Scottie's — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

If I could give 0 stars I would. My partner and I drove an hour to Newcastle last night with our dog to enjoy some fish and chips at the beach with our puppy after a 35 degree day.

After driving just over an hour to get to Newcastle we then proceeded to wait an hour in the car for our takeaway (thank god for air conditioning). We ordered at 5:53pm and said to each other it’s ok, it’s a Saturday night they are probably busy… giving them the benefit of a doubt… after sitting there for 55 minutes with still no text message to let us know our order was ready, my partner decided to venture back inside the ‘restaurant’ to ask for an update on where/how much longer our $65 worth of takeaway fish and chips were. We ordered grilled barramundi and chips and the calamari and salad and a can of coke. When my partner went in there, he saw a bag of takeaway sitting on the counter and asked if that was a pickup for Maddi. The guy at the counter rudely said Maddi with an i?! My partner said yes… he was handed the bag and the receipt was ripped off the bag, no sorry for the wait, no sorry for not notifying you that your order has been sitting here for x amount of time, so we are sorry it is now stone cold and inedible. Nothing.

When he got back to the car so we could drive down to the dog beach nearby to let our dog out, and for us to feed our now starving bodies, he checked the food and not only was it blatantly obvious that the food had been sitting there for god knows how long and was as cold as the fish likely was when it was caught or taken out of the freezer, they had also somehow forgotten to add our drinks we had paid for.

Once we got to the beach to eat, the ‘salad’ that greeted us from the cold box was a few large lettuce leaves that were now a soggy and wilted mess, and to accompany them were a sad 4 calamari rings… absolutely not worth the price at all. And as for the ‘grilled’ barramundi and chips… the fish was slimy and tiny, even our dog turned his nose up and wouldn’t eat it.. and he loves fish.. and as for the chips.. it looked like they had grabbed one of the dine in customers leftovers and thrown them into the box with the ‘fish’ and said that will do.

So, we threw it in the bin at the dog beach amongst the bags of dog poo where it belonged and went for a walk with the dog, then went back to the car to set off for the hour and 10 minute journey home where we made some peanut butter toast that took less than 5 minutes to make, totalled approximately $2 in costs from woolies, and was infinitely more satisfying than the poor excuse for food we were provided in return for our almost $70 paid to Scottie’s.

Will absolutely never go back and I suggest that unless you want a rare date night ruined, you don’t bother going here either.. especially after working 10 x 10 hour days in a row and wanting to get out and relax and enjoy your weekend and try something different.

Cheers guys! A few words of advice because you clearly need it: learn how to run a service, learn how to use technology you have employed to notify your customers when their order is ready, learn how to manage people and communicate with customers face to face, learn how to apologise and own up to your lack of competency, answer the phone when it rings, answer the phone when it rings more than once, learn how to cook, learn how to recognise and deliver quality - not just edible food that is suitable for consumption but quality service. Yes I know how hectic customer service, especially in food service can be, but it’s the simple things that can make someone’s experience that much better, no matter how shit the circumstances are. You are a food service, on the beach, in Newcastle. Prepare to be busy. Employ enough staff. Be able to provide even a bare minimum standard. Please.

P.s wouldn’t be surprised if my partner leaves his own tale as a review as well, likely providing a photo of said ‘salad’ ie. soggy lettuce...

TAKEAWAY REVIEW…

Yes it’s nice, but as others say, expensive. We ordered hoki with chips and chilli squid. It wasn’t bad, but not really worth the price.

The photo shows what we were served for $48. It’s nice to be able to walk and eat at the beach, but there’s the same quality food elsewhere for less money. It’s a shame, because we’d be back often if it was more reasonably priced.

INSIDE REVIEW…

TLDR; It was a nice experience and good to have some interesting dishes. But for the prices being charged the standard should be higher with more attention to detail.

The atmosphere was nice, the music was quite loud though considering how quiet the restaurant was.

Two of us shared the crab dumplings in broth and battered barramundi with chips ($38 and $28 if I remember correctly). Although it turned out to be enough, the portion sizes didn’t seem that big considering they were the ‘large’ dishes on the menu, and pretty expensive.

The crab dumplings were a nice surprise, with interesting, unexpected flavours. Although it was enjoyable, the crab was overpowered by the strong flavours. And it was also a bit over-salted for our tastes. The thing that really let it down was that it was served in a large bowl that was cold, so almost as soon as it reached our table it had cooled down and was too cold. The bowls should be warmed before serving.

The battered barramundi was honestly great. Nice light batter, fresh fish, just what you’d expect. The chips were also good, but again, very salty, far too salty for us. Probably too skinny for me too, I’d prefer them thicker, but that’s personal preference.

With a little more attention to detail it might be 5 stars and would maybe...

Update* - finally took Jack (owner) up on his offer to dine in after the incident below. Food was unreal, the service was super friendly and the situation that occurred previously really just came down to one employee not giving the impression Scottie’s wants to give. I’d happily come here any day for some seriously delish seafood and feel like everyone should be proud of what they’re doing. Mum had an absolute blast and ‘one of the best dumplings in my life’. Well done and look forward to next time! X

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Legit was so excited to come and try this place, my cousin had even been a chef and raved about it. The food was great, I won’t put that down one bit, the vibe was chilled and fun.

This was easily the worst customer service experience I’ve had in as long as I can remember. They clearly forgot my order as my friends had finished their food before I decided to check. The man at the counter said “you’re next” as I then watched 2-3 new orders go out. Went back up to say don’t worry’, the order was then being finished up. What I then experienced was ridicule I was frankly shocked by. “Guys James is having a terrible Easter where is his order” with clear sarcasm as the chef also says “sorry sorry it’s my first day”. I can understand someone’s first day and forgive that, I can’t forgive two blokes ridiculing me so blatantly right in front of me. I do hope this review is taken with a margin of seriousness because what would have been an easily forgivable mix up turned into me leaving feeling quite angry and as it turns out, making my Easter Friday night far less enjoyable than I was...