SheShells Restaurant — Restaurant in Adelaide

This is my first time celebrating my birthday in Australia. I read reviews on Trip Advisor, and Sheshells has positive reviews. There were six of us, and four of us ordered Fish of the Day. The fish was excellent, grilled just right and was moist. It came with salad and french fries. I also ordered SA wine and was really good. Their oysters were phenomenal! My five friends who celebrated my birthday with me also provided excellent feedback about the food. I noticed there were only two people who were serving that Sunday night, so service was long. However, our servers were courteous and accommodating of our needs. There are two recommendations that I have which I believe will improve the place: (1) Attitude of the manager/supervisor - The day before my birthday, I called Sheshells to make reservation for my birthday dinner. On top of the main meal and drinks, I asked if birthday cakes were available. The gentleman who I talked to (found out the next day he was one of our servers) told me that birthday cakes were available and he provided three birthday cake options. He also told me that the cake will cost 45 Australian dollars. I told him the cost is fine. After a few minutes, I received a call from the same gentleman, and he told me that the cost of the birthday cake will now be 100 Australian dollars because the manager/supervisor will have to outsource it. In other words, Sheshells does not have the cake available inhouse. Well, that would have been fine until our server told me that the manager/supervisor was being combative about the cake situation. When I requested for the cake initially, I was given a price and was told there were three cake options to choose from. Now, with the second phone call, I was told it will be outsourced and will cost 100 Australian dollars plus the manager/supervisor being combative about my request for a cake!!! (2) Cleanliness of the restroom - There are two restrooms and both were dirty. To summarize my review, food was excellent, service was good (only two servers that Sunday night), and atmosphere was good (manager/supervisor's attitude to customers needs to change and restrooms need...

Ate here on the 14th of July. We had travelled 2 hours from Kangaroo Island and googled where to get the best rated seafood in Glenelg. We were greeted with a scowl from the front-of-house/waiter who sat us down in the middle. He had a loud conversation on the cordless phone in front of us and opined to the other party that "3 new people have now come in and he has to wait on them alone". What a way to start a meal. He slapped down a pen and some scrap paper and told me he needed a name and a number to "let's just pretend you booked".

We did not know we had to book. The restaurant was half empty. Most places are happy for the business but not this one I guess.

I do feel for the poor chap that he was alone and if he had said that they did not take walk in customers straight up we would have found somewhere else to eat. Instead we were sat down and treated to a whole night of patronising knowing that we were not very welcomed.

Food was alright. My daughter loved your seashell table. My companions were hungry they would have eaten subway across the road with no complaints. I was upset and had no appetite. I probably make a better laksa broth. But nonetheless food was likely the saving grace of the night. We didn't stay for dessert as he loudly proclaimed to the other table that he had another "30 minutes of washing to do".

We left as soon as our meal was done. Apologies for the trouble of not booking ahead.

All in all, I give you guys a 3/5. And I'm being generous here.

Edited to reply=== Thank you for addressing my review. I appreciate that very much. We ate at your restaurant on the 14th of July - i.e. Last Thursday.

I am not from Adelaide so I will not be able to give you a call nor will you be able to make up for anything. We are tourists and have left Australia altogether.

Unfortunately, sometimes the first impression is the last impression you will make on someone. I wish you and Nathan the best in trying to sort this out. He seemed overwork and tired - we wished we had a...

We pre-booked for a special occasion (40th Wedding Anniversary) and was looking forward to Lobster Thermidor, which was discussed at booking in advance (to make sure of its availability). We arrived and were seated at a brightly Fluro lighted table filled with shells (tacky and glaring in your face up lighting). Entree was requested of mixed shells. It was over sauced Kilpatrick oysters (lukewarm) and cold scallops (shrivelled to nothing and a dish watery type of sauce) and chewy mussels in cold tomatoe type sauce. Garlic bread was two small pieces of non descript supermarket sourdough. Then came the wait of over 1 hour and a half for main of anticipated Lobster Thermidor. One bottle of wine later and still did not arrive… “Did you order the seafood platter… ?” ah “No! “ Sorry, another half hour wait. Meanwhile drama in the kitchen and the restaurant with a wait/kitchen staff member throwing in the towel in front of patrons and somehow the other wait staff seemed to disappear. Nathan, the Restaurant Manager and head of house, tried to diffuse the situation while ignoring the lack of service and said meal. When asked when the meal was finally going to arrive and noted that we had already drunk one bottle of wine waiting, we were told wine would be on the house. The Lobster finally arrived and was more a Lobster Mornay rather than a Thermidor…, tasty but not what was it was supposed to be to be. A truly disappointing experience, on so many levels. We left bitterly disappointed, $30 discount off the bill and a bottle of wine (which we had drunk) were given in compensation for this rubbish meal and service. The bill was still Over $200… Sheshell’s really needs to pick up their game, with decor, service and their product which was extremely average at best and bloody...