Tea Gardens Boatshed — Restaurant in Tea Gardens

Was in tea gardens for a family celebration a few weeks ago and decided to go to your restaurant for dinner. Arrived and was given a table with a nice view. My husband and I were with his parents we had never dined there before and had heard good things, he is always loving to try new places as he is a very experienced chef himself and Loves food. We all ordered our drinks and meals. It wasn’t a very busy night in the restaurant considering it was a Friday night, we were not use to such quiet atmosphere. Our drinks arrived and we were shown the wrong bottle of wine, an easy mistake yes but if the order was taken correctly it would not have happened. Our meals arrived entree was wonderful and it all looked great except I had the incorrect main meal. It was the wrong fish dish but I ate it as I eat most fish. Yes it may have been yet another honest mistake but if the order had been taken correctly the mistake would never have happened. My expectation of the evening was not as high as when I walked in. In between the wait times from giving our orders to waiting for drinks or meals we were not spoken to or and used plates or empty glasses were not taken from the table, no wine was poured and even no water topped up in glasses. We had to ask at one point can you please take these plates as we had no room on our table, and really I don’t know what the excuse would be for that as there was only two other tables there besides us and the waitresses had time to braid hair inbetween polishing cutlery in plain view of customers at a table, fix up make up behind bar and there was plenty of giggles happening between staff oh and not to mention the looking in the glass reflection of themselves but hey I guess that’s only to be expected when you employ 17 year olds. Dessert arrived and it was disappointing one was too hard to eat as it was layers in a ridiculous glass and the other very plain. I would of loved to give feedback of our experience as we were leaving my my husband asked me not to, instead wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt and re booked for breakfast (not my choice). So the four of us arrived for breakfast, my parents in law enjoyed theirs, eggs were overdone but they were happy, shame I could t say the same for my husband and I, we ordered the same thing bacon & egg roll we only got a few bites in and my husband found mould on the bottom of his roll, I didn’t believe it so I pulled it apart and it was green! I then checked mine and the same thing, I was furious and wanted to speak to the manager immediately but my husband knew I would cause a scene and he hates it so we left with meals uneaten. We have family that moved to tea gardens and told them they were in shock, they have spread the word as news travels fast in a small town. My husband did write a review on Facebook and since he only gave you a low score of course you deleted it, which is fine but the more you delete two more comments will be on there to get our point across, after all you can’t delete and...

We were three south east Asian women on holiday, stopped for breakfast at the Tea Garden Boatshed 13/11/2021 Approx. 11am. we ordered branch, (softshell crab burger, lamb kofta platter of some sort) & one of my friend ordered a pre-made tandoori chicken wrap, which wasn't ready until two of our meals arrived. as we saw no one was toasting it, so she went to the counter and said can I change my mind and get the steak sandwich as its not cooked yet, cause we can see it, its on the display in the front counter. The waitress said no, as in its already cooked. but we waited another 15 mins no meals, then the waitress in front of my eyes went to the front and toasted the wrap lol , and served. I confronted her I said why didn't you change her meal, I saw you just toasted, she goes I toasted twice cause this and that, she was uncomfortable as her lies got caught, lol lol lol, it was so funny. While some customer got water on their table by the waiter/waitress we were told its self served. From the whole experience I felt the establishment is racist. While the food were good but the entire mood was foul from that funny experience.. Writing this experience just so owners can improve or educate the staff on treating every one equally. We are proud Australian , here is our photo.. btw the view was amazing, Food...

The boat hire associated with this business lacks integrity.

Cannot speak to the food but the coffee was OK. Unfortunately, we were trying their coffee whilst the boat hire guy was renting our prebooked boat to another group! Our ferry from Nelson Bay to Tea Gardens had been struggling and obviously was not going to get us to the Boat Shed in time for our 3 hour boat hire so we called ahead and left a message, then called back twice more before getting through to staff whom informed us not to worry and they'll see us shortly. When we arrived 15 minutes late there was a group getting kitted out with our boat and the last available. The hire guy, said he'd asked the staff and none of the staff had heard from us. I asked if he'd rung the number on the booking "We do not ring as people never answer their phones"! Asked inside about the message left on the phone and with the staff member "We cannot get messages from that phone".

They tried to help by offering to drive us out to Jimmy's beach to have our picnic and snorkel, which was nice until I asked them how'd we get back ..... that would have been a long 50+ minute walk back in 30+C!

The overall "Not my fault/problem" attitude left a bitter taste for all...