Scratchleys on the Wharf — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

I have always wanted to have dinner at Scratchley’s and tonight I finally got the chance and I have to say, I was really disappointed ☹️. I did read somewhere recent reviews before booking however I had hoped that they were just having an off day here and there as establishments do, but unfortunately that was not the case. We were seated immediately at a window table and shortly after asked if we would like drinks to start, which was good but there were no non alcoholic drinks on the menu other than non alcoholic beer and wine so we had to just guess what soft drinks/juices they had on offer. There were also no mocktails listed and cocktails were very overpriced. We ordered our entrees, which we ordered a Turkish bread with dukkah, balsamic and olive oil and a prawn toast. When it arrived, the Turkish bread was covered in sliced almonds which was not described on the menu (concerning given that people have severe nut allergies, and there is only a small mention at the bottom of the menu) and the prawn toast was served with sweet chilli sauce that did not compliment it at all. It also came with some kind of coleslaw with no dressing and a lemon wedge which just appeared odd. The prawn toast was lovely as was the bread but certain aspects of the entree made no sense and it was slightly unimpressive given the prices. For mains, we ordered a fish and chips and a chicken schnitzel with chips and salad.

The mains came out on very large plates but that’s the only “big” part of the entire meal. The servings of salad were fresh and had a lovely dressing but were quite small, the chips on the chicken schnitzel were soggy as the chicken had been laid on top, the gravy was quite tasty however it was very runny, and the crumbing on the chicken had no flavour and just fell off. The fish and chips was extremely disappointing and it did not even get finished. The batter was thick and there was barely any fish inside and it was clearly overcooked with no seasoning. It tasted like cheap frozen battered fish from a box rather than a fresh market fish of the day as described. The salad was nice but again, rather small and the chips were also soggy. We also had to walk to the bar to request sliced lemon as there was none on the plate as there should be when serving seafood. We also found it odd that when we stated yes we would like salt and pepper, the server put our pepper in and left a little bowl of salt rather than each table having a salt and pepper shaker and water was topped up from a server with a jug rather than just leaving bottles on the table.

When we went to pay our bill, we weren’t asked how our meal was and had to initiate the conversation that we were dissatisfied with our meals however the gentleman was happy to take the feedback and graciously removed the fish and chips from our bill which was appreciated given that it’s cost was $43 and definitely not delivered in a way that justifies that cost. As we said, we expected, for the prices that were listed, our meals would be of high quality and if they are going to serve sub par meals then charge accordingly. He did mention they had been trying a new gluten free batter for the battered food items on the menu. Steer clear from this if you can.

Overall, we will most likely not return and first impressions are not great however the service was excellent and the young woman who served us was lovely, as were all the other staff we encountered and that is purely the reason for our review otherwise it would’ve been a 1 star simply because the salad and chicken...

My husband and I ate at Scratchley’s for the first time tonight. We’d heard mixed reviews and thought we’d give it a go for ourselves.

The view was very nice and the staff were very attentive. They were genuine, friendly and prompt with their service. The front of house was run quite well which is good, as there were a fair few problems with the back of house.

We ordered entrees and mains and shared both. For entrees we ordered oysters natural and scallops served with truffle and butter. Both were plated quite clumsily and the oysters were closer to room temperature than they were cold (they should have been served on ice, but were instead served on salt with a side of average leaves). The scallops were quite tasty and well seasoned, but were also served with what looked like Woolworths 4 leaf mix, which added absolutely nothing but soggy looking leaves to the dish.

The mains were a bit of a tragedy. We ordered seared tuna with soba noodles and marlin fillet with a soy broth and pak choy. The tuna dish was confused to say the least. It was served medium, which means that the edges of the fish were dry, overcooked and tasteless. The soba noodles were hidden by an excessive amount of Asian slaw which was just finely chopped capsicum and cabbage and the tuna was lazily thrown on top. The dishes only saving grace was the orange chutney, not because the flavour profile matched the dish whatsoever, but because it was the only thing on the plate with any flavour.

The marlin dish made more sense. It was fish served with a soy broth and Asian greens, which is nothing to write home about but has the potential to be quite tasty. The marlin however was so over cooked that it had the texture of dry chicken breast. It was dry, tough, and only edible when soaked in the broth (which really only tasted of soy, water and maybe a bit of chicken stock). The only reason we didn’t send the dishes back is because we didn’t want to waste the fish, which, cooked correctly, had the potential to be delicious.

I’d be more okay with the quality of the food if the prices matched the caliber of the dishes, but for a so called seafood restaurant charging $40 for mains, I’d expect much, much more.

The restaurants only saving grace was the nice view and the kind staff. Other than that it wasn’t great....

We were a group of two who at first walked in from the street and were told they were fully booked for the evening, so could not accommodate us. Understandable.

However, we looked at Battlesticks next door which was really empty so, 10 minutes later we decided to call and see if we could get a table. Surprisingly the person who answered the phone went away, asked the Manager and said we could have a table for 90 minutes right then - perfect.

Upon arrival we were seated, not in the best place but we did understand that at short notice we were seated where they could allow us.

10 minutes wait and no drinks menu. Asked for the drinks menu, then had to ask again for the Cocktail menu after being asked if we were ready to order drinks. Usually I don’t mind having to ask but when there is a group of 3 waitstaff standing around chatting, this is a huge annoyance - even if our waiter was not available to assist (I could see her serving another table), surely your colleagues would help out as a matter of commonsense. My annoyance further impacted when 2 separate waitstaff passed our table serving water to their own tables and one looking at me. At that stage we were ready to order food as well. So, we had to ask a nice young man to take our drinks order and asked another girl to take our order who said she’d get our waiter over.

Now with the rant out of the way. The food was really good and our waitress ended up being quite helpful. That said, we decided to leave her a tip despite her colleagues letting her down.

I would suggest that at any time it is not a good look to have 3 waitstaff standing around chatting - in particular if there are other diners without drinks menus, or drinks on their tables for longer than 5 minutes irrespective of who’s section they are sitting in.

In summary, I would highly recommend a visit to sample the food as it was surprisingly good. The only let down being the service, when at $53 for beverages, $15 for desert, $38 for a fish main and $32 for a schnitzel you would rightly expect the quality of service to reflect the fine dining...