mud bar and restaurant

fine, but not great. i would say 8/10 for environment, loses points for feeling a little 'hotel' bar in places. but generally a nice fit out, noisey, but you can still speak, crockery / cutlery / glassware all good.   5/10 for service - very hit and miss, ours started strongly, but ended by us having to pro-actively attempt to flag down disinterested wait staff with mixed results. plates left on table for a long time, and ended up having to go up to the counter to request the bill.  i was also disappointed in the staff knowledge of the produce, when asking about the details of / sourcing of / sustainability of the fish of the day, they didn't know. i had to resort to  google and the australian sustainable seafood guide to learn more about what the fish was myself. i expect at this type of establishment, that the staff have a strong knowledge of the produce / sourcing aspects of the menu.   i was also disappointed that after asking if there was any vegetarians (no), it meant that we got amenuwith no vegetable main options. i'm not vegetarian, but i'm not anti-vegetable!  i will often chose a vegetarian dish if it takes my fancy and would like to at least know what the options are. having a pure vegmenuis good, but to go further and exclude these options from the non-vegmenuseems very odd and somewhat outdated. then to the actual food. 6/10. menusounded great, lot's of interesting and creative options, but each dish was underwhelming in execution. whilst well presented, you only eat so much with your eyes, it must be followed with good flavours. everyone in our (quite foodie) group reported 'good' or 'fine' but not 'great'. i think for a higher-end place, you need at least one or two 'this is amazing' dishes within the experience.  our party didn't have any of those moments here. the jury for me is out really - i might go back to see if we got a bad night on day, but to be honest i have nothing specifically drawing me back.

mixed oyster plate ( chilli and ginger combo) was superb. was struggling to decide between a sauvignon blanc & an unusual rosé to accompany the oysters, and was generously offered a taste of each to help me decide! how kind and gracious. duck tacos on lunchmenuwere fresh, tasty with good flavour combos. service was friendly and helpful, but this is tasmania so expect a gentle pace. slightly short-staffed during a busy lunch, but restaurants overheads and margins make this an almost universal experience in australia.

service was fantastic and the waiters were very nice, however, this hardly made up for the fact that the food was dreadful (i mean so bad that we had to go to maccas afterwards). we got the setmenufor 2 which was full of asian fusion dishes. this turned out to be an asian confusion from the chef who seemed to know nothing about how to cook asian cuisine. to start off, the nigiri tasted like mush in your mouth. there was way too much rice (by the way this wasn't even sushi rice with vinegar, it was overcooked white mush). everything else that came after that just got a whole lot worse. it was so bad that we left before the dessert (thankfully the waiters were kind enough to offer a $10 discount for not having dessert taking our bill down to $132.) this is absolutely a rip off and definitely one of the worst meals we've had in tasmania. i wouldn't even eat the food if i got paid to do so.

waitstaff needs a little training especially with the degustationmenuand matching wines. waitress that served us literally said.. here is yourmenuwith everything in it. or you can have the tastingmenuand instead of picking one thing from themenuyou can try everything in the kitchen. waitstaff had no uniform. it was a sunday night at 8pm with 5 staff on the floor. wasn't really busy but yet they seemed confused. not sure if they had a section each.
food was pretty average.
considering the price and location of the restaurant the waitstaff and food did not match the environment. would not go back.

my colleague recommended this waterfront restaurant at launceston and he raved about how good their oysters are!
as my partner is not a oyster fan, we only ordered half a dozen of mirin tempura battered oysters to share as entree.
the oysters were so fresh and delicious, a clear winner that night as even my partner enjoyed it! for main, we ordered the duckling and pork loin. wait staff were very attentive and friendly throughout the night, keep filling up our water and asked for feedback on the food. to finish the night, we ordered the butternut pumpkin/vanilla bean brulee with sticky pear shaved lindt to share. whilst food presentation is good and portion is quite good, the asian inspiredmenudidn't quite hit the mark for me in terms of flavours.the duck is too salty and the pork is lacking in flavours. dessert is a bit too sweet. they need to work on balancing the asian flavours on their menu.

decent food, but terrible service
ordered the lamb and a glass of wine. lamb came out...but no wine. they had forgotten the wine order completely.
then tried to take my meal away before i was finished.
finally i was left there for 20 minutes with the dessertmenuwithout anyone coming to take my order. eventually i just walked out, seeing as no one was interested in taking my order

the mud restaurant & bar is located on the best site on the wharf at the popular seaport marina. the building is purpose built, ultra modern, the designer has created a great flow from bar, casual, private, to group dining, and lounge area's to relax, the flow continues through to a very large covered al fresco area. the decor, ultra modern, very trendy, with the outstanding feature being, replica eames chairs in bright orange, oh so comfortable. the architect has enabled the view of the tamar, wharf, assorted boats, distant hills to be viewed from all points inside and out. from an excellentmenuplus specials, our entree's were, pressed lamb, gribiche sauce, grilled ciabatta. unusual, delicate, and surprisingly tasty; blue eye fish cakes, with fennel and aolia, rocket and lemon. delicate and flavorsome. mains: pan fried gnocchi, braised lamb, tomato, olives, parmesan. quite hot, spicy and appetizing. one of their most popular dishes; from the specials board, grilled lamb rump 200 gram, fresh from landfall, a local farm. with crisp roast potatoes, steamed green beans and a ratatouille. fabulous dish, prepared to perfection, and of a generous proportion. we tasted the smolt pinot noir, a very good pinot. also a new-zealand otago jacks skip sauvignon blanc. excellent. the service was professional and friendly. this may not be fine dining, but certainly upmarket casual at it's best. impressive.

hotel restaurants often disappoint. not this one though. themenuis imaginative and food is fantastic. the staff are attentive and friendly. overall a great experience for business or pleasure. this is my fourth such experience here and will definately recommend.