The Barn Steakhouse — Restaurant in OB Flat

My partner has wanted to dine at the Steakhouse for years and each time we’ve visited Mount Gambier we’ve thought “hey, next time for sure”. This time we made sure to make a reservation and my partner was pumped to experience what some reviews described as the best steak ever.

The location itself was ideal as we were staying at The Barn so we were able to walk down to the Steakhouse and not worry about parking or having a wine or two.

The venue and ambience was quite reflective of the name of the establishment and we were surprised at how many tables they can fit into a room. We were promptly seated and offered food and drink menus. We appeared to have a different member of staff taking orders for drinks and for food.

I asked for a carafe of their Chardonnay and was asked by staff taking our drinks order whether that was white wine. Now I can’t be sure whether he was asking me to confirm I meant the white or whether he doubted I knew what type of wine Chardonnay actually was. I confirmed we wanted the white wine formerly known as prince - sorry, Chardonnay. We let him know we were ready to order food and he informed us someone else would attend to that.

Our food order taker person appeared much more friendly and personable. She attended not too long after our drinks were served and we were eating approximately 20 minutes after having been seated.

We were asked how the food was at about the halfway mark and let them know we were fine because at that point we were still giving the meal a chance and trying not to think of the negatives or our high hopes.

My partner had ordered the 400g porterhouse steak with a peppercorn sauce. As other reviewers also noted, the steak was hard to cut through in some places. He expected it to be tender and medium-rare throughout and was disappointed with the consistency of cooking. He thought the sauce was too little and the potato that came with his steak was not cooked consistently (hard in the middle).

I ordered the prosciutto wrapped chicken breast pocketed with feta and spinach, and was surprised to find one small piece of chicken breast that actually contained this feta and what looked like a single leaf of spinach. The feta paired well with the chicken and I wish the leg of chicken that they placed on top a potato contained this too. The chicken itself was not tender and I only really enjoyed the piece on the side with the feta. The broccolini was flavourless even with the sauce, as was my potato (which my partner ate saying at least it was cooked through).

All in all, we didn’t think our food and experience was worth the hype or the price. We paid a little over $130 for our meals and wine and expected a lot more. We were quite disappointed that the meal we had at another establishment the night prior (which was about half the price of our food here) was more flavourful and more tender than the Steakhouse.

Unfortunately I’m unsure what the Steakhouse can do to rectify their food inconsistencies, as other reviewers have identified similar concerns with their dining experiences with little...

Having heard good reviews on the establishment, I thought it would be a great idea to bring friends who were visiting us down for a meal.

The experience was doomed from the start. My wife had failed to mention upon booking that we had a 12 week old baby. Although I respect that this may have created some brief logistical issue, the response and continual sharp reminder of the difficulty by the head of staff Was unacceptable.

I personally chose the $85 rib eye medium Rare. On delivery our table was told by head of staff (not asked) that we were given hot chips because we would be waiting an extra hour had we wanted the baked spud expected with the meal. We initially accepted this variation yet were puzzled 5 minutes later when the table next to us who had arrived 20 minutes later had their steaks served with baked spuds, and each meal we seen served to follow was also served with baked spuds.

cutting into my steak, I could tell my steak was well over cooked. Not one to usually complain, at this price I felt it necessary to bring it to the waitresses attention (who was great). She agreed that the steak was medium to well done at best and would get the head of staff to come over to redeem the issue.

Head of staff was defensive from the get go, despite offering to cook me another steak with a 45 minute wait (after an initial hour wait with a 12 week old baby which wasn’t an option), she told me they did the best they could with 300 patrons and they can’t get everyone right! She assured me that as I got closer to the bone, the steak would be less over cooked!

I suggested various options to amend the issue, a refund without touching the steak, a voucher for future use, a half price meal and eating it - this being before I had eaten any of the piece of leather, To no prevail.

Head of staff left with the issue unresolved, my friend who had ordered the same was lucky enough to be served a medium steak instead of the medium rare ordered and enjoyed his meal.

Long story short, the four of us spent 500 dollars on steak and red wine, nice red but steak at a pub level with no apology or amendment given

Photos attached, one showing the dryness of the outer steak area. Secondly the “pink” section which was close to the bone, which I would consider...

The Barn Manage your expectations I’d been really looking forward to visiting The Barn - heard a lot of good things about it from people who’d eaten here, albeit many years ago.

The Staff The staff were friendly and efficient, but seemed quite young and inexperienced. Their table manner was a bit robotic rather than natural and their youth kind-of had me questioning their credibility when they were giving opinions on the food and wine.

The Food Well, I’m calling it expensive pub-grub really. We shared a platter to start with, which was lovely - kind of thing you’d get at a cellar door. The steak was what I’d come to taste though. The waitress told us the porterhouse was tastier than the rump (contrary to what I believed, and the notes on the menu), so that’s what I went for. Didn’t order any sauce as I wanted to really enjoy the meat - just got some herb butter. I was very disappointed. The menu stated that the steaks had been aged 60 to 120 days. I don’t think this steak had been aged at all. The meat was bright, it wasn’t tender and there was sinew and gristle. I would have struggled without a sharp steak knife. It tasted like supermarket steak, although it was cooked perfectly medium-rare.

The Decor The barn is actually a lovely place as is the adjoining Piano Bar. It’s very, well, barn-like which leads me to...

The Wildlife OK so it’s called The Barn, but I didn’t really expect to encounter ants on my side plate when we first arrived, or the blow-fly that perched itself on my potato half way through my meal. By some fluke, as it landed I was cutting the potato and managed to spear it on my fork. I told the waitress, who just took the fork away and got me a new one - no offer to replace my meal, or even just the potato. I obviously didn’t eat any more of the potato. My wife mentioned this to the manager when we went to pay the bill, who in fairness apologised and offered a voucher to cover the cost of my part of the meal. My wife explained that we were travelling from interstate and would not be back, but the manager was unwilling to offer a ‘proper’ refund.

Overall It’s a nice enough place, but it may be living on past reputation? It’s an expensive night out, and I hope my experience is...