Smolt Kitchen - WEST HOBART

Whether I’m getting coffee and breakfast in the morning or pizzas and AMAZING wine at night- never fails to impress.

My partner and I came for breakfast this morning and it was as awesome as it has been the 2 other times we’ve visited. I got the corn fritters and asked for the eggs well done which came exactly as hoped. My partner got the Shukshuka again (he’s had it once before and was a happy customer once again!! The coffee was great and omg the **** mary was exactly to my liking (spicy !! When we arrived at 1:30pm the place was packed but they managed to get us seated and deliver our food in under 20 mins anyway, even though it was a public holiday and they only had 3 staff on (which included just one in the kitchen! . The service was friendly and although they were busy it didn’t feel rushed or impersonal. We left satisfied and will definitely be coming back soon!! Thank you @queens birthday staff!

Down from Melbourne and met a group of friends at Smolt for brunch this morning, had fast and efficient service with a smile! Coffee was great and food was served quickly. Will definitely be back :

After casting our vote in the federal election we went to Smolt Kitchen for brunch. It has the advantage of being local in a suburb that has little in the way of restaurants and cafes, and it was on our route home. We had booked: just as well. As usual it was busy. The young female wait-person seated us, brought water, and vanished. After fifteen minutes she breezed up and asked what we wanted to order. We explained that we didn’t know, because we hadn’t been given a menu. This incident didn’t bode well, and set the tone for our experience. We were reminded that, last time we ate here, we were over-charged. This is not evident when it’s time to pay because they don’t give you an itemised bill: they just state a figure. You only get to see the detail after you’ve paid and you ask for a copy. Last time I only looked at the receipt when we got home. It turned out we had been charged for another customer’s meal. They admitted the error and made a refund. Today I ordered haloumi with fried potatoes, hummus and salad. In addition I ordered an egg 2.50) and garlic mushrooms 5.50). This brought the price of my meal to 30.00. I enjoyed it but think the price was excessive. My partner ordered the garlic mushrooms on sourdough toast 21.90). The mushrooms were good but the bread was like rock and she couldn’t eat it. Again, overpriced. The service was slow and very poor. The wait-person who brought our meals failed to clear away our empty coffee cups. Speaking of coffee, there’s a .50 surcharge for a “large” coffee. The supposedly large serve is a cup and saucer, not a mug. I don’t consider this size to be large. I decided to treat myself to a **** mary. It was after noon, so why not? The drink was garnished with two olives, both of which turned out to have a seed. I should have been warned of this hazard. The drink was also garnished with a slice of lemon, liberally sprinkled with what turned out to be dried chilli. No warning of this, either. My first sip just about knocked me out. In addition to the usual Tabasco burn, the drink was heavily laced with hot chilli. It was undrinkable. I returned it. The same server brought a replacement. No chilli. She slammed it on the table without a word and flounced off. We didn’t see her again. In fact no staff member came near our table for the remainder of out visit. We ended up deciding to leave, with all of our plates, coffee cups and drink glass sitting there untouched. By this time the restaurant was fairly quiet. The register was less than a metre from our table. I got up to pay but no one was serving. Eventually the barista left his machine and came to the register. We had been there for an hour and a half and you’d think he would know that. But instead, he said, quite aggressively, “What do you want?” On being told that I wanted to pay, he announced a figure 95.80). No detail, of course. But it seemed very high, again. I have been there twice and was over-charged both times. If this treatment of customers is habitual, they must often get away with it. I got the receipt and checked it on the way out: we had been charged for two **** marys. I returned to the register to point this out The same young woman who had seated us and made the fiercely hot drink confronted me. She was immediately aggressive and argumentative. She said several times that I should pay for two drinks because I “didn’t like” the first and they had had to make two. Her manner became increasingly aggressive and condescending. I asked if she had a manager, to which she said “I’m the manager today”. Definitely not management material. We continued to argue. She continued to assert that they had been compelled to make a second drink because I “didn’t like” the first. She became increasingly pedantic and unreasonable. I responded in kind, to which she snapped, “there’s no need to get cranky!” Then, suddenly, as the volume and tempo continued to increase, “I’ll give you a refund”. Acceptable food, poor service and ignorant, rude, aggressive untrained staff. Needless to say, we won’t be back.

Not sure if the owner’s 6 year old put together the decor and colour scheme or I’m completely unaware of new design fashions. To be fair all of the important things for a breakfast venue are done well. Food, menu options, coffee, people, service, tables and chairs 5 stars