Halls Gap Restaurants

Located on the boardwalk in the Stony Creek complex, my wife and I spent 4 days enjoying the wonders of the Grampians, eating here every night during our stay. The food here was nothing short of fabulous. The first night I had pizza, the best I've had in Victoria', while my wife had a Chicken Caesar Salad which she thouroughly enjoyed. Placed seemed to be reasonably busy most of the time(always a hint to where to find the best food!), but people were all being served quickly. The serves are large, definitely value for money. Try out their Tandoori chicken too, as I found this to be quite delicious as well. We were very lucky to have been recommended this venue, as it saved us a lot of time and effort finding somewhere great to eat. Definitely THE place to eat in Halls Gap.

Favorite Dish: Pizza, Tandoori Chicken & Rice, Chicken Caesar Salad, Rump Steak

Staying in Halls Gap for a weekend we decided to dine at The Balconies, which proclaims itself one the finest dining experiences in the town. As it was a Saturday night the added attraction of some live Jazz sealed our decision. Chatting with the owner of the business in the middle of the day reassured us that we would enjoy a lovely evening for our 21st wedding anniversary. With the owner purporting that his facility was the “centre piece” of the Halls Gap Jazz Festival every February we were really looking forward to the evening.
This was a regrettable decision to say the least. So many things are just bad about this place we wonder how they remain in business.
Firstly there is no indication of the location of toilet facilities for diners. There is one small sign on a staff door that is not visible from within the restaurant. From this small sign you still need to make three turns before locating the conveniences. My wife, needing to use the facilities, spotted the owner of the business in the reception area. Despite asking politely she was brushed away with a flick of his wrist, because he was too busy enticing another customer on the phone. She finally located the toilets after wandering around the hotel area for some minutes. Most rooms were open and freely accessible.
The promised and much vaunted “Jazz” turned out to be generally selections from Michael Buble and Frank Sinatra. Easy listening at best, but not Jazz by any measure. The owner said in our earlier conversation that the “musicians” start at about 7pm. We arrived about 6.45pm and a pianist duly arrived at about 7pm. He played a few numbers for a while and was then joined by the owner! This was the sum total of the band – the owner on bass guitar and a pianist. Not a brass instrument to be seen! Never seen Jazz without one piece of brass before!
For our meal the majority of the regular menu was available for a set high price. We accepted this as we were keen to be entertained whilst dining. Presentation and quality of the offerings was reasonable but the serving sizes were lamentable. We were still hungry after three courses, when two is usually quite sufficient. We also enjoyed a bottle of local wine that was priced at about double the same thing at the nearby cellar door. This facility does not have a BYO licence.
One waiter and two waitresses seemed incapable of handling the 25 diners. They rushed about full of self importance and seemingly very busy. Several times we had to call on a waitress to attend us as we had appeared to be forgotten. There was no table allocation for waiter/waitresses with each table being attended by the next available.
Most diners had left by about 9pm so we finished up too and without a check or bill we proceeded to the hotel reception area. After much fumbling and searching our account was found and what we owed was requested. We asked to see the owner as following the duplicitous method of getting us to dine, we wanted to check that this was the right amount. One of the young waitresses claimed to be the manager and stated that all issues would be handled by her.
Upon telling this young lady that we were not paying until we could see the owner and discuss things, we were threatened with the police! Naturally we had no intention of not paying, but felt our dissatisfaction should be heard by the owner, having enticed into his business in the first place.
Our recommendation: steer well clear of this badly run, pretentious, self righteous business. Should anything happen to go awry you will have little chance of a hearing. Nothing about the business is what it purports to be. Out of ten it gets a one for food presentation and that’s about it.

Favorite Dish: Little to choose from and certainly no favourites.

Eat at the black panther cafe twice during the easter 2011. First we thought we would try some fish and salad. The fish came from a box and was as rubbery as my work boots. The salad was not fresh at all. The cuts on the mixed lettuce were brown which tells me it is about a week old at least. You would never see this in Melbourne. Even the Halls Gap Hotels salad was ten times fresher than the black panther cafe.

Second time we thought we would have a pizza. Half Aussie half meat lovers. I would love to have been able to strain the fat of the pizza then ate it. It was so greasy and disgusting. Felt terrible for the next 2 days after there food.

The service from the young ladys out the front was great, but the language and arguing from the cooks was very off putting.

Thank you for the shocking food.

Favorite Dish: Was not game to go back to find one.

chose Black Panther Cafe as it was the busiest cafe mid-week in Halls Gap. it has fantastic $10 lunch deals which are tasty and generously proportioned. also has nice location with sunny outdoor patio area but beware of cheeky birds!!

Favorite Dish: steak sandwich and chips which is served with a side salad.

We looked at 3 different restaurants on the night we ate at the Halls Gap Hotel & Bistro. By the power of democracy it won out. At the end of the meal everyone trusted less in democracy and I was declared the new dictator of restaurant choice for the following evening.
It's a pub, but it's promoting itself as having "quality bistro dining". I would not go that far. The service was average and the food was pretty appalling. Eating your meal in the front bar will make it cheaper, but I don't think a reduction in price would have done much for my overall opinion on the place. The steak was the toughest piece of meat I had ever seen served. My dad said the sauce was nice, but that's about it. Mum's chicken dish was bland and Take & I both had the roast of the day (Pork, that ended up being turkey), which seemed to have been defrosted and mircowaved.
Look at the restaurants in town.

Favorite Dish: NOTHING!!!!

A great mix of pizza, Italian meals, pub meals like Schnitzels and the like. Dine in or take away.

Favorite Dish: Pizza!

Favorite Dish: We didn't eat here, but thought the info may help others