Shakey Tables

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

The best dining experience. The staff are friendly and attentive and know how to treat a guest. Highly recommended.

Jan 29, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  7     

Shakey Tables was a fantastic dining experience for us. The quirky, eclectic feel of the restaurant was apparent immediately upon entering the front door and was carried through the whole space beautifully.

The staff were friendly and efficient, we weren't left waiting long for anything. The food was both delicious and stunning, attention to detail was impeccable. While the food wasn't cheap the overall experience certainly made it worth the price tag. I will certainly be back.

Dec 30, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  8     

This restaurant was recommended to me by a friend and a lot of locals (who raved on about the food). After hearing only great things my expectations were definitely set high.

Wow! This place exceeded my expectations. The food was sensational (I had the pork cooked 4 ways) and service was friendly and efficient. I could definitely drive up from Sydney just to dine here.

I will be recommending this to all my friends. If you do go, make sure you also try their wines, I ended up buying a bottle to take back with me. Will be back very soon!

Sep 14, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  8     

WOW, just got back from dinner and had to review. Loved it, food was lovely, staff professional and friendly, it's expensive but it's the Hunter Valley so expected. We took our nearly 3 year old daughter, called first to see if they are child friendly, they were fantastic with her (unfortunately the diners at the next table gave her dirty looks all evening but that's not the restaurants fault) the chef came up with meal options for her even though there is no set kids menu. Was so nice to feel able to take her, as am sure most parents experience there are many restaurants that are not happy to see a 3 year old. I can't fault the food great to look at and amazing to taste, they were more than happy to give me a vegetarian entree in a main size. The zucchini flowers were to die for! I'll be back and letting everyone know what a lovely time we had.

Nov 06, 2010 

4.3 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  2      Value  2     

Unfortunately, we were not impressed with Shakey Tables. The food was ok, but this was ruined by terrible service. We had been seated for over an hour and a half before we received our main course. We then waited so long for a dessert menu that we gave up and requested the bill, which was very swift in arriving! Very disappointing.

Aug 30, 2010 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  6      Value  8     

Having become increasingly frustrated by the Hunter's inability to match its prices to the quality of its food and service this restaurant was a very pleasant surprise.
The meals were fantastic, beautifully presented and the menu showed some real initiative and backed it up with great flavours and reasonable portions. Our table of eight were very quickly sharing around tastes of the meals and there was a great deal of cooing and contented murmurs.

The wine list is great if you are ignoring the budget for the night and we did! Although it would have been a lot harder to enjoy if we had been in a smaller group and weren't able to order by the bottle.

The service was a little bit shakey but held together by an older waiter/maitre de, who seated our group and visited our table intermittently. The young ladies who served us were enthusiastic but lacked the polish that experience brings, which is still a lot better than I could say for a lot of Hunter Valley establishments that I've dined in.

We had a really enjoyable night, although the dining room is so open our enthusiasm may have made it a little less intimate for any couples dining around us. Although we didn't notice any noise from the other large group (of 14ish) in the restaurant, so maybe not.

It is a lovely space to dine in and the view is very nice if you arrive before the sun goes down, but be careful on the road there and back as there were a few kangaroos moving between paddocks!

Apr 13, 2010 

7.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  7     

This is a lovely looking restaurant in a prime location in the middle of grape vines, with a fabulous view for almost every table. It looks far nicer than the not very inspiring photos on their website! I was delighted to see haggis on the menu with venison as a starter though this turned out to be a much more traditional style, heavy dish, almost French - not really to my taste.

The haggis wasn't as peppery and barleyed as I was hoping for either - it tasted mostly of liver. Because of this I regretted my duck main course; it was too much after the heavy start and I'd have been better with the fish. The duck itself was ok, perhaps a tiny bit too well done for my liking which took the edge off its tenderness, but I'm only being picky.

My husband was thrilled with both his main and his start (and the Reidell bowl glasses, which he seems intent on buying for himself now!). They do have a reasonable wine list but I was disappointed that there weren't more by the glass; basically they only do their own wines by the glass.

Jan 08, 2010 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

I have to confess - my companions and I ended up at Shakey Tables mostly because there wasn't much else open on the second night we spent in the Hunter. But wow, am I glad we did.

We arrived near dark, so the short trip off the main road down a dirt track and into the bush did have us doing banjo impressions. We half expected an old bloke in a rocking chair and nursing a shotgun to greet us when we saw the wooden 'log' cabin that is Shakey Tables.

So our entry into this whimsical, colourful, comfortable place was as joyful a surprise as anyone is likely to have when dining out in unfamiliar territory. The solitary waitress was polite and attentive, and had us quickly seated in red and blue armchairs with our drinks, allowing us to look over the menu (and over the twilight bush vista) before moving to our table.

The wine list was a good smattering of Hunter Valley offerings, but other Australian wine making areas were also represented. I noticed that there was an excellent range of single malt whiskies on offer too - better choices than you'd get in most places.

Our meals were promptly delivered by a kitchen that manages to be innovative and competent. An allergy to oranges by one of our party was managed efficiently and politely. We ordered 11 different dishes between the four of us (entrees, mains and desserts, with only one double-up) and the general consensus was that all the food was delicious and well presented. The desserts (of which I rarely partake, but was glad I did in this instance) were intriguing and luscious, and displayed a quirky sense of culinary humour. Here is a chef who knows what she/he is doing.

This is a great place, with great food and a good drinks menu. Allow more time than you need for dinner, so you can relax and take in the ambience. Highly recommended.

Jan 04, 2010 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

Wonderful! We spent a long weekend eating our way around the Hunter and this was by far the most delicious food. (Better than Margan in our opinion).

Atmosphere was inviting, cosy and colourful. Desserts were delicious, cranachan and a strawberry ice cream dessert with coconut and marshmallow were superb. The wine list was divided into local and not so local, some so local they were described as "up the track" and "round the front". A nice touch was having their own wines as the wines by glass.

The only criticism would be that the slightly twee sounding name might put a few people off. Delicious.

Aug 31, 2009 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

What an amazing place, I had heard about it through some friends back in the UK who diligently go there every year and rave about it and with good reason! My little appetiser of ocean trout with fennel, orange and a shellfish ice cream was knockout!

The sardine entree was simply a modern take on an old British classic as was the pork cheeks I had for main with "bubble n'squeak". The cranachan ice cream terrine, a modern interpretation of a very old fashioned Scottish dessert was delicious and textural, my friend had the strawberry marshmallow which she would not share with me.

Don't change a thing Shakey Tables and I will be back.!

Jul 18, 2009