The Galley Kitchen — Restaurant in Port Stephens

Terrible Experience - Discrimination and Poor Service

Absolutely appalling experience at this cafe. My friend and I stopped by for a quick coffee before hitting the road back to Sydney, and we were met with nothing but disrespect and discrimination.

Firstly, we were not greeted upon entry, which immediately set a negative tone. Then, shockingly, we were told we looked "suspicious" and were refused service initially. Despite eventually getting our coffees "to go" as a supposed "nice gesture," the staff proceeded to interrogate us, insinuating we didn't belong there because we weren't locals or looked like we could afford to be there as we are young uni students. They even insinuated negative connotations about race and class, which was completely uncalled for and made us incredibly uncomfortable.

To add insult to injury, the barista, Angela, was incredibly rude and incompetent. She remade our coffees twice because apparently, she couldn't make a simple caramel iced latte. And let me tell you, even after two attempts, the coffee was undrinkable.

Furthermore, we were informed that Google had "lied" to us about the cafe's availability, claiming it was only for villa guests. This was not mentioned anywhere online, and we were staying just a few minutes away.

Overall, the experience was utterly disappointing and left a sour taste in our mouths - both figuratively and literally. I would strongly advise against patronising this establishment unless you enjoy being treated with disrespect and served terrible coffee. I strongly advise management to train their staff's skills...

We had dinner at The Galley Kitchen in the resort while we stayed there for a long weekend. For entrée, we had seared scallops and tempura broccolini—both were incredibly delicious! I was surprised to see that this restaurant only has a 3.8-star rating on Google Maps. I booked it without any expectations but was open to trying it since we didn’t feel like going out.

For the main course, I had the fish of the day, which was snapper. It was incredibly fresh. Initially, the mention of sweet and sour sauce on the menu didn’t appeal to me, but I wanted to have fish, so I gave it a try. Surprisingly, the sauce wasn’t overly sweet and actually complemented the dish beautifully, especially with the salad and crunchy macadamia. My husband had the eye fillet, which was perfectly cooked to medium rare.

By the end of the meal, we were so full that the birthday boy didn’t want any cake or dessert. We left with happy tummies! This is a great place to dine in Port Stephens - tech and yummy food and good service. It definitely deserves a higher rating—maybe we should give them 5 stars to help push it over 4!

Next day after the summit walk, we went back to the hotel for lunch around 2:15pm. I had a prawn salad that came with six big, super fresh prawns! The bowl was massive. My husband had a steak sandwich, which was absolutely delicious. Surprisingly, the bread was way better than a typical steak sandwich! I had mojito mocktale. It had honey at the bottom of the drink which...

Stayed at the adjoining hotel and pre-booked the table March 4, 2024. Never felt so unwelcome in my life. Could overhear the other tables. Everyone else there seemed to be getting wonderful service. Perhaps we weren’t regular enough or the local ‘demographic’. Heck maybe we weren’t dressed right! Who knows. I’ve had better service at my local takeaway Chinese.

The girl who took us to our table couldn’t crack a smile to save her life and the guy who took our order did so in passing , no meet and greet, didn’t tell us about the fish of the day. In fact, I don’t think we got a smile from him either. We were just an annoyance, clearly. The staff are clearly unhappy, if not, they shouldn’t be in hospitality

Food was pretty good, but really, given the prices, so it should have been. A shame for the chef as the staff ruined the whole experience. I’d stay at the hotel again but I would actually hire an Uber to eat elsewhere.

Oh and to top it off, we got a call to our room after we had lunch in the same place suggesting we hadn’t paid for our lunch...