My husband and I dined at El Carbon at Glenelg on 2 Feb 2019 to celebrate his birthday. We hadn't made a booking because we hadn't decided where we would go beforehand. The ocean views convinced us to be seated at this eatery and we were promptly shown to our table. It was reasonably crowded, but not too loud. Unfortunately we waited a very long time for a waiter to take our order, which they apologised for without our having to complain about it. They offered not to charge us for our first round of drinks as a way to compensate for this, which did offset this rather long wait.
We ordered two entrees (garlic bread and the baked Cambert cheese) to share, both of which arrived reasonably soon after ordered and both were really good. I especially liked the Cambert cheese.
For our mains, we ordered the Carnivore platter. Unfortunately, we had to wait about 45 minutes for this to be brought to our table. While the steak was really well prepared, the chicken was a let-down and seemed to have been prepared long before the steak. The chorizo sausages were honest and good as was the sweet potato chips. All and all not a bad meal for the price, but the wait time just too long to be excused.
The staff was friendly, but I think they were just overwhelmed. I understand that restaurateurs want to limit the staff they employ to maximise profit, but if people don't go back to a venue because they waited too long for their food, this strategy will backfire when the business ultimately closes its doors. On the weekend, I suggest they employ more staff.
Next time we will go one of the other restaurants on the Marina strip at Glenelg and see if their service time is better than El Carbon's. read more