The Hunting Lodge - Winery, Restaurant, Lawn Bar & Events Venue — Restaurant in Rodney

We had morning tea to celebrate Mother's Day. The lodge and the ambience of the restaurant is unbeatable. It's so cozy and relaxing. We were thankful to the lovely weather after a week-long torrential rain.

While the place was awesome, their service and food was disappointing and well below our expectations. We were the second table to arrive. After the restaurant manager sat us down at our table, we were told one of the girls (3 in total) will take our drinks order as it's a set menu.

We waited for about 10 mins but no one came. The restaurant manager came and asked if someone had taken our drinks order and we told them not yet, so he said he'll get someone to come over right away without noticing that our water glasses are empty. After another 10 mins, still no one came. I went to the counter and asked if someone will come and take our order. The young lady said she'll have someone come over and take our drinks order (for the 3rd time) and that our food is on its way!

So 2 mins later, one of the waitresses popped over, but not to our table but to the table beside ours who just sat down and took their drinks order. We waited patiently for another 10 mins but no one came. Food for the table next to us arrived so I waved at the waitress and asked if she could please take our drinks order as we came way earlier than the other tables but their food and drinks have already arrived and we didn't even have water after waiting patiently for 30 mins.

As it's Mother's Day, we needed to return the table at noon so the restaurant can set up for lunch but our food didn't arrive until 11.15am which didn't give us much time to enjoy the food at all. When the food finally came, the young lady explained they had a backlog of drinks and a bit of mix up in the orders which was not surprising as the waitress delivered drinks to our table that were meant to be for the table beside us. Honestly, the restaurant didn't have that many tables and it want even full at the time. With a set menu, all they needed to do is to focus on the drinks so their service level was quite disappointing.

As for the food, it was nothing surprising, apart from the fact that the savoury tarts and sausage rolls were served cold and it took them so long as all they needed to do was to put them on a plate.

Saw an earlier review about their service and the restaurant responded saying they'll review and improve but it looks like more work is needed on the service front.

There's a big lawn outside where people can have picnic or just chill, so it's still a place...

I've been meaning to write this review for a while now. The Hunting Lodge used to be one of my favourite places to go for a wine in the sun ... however never again. We popped by on a whim on Father's Day for a quick pizza and wine with the kids. We weren't optimistic about getting a table, but we arrived and the place looked half empty. We asked the manager for a table ... and it began. With a big sigh he exclaimed "We're really flat out today, do you have a booking???" ... I apologetically said no. "It'll be 45 mins for food" he said ... the kids were starving we decided to leave it - no drama. However he stopped my wife and asked what we wanted, when we let him know it was just some fries and a pizza, he convinced us to stay and assured us he'd whip it through before "the big table arrived" ... to cut a long story short. We ordered, and then sat there for 45 mins, while the kids chewed their arms off, and they didn't even offer us a glass of water (let alone a wine). Meanwhile new customers came, ate and went. I finally followed up on our order, and it turn out they completely forgot us (despite us sitting right in front of them as then continually walked back and forth past us). The manager was busy telling everyone within earshot how busy they were, while the staff were cruising, chatting by the dishwasher, while he did nothing but flap like a headless chook. When I questioned whether our order had been lost, he tried to make it seem they hadn't, but when i pressed it - he admitted they had forgotten it, and then began to blame me for the horrific crime of driving past and deciding to visit their restaurant without a booking. The food finally turned up (more than an hour after arriving) .. and then, the pièce de résistance. The manager came over and told us he wouldn't charge us for lunch (gold star) .. BUT THEN gave began a lecture on how he's "the manager now" and "things are going to be changing around here" and "there'll be new rules" and "in future .... "

Don't worry mate, there won't be an...

We did a LOT of venue shopping for our wedding, and when we finally found The Hunting Lodge we knew we had found the perfect spot. It ticked all of our boxes - location, space (for over 100 people) furniture, lots of parking to name a few - all while staying within our budget. Also it's BEAUTIFUL. The Barn is the perfect blank canvas to create literally whatever you want, and we definitely got what we wanted! And don't get us started on the catering - the food was delicious with generous portions for our guests, and the wine (which was VERY important to us) was even better!! From day one, Alex was incredible with getting us all set-up, and Mariana took over things effortlessly; both made us feel welcomed and well looked after throughout the whole planning process. Then to throw in a lock-down and us having to reschedule our wedding into the mix, Mariana was absolutely amazing with helping us and our vendors navigate to a new date (in summer, which was definitely a pro, not a con!!). And then on the big day, Mariana and her fantastic team looked after us and our guests phenomenally - we truly felt like the most special couple in the world. We could not be more thankful for everything everyone did to make our wedding so incredibly perfect - whoever has the honour to have The Hunting Lodge and their events management team as part of their wedding are sure to be in...