Black Salt Dining — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

My honest take on Black Salt is that it is excellent, if you order the right things and get the right service staff.

What's great: The main courses are to die for - I had the pork belly which was excellent! Perhaps ever so slightly too hard on the top, but otherwise couldn't fault it, incredibly tasty and tender. My partner tried the gnocchi which he loved, and he is a notoriously picky eater. We also had some bread to start and the kipfler potatoes, both of which were delicious.

What's not as great: The service is warm and friendly, but it is not always the most proactive. The staff are all lovely, but it seems many of them are still finding their feet - it took about 15 minutes between being given the menu and orders being taken, I made eye contact with three separate staff members who were invariably waiting around, indicating we were ready to order before someone came to check on us. I'm not trying to be overly critical here, and I'm sure this is something people will get better at as they get more experienced, it's perhaps just something for the restaurant owners to bear in mind when scheduling staff on so that not too many new people are all on together (but I know this isn't always possible).

Several months ago, we visited for a quick bite and ordered the pizzas. The pizza is perfectly acceptable, nothing really wrong with them but this restaurant has to remember there are 2 other Italian restaurants on the foreshore doing very, very good pizzas. The pizzas here are nice, but not in the same league so they probably can't get away with charging the prices they do - I think these would be better suited at a lower price point for the quality you get OR the restaurant needs to seriously invest in its pizza recipe so that it is on par with Molto and La Rustica if it wants to charge these prices.

Finally, just a note about the drinks pricing I found peculiar - the non-alcoholic drinks are insanely expensive (despite the alcoholic drinks actually being pretty good value). A non-alcoholic ginger beer is the same price as an alcoholic cider; a lemon, lime and bitters is $9! I think the drinks menu could use with a bit of price adjustment.

I know that sounds a bit nitpicky but just wanted to leave some honest feedback. This is a good restaurant, it is certainly worth visiting and I will be back, but I will return even more frequently if some of the above minor issues are rectified over time. Very best of luck to the owners with this very worthy addition to...

My friends and I recently visited the restaurant for her birthday and we encountered a couple of issues which left us disappointed.

Our experience was unpleasant due to the poor customer service received from the staff and the wait time was excessive. We ordered our food and received the entrees first, we had finished and were chatting amongst ourselves for almost half an hour before the staff cleaned up the table.

We waited for a little longer and I realised all the tables that arrived after us got their entrees and mains. We asked the staff who took our order and she said that other tables had ordered their food at the same time and we said so did we, she then said ‘ you have tell me whether or not you want your food out together or not’ we were surprised with this response and said no we don’t because you should be asking customers what they want and we don’t know how your business is managed. She didn’t say anything and walked off on us which was very unprofessional and unnecessarily rude.

I find it unacceptable for the staff to tell me that it was my responsibility to tell her whether I wanted our entrees to be served first or together with our mains and for walking away on us, we don’t deserve to be treated that way by her.

Another staff approached our table a while after and asked how the food was which I responded ‘the food was great but not the service’ and he responded ‘oh yeah, can I take your plates away’ I asked if he was the manager and he said yes, I responded that I’d like to provide him with some feedback with what had happened with the previous staff member. He said he understands and agrees.

He offered us a dessert platter, whilst we appreciate this gesture, we still wanted to express our experience due to these two main issues that made our dining experience unpleasant, one being the service received from the lady who took our order and secondly, the way the manager reacted and was quite dismissive.

I hope this feedback can be taken as an opportunity for improvement. I have also emailed the owner directly to discuss this matter and advised her that whilst the food is great and consistent, service can be worked on and that I would still share this review to share...

I was looking for a nice place to take my wife out for our anniversary. We are foodies but don't get out much these days with kids etc. so I was relying on online reviews. This place came highly rated, was marketed as 5 star upper class/fine dining and appealed with a waterfront location on the Kingston foreshore, an area we like & have visited the odd few occasions we do get out!

The al la carte menu was small but varied (& I liked that on booking as it can be a sign that often means what they do, they do well). Without being rude or harsh, it just didn't live up to expectations. The service was great & friendly except one small hiccup which was easily fixed but it wasn't 5 star by any means. The food was 5 star/fine dining prices but really only pub grub quality but to be fair quite tasty. I would give a 4 star but my wife had dessert & loves cheesecake - she got two dollops of cheesecake mix from a piping type tool in a bowl fancied up with sweet garnish and was very apologetic to me for having it due to the price. (I didn't mind paying, it was a special occasion) but this was not cheesecake, it was just 2 dollops of a creamy cheese mix. Also both desserts were served up with soup spoons! (My wife had to ask for a teaspoon).

The outdoor area was nice but fenced off with large plants that obscured our view (woulda been better inside with aircon) so it defeated the purpose and it needed a bit more of a clean up with spider webs & dirt etc. in non traffic areas

I'm being a harsh critic and am no prude but if you sell yourself as 5 star/fine dining, you have to be clean, up to the mark and know your culinary etiquette. If you wanna be a good, solid, non fancy but do it well eatery (which we usually go for) that's fine, but keep it clean & charge accordingly! All in all tho, I hope they hang on to the friendly helpful staff who still deserved a tip despite other shortcomings or lack of meeting fine dining...