Tatler Wines Vineyard - LOVEDALE

We had 4 friends visiting for the weekend and our first thought for lunch was Tatlers. We have eaten here numerous times before and found the food to be delightful and the service excellent. Not so this time I am sad to say. It appears there may be a new chef or new management but it left us deciding it would not be a 'go-to' again.Service was extremely slow, once we sat down it took 10 minutes to be asked if we wanted any drinks. The waitress knew nothing about wines on offer so we made a choice which she came back another 10 minutes later to say it was not available. She was unable to assist with any recommendations for our meal so one of our party went to the bar and made a choice (which turned out to be an excellent Ballabourneen Chambourcin).Based on previous visits we chose the Goat Cheese Tartlets, the Meat Balls, Chicken Wings, Spinach and Cheese Arancini Balls and Roast Potatoes. None of these dishes in any way resembled the ones we have previously eaten. The roast potatoes we were salivating for turned out to be (what looked and tasted like) frozen chopped potatoes warmed up, definitely a poor substitute. The 'meat balls' were chicken in a very pale uninteresting sauce and the Goat tarts were tiny filo pasty things, nothing like the previous large round crisp shortcrust pastry tarts with generous lashings of cheese and herbs. Everything else was disappointing and service poor.

My sister and I were recommended to go to Tatler's today for lunch by a staff member at Hunter Valley Gardens (which is gorgeous by the way). So we arrived at 1.45 unsure if they'd still be serving. We had wanted to eat at a tapas style restaurant of good quality and not the usual tourist cafe of chips, burgers and cold lattes. We were greeted and shown to our seat outside by the lovely Kailani who brought water to our tables and provided our menus. We chose 3 dishes: the Pork Skewers, Goats Cheese Tartlets and the Garlic and Chilli Prawns. We also ordered a glass of the 2013 Nigels Semillon (absolutely delicious and crisp without being too dry) and the Verdelho 2014 (which my sister partook of). We both preferred the Semillon but I was told the Verdelho is one of the more popular wines on the list. I purchased 2 bottles of the Semillon to drag back to sunny Gold Coast and have with king prawns on the beach one sunny day. As foodies from the Gold Coast which has recently had an explosion of tapas style restaurants we were expecting similar style, portions and tasting. Well WHAT A PLEASANT SURPRISE! The 3 dishes were absolutely wonderful. Firstly the Garlic and Chilli Prawn dish. The prawns were large and fresh (from QLD), 8 in total, in a small stone pot still sizzling with the gorgeous chilli garlic infused oil. We were blown away. The size of the prawns and the fact we had 4 each together with 2 pieces of toasted bread EACH ...absolutely superb.We expected ONE goats cheese tartlet and were excited to find 4 beautifully hand made tartlets with local goats cheese (very mild and tasty), puff pastry surrounding them, and topped with a tasty relish. Yum!! Then followed the Pork Skewers which Andy, the delightful Swiss Chef, informed us is marinated for 48 hours in a home blended spice mix. You could smell the cummin wafting up. A drizzle of aioli was atop the 4 skewers...2 EACH...Normally tapas restaurants these days only serve a portion of 2 . The chef Andy (from Switzerland) came out to chat to us about all the dishes and we told him how impressed we were with the food; the taste, quality and serving portions. I have NO idea what the previous reviewer of 26NearlyNomads was on about. Got up on the wrong side of his cot I think. We are only in the Hunter for 5 days but will definitely be back before heading home this week. What a great restaurant. Friendly staff, beautiful food, great views and a wonderful Chef Andy. Keep up the great work everyone.

19 of us gave them 2 hours notice and they absolutely delivered! They also handled a big 60th birthday party at the same time. The food was great and the service impeccable! The chef even came and said hello!

Came here for Lunch, was greeted by a wonderfully welcoming lady who turned a delicious meal into an absolute delight.

Lovely lunch and perfect setting. Perfect relaxing day in the hunter. My favourite dish was the sizzling prawns and the chorizo sausage rolls.