Shingle inn - BELCONNEN

We’ve dined here on numerous occasions. Today’s lunchtime experience was terrible, from the numerous tables with plates and cups left from previous diners to the oily salad and terrible service. During this busy Christmas holiday time, you would expect the café would have adequate staff. Not so. There were three staff members to handle orders, the cash register, prepare meals, serve meals and clean up the tables. When one staff member returned from whatever she was doing to increase the numbers to four, the male member of the team promptly left so we were down to three staff again. 13 of the approximately 20 tables in the café had plates, cups, dishes and serviettes stacked from previous diners. It felt as if we were in the kitchen with the washing up stacked in front of us. Unsanitary and unhygienic. Diners had to ask for tables to be cleared and wiped. I ordered a long macchiato and when it came it was a latte and described as such by the server. When I questioned it, the server said it was a long macchiato. Clearly, a milky coffee is a latte and that’s what it was. Questioning it further, the woman serving the coffee said she was a customer and didn’t work here but was helping to serve because the café was short staffed. I hope she got a discount on her meal and drink for doing the café’s work. When the meal came, the salad was swimming in salad dressing. I expected the lettuce leaves to start doing the backstroke at any moment. I left half of the salad—unpalatable. By the time I got to the final portion of my sandwich it had absorbed the oil and the bread was soggy. We won’t be rushing back. By the time we left, one hour later, a staff member had cleared the tables. It was a shabby display of running a café.

6 of us had lunch there today. The place was not busy but it was very dirty with dirty dishes everywhere. We had to ask to have a table cleared. We then ordered and the drinks and food were just dumped on the table after a long wait with no effort made to match the client with the meal. One sandwich took 55 minutes to arrive. We will never go again and will tell our friends the same.

This was terrible. We had too ask for the table to be wiped done - covered in scrambled egg and our order was forgotten. Drinks arrived very quickly but our food order was forgotten and the four staff members were just standing around. After 35 minutes and finding out they had forgotten we asked for a refund. Even this was difficult and they wanted to know when we placed the order and fortunately I had requested the receipt. I have been before and service was just passable. Today was appalling but they appeared to have not have cared at all.

My wife and I ordered two black coffees, but the cup was so small that we could not feel the taste, and it was very expensive. We were really disapointed.

We have been loyal supporters of Shingle Inn, originally from Brisbane, and have always had positive experiences there. However, after our recent visit, we have decided it will be our last. The display cabinet was mostly empty, offering only individual loaf slices. We ordered a long black coffee and two scones with jam and cream. It took over 15 minutes for our coffees to arrive, followed by another 15 minutes for the first scone and then another 15 minutes for the second. By the time my scone arrived, my coffee was lukewarm, the cream had melted, and the scone itself was below average. We were not given any cutlery, so we had to search for it ourselves and found the staff arguing at the front counter. This was not a pleasant experience and we will not be returning.