Richardson's Bistro — Restaurant in Tasmania

Richardson's Bistro is closed for half the year, so they have recently re-opened for the 2024 season - I would avoid this place until they find their feet.

If you're staying at Freycinet Lodge, book at The Bay - just dont eat at Richardson's Bistro. If you're not staying at the lodge, go eat somewhere else. If there are no other options just don't expect good food.

Medium rare steak was past well done and into "leather" territory, pan-friend salmon was overcooked and lacking seasoning both meals served with bland undercooked veggies, and octopus entree was - just- passable. Service was below average with only one staff member seemingly holding the whole place together.

Food took 50 mins to arrive, and with 12 other people there that seemed odd - until we were told that Richardson's serves food to another area of the hotel and they were under the pump.

I don't mind waiting for food, if the wait is clearly communicated so we're not just sitting around waiting.

Fully appreciate the difficulty of running a seasonal restaurant, but really they would be better keeping it closed and serving a small menu from The Bay's kitchen until they work out the kinks at...

The bistro seems like an afterthought hidden out the back of the main restaurant. What saves this place from feeling like a restaurant at a retirement village is the deck, the fantastic view and the quality of some of the items on the menu. I ate here three times, and scored a great meal twice. The porterhouse and veggies is a great feed, the octopus is absolutely fantastic, the winning plate on the menu (and affordable too). Don’t bother ordering the pumpkin mains or the sauté mushroom entree…these two dishes are are a gigantic fail! I really don’t understand the super small serve of roast pumpkin with quinoa salad and too many pumpkin seeds. Seems like two sides thrown together to make a vegetarian main…and the sauté mushrooms, I don’t get it…Please add some crusty bread to make the dish...

Only positive thing was the view was fantastic. The waitress ran off to get a kids menu couldn’t find it and didn’t come back. We watch our food hit heat lamps in the kitchen, and was rung out 4-5 times before it was brought over. It seemed like it was left there because they forgot to bring the drinks over, which also sat on the counter for quite some too me.

The food itself seemed like they had chips sitting there for a while and not quite enough to fill our four meals, so.they short changed all the plates and they came out cold and stale, If we were not so tired and hungry the food would have gone back to the kitchen. Now 20 mins later my stomach is churning hopefully I’m not on the toilet all night.

Such a disappointment for such an...