Rita's Bar and Restaurant — Restaurant in Adelaide

I had organised a surprise dinner for my sister with her friends a baby sprinkle. It turned out to be a terrible experience… Where do I even begin!

The booking was for 7:30pm which I’d say is not a late seating. When the first girl arrived she was told there was no booking, she said they seemed very flustered but then finally found the booking. (I booked via phone and received confirmation emails)

They came up to us multiple times to let us know that they were very busy and would take our order asap. The restaurant seemed busy but not at 100% capacity may I note*

When they finally placed our order I asked if it was fine for us to select what we wanted rather then do the feed me option as there were 6 of us. They said it was completely fine to do so.

They did inform us that they had run out of the burrata dish which was completely fine. We then placed the rest of our order including drinks my sister and I both placed a non-alcoholic drink (both pregnant) order and the rest of the girls shared 1 bottle of rosé. My drink arrived and it was wrong it’s was a Ragazzi Spritz (alcoholic) which we never order. It was then replaced with the right one. However we were charged for this at the end…

45mins after ordering our food they then came up to us to let us know that half the starters and entrees were sold out for the evening… we all saw red and thought that was absolutely pathetic for a Saturday night and to inform us 45mins later come on!! The entrees we did order were also added to our bill at the end which was an absolute joke!

May I also note how unprofessional the head of house was… where do I begin with him. He was an absolute joke. We saw him and one of the chefs literally walk directly outside for the whole restaurant to see them have a quick puff of a vape together then rush back in a cloud of smoke.

When the food finally arrived we ended up only ordering one entree dish the rest were mains and they bought out 3x strange eggplant dishes when we only ordered 1x. I then asked why so many and they said we were doing the feed me menu, when clearly they took an order from me and didn’t have enough product to even do a feed me menu….

The rest of the food was fine nothing to brag about, we ordered another side of potatoes because we were still hungry and they told us it was on the house for all the inconvenience.

When we finally got the bill which the front of house didn’t even bring us over initially he just asked if we were splitting it, we then had to ask again. (Did he honestly think we wouldn’t want to review the bill and just bloody payWave… yeah right) We were over charged and “accused”… I can’t even describe how angry we were for being accused of having an extra bottle of wine when we clearly never had another bottle to show for. The front of house was so adamant that he bought it to us but it was clear that he was coming down from a high that he didn’t even know what the hell he was doing that night!!!

In the end we were given a very small discount and didn’t pay for everything else that we never received but I’ll tell you now we will never be stepping foot back in their again and will make sure to not recommend to anyone!! What was supposed to be a lovely night for my sister unfortunately was the worst as she was so angry! Worst restaurant...

The worst experience at a restaurant I've ever had in my life. So bad that we ended the night crying laughing with all the other patrons about how bad it was. We made many friends that night! Red Flag #1 We booked 3 weeks before for 4 people, arrived to an empty restaurant, but were told we were only allowed to sit on the bar table because they are saving all the (many) tables for potential elderly customers (there ended up being 1). (We asked to have a table). Then.......... Waiters who forgot our meals (and kept asking again and again), multiple meals undercooked, hair in food, "buffalo mozzarella" that was a rubber hard mozzarella ball, also the waiters seemed so hesitant and nervous to take our meals away, i wonder if the kitchen staff are mean! THEN to top it off, fire alarm, evacuation, smoke everywhere, we look up and THE SMOKE ALARMS HAVE BEEN TAPED UP 🤣, furious evacuated residents in their pajamas next door arriving screaming at the waiters that they KEEP getting evacuated because of restaurant (i have this whole night on camera), fire truck rolls up, THEN the whole place gets told to shut down by the Firefighters because it's a fire hazard. So they are closing their doors till it's fixed. (I do hope the waiters that got screamed at is okay. It wasn't his fault.)

The waiters let us know that no one had to pay that night, thankfully!

Don't worry, most of the Patrons went to the pub down the road and had a GOOD laugh together! (I met others who never got their meals)

I've heard this place used to be amazing. So I hope all the issues get fixed soon. But I will never forget this night 🤣 (If they resolve their issues ill delete this review eventually, as i know they have potential to be amazing 5 stars, i just had to share my experience, I dont have social media to do...

We had dinner here tonight and, honestly, it was one of the worst hospitality experiences I’ve ever had. The food was disappointing, the service was poor, and I would not recommend this place at all.

What shocked me even more was overhearing a former employee confronting the owners about not being paid for over six months — including unpaid superannuation. I also overheard that staff are not being paid the correct hourly rate. This shows serious issues with how staff are treated and reflects directly on the integrity of the business. If the owners can’t even pay their team fairly, on time, and at the correct rate, it speaks volumes about the standards here.

The cleanliness was appalling throughout. The dinner plates arrived with visible finger marks and even scraps of food stuck to the bottom. The cutlery was filthy, covered in fingerprints, and clearly hadn’t been polished. On top of that, no one bothered to refill our water, which shows a complete lack of hospitality and basic service.

The bathrooms were even worse — dirty, smelly, and unhygienic, with waste left on the toilet seats, filthy sinks, and a strong stench. It was unacceptable for any venue, let alone one serving food.

Overall, this restaurant fails on food, service, hygiene, and basic respect for both customers and staff. I will definitely never be coming back and strongly recommend...