Saturday 4 February 2012

Waddling at Three Little Ducks







Three Little Ducks was the venue for dinner the other night, following suggestions Rita had from a handful of (Eastern shore) friends to check it out

It’s on the site of the previous Besmudi in Cambridge Road, Bellerive, and has had a smart fitout. It is owned, so I was informed by a waiter, by a couple (Mark and Ruth de Bont) who relocated here from a stint of restaurant-owning in Port Douglas, with much expertise in this field.

For a restaurant with such a stunning outlook on Kangaroo Bay and the boardwalk at Bellerive, I believe it is reasonably underwhelming, and promises way more than it delivers. Staffing has a lot to do with this complaint.

OK, so you’ve got the requisite number of staff, both FOH and kitchen, but if they’re not polished enough, or aware enough to carry it off, then you’ll only ever attract a relatively small following – well, smaller than what you could have with better trained staff.

The waitstaff were all helpful and friendly, so don’t get me wrong. They did their jobs to the best of their ability, and fulfilled their terms of employment. But the ‘best of their ability’, to be quite honest, was not up to scratch. The food ditto. Whilst it was palatable, and fine with a reasonably unadventurous menu, it too lacked excitement, and settled for passable mediocrity.

Three of us shared the chef’s special seafood platter between us for entrĂ©e ($32), then had seafood fettucine, a vegetarian tart and fish and chips – all priced around the $27 mark. As I said above, the food was fine, and I think most people would emerge from a meal there having experienced a nice meal in nice surroundings served by nice staff. Most people are not big diner-outers so to have a restaurant of this calibre on the eastern shore is great.

But - we all agreed it was overpriced for the standard of food we received, in general Hobart terms.

They do breakfasts, lunches and dinners, seven days a week. Handy for those eastern shore dwellers.

38-40 Cambridge Road, Bellerive
Phone: 6245 0566
Posted on by Rita
5 comments

5 comments:

Vineyard Paul said...

Hi Rita,

as always, love your reviews.

Could you please put in a link to map references/websites for easy location.

Cheers
Paul

http://www.threelittleducksbellerive.com.au/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Three-Little-Ducks/246705455371310inicardi

Anonymous said...

Hello Rita,

I went to Three Little Ducks early October last year and thought the food was fabulous and so recommended it to other friends.
We were delighted to have a nice restaurant on the sunny side of Hobart.
We went back 2 mths later in December for a repeat performance but much to our disappointment, the food and service were not up to intial standard. The restaurant was half full at the time and yet the service and the food standard did not reflect the price tag. Wine was pretty ordinary and overall, it was a very disappointing night.

I am hoping that they will improve to same level as my initial visit.

Anonymous said...

Obviously you only have one opinion and it is yours! Always a good thing if you try and defend yourselves and your business - thanks for that!

Annie said...

Have found breakfast and brunch to be better at the ducks than lunch/dinner. Only gripe is that you can't book before 12 so sometimes can't get a table which is annoying when meeting friends.

Anonymous said...

I found three little ducks very nice !
Great food, amazing view and very friendly staff. I will be back again.