boatshed cafe

went here for dinner then breakfast the next morning and i must say it was amazing food was excellent price was fair andstaffare great and the dessert well i can say i won't need to go beyond the city for a great dessert bar cause it was to die for the whole fam enjoyed it and will def go back again even if just for coffee and treats we had salmon, whittling penne pasta followed by banana spring rolls the salted caramel was the highlight plus lemon curd desserts ect and breakfast smashed avocado was great look forward to returning thankyou boat shed for supplying down south dinners to an amazing restaurant/cafe as we are well overdue for something great and local

disappointing. in a nutshell - the service / attitude of thestaffis poor.
the quality of the food/coffee is average.
the location is great.
this could be a really great little cafe/restaurant with just a few improvements. it's such a small little place that no-one really expects to be blown away by the quality of the food, but on the occasions i've been there i've felt like i'm imposing. thestaffnever smile and don't seem to have the ability to make customers welcome. it seems to be a common phenomena in most cafes situated on the water's edge of adelaide's seaside suburbs. almost like "we've got the location and that's all that matters."

so overall, the food gets a tick. service was ok – the problem with our reservation soured things a little and i did get the impression that there weren’t enoughstaff(or, thestaffthat were on were not experienced enough). however, the real killer was the noise inside.

when we walked instaffdid not welcome us and were rude. we felt like a nuisance to them. i ordered the salt and pepper squid salad that was advertised to contain mango. the description did not say that the squid would be battered. i chose this meal because of the mango ingredient. the meal that arrived was not a salad, it was a large plate of very oily heavily battered squid with a some salad leaves that were not fresh on the side which would have been the size of a small fist. the salad contained no mango. i couldn't eat the meal, it was foul. the service was very slow and none of thestaffwere friendly or appeared to have any concern about whether we were enjoying our experience. they did not ask. i complained to the covid marshal on the day (sat 7th nov) and the solution that was offered was more of this disgusting meal to take home. extremely overpriced. i'm so disappointed.

food is delicious but every time we've been there service is very lacking, too many bookings are taken and both the kitchen and waitstaffcan't handle the volume. we ordered coffee after finishing our meal which we waited ages for, we waited over 15 mins and the coffees never came so we walked out. very disappointed each time, the only good thing is the view and the food.

after a long hike around the cove, it was a pleasant experience to be able to dine in this delectable establishment that is amply placed overlooking the beautiful shores. now let me nip out the cons before i get to the pros, thestaffmay seem a little stressed or pretentious but then again they are only human so sometimes it happens, but that does not diminish the quality of good food and drinks that they serve. the meals were scrumptious and hearty with their wedges, pizzas and arianci balls being the highlight of our meal. i would highly recommend their smoothies as well as it is really refreshing after a long hike. hope this restaurant continue to improve and expand, so that more hikers can appreciate this gem of hallet cove.

ideally placed for finishing up the marino coastal walk, boatshed cafe has a warm atmosphere and lovely view of hallet cove. main meals were expensive, but the steak sandwich we had was absolutely delicious and well sized- we shared. the other burgers looked tasty too.

the range and appearance of desserts wasn't quite up to the high standard of the rest of the cafe, however. thestaffwere friendly and worked extremely efficiently considering there were 3 for a full, busy cafe. however, one of our orders- a slice of cheesecake- was either too slow coming or forgotten since it required no preparation but was not served after 10 or so minutes. everything else was excellent though.

an all round excellent cafe environment and a good experience, if a little expensive. would definitely return!

great hidden gem in hallett cove. it's our local cafe and it always has great breakfasts!
my daughter and i visited this morning and we always get great service and food. they made us both feel very welcome and fetch a high chair for the littlie and a toy :)
we didn't have to wait long to place an order or for our food. never had a bad plate of food from here, i especially love the turkish bread! yummo
great atmosphere and thestaffare very friendly. we had a small wait whilst paying but it's always busy so i never mind. oh and it's busy for a reason! because it's so good!
keep up the great work guys :)


-----25 feb, 2015-----

always great food, and made to feel very welcome. i went here today and it was just me and my 21 month old, as you can imagine doing anything with little people is hard but we try :) thestaffmade me feel very welcome and fetch a high chair and a toy for the little one. we didn't have to wait very long to order or receive our meals. it always seems to be busy and have a good buzz of people and not too noisy either. little one loved her pancakes and i had the boast shed classic which was very good. especially love the turkish bread!
overall great experience and good value for money too. i always feel more than satisfied with the portion sizes. no one leaves hungry :) keep up the great work guys :)

casual dining, beach ambience, country in the burbs. location, tick, ambience, tick, food, tick, staff, tick! we have been in hallett covefor3 years and this place is the best cafe for breakfast we have found! the menu is innovative, they offer all the regulars but do yourself a favour and try the sweet kao or the mushrooms! yummy! lunch and dinner is just as good! pizzas are awesome! tandoori chicken is my fav!staffare friendly, like all places they have their moments, but i find them consistently good! coffee is to hot but ask for it cooler and it's fine! throw in the view of the conservation park and the sea with the dolphins and the boats! give it a go!

great location...... this place is amazing, great location overlooking the water, food is good but the service (and have visited this cafe 3-4 times now) is always below average. the owner andstaffare always grumpy and no smiles for their customers, the meals are thrown down and the wait is usually long even for coffees. get the service right and this place would be the best on the coast.

not many anymore. bad service and overpriced. meals are ok, just overpriced


-----21 feb, 2015-----

service has declined. have been a frequent visitor to the boat shed since it opened. however, since christmas the service has declined.staffseemed unhappy and always in a hurry. food is not good enough to make up for poor service. such a shame as position is ideal, but will now find other cafes.

i recently visited the boatshed cafe and i am very impressed, service was fantastic food even better friendlystaffand great view, although it was busy food was out quick! recommend to all friends and will be returning.

great food but service lacks...
few times now i have been to the boatshed and unfortunately probabley not again as each time i say to myself might just be a bad day and should try it again. thestaff(namely the owners) are quiet rude and unfriendly. food items or drinks are forgotten and take a while to come out. good thing is when the food does come out it is quiet nice but don't expect a smile or friendly service when you receive it.

awesome atmosphere. great food ,atmosphere,staffand drinks. highly recommend -just needs to be bigger now to accommodate its popularity :)

lovely place but .... a great location and the food is good. i don't know whether it's a sign of the times or what but some youngstaffjust don't seem to be very perceptive in that they should be looking around and clearing up quite quickly - especially when it is busy. maybe they need morestaffto keep up. food and cakes are great although we had a chicken pizza and could only see one bit of chicken on it! we still ate it and it was tasty enough with a great base. our granddaughter liked it as there is a small kids play area but they had run out of paper to draw on yet they had plenty of crayons. it's very much improved on last year but there is still room for more improvements to be made.


-----01 apr, 2013-----

could be so much better. we have visited the boatshed cafe many times and sometimes it is spot on. the views are stunning so the location is perfect. however, the service is sometimes slow and the tables never seem to be very clean. thestaffare mainly young girls and although they are polite and friendly, i just don't think that their standard of cafe cleaning is very high. finally, we both ordered decaf coffee recently to take out but we had to bin them as they tasted absolutely vile! wish i had taken them back now and complained. unlikely to return after this. shame :(