Mitchell River Tavern

I only booked a room at the last minute because the camping weather was awful. The room was immaculate, quiet and freshly updated, with a good layout and quality linen. It had a kettle, fridge and a good bathroom, and the check-in staff were helpful and informative. I was too tired to eat or drink, but the dining areas looked great.

We had high hopes for our first visit to the bistro. The place looked nice and seemed mostly clean, though there was a spill on my seat that I wiped off with a baby wipe. The staff were friendly and attentive, and even brought colouring for our toddler. The risotto was the problem. I ordered mushroom and leek and asked to add chicken since it was an option. There was lots of leek, hardly any mushroom and no chicken that I could find. It was bland, so I added salt and pepper and asked for parmesan, but it still tasted terrible, like rice cooked with leek and water, with no flavour. I couldn’t eat it. My husband quietly spoke to our waitress at the bar rather than make a scene. She asked if something was wrong, and he explained I didn’t like the taste and was still hungry, so he ordered a chicken schnitzel, which was fine. She said she’d speak with the kitchen. When my husband went to pay as we were leaving, a staff member said she had spoken to the kitchen and “that’s just the way the risotto is.” Apparently that was the chef’s response, which seemed a little biased given that they had cooked it. Of course tastes differ, but this was a bowl of tasteless slush. She offered 25% off the risotto. We didn’t argue, and left. It was $27 for the bland leek risotto, plus $5 for the chicken that wasn’t there, less 25%. We were still charged $24 for food I couldn’t and didn’t eat. If they’d handled it better, for example by not charging for the risotto, we would have returned to try other dishes. Charging for a meal that wasn’t edible felt like too much, especially with the cost of living and eating out being a treat for most people. The manager’s response and handling of it were especially disappointing. We won’t return, and we’ll tell local family and friends about our below-average food experience. My one star is for the atmosphere and table service.

We had a lovely Sunday lunch with family. The steak, pork belly, flathead tails and spring rolls were all very nice, and we shared a cheeky ice cream sundae too. Everything was really good. The dining room crew did a great job on a pretty busy day.

Emma and her team of professionals gave us an exceptional welcome, as warm and friendly as the one we last got three years ago at the Henry Lawson Pub in the Blue Mountains NSW. The Thai beef salad was PHENOMENAL. Well done, team. We’ll never forget you.