Lovely venue and atmosphere but terrible service and bad food. We booked for Sunday lunch, waited 45 minutes for a bottle of wine and a further 20 minutes for food. When it eventually arrived the mussels were far too salty and the pasta and vegetables...were soggy and bland. Disappointing and would not eat here again.More
4 of us had lunch here today. My wife and I have been here before but our friends had never been. We had the entree platter and a serve of arancini balls. All of which was really tasty. Individually we had tofu curry, gnocchi and...linguine with Barramundi. It was really tasty. The woman really liked the pink gin and the apple mojito. The setting was relaxing and the staff were really friendly and helpful. We will definitely be back.More
Had a lovely time celebrating a 40th birthday there. Staff were friendly and attentive. Food was nice and the venue was great. Very family friendly, just be prepared for them to get messy (if you have kids that like to explore)
A group of us dined at Red Poles on Sunday for a long awaited catch up. We arrived at 12 and had ordered by 12.15. It took over two hours for our lunch to arrive. Sadly the highly anticipated small bowl of gnocchi pasta...or the...orriecchetti ...was tepid and tasteless. No one checked on our table during the long wait. There wasn’t bread to nibble on. Water bottles were not refilled. For $33 we had high hopes of a splendid dish. Our adjacent guests reported the pork belly soggy, and the orriecchetti fatty and sloppy. Side dishes were extra. None of us will return.More
Booked here for a weekend lunch and was blessed with sunny weather in July! Tried their local wine and was served very generous portions for mains, the pork belly and the mussels; both were divine. Really nice atmosphere to sit outside and enjoy the live...music (on Sundays). Always love looking at their art inside as well. Great spot.More
I organised a bus trip to Red Poles for the company I work for. I received rave reviews from our clients and staff whom attended the trip. The feedback I received was that the food was divine, the atmosphere was great, the service was top...notch and the overall experience with the art, made it first class. From a business point, Red poles are easy to work with, have great communication and are very flexible. I would recommend.More
We were looking forward to a really nice lunch in the heart of McLaren Vale. Sadly Red Poles did not deliver. Service was ordinary as was the meal. We chose the tempura battered whiting which was drowned in tartare sauce and the fennel and beetroot...was tough and undercooked. The lemon delicious pud took forever to appear and was stodgy when it did. The maître d was apologetic and kindly did not charge for the desserts but it didn’t really compensate for an under par dining experience.More
Great they are still open. Have had wonderful food here before. Food was average , prices high, service poor.
Booked this restaurant for guests of my tour business because it was one of only a few open on a Wednesday during a COVID pandemic. After reading other reviews it seems that this restaurant had good reviews for food generally but not so good reviews...for service and this was our experience also. Arrived on time for our reservation and had a friendly greeting from a member of staff who said she wouldn't be a moment as she was taking something to another table. Fair enough. After about 5 minutes of watching this same staff member roll a number of outdoor gas heaters past us to place around the outdoor restaurant area, another staff member asked us if we had been served, to which we answered, No. We were then told the first person we spoke with wouldn't be long. After about another 5 minutes standing in the doorway being ignored by everyone, we then went into the counter area and asked if it was possible for someone to show us to our table. Which was then offered. Quickly after that we were offered menus and some water for the table which was great. Then it came to ordering our food and wine. The waiter was not able to tell us what the Fish of the Day was, he couldn't quite understand the concept of us wanting too order two serves of dumplings for the table (3 people) as a starter and then brought wine to the table in a cooler but didn't open the bottle and pour the wine for us Arrival of main course to the table was a little slow but the food we ordered was very nice as was all the food we ate generally. No problems there. It is a shame that a place that relies on customers for it's success and future prosperity has such a poor attitude to it's service quality. My friends and I often say that you can go to a restaurant where the food is average but the service is fantastic and you would be happy to go to that restaurant again, but when the food is great but the service standards are poor you might choose to go elsewhere in the future. I hope the owners of this restaurant read this review, take the feedback constructively and try to improve the level of service that their staff offer as they have the potential to be a "must visit" dining destination for any vistor to the McLaren ValeMore
Very cozy place in the heart of the Mclaren Vale wine region that offers accommodation, meals and a gallery!!
