Shelley Inn — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Dear Shelley Inn. We have been coming to visit your establishment now for over 30 years. We have always had family events down the beach and always enjoyed your fish and chips. I am a little surprised I must say. On the the 28th August we travelled down from Ocean View (about an hours drive) for a bite to eat. I ordered whilst my wife got a table across the road. 2 Wild Caught Snapper, Small Chips, A dozen Calamari and a tartare sauce. 43 Buck Fair enough as we always enjoy the food. You guys weren't overly busy but 15 mins. Actually a bit surprising for a Saturday Afternoon how busy you were not. Usually there is a line up out the door! I watched the 3 boys cook and them prodding the fish to see if it was cooked. A bit odd. So I got our Meal #272 after 275, 274, 273 was called. I won't be pedantic about it. Unwrapped our sumptuous meal and there was no lemon. Fair enough. Can't be bothered going back over to get some. I have to say that the outside of the fish (The Crumbs) were completely over cooked and dark brown hard and crispy. The inside centre of the fish was hard and very much like it was not cooked properly. Tough and chewy and did not fall apart. My wife only ate half of hers. The dog ate the rest actually but even he was turning his nose up at it. The Chips. What the heck has happened. They are the weirdest toxic yellow colour and were completely tasteless. Thank god that the calamari was edible. It was a little chewy but at least it was not over cooked. We ended up throwing most of it away and travelled home quite disappointed. I have to say my air fryer cooks a better meal with frozen stuff from the fridge better than what I was served! I am not sure what has happened to you guys. New Ownership? Change of supplier? The kids cooking not trained enough? Lack of oversite by the owners? Just don't care anymore? I hate to say it but we will not be returning and we have spent a heap there over the years. Hopefully for you guys this was a one off but from what I observed on the day I doubt it. PS. I gave two stars only because the...

A very underwhelming dining experience at Shelley’s Inn “cafe”. Wife and I had a craving for fish and chips as we drove through Shorncliffe. I wish we kept driving. Spent over 32 dollars for 2 orders of dry and days-old tasting Calamari Rings, Chips and Salad. No drinks. The two young men behind the counters were not really interested in the business - they took our order, took our money, and that was it. No "Thank yous" or pleasantries. After a few minutes, our order number was called and we opened the box - what a colossal disappointment! Presentation was awful. Chips and Calamari thrown into the box and worse, a package of cutlery tossed on the top of the food - Gross. The chips were a disgrace. First of all there were exactly 8 chips (I counted) and second, they were marigold in colour. (A sign that it was cooked in old subpar oil - again, gross). I didn’t bother eating them. With the 8 sad looking clown-coloured chips were 4 small depressing calamari rings and a small side salad. The calamari was so dry and rubbery it was difficult to chew or to swallow. No dripping sauce for the calamari. The two wedges of lemon were frozen solid so any attempts to drizzle the calamari to add taste or soften the texture with lemon was pointless. The side salad was ok but the 1/4 shot glass of balsamic dressing wasn’t enough to adequately dress the salad. All in all, we really struggled to eat any portion of this dry parched and dehydrated mess of a meal. We threw most of it out and left the joint hungry and with Esophageal dysphagia. The “cafe” is in a great location. It is truly water front. But be warned, this is not a cafe - it is a run down Queenslander that was robbed of its original charm with dark, old and drab tables inside arranged like picnic tables at a road side camp site. There is zero vibe or ambiance. We were able to outside on their patio which was lovely but the tables were all dirty - obviously they are not wiped down and sanitised after each customer. Overall, a dispiriting experience. We...

Phone wasn’t working so couldn’t pre-order. Told the staff and they hadn’t even noticed it wasn’t working (3:30pm).

All staff eating chips and ice creams behind the counter and wall, in fact my server (Ghengis according to my receipt) was still chewing the last of his ice cream cone when he took my order.

All separately ordered meals were wrapped into one big bit of paper and then the staff seemed confused when I asked them to wrap them separately. They were packs, ordered for different groups of adults..

They still ended up wrapping everyone’s chips together in the end for some reason..

Nobody was wearing gloves. Battered fish fell apart when they opened the paper so they had to recook that.

Main boy cooking was coughing the whole time. The rest not washing hands in between eating and handling the food? Just cause you duck doesn’t mean we don’t see the chips you shoved in your mouth..

It was dead quiet yet the restaurant tables weren’t wiped, there was no toilet paper in bathroom. Then after all that there was no lemon in our boxes which I specifically asked for. Chucked in 1 x free ketchup for $79 worth of food for our trouble. Chaotically wrapped with nice greasy fingers too as per photos.

I worked in a fish and chip shop my whole youth and I’m gobsmacked at how bad this was. Happy to speak to someone further about it.

Note: this took about half an hour even though ours was only one of two orders. Imagine if it...