Flying Fish — Restaurant in South Australia

The Flying Fish at Port Elliot has always been a favourite for fine dining in a beautiful location overlooking Horseshe Bay. So to celebrate my guest's 80th birthday this was the restaurant I chose. The Flying Fish has recently changed hands so it was good see whether it was still as lovely. We rang a day or so beforehand to see if they were happy for us to bring our own wine as we wished to celebrate with a special bottle. We were told that was fine. When we got there I handed the bottle to the young man who was standing at the bar, telling him we had a booking. He told us where our table was (did not escort us to it) took the bottle and said "What do you want me to do with it?".I explained, he said that would cost us $15, i said that was fine, we went to sit at our table and waited for the wine to appear. It didn't. Eventually I said could we have our wine please?". He then brought it over, unopened in an icebucket with two glasses, put it down on the table and left. I had to pour it!

Now please don't think I'm having a go at this young man, he was pleasant, but clearly hadn't been properly trained in his role.

We ordered our food the prawn and crab linguine, one with and one without chilli. The food was divine and our waiter said he would let the chef know, which was nice and the appropriate thing to do.

The other thing that shocked? me (truthfully I was finding the whole experience so bizarre that I was quite enjoying it) was that as well as people there for their fine dining experience, there were others, eating fish and chips out of paper, drinking soft drinks out or cans, very casually dressed for the beach! Let me explain for those who haven't been here before - the venue comprises a kiosk with tables and chairs outside surrounded by Cafe blinds and then the restaurant. Normally kiosk patrons aren't allowed in the restaurant. Seems it's open slather though, under the new management.

To summarise, the Flying Fish is no longer a fine dining experience, which I expect at the prices. It needs to decide what it wants to be - a fine dining venue or a casual eatery. If the former, staff need to be fully trained, a point of difference needs to be made between the restaurant and the kiosk and the ambience needs to match the prices.

Not sure that I will be going again in a hurry.

A final point - to succeed with a restaurant in this region you really must cater for the locals who are your year round clients. Fleurieu locals are quite discerning - if the food and everything else is good they will keep coming back - if not they will try once and then stay away in droves and tell others via word of mouth.

I wish the new owners every success and really hope they get the...

Took my dad here for Christmas eve lunch. It was mostly a pleasant experience. For an upmarket restaurant I would expect a perfect experience and they didn’t deliver. The first thing i noticed on arrival was the sticky floor near the table. So sticky my shoes took effort to peel as I walked and the sound 😟. Well first we ordered hot chocolate and soft drinks, we’re not into alcohol, only got a cup and not a mug like asking. Lady was happy to change it but I said it didn’t matter. I originally drove the 2 hrs because their online menu said pork belly. She then told me that they recently changed the menu. So I proceeded to order a number of different things to get to try a variety. Ok so the fish and chips was average. Nothing wrong but also not worth the price. The duck spring rolls had a lovely flavour and dipping sauce but only half was crispy and the other half was soggy. Garlic bread was lovely with a light crunch on the edges. The board was amazing, that dip was divine. Could have just ordered that and been happy. The crispy roasted potatoes were mostly soft and fluffy inside but were not crispy on the outside sadly but still tasted great. Their downfall was those fish tacos. They were yuk and the fish was disgusting and they got sent back to the kitchen barely touched. Then when i tried to complain about them i was met with bad attitude and degrading for my apparent inability to know good food. Which ruined my entire experience. I understand that they were busy the whole time we were there but did not deserve that treatment for saying we didn’t enjoy one of the many food items we paid a lot of money for. Otherwise i would still recommend the restaurant itself but suggest not to make any complaints about anything to others. The view was also lovely but just wished they had just one window open for some fresh air with so many people inside. Anyway they lost a point due to those tacos and ill treatment by one lady...

At the request of the Flying Fish Restaurant and Cafe, I have posted this review. I wasn't going to. Perhaps it's a case of "be careful what you ask for". We had lunch at the Restaurant last Wednesday.

Wait staff were freindly enough, but the abysmal food let them down.

We shared oysters to start. They were quite nice. The Japanese oysters came with lashings of plain soy sauce which was easy enough to avoid.

I ordered bouillabaisse. At the price point, I expected a reasonable take on this classic french dish with a fishy broth, a variety of good quality fish and seafood. What arrived at the table looked like canned tomato soup with a couple of frozen prawns, some processed squid and a few cockles. It tasted as it looked: tasteless seafood, overpowered by the aroma and tang of tinned tomato soup.There was a piece of fish lurking in the depths which was mushy and tasteless. The cockles did manage to present some flavour, along with grit.

My partner ordered the prawn and blue swimmer crab linguine. It appeared looking like the same tinned tomato soup, lightened to a rosey colour with some additive. Swimming and struggling to stay afloat were a couple of prawns and an islet or two of linguine strands poking through the surface. Despite the additive, the sauce was far too overpowering, acidic and, basically, clumsy. There were minor traces of crab meat, but they were powerless against the sauce. Prawns were flavourless.

After adding 2 glasses of wine, the bill came to $136. When asked how we liked our meal we expressed our dissappointment with some specifics. We were assured unconvincingly our feedback would be relayed back to the kitchen. We said our piece, made our exit, and vowed never to return.

On a positve note, the next day we had lunch at Victor's Place. At similar price points we experienced a truly first class dining experience with...