Black Swan Winery & Restaurant — Restaurant in Henley Brook

Cant rate the food as we didnt get that far. Arrived at 1pm for my birthday lunch (just the 2 of us), and was met with a very unwelcoming frown and "do you want a meal?' I said yes please and was again made to understand we were a nuisance and unwelcome when her next comment was, "well you'll just have to be patient, we've just been overwhelmed. Just sit here and I'll be with you as soon as I can". Not sure who was overwhelmed as she was the only staff member in sight for the next 15 minutes, (thats how long I lasted before walking out), but we were definitely UNDERwhelmed. I chose to walk outside to where the bulk of the patrons were dining, (about 6 small tables of 2-4 people at each) because there was 1 large family gathered quietly at one end inside and a very loud table of 2 at the other, and we preferred to enjoy the scenery and fresh air along with the other 6 tables back to back along the balcony. The waitress came out and pointed to a table inside and said "just sit there and be patient". Cant say really why I stayed another minute past that point, other than perhaps I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, considering there literally were no other staff to be seen anywhere. My reply to her directions was "No, we'd like to sit outside". She said the tables were already taken outside but I had already been out there to see there was one recently vacated and not yet cleared, and many more tables free around another table of about 6 people downstairs outside. I picked up what I hoped was a menu so we could decide if that was worth putting up with the rudeness received thus far, and she quickly took what I picked up from my hands and said "No I told you I'd sort you out as soon as I could so take a seat". I again said "No", and walked outside again. She was pretty soon back with 2 menus and simply disappeared. After a quick scan of the menu I realised I wasnt going to enjoy anything in that atmosphere when we were clearly unwelcome, so we simply disappeared too. On our way out we saw and heard her complaining about me to a another staff member who had appeared for the first time, and I just smiled and walked by. Not a good birthday lunch but we drove back 3 mintes south to a lovely outdoor cafe and bar on the same east side of the road, and were greeted with a big welcome from a young man at the bar, asking what he could get for us. There were 4 times more customers there than at the Black Swan (and it seemed obvious why), and many more various tables all around the kitchen/bar, most of which were under shade in a lovely setting. We asked if we could sit anywhere and he said "Yes of course, anywhere you like. Here are the menus, and I"ll give you a sample of the wine you mentioned, to make sure you like it before ordering any". What a contrast!!! The share platter was very, very nice, inexpensive, and filling, and the surroundings were comfortable, pretty and peaceful. I'm sorry I can't recall the name of that one where we ended up. No matter what the issues were at Black Swan with staffing, they only need to put on a welcoming face and briefly explain there may be a delay because....?, and suggest we have a wander to choose where we would like to dine, while we were waiting a little bit. Instead we were made to feel bad enough that I'm taking the time to post our experience in such detail, to warn future customers they might rethink their dining...

We booked yesterday and were told there was a special Bastille Day menu. This looked good! We arrived five minutes after our booking time of 1.00.  We were seated, ordered straight away, and our water and wine came out quite quickly. We were then in for a very long wait. Finally, after enquiring more than once when our food was coming, our two bowls of Vichyssoise arrived at 1.55.  This was FIFTY minutes after we arrived. This French soup is traditionally served cold but can be eaten hot. We were warned the plates were very hot - but the soup was lukewarm. There was no accompanying bread. Although earlier patrons seemed to be served with bread  as soon as they arrived, we noticed later arrivals got none. And we had plenty of time to observe the other diners and the wait staff as our main course took a very long time to arrive. Our helpful and clearly very embarrassed waitress said that normally there was not such a long wait, and she apologised and explained that they “had taken too many bookings”. As our main courses did not appear we enquired politely again, and the waitress said they were going to be next out of the kitchen. About ten minutes later after another apology and being told they were “being plated up right now” our two main courses finally arrived at 3.45 - but were the wrong order. We got two Poulet a La Normande instead of one Poulet and a Canard a l’Orange. The explanation was that “the dockets had been mixed up and the order given to another table”. At this point I said that unless we got the correct order within five minutes we would be leaving. The waitress was going to remove both plates but I asked her first to check if the correct meal was available. A plate with the Canard a l’Orange promptly appeared, and we were told that “one of the chefs had called in sick but they were doing their best”. We started to eat our main courses at 2.50, this being one hour and forty five minutes after we had arrived. The mains were nice but nothing special and both meals were lukewarm. The duck was nice, and came with a few vegetables, while the chicken was average but came with some mash and a baked apple, and no vegetables. We decided to abandon all ideas of dessert and went to pay at the bar, where we noticed all three staff there were eating while they were respectively serving customers, making coffee, and preparing our bill. When asked if we enjoyed our meal, I politely said that we did not enjoy the very long wait and were given yet another excuse, this being the fourth, which was because "tables were turning up late". A party of four arrived five minutes after us and were seated quite close by. We saw their first food arrive at their table shortly...

Went there for a family lunch and the experience was not so great. There was six of us, two ordered their chicken main which was good, one ordered the lamb main which was also good, and three of us ordered the beef Bourguinon which was quite disappointing. It was priced at $30 and came with a boul of the bourguinon along with a very small serving of parsnip purée and steamed vegetables. Service was fine during our lunch except for an occasion where they forgot to bring water to our table. We had four different servers which was kind of confusing, and two of them did ask how our food was. Before we left the table and asked for the bill we mentioned that we were not satisfied with the beef dish for the price and they responded by saying they will talk to the owner about what they can do. We waited for 10-15 minutes and no one came back so we decided to get up and tell someone that we have been waiting because we wanted to leave. We were then confronted by someone acting as their manager who was very confrontational, defensive, and aggressive with her language - she offered to give the bottle of wine we ordered on the house. We were not satisfied with that because the beef bourguinon was the problem and not the wine which we would have been happy to pay for. We paid with a bottle on the house and realized that we had not been speaking to a manager. When we asked if it was possible for us to speak to an actual manager, she refused and asked us to leave. After asking again she handed us a brochure and rudely told us to leave again. We left the restaurant feeling extremely dissapointed and humiliated as we only tried to voice our concerns politely and were met with defensiveness, aggressive language, and down right rude behaviour. We even complimented the three dishes that were good! There are many great wineries in the Swan Valley area where all customers are treated with respect and we will not return to Black Swan Winery or recommend it to anyone. We simply expect more from a place with $30+ mains. The woman whose behaviour was ill-mannered and unprofessional went by the name of "Anne" (not sure if she gave her real name), is middle aged, has grey hair, and...