Pastoral Hotel Motel

Stayed here on the way from Melbourne to Darwin and returned visit on the way back. We arrived late into Port Augusta, and this was the first place we came across (around 21:00), we booked a room for the night and ventured into the frond bar for some refreshments, the highlight for us were the two young people that were serving at the bar at the time, their customer service skills and work ethics were fantastic and more importantly were genuine people which is a rarity for the younger generation these days. The room we stayed in wasn't the grand, however the price range was ok, the room was clean and had the normal coffee, tea soaps and towels. We returned visit on the return to Melbourne and had a meal here, the meal was great and a big call out to the chef ! The only thing that did bother us was the slight attitude from two of the servers (not the same as the first visit) As we ordered at twenty to eight the server kept looking at the clock (they close orders at eight), I asked if there was an issue with the time as we did call ahead, the other female server was quiet rude and would not engage in conversation or eye contact, both servers need a lesson in customer service, this left us a bit uncomfortable. Once we had dinner we again ventured into the bar, they were playing some sort of trivial pursuit game which was hosted pretty well, we again met one of the servers from the first night and another server that we had not met, again as above, the service was excellent which turned our experience around. The room that we stayed i again was clean and tidy. I have travelled a fair amount around the world and do believe that service in Australia is below par, if we had more people (as the above) in the industry that respected their work and had a passion for what they do we would attract more tourists. The takeaway with this review is that there was the good service and not so good service that can really break business reputations. Good luck to the three notable Servers that made things right with some good attitudes