Links Restaurant — Restaurant in Launceston

I have been going to the Country Club Links, Launceston, Tasmania, for years now, but unfortunately COVID hit & businesses were never the same or sadly didn't recover... I was fortunate to enjoy lunch with friends & family, recently on two occasions BUT sadly the whole experience has deteriorated no end... Where have the monthly themes gone, the yummy fish & chips, the choice of fresh salads, tasty pasta dishes & scrumptious dessert... The choice's are very limited & very overpriced for what you are getting... The bread rolls were not even browned, anaemic & covered in flour... The soup choice's never change... We were offered Pumpkin Soup, but not to be... It was Potato & Leek, staff member came & turned label around, said she was sorry, havn't had time to change it... It was only the beginning of Service, should have been done before opening to public... Where's the attention to detail, not good enough... The salads are very average, tastless & uninviting... The Potato Salad tasted like it had been made a week ago... As for the Roast Vegies, there are NONE... The Chat Potatoes tasted as if they had been boiled then flash fried... That's the only choice we were offered... The couple of potatoes that I reluctantly took were that hard I couldn't put my fork into them... They looked & tasted like the were a couple of day's old... What Steamed Vegies, they were rock hard & not pleasant to eat... That is the extent of the vegies... The Honey Soy Chicken legs tasted like they had been boiled first then fryed, YUCK... The beef dish tasted exactly the same as the chicken... The Fried rice was gluey & gluggy... As for the Calamari swimming in an oily sauce... It was rubbery & YUCK... Only offering ONE MEAT (Roast Pork) is bad enough but on different day is very poor... Once again no choice... The dessert are very disappointing, slices that are obviously made off site & brought in... Do not taste fresh or have any flavour... The Pofiteroles are hard & tasteless, maybe they have been frozen!!! Once the custard was homemade but not any more... Saw it being poured out of long life packets... As for your Apple & Berry Cobbler, it leaves alot to be desired... There was no fruit to be seen & the top was that hard you couldn't eat it... The poor apprentice's are obviously not supervised as these dessert wouldn't be put out to eat... The supervisors need sacking... The Dixi Cups were freezer burnt & had separated as a result...There was a big blob of separated ice cream stuck in the bottom... The Black Forrest Trifle was to die for... "A bonus"... The Staff were very helpful, friendly & accommodating... Perhaps instead of the quantity ( which is very poor & sparse) you...

We came very late, almost closing time as we got lost, our GPS connection stopped at some point so hub made the wrong turn. Signs to the club are not very visible too. Food wise, they're ok. The salad we're fresh, the roasts we're a bit dry and not as tender than I would hope. We were hoping to sample the Filipino buffet which was advertised in the email I got being a member of Wrest Point but only the very savoury garlic rice and crema de fruta dessert had hints of Filipino influence. Service wise, staff are more attentive and friendly than those in Wrest Point. They seem to be be jollier too perhaps because there are fewer patrons? Wrest Point is often full of people so we don't go there often enough and I used to watch shows there pre Covid. This place is smaller and easier to navigate inside, love the wooden staircase too, might even stay here next time we're in Launceston! I still rang to make a booking but was told if we were on the way, just get in and they can accommodate us. We arrive close to closing time of 2 pm, maybe they should extend to 2:30 as there were still who came around 1:45. We came about past 1 and there was no more hot water for our hot drinks but hub got hot milk with his coffee and he loved it, he had two cups, he didn't eat much as he was a bit annoyed getting lost.) The ambience here is better than at Wrest Point too, having fewer people compared to the Hobart one. We'll be back and hope we don't get...

My God. We arrived at 8:30 pm and took our seats. The 'food' consisted of the following:

some prawns a couple of salads cooked vegetables some chicken dish done in beans, horrible the worst tasting meatballs I have ever seen a pile of pasta and cheese that claimed to contain 'salmon' (no evidence found) some calamari rings (but no tartare sauce) a piece of beef cooked until it was grey and needed a chainsaw to cut roast pork (but no crackle or apple sauce)

Never in my life have I seen a buffet with only three hot dishes, and I've eaten buffets at rock festivals in Oklahoma. None of the food was appetising. The desserts were also pretty average, a jelly slice, a pav, a big display that was basically spread out jars of cheap lollies, a bucket of cheap ice cream and some topping. There might have been a weird cheesecake. I did one round of each and realised there was literally nothing there I ever wanted to taste again in my life.

To top it all off, we waited forty minutes for someone to come and ask if we wanted drinks and another 15 for them to arrive. Wanting a drink was the only reason we stayed more than 20 minutes, in the hope we could have tasted something pleasant on our big night out.

Not a buffet so much as a way to charge money for people to eat whatever was close to going off in the larder, I would suggest we'd have eaten better if we robbed this ridiculous establishment and been arrested in time for dinner...