Bells Restaurant and Bar

Came in on the sneaky Sunday package so had a condensed 4 course menu. The food was very average. We had heard so many great things that we were really looking forward to dinner here. We may have enjoyed it here more if what we had to select from wasn't so limited. There was no chocolate option for dessert and the request to write happy anniversary on the dessert dish (as per my email) was not followed trough. The breakfast the next morning was fantastic though.

My husband and 2 friends had lunch on Saturday 15 July. Sunny but chilly day so we were wearing coats - no one offered to take our coats when we arrived so we just sat with them between us - the beginning of the poor service! Those who were drinking decided to have wine by the glass to match their food (all of which was fabulous) however on delivering one glass of the red to go with the pasta dish, the other red did not arrive until the person had finished that course - which of course was refused. I think that probably there was a function going on and staff were a little stretched! Your Sommelier provided great advice with wine choices. There was one moment of amusement - we were provided with a Muse Bouche whilst waiting for our Appetizers - it was a scallop with avocado cream which was delicious - we asked a young waitress where the scallops had come from and she said 'the Sydney fish market' - we couldn't take it any further as it was too funny an answer. We used to be regular visitors to both your accommodation and restaurant and slowly saw both decline. As I have said the food was excellent much better now but the service not so.

Even though we wanted to try the degustation menu, since we had a late booking we lost our chance to try it. So we had to go with the a la carte menu. I tried only the main and a dessert. Chocolate gelato was fabulous but the main meal tasted average. Service was good too.

My husband took me for lunch after our family told us how nice it was. Nice relaxing long lunch, could not fault the meal or the service. Staff were very friendly and although it was pricey it was worth it. The view was lovely. 2% surcharge a bit rich though.

We arrived after sunset, so we were a little disappointed that we missed out on a view from the restaurant. I felt that the wait staff were surprised we had our kids with us, but they accommodated them with one of the best kids meals offered at any restaurant. I enjoyed a lovely chestnut soup. It was under seasoned but a little salt and pepper fixed that. My main was Duck and it was perfectly cooked. Again, it could have done with a little seasoning, easily fixed. My dessert was rum baba. It was well cooked, but very sweet and I felt that it didn't have enough rum. We had the added bonus of Bells having a Tesla destination charger so our car had its fill also! Overall, the food was delicious, but does it really justify the average price of $30 entree and the $50 price for mains? Not really. At this price, I expected more experience. Maybe turn on the lights in the garden. It would be a beautiful outlook as all guests were ushered to the verandah for their meal. The price is really the only thing that would hold me back from returning. (Without my kids!)The food was lovely, but the price was intimidating.