Penneshaw Pub — Restaurant in South Australia

When I fronted up to the Penneshaw Pub for dinner, one Monday evening off-season, I had high hopes. The menu at the door promised chicken schnitzel with my choice of sauce, which was exactly what was needed after a fairly fraught day. Inside, I lined up at the sign that said ‘please wait here to be seated’, and watched the serving staff aggressively avoid eye contact with me, passing me by for several minutes on other errands. When I finally flagged one down, they told me I could pretty much just order at the bar and grab whatever table I could find outside – which looked increasingly unlikely, the crowds having swelled while I stood and did what I thought we were all supposed to do. Because a sign told me so, and I’m the type to do what signs say. For otherwise anarchy reigns, and all that. At the bar, I waited fifteen minutes while some international/city types – who had entered the line just before me, while I was waiting to be seated -- wholly and totally occupied the attention of the one person on the entire staff who knew how to take food orders. So long as my arse points south, I shall never know what they had tried to order, that should have tied the Penneshaw’s ordering system into such knots; I again tried to catch their eye so as to ask, lest I should order the same and suffer a similar fate, but they again very assiduously avoided eye contact with me. I must have had a look on my face, that evening – in fact I’m pretty sure, by that stage, I definitely had a look on my face. I had, though, caught snippets of explanations around the frailty of their eftpos machine – which apparently dies with fright if you should dare to present your credit card at anything other than the exact millimetre-precise distance from the screen – and so when it was finally my turn to order, I accompanied my request for a chicken schnitzel, with a Twenty Dollar Note. It was my final Twenty Dollar Note, and I had been saving it for the zombie apocalypse – but these circumstances somehow seemed even more dire, so I spent it there and then. My transaction was complete in twelve seconds, so I had apparently not ordered the same thing as the international/city types, who were now blocking the entry to the bar. Having cleared the blockage to the bar – the look on my face was probably a help, on this occasion – I proceeded to order a schooner of beer, and in return I received a middie and was charged nine dollars and eleven cents. I then learned that, here in South Australia, what the rest of the world calls a “middie” they call a “schooner”, and what the rest of the world calls a “schooner” they call a “glass”. Having been schooled thusly, I took my half-a-beer and fled, entirely too terrified to find out what they charge for a proper-sized volume of beer. Whatever it may be called. I did manage to snag one of the last tables outside, and I didn’t even have to murder any international/city types to do so. Post-traumatic flashbacks from my time in line for food resurfaced, including a warning that my schnitty needed half an hour – so when the schnitty turned up in less than ten minutes I nearly fell off my chair. And the bloody thing was absolutely delicious, probably the second-best schnitty I’ve ever had in my life. (Don’t ask about the best, this review might be accessible to children.) My half-a-beer was scrumptious, as well. The other half of my beer was probably scrumptious too, though I’ll never know, as my final nine dollars and eleven cents is definitely better saved for the End Times, when the eftpos machines rise up against us and those with cash shall survive the rest. All in all, I’ve no idea how I’m supposed to feel about my experience at the Penneshaw Pub. I came out of it with all my fingers and all my toes, and a sense that I probably ought to be grateful for as much. One star for the service; five stars for the food; and three stars for the atmosphere, best described as a heady mix of bemusement, frustration, education, and existential dread. Nice...

Went here twice. First time was when we first arrived in penneshaw, the venue looked lovely so gave it a try. There was a 45min wait on food, advised by staff at the beginning, however took an hour (even the garlic bread took 30mins) however I took this as a once off, it was Sunday, perhaps a chef called in sick meaning they were unintentionally understaffed in the kitchen. The service was standard for a pub, however they could use more staff behind the bar in the restaurant area, one person was taking orders and doing drinks, made for a very long line. Second time was over a week later on our way back to the mainland. Again there was a long wait on food (45mins), my daughters came out super quick (kids meal) but then she ate and plate cleared well before I got my food, not ideal for 2 people eating together. The same situation with bar staff, only one serving all, I had to ask someone else in order to get a table. We were also told we had to leave by 7pm as the table was booked from then on, except approaching this time a very large table of 20 left, leaving many tables free, yet I was still expected to move to have desert, and those tables remained free whilst we were there (no reserved sign in them either). Desert also took a long time to arrive. My advise to this pub, hire more capable floor staff that know how to juggle walk-ins vs reservations, and hire more chefs to reduce food wait times! Food however was lovely, even if...

Called in advance to try and book a table, was told we could come and do a walk-in for a table outside. We did this, arriving at 19:30 and then waiting to be seated for a while with no-one attending to us. Then told to find a table outside and go up to the bar to order. We spent about 5 mins choosing our food then went up to the bar to order, then queued up to be told the kitchen was closed as we reached the front - and they wouldn’t make an exception for one more order even though we had waited in the queue and not been served properly. This was well before the kitchen was supposed to be closed but apparently they couldn’t cater for a half full pub! They were saying we could wait half an hour to order and then food would be an hour wait, whilst a table that sat down after us then proceeded to get their food 10 minutes later as they had jumped in the queue before getting a table. None of it made sense. Making it up as they go along.

We were told after pleading with them (because there were no other local dinner options by this point and we were shortly heading on a penguin tour) that we could order some wedges - but they still could be an hour, so we ordered them take away - of course they arrived 15 mins later because it was all nonsense.

Unfortunately it was our last night on the island and so final dinner plans were ruined on what was an amazing trip to KI. Really disappointing experience - do...