Coal Cellar + Grill — Restaurant in Adelaide

Coal Cellar and Grill is arguably the best steak restaurant in Adelaide, with even the second and third ranked being quite far down the list. Coal Cellar and Grill has been my choice for special occasions ever since I went there for my birthday in 2019, and I have always ranted and raved about this being the restaurant to go to for exceptional service and fantastic food.

Having only tried the Steak as a main dish, I can only comment on the exceptional presentation, the ability to get all cooking levels right, and the incredibly taste and texture that becomes the final product. This paired with their incredible (and I mean incredible, parsnip puree and parsnip crisps on top). Something I was first reluctant to try, but will now always get.

I speak highly of the Coal Cellar and Grill for good reason. And when it comes to fine cuisine in Adelaide, This is not a cheap establishment and thus you would expect the service to be top tier, and the products to be out of this world. A standard they generally keep.

Following tradition, my mother and I attended CC&G last night for a standard (but belated) birthday dinner. From the beginning, the service was okay. We were greeted by a young lady who showed us our table, took our drink order, and left. (The drink order being Table Water, and 2x Diet Cokes). We were asked if we wanted Still or Mineral water, to which I responded 'Still'. as table water is generally still. Not a second thought.

After not having received our drinks, she promptly came back to take our order. (2x steaks, 1 with Chimmichuri Sauce, fries with no Parmesan)

A few minutes after this, we were greeted by a new server who proceeded to bring the wrong drink, and wrong quantity. (1x Coke No Sugar, no water.) Upon raising this with him, he expressed the order was wrong, however he also was unsure if there was diet coke available. No worries, we will proceed with table water if not.

He came back with the same single Coke No Sugar, and expressed Diet was not available. No worries, we will proceed with table water.

He comes back, and unbeknownst to us, has given us an $8.50 bottle of still water. I am unable to explain why this would be the case, or how this miscommunication was achieved, however it was clearly made to both servers we were after table water, premium water was not specified.

We proceed to get our food (after approximately a 30 minute wait), and the steaks were cooked to perfection. Both plates had a dribble of Parsnip Puree. A fraction of what is normally provided - and an abundance of Parsnip Crisps on top. The additional Chimmichuri sauce provided was inedible. It was too watery, and sour as if biting into an overly ripe lemon. Despite the lack of Parsnip Puree, fortunately these steaks are great by themselves.

The Fries we ordered with no Parmesan, proceeded to arrive with Parmesan indeed sprinkled throughout the chips.

We proceeded to get refilled from a new bottle of water, which was when we took notice of the fact this was not standard water from a jug which is generally provided. I asked the waiter on the difference, and completely dumbfounded had no idea what to say, except for it was a different one that we get charged for.

It seems silly to raise such a simple problem, and have it ruin what was otherwise meant to be a special evening, however the collation of various issues throughout the night managed to compound the frustration into outright anger and disappointment.

I resent paying for a product I did not explicitly request, and at the sum of $8.50 for water, is outright insanity. I understand products requiring a markup and a healthy gross profit on top to ensure viable to stock and supply. However considering when you have a FREE alternative, and a product is not requested, yet provided. Is completely unacceptable.

I applaud CC&G for what they do get right. However, I begrudge what they get wrong, and this is something which will be not be forgotten...

Food was really good and surprisingly prompt, so props to the kitchen staff. Staff were respectful.

Virtually everything else was dreadful despite not having that many customers.

Firstly, this is a restaurant open to public, but its inside a hotel so they are not committed to you as they are also operated by the hotel. Secondly, the bar that services the restaurant also services the separate bar at the hotel, so staff were spread out and seemed absent. There werent that many customers in the restaurant or the bar and yet some staff seemed flustered and disorganised. None seemed particularly happy to be there except for who I assume was a manager.

Our table wasn't ready at our booked time, our first drinks took 30 minutes to come out, waitress had minimal knowledge of the limited menu (maybe she was new), I ordered red wine to come with my steak and it never came and when they brought our mains out our steak was served a while before our sides. Not a single waiter tended to our table for the last 30 minutes of our meal. For the last 30 minutes of our sitting they were setting up the mornings breakfast bar which just made us feel like we were an inconvenience and not paying $500 for an experience.

We decided to leave early since clearly nobody was going to come and offer us any drinks or dessert, and when we went to the front we saw three staff over to another corner having a fun time with another customer for a good 10-minutes, including the manager, yet we had no staff servicing us for 40 minutes. Seems to me that, whilst friendly, some of the staff don't have the skillset for customer service or have not been trained properly. If the customer service was even decent, I'd come back here for the food. But I can't justify parting ways with that much money for poorly trained staff and crappy service which are half the reason you go to...

The person who booked was not informed that we would be forced onto a set menu above 10 people. So all 14 of us were expecting to be able to order from a variety of steaks off the regular menu as we were coming for the purpose of having steak. We were quite upset when presented with the set menu that had only one choice of steak. The manager explained that the chef would not allow us to compromise by allowing some of us to order from the regular menu, and so we were forced to take their offer of a Second set menu which had a selection of steak. We were also made to feel that we should be grateful for this generous accomodation by the chef. With already a sour taste in my mouth from the poor hospitality, they proceeded to take our orders for steak asking us how we should like them cooked. I asked how the chef recommends and was told medium rare. The bread was then served but we were not given plates. We had to ask for plates and some people could not wait and had crumbs all over their clothes. After awhile the manager came back and explained that due to generously allowing us to order different steaks the chef would no longer be allowing us to order them in the manner for which we should like to eat them, but rather only medium rare or well done. We chose medium rare. The entrees came out and were enjoyable and looked nice and then the steaks came and they also looked good. But it was clear that my steak was cooked medium and not medium rare. Thankfully I enjoy steak medium and it was a delicious steak. Overall the food was good, the service was abysmal. Really made to feel unwelcome and not at all what I would expect from a restaurant...