Cape Grim Grill & Kauri Bistro — Restaurant in Tasmania

Just had dinner at Kauri Bistro tonight (20/9) and I could not wait to write this review as I am extremely disappointed.

We were expecting a wonderful dinner after checking the menu. The price is way over the top however it’s understandable considering the location.

We made a booking for 6pm and we were quickly seated which was a good start. It all went downhill from here. We waited for 10 minutes before I suspected who was the food and beverage manager came back to the table, we asked for a drinks menu and being told they don’t have drinks menu at the restaurant, the ladies at the bar will come and take your drink order. By this point I was thinking about walking out but we stayed.

The table next to us overheard and gave us a wine list that was supposedly non-existing. After 10 more minutes, the waitress came with a trainee to take our order. When I said I wanted a bottle of red she barked out “food only” to us which was very abrupt. She took the food order before another lady came and get our drinks. I noticed there was price difference between the special board and wine list and she was quick and responded it would be the special price.

In comes our entrée, we shared a small prawn and bacon pizza which was delicious even though the prawns were frozen shrimps yet still understandable.

After two slices in, next table finished their entrée and the waitress called the wrong table. So as we picked up our third slices of pizza, our main courses came out. The food and beverage manager said, “ oh I was told your table is ready for main, I can put these under the heat lamp if you like.” Yeah no thanks…

I ordered the pork belly with abalone and hang on if you look at the photos there were Tassie scallops but no abalone. I called the manager to the table and her response was, “oh did they not tell you we ran out of abalone so we replaced them with Tasmanian scallops?” No they did not. I asked her if there’s price difference due to this change and she said no. The pork has no crackling and bland.

The other main course was Chef’s pasta with crayfish, prawns, salmon and scallops. There was no sight of crayfish so we called the manager again. This time she sent the trainee to our table to deal with it and the trainee went back to her to get a response which she told us that the crayfish was in the purée for the pasta sauce. Well…fair enough people do do that but it tasted nothing like crayfish and had absolutely no shellfish flavour whatsoever and also very bland.

I wish we actually did walk out the door before ordering cause it was that disappointing. I’m writing this review while I’m eating leftover roast chicken from Woolworths and still find it tastes better than our dinner.

Surprisingly, every other tables seem to have enjoyed their dinner……I do not recommend this restaurant at all. If you are staying here maybe order from bar menu cause they look really good. However looking at the food we ordered they look...

This is a rather nice restaurant that is being sadly let down by really sub standard food. Lets talk about the flake and chips for $34.00 a serve. The fish was not flake, big mistake there, I believed it may have been an inferior cut of fish, at a guess I would say Australian Salmon, and it was void of any fish flavour?? The ratio of batter to fish was appalling and if I was lucky there may have been a 60grams of actual fish in 3 pieces (small), wrapped in an over coating of undercooked batter substance. I could not eat this food even after removing the "fish" from the batter. Fish, chips, a wedge of lemon, tartare sauce and malt vinegar spilt on the plate before hitting the table. The cheese cake with a premium price tag was a typical example of a pigs ear dressed up like a silk purse, made from a pre-mix /packet variety that was creamy and powdery tasting without any hint of actual cheese. I must add I am local and will never return, however the staff were friendly and attentive even after we told them how bad...

Unhappy staff clearly poor management. A very strange place from start to finish. I’ve never seen such unhappy staff. Tried continually to be friendly and get staff to smile but unsuccessful. Not rude just with all the cheerfulness you’d expect from a visit to the Vehicle Licensing Bureau. The warmth of all the timber work is killed by use of intense white LED lights that beam directly into your eyes - tried to move to another table to avoid them. Their specialty is local meat grill. if they are consistent I suggest you go 2 steps more rare than usual. One person ordered rare which came out medium and another ordered medium which was more than very well done. Had spectacularly better steaks at Stanley Hotel the night before for much less money. On paying the bill I couldn’t help asking why the staff look so unhappy and did he like working there. Response was “it’s Ok”. Wish I could say the same from a customer...