Verandah Restaurant

A perfect 5 star experience all thanks to an amazing location, outstanding food and a manager named Sharon who made my recent visit something to rave to friends about!
After touring some of the wineries in the area, I wanted to sit outside, enjoy the beautiful scenery and have some terrific food and wine. The Verandah, located at the Calais Estate, was the perfect solution with their wrap around upstairs porch overlooking the rolling estate.
There were two choices for lunch– a pre selected «Tapas Tower» which is a feast for two with several daily selections ($ 80) or a la carte tapas items listed a few pages back in the menu. I went with the latter and had a chance to taste a wide range of their offerings and all were amazingly good. My favs were the polenta coated soft shell crab, the mushroom aranachi, and the jambon.
They also had a nice wine list and were able to find me a local Cabernet that was quite nice!
The service staff was super helpful, even re directing the fan my way given it was a very hot day on the veranda. But my visit was really topped off by the welcoming nature of Sharon, the manager. She kept stopping at my table to ensure all was well and even related a story about her recent trip to Chicago where someone went out of their way to help her and her husband. It made for a great visit.
So I’ll end where I began. If you want a great location, outstanding food and a staff that cares, look no further than The Verandah. It really will make your entire experience in the Hunter Valley one to remember!

Great setup at the Calais Vineyard — tastings down stairs and lunch upstairs on, of course, the verandah.
Tapas is the go, either individual dishes or their set menu ‘Tapas Tower’ — an imposing edifice!
We’re a mixed group, some vegetarians, some with lactose issues so we mix it up. My little group decides on 7 dishes between four adults. This was using serves designed for two adults. This was still way too much food :)
We battled through, but were completely full by the end.
The quality of the tapas was quite high. The best dish was probably the lamb back strap, closely followed by the squid. All really very good.
WIne could be purchased downstairs — for us a bottle of the Calais Verdhelo — or from the restaurant itself. $ 12 corkage seemed a little steep.
A pleasant afternoon — good food and good company. Wait staff were a bit annoying — poor explanations of how the tapas worked and a bit intrusive at times. However not bad enough to spoil the experience. Would definitely return.

Beautiful restaurant on a winery. Tapa menu which was great — it gives you options to try a few things rather be stuck with just a main. For 2 people, 4 tapas was just touching on too full. Great service by the staff — very attentive. Calais Estate downstairs which was also a really nice place to grab a bottle of wine! Will be back!