The Pantry On Egmont — Restaurant in Adelaide

I've been a dedicated Pantry customer for many years and up until recently it was my go-to place, but unfortunately some recent experiences have left me reluctant to return. I've thought long and hard about writing a review regarding this.. hopefully someone can take this on board.

I understand the issues around COVID and maintaining a small business, and I went out of my way to stop in for take away food/coffee, pre-made meals, milk etc throughout the year... but since coming back to having customers in store the focus on buying meals has been very unpleasant. Multiple times now I have stopped in for a quick coffee, planning on spending 10 mins at the table and vacating, never choosing to do so if there were people waiting.. but without fail am always 'told-off' that if other people come and want to buy food I'll have to leave. It certainly makes one feel very unwelcome. Perhaps the team could avoid doing this and only mention about moving along if people turn up and are waiting.. it would make for a more pleasant experience. I'm certainly not the only one feeling this way and I am reluctant to return.

That being said, the food is always tasty and the coffee excellent, and it's worth a stop in for lunch if you're around...

The only reason I gave this a star was because my meal was delicious. Otherwise, my friend and I were made to feel most unwelcome. Arrived today at 11am; was given a table by a friendly young woman. After several minutes, a delay for which she apologised, she gave me a menu, which I read while waiting for my friend to arrive. Within five minutes of receiving the menu, a burly man approached to ask if my friend would be much longer (she wasn’t, she was parking), because “I have several groups of people waiting for the table”. I hadn’t been there even 15 minutes, and had only been given the menu five minutes previously! I offered to order something, to which he responded that he was just telling me that people were waiting for the table. My friend arrived shortly afterwards, and we enjoyed a brunch. My friend was finishing her coffee when the burly chap asked if we would want anything further, because “people are waiting for the table”. We promptly settled the account and left. If we wanted fast food and an atmosphere designed to move us in and out ASAP, we would have visited Maccas. At least there, we wouldn’t have had staff approaching us asking us to leave. Not to worry, we got the message, we won’t...

It was nice, but it's a decent drive for me. Coffee was good, but my chai was average, as it was very milky and so it didn't have much flavour in my opinion. I did rate the French Toast, and my friend had the special of breakfast gnocchi. Pricey, but it was very tasty if not a little too rich. We ventured down there to check out a SALA exhibition, however because of Covid it was near impossible to experience what made the exhibition so 'special'. We were a bit firmly told by a staff member to keep a 1.5 metre distance away from everyone. Since the pictures were placed above and around the tables, and it being such a small space, that wasn't easy. We gave up on the exhibition and went home. I understand that Covid has created many problems for small businesses in trying to abide by the restrictions or face a hefty fine if not. So in that case, I really think they shouldn't have such an interactive exhibition in such a small space. Yeah, the cafe is good, but I will be sticking to my local spots from now on. If I am down that way, sure I...