Rústico At Hay Shed Hill — Restaurant in Wilyabrup

This is a somewhat tricky review to write. The potential of this restaurant is there, but unfortunately on this visit it wasn't realised. The setting is very nice and we had a nice table on the verandah. The only option for adults is a 5 course degustation menu - something I found an odd choice for tapas - it's literally the antithesis of the concept of tapas which is lots of small (and cheap) dishes to share, mix and match. There is also a kids menu with 2 main course options but no options given for entree or desert.

The service was an issue from the outset on this occasion. Our drinks order was taken but did not arrive. A second waitress then took it again and it came after she did. When ordering food we asked to substitute the chicken liver dish (an odd/unpopular choice in Australia I would have thought) for the vegetarian option. The course was then bought out with the chicken liver parfait and then the waiter asked did we have an issue with the food. We explained the order was wrong and eventually the correct substitute came out about 20 minutes later. This is when our biggest issue of the day became evident. The wait times were beyond ridiculous. We arrived at 12 and were served our first course at 1240. Course 2 was served another 40 minutes later (along with the kids main meal - so he had waited over an hour) and the whole sitting took over 3 hours. Given that each course was a very small mouth sized bite gone in seconds, we simply could not understand how it could take so long to prepare. Many dishes could easily have been pre-prepared. Perhaps there was a staff issue that day and clearly there are service staff issues, but this is about the longest wait of our life to have lunch and started to get well beyond our patience and comfort -especially with a kid in tow. By contrast at an other restaurant in the area the next day, we were done and dusted with 3 courses in 1.5 hours.

The average service continued as we had long finished drinks and were not checked on for 40 minutes to ask if we wanted more. We also did not have our used plates collected for nearly an hour.

The food itself was good but not exceptional. We did not find any of the courses particularly memorable. Some of the choices and favour combinations were quite odd especially for the dessert. The fish ceviche was a surprise as there was no mention on the menu at all that it was raw fish and this was not explained by the waiter. It meant there was yet another dish we did not eat.

The kid liked his food though did not eat the arancini as they put pumpkin in it - many kids don't like pumpkin. Wines were great as always - Hay Shed Hill is a top winery.

Overall we were left disappointed. It was not the culinary experience we had hoped, was quite expensive for what it was and the wait times were so ridiculous that we would not entertain returning for that...

A beautiful dog and family friendly winery with the most affordable ($125 w/ wine pairings- about $100 less than others) and DISAPPOINTING degustation in the South West. We have made it a mission to sample all the degustation offerings in the area and this one was a miss for us. The menu seemed haphazard without any real thought given to the food or wine pairings. The flavours were nice but no dish had any depth or complexity, no wow factor. The western rock lobster profiterole and Mario’s tomato was especially awful. The tomatoes were served cold (not room temp) and were utterly flavourless half green Roma tomatoes poorly seasoned with about 5 basil leaves and the same number of sun dried cherry tomatoes scattered on top. The profiterole was stodgy and stale and the lobster mix was reminiscent of an 80’s dinner party. Presentation was also lacking across all dishes.

The staff were unable to give much info on the wine pairings even when prompted. Big catch for us here was that the pours on the wine pairings were WELL below a standard pour (bit stodgy when it works out to $10 a glass) and the wine was consistently served 15mins prior to the course it paired with arriving and at the wrong temperature- not great from a vineyard.

The staff were friendly but inattentive, the table wasn’t cleaned between courses (our waiter spilled oil from the first course which remained smeared on the table for the remainder). When a member of our party dropped a fork, the waiter picked it up but didn’t offer a fresh one until asked, our water remained empty from the 2nd course onward. Really just a lot of small things that lessened the experience. The comment from one of our party was that summed it up best was it seemed as though a TAFE student gave it a good go. Overall, not bad but I would actively advise against the degustation if you’re someone who has enjoyed degustation in the past as it doesn’t come close to meeting expectations. The winery, however, is lovely and well worth the visit! We would return for a glass of wine in the gardens and perhaps a...

Absolutely amazing venue for a wedding!!! We had visited for the degustation in the past and fell in love with the staff and the food and ended up visiting when we were looking for a wedding venue. We visited a number of venues in the area but none even came close to Rustico in the end. Vanessa was our primary contact, she is amazing, so bubbly, organised and genuine and had literally thought of everything when it came to weddings. We only ended up needing to arrange 4 things, DJ, Florals, Celebrant and Photographer/Videographer, everything else they supplied and it was all included. We had a catalogue to pick our preferred furniture and decorations and anything we wanted to add to it was set up by their amazing team. Nat was our contact for all the finer details and answering the millions of questions that pop up during the wedding planning process and she was wonderful! Super responsive and very knowledgable and experienced in the wedding industry. The day came together seamlessly and ran so smoothly. The staff were absolutely amazing with all of our guests, we have had so much feedback about how bubbly, attentive and organised the whole team was and how insanely delicious the food was and we could not agree more. This was truly the perfect venue, team and perfect wedding day! We cannot thank the entire team enough. If you're looking for a stunning venue down south where they do the majority of the work for you, do yourself a favour and set up a...