Ember Pizza Barossa — Restaurant in Nuriootpa

If I could give zero stars, I would.

We had a party of 8 with a 6.30pm booking on a Saturday night. I'll break this down into minor, medium & major annoyances.

Minor At 5.30pm they rang to ask where we were as they had our reservation as 5pm. Although we clearly had a child with us, they did not give us a children's menu until asked for. The menu had a colouring in back, but we had to ask a couple of times to get pencils. We were seated near the servery & noticed our jug of Coke was filled to the brim with ice before the Coke was added. I would prefer a jug of Coke with ice over a jug of ice with Coke & asked for a little less ice (see more on this under Major/customer service issues). Also jug of Coke was delivered to table with no glasses (actually had to go to bar & ask for them after a few minutes).

Medium Two of our party ordered spirit/mixer drinks & bizarrely these were served room temperature, with no ice added. They would not take a half & half pizza order that two of our party wanted to share. They served the kids meal within about 15 minutes, but the entrees took about an hour & the main meal almost 90 minutes. Bored kids that have finished eating & need to sit for another hour is never ideal.

Major Two of our party ordered chicken pizzas. Remembering we were seated at 6.30, at 7.45 we were told they had run out of chicken (while we were waiting we saw a lot of takeaway pizzas going out & it appeared to us at least, that cooking for takeaway was prioritized over eat in orders), since they hadn't run out when they took our orders, I am guessing some takeaway got the last of the chicken. Two of our party had Lamb & Pumpkin pizzas (one as a sub for the chicken). They must have been close to running out of Lamb as well, because there was an an absolute bare minimum of Lamb, pretty much just pumpkin pizzas. They left about a third each & did not ask for a takeaway box even though they live locally. Two of our party had pizzas with a vary haphazard spread of the toppings, ie one slice would be loaded with ham, the next with no ham etc. This even happened with cheese, with a few slices of each pizza having no cheese on them. The time frame in general, the say their pizzas cook in 2 minutes, they just took 80+ to prepare I guess.

The Super Major Biggest Issue The Staff - The blonde girl & her male coworker (who appeared to be the most senior staff members) started by being standoffish, but would visible roll eyes & comment to each other when anything was asked for. Maybe I put them offside by asking for the kids pencils & glasses early in the piece. They reached through & took plates away between people having conversation, with no manners & actually without even speaking. When the more serious issues were raised, they were rude, abrupt & would eye roll & make faces as soon as whoever was speaking to them turned away EVEN THOUGH THE REST OF THE TABLE COULD SEE THEM DO IT. When paying I asked have you taken the chicken pizzas of the bill (I was not given an itemised receipt) & the male worker said, you can't help it when you run out of chicken. Yes you can, you order/prepare more chicken in the first place so you don't run out. Pretty simple really.

I would have asked for a discount but what is the point. I consider it a paid for lesson to never go back.

As a final point, after paying, I mentioned in a non aggressive manner, that the entire service was pretty poor & was not a good experience. The guy & girl in question mumbled in agreement & then when I turned made mocking faces which again, was in plain sight of other members of our party.

The only positive, I thought the pizza bases were good & if the toppings had been more evenly applied & there had been more lamb, I would have rated the food higher. Atmosphere was hard to tell, when the service ranges from surly to mocking it really overrides any of the...

To start on a positive the food was tasty. The Arancini and meatballs were served quick. The pizzas were also good once we finally got them. However everything else forced us to a poor review. We were greeted by a man in a shirt far too small for him (manager potentially) howver he seemed disinterested and borderline annoyed to be there. No warmth, no welcome. After taking our order, he disappeared into the background, visibly irritated any time someone asked a question. At one point, we watched him roll his eyes at another table and pull a face at a customer. Not once did he check on us or explain the long delay on our pizzas. When we finally had the chance to ask him how long our pizzas would be he responded “I’m not sure” and walked away we assumed he was checking with the kitchen however not long after we found him serving drinks to another table. Ten minutes later a young boy brought us out pizzas with a smile and apologised for the wait very professional and felt genuine. As we were leaving a blonde girl although clearly stressed was content and seemed to be working hard to hold the place together.

The food was delicious although it took a while for our pizzas (which would’ve been fine if we were told). The big issue was the man in the cropped shirt, if he is in charge he’s dragging down the atmosphere and service quality which is a shame as the younger staff were outshining him. Definitely ruined...

I’m not usually one to leave reviews, especially negative ones, but unfortunately I feel the need to share a comment about tonight’s dinner experience.

Premise: table booked online, time offered by the website was 7:30 pm for a 90-minute slot, with the venue closing at 9:00 pm.

We arrived on time, placed our order and started eating. At 8:10 pm, a waitress came over and asked us to pay. We were a bit surprised, but we paid. At 8:20 pm, she began clearing the plates—even though my partner was still eating—and we had to point it out. At 8:25 pm, my water glass was taken away while I was still drinking, and shortly after, they turned off the music.

I understand there are closing times to respect, but if the venue offers a 7:30 pm booking for a 90-minute dinner, I expect to be able to enjoy the meal at a relaxed pace, and at least have the option to order another drink. (I understand the kitchen may close earlier for obvious reasons, and I’m not complaining about that.)

If the real intent is to close the venue by 8:30 pm, then I would kindly suggest not offering bookings at 7:30 pm for a 90-minute slot, as this sets different expectations for the customer.

I’ve worked in the hospitality industry for years, both across Australia and Europe. I know how venue closures work, and I also know that clearing glasses and drinks while guests are still using them should be the very last step of...