Crackenback Farm Restaurant

We went here for dinner in April 2021. Lovely meal, really hearty and filling. Great seasonal menu and good wine list. Can get a little loud when it's full. Staff were nice, but didn't ask to take coats or pour water etc. That's fine, but the expectation of a tip after that was a little rich. Not a cheap meal either! Would definitely go back.

I found Crackenback Farm Restaurant to have both many good and not so good points.nThe restaurant itself is a warm, rustic space very reminiscent of a farmhouse.nThe food was a good example of farm to table fare. Every dish was perfectly cooked, delicious and well presented.nService was what I found to be a big disappointment. Rudderless ship is the phrase that comes to mind. The problem on the night we dined may have been that there was a large group celebrating a birthday that were occupying over half the space that staff seemed to be giving 90% of their attention to.nIt took around 5 minutes to be seated on arrival and then only when we managed to get the attention of waitstaff. Once seated we were overwhelmed with a nasty smell much like that of a dirty old tea towel, which we quickly found to be our napkins. Not wanting to make a scene we ended up balancing them on the end of our knees to keep them as far from our noses as possible for the evening. Due to their very dark colour I can’t say for certain that the napkins were unclean but the odour was not subtle.nAs the menu make no mention of sides to accompany the main course we were expecting these to be brought out with the dishes. Our mains came out with no sides following, and we were unable to get anyone’s attention to query this as they were so focussed on the birthday group. We eventually gave up and figured that maybe this is how they do things here (a whole baked trout with nothing else but an insane amount of parsley on the plate) and began eating. Well into our course and without breaking stride a bowl of greens and mash was placed on the table. Luckily at the end of the night we checked the bill as we had been charged for an extra dessert.nOverall the venue and food were great, but the lack of management, training and direction in service took away from what otherwise could have been an excellent experience.

Been here twice in 3 days, great selection of quality food very tasty with local ingredients.nWe had entree and mains which came to $120 for both which i thought was reasonable for quality and location.