Athelstane House

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Great food. We were very impressed. I had the slow roasted pork belly with apple foam and peas puree. The foam was light and perfect for the pork.

Bread was home made, butter was home churned, all the dishes we had were well presented with excellent flavours, and the service was great. We all agreed that it deserves more than 1 hat.

Pozzy, if you had told them that your coffee was not hot enough they would have replaced it. And they would probably have realised that you Need attentions and would probably live up to your expectation then.

Will definitely go back.

Jul 26, 2010 

3.8 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  1     

If anything, Athelstane's awarded 'hat' is only a hindrance to the place as it invites foodies and diners with high expectations. Both of whom would find nothing worthy here.

The dining room is small with strangely placed willingly eclectic art-works, and bored, stand-around staff. The service is dismal. And slow. The prices are high. The dishes themselves are rather wanky with unjustified terms such as foam, terrine, and carpaccio being thrown around left, right and centre.

My biggest disappointment on dining at Athelstane was questionable, and I'm still undecided as to whether this was the short wine-list that leaves many tastes uncatered for, or the incredibly over ambitious dessert menu.

Despite it's downfalls, of which there are many and all unforgivable, Athelstane delivered the goods in my mouth-watering roasted duck and lychee curry. The fusion of flavours along with the interesting textures of the lychees and water chestnuts, made for a divine dish.

Unfortunately, however, the size would have only just passed if offered as an entree and the curry thus didn't redeem this huge disappointment.

May 16, 2010 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  2     

I had very high hopes when visiting Athelstane House, after reading good reviews and being aware it was awarded a hat in the Age Good Food Guide, but was utterly disappointed at the quality of food and service.

We went for some breakfast on a Sunday morning. We were the only ones in there at the time. The interior was very drab. Old rugs on the floor, plain tables, average glasses/cutlery. I wouldn't say the person responsible for the decor paid much attention to detail.

We ordered coffees and they came out quite promptly. We had asked for them to be extra hot. They were not. Luke warm in fact. I did not send them back, thought we would let this slide. Maybe the waitress didn't hear our request for extra hot coffees? Our empty coffee cups then stayed on the table for the duration of our meal and as we stood to go and pay the bill they were still there on the table.

This is terrible. The table was not massive to begin with and then we had to have the cups taking up space on the table the entire meal. No chance to have looked at the paper with all of the unnecessary cups on the table. Also a point of note is that we were bought no water at all nor were we offered any. These days water is brought almost immediately or you are promptly asked if you would like some.

The meals came out not long after the coffees but with some problems as well. The other two people I was dining with both had bacon with their breakfast and it was burnt. I had mushrooms on toast and asked for a side order of eggs. I received with my mushrooms and eggs a piece of toast the size of a post it note.

I had about two mouthfuls of mushrooms and eggs with toast and the rest just on its own which to be honest became a little sickening after a while. You need enough toast for all of the mushrooms, otherwise, they should list it on the menu as plain mushrooms.

On asking for the bill at the counter, we discovered that we had been charged for an extra coffee. On reading down the receipt further I also discovered that I was charged $8 for a side of eggs with my mushrooms on toast. $8! Absolute rip off! I disputed the charges and received some of the money back but not all. There was no apology for the errors on our bill or for the cold coffees and messy table. The first sentence our waitress could string together was "I actually didn't put your bill through". How is that a valid excuse?

The waitress should not be passing the blame for the incorrect bill to another one of her peers. It should be a team effort and she should have apologised immediately on behalf of Athelstane House in hope that she might mend the already very tarnished view I, and my guests have, of Athelstane House.

This is not one hat service or food. Not worthy of that title at all. We will not be returning.

Oct 12, 2009 

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

This place is a gem! The owners and chef are highly experienced in hospitality and it shows! The food is brilliant, the wine list short but high quality. It has a really comfortable homey feel to it. The rest of the building is a guest house which we used on our first anniversary and really enjoyed. The deck is very calm and romantic. There's a few day spas nearby which we were too late to book for. A perfect weekend away.

Dec 27, 2008