French Farm Estate — Restaurant in Banks Peninsula Community

Sad experience on such an important day for my son. The host who is oblivious to the needs of the guests but very attentive to his bottom line. The groom and family arrived in the morning to find that the venue had not been cleaned or prepared and that specific arrangements had not been implemented. They have an email that clearly states that the venue would be cleaned for the party “and that goes without saying”, also that they shouldn’t worry about the cleaning after the party (after all isn’t that why one hires a venue anyway?). However the wedding party including guests in formal dress were obliged to sweep, clean chairs of dirt and bird excrement and to set up the venue. The process was repeated the next day when the family was required to restore the furniture to previous positions. The manager Warwick was suddenly very present to oversee the details of this process. He provided no help at all. He watched two pregnant members of our party carrying heavy objects and kept saying that they should call the guests to clean (not clear his understanding of what to be host means).

His two assistants were minors working and though adorable kids it is irresponsible to have them serving alcohol in our party. He ate the food catered and commented upon it. He appeared later in the evening to demand that the music be turned down.

He says that the bride and groom are to blame for all of that because they did not showed up to a meeting in the day before but nothing was ever scheduled and they have written correspondence of everything agreed to which Warwick did not meet his word. Despite everything they had a good time because everyone who loves them was there to support and help but this person’s attitude is very sad. He will blame everybody else taking no responsibility for things like dirty floor and tables, dirty bathrooms, eating canapés, serving wine in pink water glasses then replacing them with dirty...

When we arrived, we were lured into a false sense of security and quality. The outside gardens were great for family photos before we went in. Then things changed.

The lounge part had a lot of flash furniuture and a huge bookcase that had a set of Encyclopedia Brittanica and I think maybe Barbara Cartland books and Readers Digest hardcovers. But we were not posh enough to go in that area so it was roped off.

The starter of volcanic ciabatta bread was really nice, but two plates, of two breads each, were put in front of two people. Half way through my second bread, I awkwardly realised there was only one piece per person. They really should have hinted at this by not giving two people the plates for four people.

The choice of the lunch was reduced somewhat by two main items being off the menu. I chose the tikka masala, thinking that at $32 or so it should be quite exceptional. Wrong. 'Confusing' is a more apt description. There were two small side dishes, like relishes, that didn't really go with it at all. The leftover naan bread could probably go in the recycling as it was close to cardboard. The sauce itself was nothing that wouldn't be lost in a jar on a supermarket shelf. I hope they recycled the bottle too.

As for hygiene and presentation, the tile floor could do with a hot mop or maybe a water blaster to clear the food from previous times. The paper menus, especially the desert menu, had food samples from many previous dishes. Maybe that was the idea.

However, my friend next to me had delicious fries. (I must get an air fryer.)

I reckon Gordon Ramsay would have a field day...

It had been a wonderful few days staying on the peninsular in a Bach. We thought we would complete our stay having lunch at French Farms. We had so enjoyed our visit there quite a few years ago, the food being superb. We arrived five minutes early and was told he had been expecting us the next day on Saturday and he wasn’t quite ready for us as lunch was not until 12 midday. We were asked if we would like a drink, two of us said we would like a glass of wine, the other declined as she was driving, so three glasses were delivered!! The very limited menu gave us very little choice and when I asked if he could prepare a salad for me he stated it would be too difficult to do for lunch. We settled for two pizzas and a bowl of chips. The chips were fine but the pizzas were awful, we ate a slice each and the rest was boxed up so we could throw them away on the way home. It was very sad to complete our lovely stay with such poor...