Kickin'Inn Penrith — Restaurant in Sydney

Came here for a birthday lunch. The waiter was not trained in food allergies. Both my wife and I have coeliac disease thus cannot have gluten.

We questioned the waiter about gluten free dishes. He was saying about butter so they would have to cook that fish in oil instead. I said butter generally doesn't have gluten but yes, sometimes butter may have gluten. He was then unsure and didn't understand what gluten free actually is. We enquired about the chips if they were cooked in a dedicated fryer that doesn't cook any food with gluten as they are marked as gluten free on the menu. He said originally that they were not. We then said you need to remove GF from the menu for the chips as they're not actually gluten free due to the contamination. Then he said they had their own dedicated gluten free fryer. We then asked about if the barramundi meal can be done gluten free.

As we had already lost confidence, I requested that the chef come out to discuss. The same waiter came back out after "talking" to the chef and confirmed the barramundi meal which includes chips are gluten free. We proceeded to order.

Then maybe 5-10 minutes later, the waiter came back out and said that the chips are actually cooked in the same deep fryer as other gluten containing items and is that ok? We already stated that it is not gluten free then.

We cancelled our order. He kept saying that the barramundi and salad is gluten free and he could do extra salad. We both said no. I also said I wouldn't come here just for a salad.

Whether the waiter is correct or not, we had lost any confidence and said to cancel our meals. I do not feel like having to take my wife to hospital due to ingesting gluten.

So we ended up having to not eat while everyone else was able to eat. That fact that there are "GF" items on the menu was the reason the birthday lunch was booked for here. So then the birthday person felt bad and it put a real downer on the lunch.

Do not advertise gluten free on your menu if items are not gluten free. This includes contamination e.g. cooked in same deep fryer as food which contain gluten. The waiters need to be trained in dietary requirements. It's situations like this is why I can't trust menus and need to play 20 questions with the waiter. I don't want to play 20 questions, but, situations such as this has forced my hand.

This applies whether it's a food allergy, autoimmune disease (coeliac disease) or just someone who chooses to eat a particular diet. DO NOT say something is gluten free when it isn't! This could end up badly for someone who is coeliac who trusts the menu at face value. They could end up in hospital.

I'm not referring to a risk of cross contamination. I'm referring to saying something is gluten free when it isn't. Obviously cross contamination is always possible and that risk is up to the individual. But blatantly stating something is gluten free when it isn't, can end up very bad for someone who trusted the menu without playing...

We have been coming here since the restaurant opened and have always received friendly service from the lovely staff. I have been meaning to provide a review for quite sometime, so here it is.

We used to dine in at least once a week (sometimes more), however we no longer come in that much anymore. This is due to a few things that have changed since the restaurant chain has expanded.

The pricing has increased significantly in the past 12 months. Our order earlier this year would come to between $110 and $150 or sometimes even less. Now they have changed the menu and pricing, if we want to order the same types of seafood again we are looking at over $200 minimum for less food. The kids meals have changed too. Kids eat free has significantly reduced in the offering, e.g. it is now one calamari ring with chips, popper and ice cream cup, instead of multiple calamari with the same sides.

The last few times we have been, key items from bags have been minimal, unpleasant or missing. For example: big chunky claw from snow crab cluster was missing (the cluster costs $60, so you want the whole cluster especially the part that has the most meat). Sauce is now minimal, and there is no longer enough to dip your seafood in from the bag. I asked the server why there was hardly any sauce and they said its the way it is now, and charged me for $5 for extra sauce to make it the same amount that it used to be. We ordered two bags of seafood and even with two bags the sauce barely coated the seafood, let alone had any to mop up with the rice we ordered.

In addition to not having the same amount of sauce as previous visits, the blue swimmer crabs, were mushy and unpleasant. We ended up eating less than half of what we ordered due to poor quality of the seafood and minimal sauce. It was just not very pleasant to eat at all.

The staff are amazing, and they are very friendly, however they do forget to provide everything necessary, e.g. gloves, bibs, napkins, wipes, sauce for kids etc, they do not come and check if there is anything else we would like or how the food is.

I am really disappointed that the pricing has increased significantly while the quality has decreased. This was our favourite place to eat, and would come in 1-2 times a week, however sadly we have decided we would rather drive further away to a different restaurant for better seafood at a fraction of the price.

Pending Kickinn Inn providing any decent specials where there are significant savings we unfortunatley will not be as frequent as we used to be. Or perhaps won't return at all.

There are other venues offering delicious seafood boil for a fraction of the price, although they are not as close by, they are certainly...

Super excited to try the kickn inn tonight! Ordered the largest bag and a few add ons, one round of drinks and opted out of dessert (not by choice but because of the poor service) how sad that this new establishment after only 2 months of opening is lacking in atmosphere and customer Service.

The service we received. We were met at the door, she confirmed our booking, not lead to our table but told we could sit at any of the booths along the back wall, and handed menus. (I booked for 6 people however the booth was only set up for 4 people so we asked for additional items) A lady came back to take our order. Our drinks arrived at the same time as our food. Then that was it!

We had to ask for serviettes. We asked for additional food. Only offered one round of drinks. We had to ask for our table to be cleared so we could order dessert but honestly I was annoyed by now, after 10mins nobody came back to take our order so I negotiated with my kids and drove to woolworths, purchased a chocolate cake, custard tart and went home for dessert.

It was not easy at all to get the staffs attention!

At one stage I asked; I wonder what time they close because it looked as though it was getting ready to close by 8:30. We left not long after that! Certainly not inviting if you just walked in. A couple actually sat down and left after 5 mins of being there.

Staff were more interested in communicating with each other, wandering in and out of the kitchen multiple times (empty handed), looking at their phones behind the bar. At one stage you could not see one staff member on the floor! Perhaps you could look into the QR code ordering system then the staff could truly do nothing but look at a screen and deliver orders.

So to summaries; When I approached the bar to pay we were asked how was everything? My response, The food was good!

Honestly! Why would I share our experience with a staff member that couldn't care less in the first place. I wouldn't waste my time!

Terrible Service! We enjoyed the food and flavor! 3 stars for the food.

Would I plan to come back anytime soon....