they have the trusty pancake machine that pumps out fresh and fluffy pancakes. I suggest adding some Tasmanian sourced toppings on your pancakes such as leatherwood honey and Hill Farm jam alongside the fresh fruits and yogurt. A complete failure was the croissant. It was way too dense, doughy and everything that doesn't make a good croissant.

Even with my misgivings about the fine dining and breakfast, don't let that stop you from enjoying a pampered stay at...

I am not a review writer, but I have learnt over the years that management do not care so much for the opinions of their customers. One of my biggest gripes is the WIFI and I am tired of the excuse that it is just how it is in Smithton. On a number of occasions, I was told to stand next to the window to get service. I would like to see the managers try and do their work while standing holding a lap top next to the window. If you are going to offer a service, you need to make sure it works. I now hot spot from my phone. I have also observed that the staff are not treated very well. The managers are always speaking harshly to them and do so in front of customers. One example is from earlier in the year. I was sitting having my evening meal and it was quite busy in the bar. There was a bar attendant who was a bit older than the other staff who was run off her feet while other young bar attendants stood around gossiping. She finally had a break and came over to me and was asking how my meal was and if there was anything else I needed. Just as she did this a manager walked in and started berating her about standing around doing nothing. He then walked past the younger bar attendant who was still gossiping and said nothing to them. I was also checking in one night and the lady at the front desk was having trouble uploading my information. I believe it was not long after the computer system was upgraded. The same manager walked past, she asked for help, he snapped and said he was too busy, and she would have to wait and then walked off. In the end she managed to fix the issue herself. I gathered from these incidents that there are favorites who can do no wrong while others cop the blame. My biggest frustration is coming to the front desk to pay my account so I can check out and no one is at the counter. This happened 4-6 weeks ago. I could hear voices in the side office and thought that whoever was there would notice there was someone waiting but I was wrong. I stood there for nearly a good 5 minutes and was just about to leave when my phone rang which then got the attention of the voices. Out from the side office came the tall thin lady closely followed an older grey-haired lady. My first thought was typical. I have noticed that these two ladies are constantly gossiping from my previous stays. I have seen them numerous times at the door to the bar when I have been having breakfast, down the end of the bistro where the bar is and, in the corridor, leading to the front desk. It must be nice to get paid to stand around gossiping all day. I was packing my car one morning and one of the cleaning ladies walked past and we started to chat and being a bit frustrated mentioned it to her. She did not look surprised and said it was a common occurrence, no one could say anything to management about it as they are in cahoots together.|Aside from these issues I would always choose to stay at Tall Timbers, the rooms are clean and comfy, the food is delicious and most of the staff...

We stayed for 2 nights at Tall Timbers and had our reception there on 3/2/2018. The staff were pleasant on the first visit, so I booked the wedding 16 months prior. I made a deposit and secured the date for the larger room. I was advised 12 months before when my guests all started to book there accommodation that they were booked out with a tour company for the whole accommodation facility which I was not advised of when booking my wedding I was advised it was a joint error between them and I. I was advised this company books 3 years in advance. I was strongly encouraged to downsize from the larger wedding room to the smaller due to my numbers so they could accommodate another function, however due to having 2 children with disabilities, this was not suitable. I had booked the larger room, and secured the deposit, I was annoyed by this. One of the reasons I booked was so most of my Interstate guests could stay at my reception as they were unfamiliar to the area. Jackie Grey the events Co-Ordinator was very hot and cold, on some occasions she was friendly, and on other occasions unhelpful and rude. Romeo the accommodation was also hot and cold, on some occasions she assisted me with bookings, however she refused to invoice individual guests for their accommodation they had booked prior to book in. I asked on arrival if they could hold my luggage as I was early and wanted to set up the reception and didn't want my wedding dresses to be creased in the hot sun and I was told I could check in early and put it in the room. On check out I was changed $100 day fee for this. I was furious, however due to an earlier argument about the below issue, didn't bother to argue and paid the money. I rang during the week to advise that one of the guests were moving into a room to look after our children so we had an adult to care for them, and they still tried to charge the other guests that only had 2 people in it for the price of 3, she reluctantly allowed her to only pay for 2, however was rude. On check in my bridesmaid checked in for the children of the bride and groom and another accommodation lady made an error and gave us a smaller incorrect room. I was advised at my wedding reception when I could not change the room, therefore wedding guests had to care for my children. I was told I would be reimbursed for this. The frontline bar staff/waitresses etc were lovely. Well done guys! Management have a lot to be desired. Only the right half of the jets worked in our executive apartment also. The left side were broken. It is a beautiful place, and I do hope that upper management make some much needed changes. Our wedding photos on the grounds...