Boatshed Hallett Cove — Restaurant in Adelaide

We wanted to enjoy a brunch/breakfast last Sunday. We arrived at 10:30am. Surprisingly, the cafe was not full at all for a Sunday in the middle of summer time. When you arrive, you have a sign at the entrance mentioning you have to wait to be seated. At least 4 staff members behind the bar. None paid any attention to us. After a couple of minutes, a lady seating in and probably the owner or manager requested for 1 of the staff to go to us. We were then seated and the long wait started. Don’t get me wrong, it is Sunday, I have time and I don’t need to eat in 30 minutes but come on! There is a minimum to do if you want to call yourself a cafe and even more if you want to do table service!! If you have neither the skills and staff to do it, just request for the customers to order at the counter. No one came to us to ask if we wanted coffee or if we were ready to order food after more than 20 minutes DESPITE other customers arrived after us being served… (tables 28 and 29, I hope you enjoyed your meal ;) ) When you are busy, I can understand but not when you have more staff on floor than you have customers. After 20 minutes and multiple attempts of eye contacts with a staff member, we just gave up. It is not the first time that we are disappointed with the service in this cafe. However, last time it was busy and every one who already worked in hospitality knows how sometimes, despite doing your best, you can’t provide the best. But this past Sunday… no excuse really. After being completely ignored, we decided to leave. Before leaving, I went to one of the staff member to explain why we were leaving even if they didn’t even realise what we were doing… This is what I have been told: I am sorry if you want to be served quickly, you can go downstairs and order at the Kyosk. Well… at this point, I was unsure if I had to laugh… well yes, I guess I can also go to Maccas too but it was not the point! I was just trying to explain that making a customer waiting 20 minutes to take an order and taking order from other tables arrived after us were not ok. I actually had plenty of time in front of me but I was also expecting the bare minimum with a cafe that offers “table service” anyway… this is very unfortunate to have again a cafe so well located being poorly managed. Especially when this cafe is the only one in the area!! So much potential!

We obviously left in the complete indifference.

We ended up in a cafe in Brighton as usual. Can’t complain we haven’t tried to use local...

No reserve sign on the table,took staff fifteen minutes to sort it out,as there were other people sitting on our table,which was suppose to be reserved.

No cold water in bottles on the table, only warm.I Had to ask for cold water and ice. On a 31 degree day.

Very noisy, not real cool inside.

Took ages for our meals to be brought out.

Do not order the Rueben sandwich,for $24. Two slices of toast not three for the layering,half of the bread had some finely sliced silverside on it,no sauerkraut. Sent them back.The chef did not make fresh just put some extra meat on my friends plus some sauerkraut,and placed it under the grill and brought it back out. Putting it under the grill to warm it up toasted the silverside and made the bread like a rock, and changed the flavour and texture of the Silverside The chips were not hot. My Rueben sandwich,they just added some sauerkraut,and heated it up the same way as my friends. The staff did not give a dam of our dissatisfaction of the rueben sandwich,and charged us full price.. Very dissatisfied. They took us for fools that we did not know how a Rueben sandwich should look or taste. A total of $48,we should have gone and flushed our money in the toilet. Word of mouth goes along way these days.

Not a good place to visit for the elderly or disabled.

Firstly to your reply, I was a guest not the booking person Reviews left are to be honest from a patron,whether good or bad. The person who booked never received an answer in the comments to confirm change of time. The sixth guest did not let us know until we got there that they were not attending. Your staff said to me that the persons on the table should not have been on that table and moved them and their guests to a smaller table as they arrived. It was brought to the cashiers attention from another guest of ours the dissatisfaction of her meal,the reply was, we sell them often,and went on to the next paying person. I thought with the response that she received,no point me putting my dissatisfaction forward,as clearly the staff member did not give a dam. Not even a sorry... It is very disappointing to see a business owner apologise in one breath and in another basically call you a liar. Your staff are very dishonest... I have taken the liberty to look as far back as 2020 at the reviews left, there are many very unhappy patron's, so...

I will take the opportunity to clarify the situation around the 21st birthday party which has justifiably garnished 1 star reviews in mid June 2025. The response from the owner would have people think that the group who attended the venue were abusive, threatening and unsafe. This could not be further from the truth. The group was exceptionally well behaved and caused no problems. The owner decided that it was appropriate to put a 19yo, inexperienced bar manager in charge. She took it upon herself to decide that everyone had had enough to drink by 8pm, despite there being no evidence whatsoever of anyone misbehaving or being overtly drunk. On three occasions that I know about, she took orders for mixed drinks, took payment and served up drinks without the alcohol. This is theft. She was challenged by numerous people and the owner cowardly watched on until he was motioned to come over. He then stated that he didn’t have to serve anyone and that he could remove anyone at will - utter arrogance. Again, nobody in the group had caused any issues. My son and I were served a drink that I paid in full for which did not have the alcohol in it. I challenged this and demanded that new ones be made in front of us. Lo and behold, this time we received the drinks. My son called her out for her deception and the owner came over, physically grabbed hold of my son and started to try to physically remove him. I then challenged him and made him stand down. Problems with the service continued with many other people for a time after that.

The owner then informed someone in the group that he will be kicking everybody out. As for the toilets - at the end of the night, after he announced that he was booting everyone, there was an incident in the toilet where a guest fell onto the soap dispenser and it came off the wall. So, no, “5 men” did NOT “vandalise” the toilet. At no time were any staff abused or threatened. They were certainly questioned and their actions called out, but absolutely not threatened or abused.

To the owner: I spoke with you. You are an arrogant little man who appears to have some unresolved issues that you chose to take out on a group of well behaved people who hired your venue for a party.

Avoid this place...