Smokehouse Café - SPRINGRANGE

I was really excited to go here, but at the arrival they had already made a mistake with our booking. it was finally corrected. it took a very long time for someone to approach us at all. the food was average. even though the meatboard was good. good local wine at a decent price. I asked about butter three times, did not come for the whole meal. they have tried too many tables in, and there are them limited space as well as very loud overall it is very over price, it is too cramped, it is worth not to visit. I have given 2 stars, if possible I would have given 1.5

Went for lunch with a friend. I was very disappointed, my friend not so much. I chose the scallops for entree. There were only two scallops served on a leek purée, barely two mouthfuls, however the flavour was nice. I really feel it would not have hurt to serve three scallops. My friend made a better choice of the smoked quail which had a good amount meat and he enjoyed it. For mains I chose the fish of the day which was barramundi. It was the smallest piece of fish I’ve ever seen, no more than 6cm square served on a bed of sliced apples which I found inedible as we’re the caramelised onions. Flavour was lovely except overcooked on the edges. My friend chose the smoked lamb rack. I’ve never seen only two cutlets served as a rack. My friend enjoyed it and it was perfectly cooked but he couldn’t taste any smokiness. We both had the same dessert caramelised apples accompanied by an interesting ricotta and marscapone mix. Lovely dessert but only two chunks of apple (a quarter cut crosswise), surely they could have served four chunks! I would not go back and couldn’t recommend it. At $75 per head, not good value.

Food disappointing and over priced. Scallops entree was mean two miniature scallops although it was tasty. Smoked lamb was okay but very bland and uninteresting with no accompaniments except a blob of blackberry. Even the side of pumpkin had nothing to raise it above the ordinary. Will not be back as it seems the menu doesn’t change. Not in for more disappointment. Can cook better at home!

My friends and I headed out to the Murrumbateman area for a fun day of wine tasting. Our first stop was Poacher 's, who 's reviews were excellent and on their site said the cellar door was open at 930am. What we got was a complete opposite. On arrival we ignored as servers scurried past avoiding all eye contact. Finally we got a servers attention and asked to do a wine tasting. This concept seemed foreign to him. He said they were in their brunch service and asked his collegue to give us a tasting. She responded with a curt NO, she didn 't have the time. This was strange as there were only 7 tables and 3 servers. He came back over to us and said there would be a slight wait. I said that was ok, we would grab a drinks menu and sit outside and have some water while we waited. Outside our group went, we sat and waited, and waited and waited. No drink menus, no water. We took a walk around the garden and waited some more. 40 minutes passed by when another couple rolled in. They were sat promptly with menus and water. The server even fussed about to put up their tables umbrella. Not one glance to us or to give any help with our tables umbrella. He just walked straight back inside. Feeling the giant get out vibe we went back inside to ask about what was going on with the tasting. He had no answers, so we asked to see a manager. The manager gave us excuse after excuse, we are in our brunch service, the water stopped working at 10am, our staff is new and on and on. Not once was there and apology about the time we waited or about the horrrible service. I have worked in hospitality as a manager. All that needed to be said at the VERY beginning was We are very sorry but we are in our brunch service, we wil be conducting tastings from X time, if you would like to come back than which I can tell you we would have happily done. Instead we were treated like **** until we left. What a horrible experience. Drive past Poacher 's people, its not worth the trip.

Visiting Canberra for the weekend, we group of 3x had planned a girls day out wine tasting, starting at Poachers Pantry. The website advises wine tasting from 9:30am. We arrived at 10:15am, but were advised it is currently the breakfast service, but will check to see if anyone can conduct a wine tasting. Nothing happened for abt 5mins, and we were left to stand around awkwardly in the way. The same server came back and asked again how can I help? Again, we ask for a wine tasting. He advised he will see if anyone can conduct a wine tasting. We then overhear the server ask another staff member, and the answer was No However, when he returned, he advised it was possible albeit a wait. Again, there was a push for food instead which we declined. We were asked to wait outside and someone will attend when possible. We waited, then walked around the grounds, then waited, pictures, and waited in total 40mins. In this time, we see 2x other groups who were also sitting outside served. We have not received any service, no water, no tasting notes, or reading materials to tide us over nothing. At this point, it was evident we were not welcome and no one was going to serve us. We go in to say we were leaving and to ask why we receive such bad service. His answer was I did say it would be a wait…. We then spoke to the manager she was actually the person we overheard saying it wasn’t possible to do a wine tasting. We asked, if it wasn’t possible to do a wine tasting, why weren’t we just told I’m sorry, it’s not available at this time. Instead we were left outside to wait for 40mins, for nothing. We were advised it was a new, young team, and they were short staffed, and and the water went out at 10am, and and and and …. There was no apology, there was no recourse She stressed that they did want to conduct the wine flights for us. It most certainly did not feel that way we were made to feel like it was our fault for requesting a service that is obviously beyond they capacity This was our first stop for the day and definitely set the tone and soured our expectations for hospitality in this region. We did not try the food This is obviously ONLY a restaurant. Do not come here for their cellar door it is non existent, and the staff will gaslight you into believing bad service is a matter of fact.