We decided it was time for some beef! Picked Ball & Chain. Walked in and immediately saw the wood fired grill cooking steaks. I was hooked. The steaks looked great! Our server arrived and was as friendly as could be. We ordered an order of Toasted Sourdough Bread with a garlic butter, a Peppercorn Encrusted Porterhouse steak, and an order of Onion Rings. The Sourdough arrived and it was perfect. The garlic butter didn't have a lot of garlic which was perfect. Then came this beautiful peppercorn encrusted hunk of meat covered with a wonderful pepper sauce. Yes, the sauce made the steak. The meat was of average quality, had some gristle throughout it. The price as very reasonable so I can't complain. I would order it again. The steak was perfectly cooked as requested. The steak was served with a side of potatoes and carrots. We didn't need the onion rings but they were a great addition. Atmosphere was more of a family type restaurant. Service was very good. Highly recommend making a booking in advance. read more

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Update: Kudos to the Ball and Chain. One of the owners reached out to me and sincerely apologised. I will return to the Ball and Chain on my next visit to Hobart for a second chance. _________________________________ The worst service I've had in the past 5 years since moving back to Australia and I eat out a lot!! We ordered drinks, bread and our meal minutes after we were seated. The drinks were delivered very quickly and the some bread came soon after, and then we didn't get to order more drinks for close to another 1hr and 20mins from when we were seated. We sat there watching tables around us getting served several times, in fact some tables rotated customers out and more arrived. Its disappointing to seat tables served their meals and drinks several times, mire people be seated and severed drinks a few more times. I felt like I had gained a new superpower and become invisible!! Terrible service!! If you're coming here for dinner, its easier to just put your breakfast order in!! I spoke to the manager when leaving and he apologised and then just struggled his shoulders. I explained it wasn't the servers fault, she was overwhelmed with the number of tables she was given. The manager didn't care about my feedback with a terrible attitude, zero empathy and brushed me off when I requested this be escalated to the restaurant manager and owner. He was very dismissive and rude. It's a pity, my previous visit to the Ball & Chain was great. read more

Stopped in the other day as it came recommended by the concierge. It was great to see an American as the bar tender. Decided in the scallops and the calamari for appetizers. AMAZING! Perfectly seasoned and not chewy. The service was also impeccable. The owner was actually serving tables as well. I was excited to get the steak as I am a steak lover. I was dissatisfied and disappointed. The steak was NOT seasoned at all. No salt, no pepper no nothing. I got the blue cheese sauce and it was just weird. As you can see from the picture, my steak was not 400g... The beer wasn't any better. I have never not finished my beer. I will probably not go back. The most exciting part of dinner was learning about the heritag read more

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Our tour guide recommended for us to eat here. I'm so glad he recommended this restaurant because the food was delicious. The bartender finally made us a really good margarita. We are from America, he was also from America so he knew exactly how we wanted our margarita. I would recommend coming here. read more

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Once upon a time, you didn't have to make a reservation here, and there was a salad bar that rivalled any buffet salad bar in this hemisphere. Times change, but the one constant here is the dark, outdated interior and meat-centric menu. Yes, it is a steakhouse but almost every other place at least had a few options not involving seared flesh. The menu has shrunk considerably, the grilled fish is only available with a Parmesan crust (not ideal if you don't care for Parmesan) and salmon. The steaks are available on 3 sizes, all come with vegetables. BUT... they charge you for sauce! Seems a bit stingy to charge $50+ for a nice steak and $3.50 for pepper sauce. The steak was fine, overcooked but definitely edible. The veggies? 2 steamed potatoes, a carrot peeled to a millimeter of its life, and one floret of broccoli. Add in an entree of "crusty sourdough bread" that was 2 cold slices and a side of cold butter (for $8). I luckily also ordered an entree of grilled prawns, which were quite nice and cooked soooo well. Perhaps the most egregious part of the meal was the lack of the salad bar! Like the Tazzie winter: Shoved off to the side, cold and dark. Save yourself some $$ and get a steak from someplace else. Plenty of other places do a better meal for a whole lot less. They're just coasting on reputation post Covid it seems. read more

Absolutely incredible from start to finish. Alicia was a fabulous waitress, and the food was exceptional. The beet salad and the espresso martinis almost stole the spotlight from the peppercorn crusted stake. If you are looking for a great meal with a nice atmosphere, definitely check this place out. read more

Came here for a special dinner, specifically ooking for steak. To our surprise they had a salad bar for everyone who orders something from the grill menu (the grill is why you would think to come here). The salad bar is a nice option as we haven't seen ond around for some time now, my favourite option at the sakad bar was actually the vermicelli noodles (have they got an asian chef?), i could've had just that as my meal and walked away satisfied. I ordered a scotch fillet, medium sized and cooked medium, it was tasty and a good size (actually too much after i had over did it at the salad bar) but was unfortunately unevenly cooked. I had small portions of it that were rare, this was a little disappointing for a grill place, the other steak at the table was a medium well rump which was cooked perfectly. read more

Ball & Chain Grill - Medium sized scotch fillet - Steakhouses Near Me - Hobart, TAS

Ball and Chain was one of the first meal stops we made on this trip, we felt like a good steak meal, with complimentary salad bar with all meals you shouldn't have a problem feeling well fed when leaving here. Like most establishments on Salamanca Place there is a good range of drinks offered and service is of a good standard, places with poor service in such a premium area would not last long before fixing the problem. If you are after steak this is one of several options in the area, you will be satisfied but if you are after a higher-end option, Rockwell is next-door. read more

This was an overall disappointing visit. We were excited to check this place out given the reviews and promise of great steak. But the steak was undercooked (even the waitress agreed), under seasoned, and was filled with stringy tendons. When we asked about it they told us they don't season the steaks at all prior to cooking or serving (!!). The potatoes served on the side were equally bland, and seemed like they went from a pot of boiling water straight to the plate. Not worth the money, the food was mediocre at best and tasteless if I'm being honest, and the service was just ok. It wasn't the near the quality advertised. read more

An old school kind of steakhouse with a self-serve salad bar and some really beautiful cuts of meat. My eye fillet was perfectly rare and one of the loveliest pieces of beef I've had in a long time. Food is expensive for the overall vibe of the place, but if you like a good steak and not leaving hungry, you'll appreciate it. read more

I had my birthday party upstairs - my 38 guests and I were well looked after and the food was lovely. I witnessed friends having the oysters and just loving them, a lot of people had steak and there was no complaining (would they ? yes they would) and the children's meals were well quickly served and very nice apparently. I would like to say I saw the salad bar but I was so busy I only noticed my steak long enough to quickly eat it (eye fillet - medium) yummo - and the CAKE was delicious - people are still raving about it. Thank you Ball & Chain, don't change a thing. read more

Food was very good, good quality of beef prepared perfectly. Roasted potatoes that come with the beef meals were excellent. Salad bar is well stocked with fresh vegetables and several selections of pasta salad as well - didn't care for the broccoli & cauliflower offering it tasted weird. Service on the other hand was crap. Took about 5 minutes to be greeted, was seated and drink orders taken (Jeremy) and delivered (someone else) in a reasonable time. Waited about 15 minutes to place our food order and then flagged down another server to be able to order. Food came out in a appropriate time. Prices a little high - maybe 5-10% considering salad came with meal. Jeremy server of record on the ticket. Menu selection varied and sufficient that anyone should be able to find something they would like. read more

Food is of a decent standard but compared to other grill venues it is probably time the ball and chain refreshed the way they operate. The key ingredients are v good, tasty oysters, Tassie fish and steaks but the salad bar thing is very hokey. It gives the venue a family restaurant feel. They could redo the interior and maintain the olde English hunting Lodge vibe as prices for food are at tjr higher end for Hobart. There is stiff competition for dining esp in salamanca read more

Very ordinary and overpriced. My girlfriend ordered the salmon and it was smothered in a thick 1970's style inedible bright yellow sauce. The salmon itself was tasteless. I ordered the eye filet - great cut of meat but also tasteless. Salad bar was straight out of an 80's Sizzler. This meal plumbed the depths of our entire relationship. The actual restaurant decor and ambience retains its 1970's essence in its entirety and I would guess that the patrons in general have been frequenting this place ever since. To be fair though, after complaining to the waitress about the ordinariness and blandness of the food, especially considering the prices, they did comp us the salmon. read more

We recently had the pleasure of visiting this place and we highly recommend it to other visitors. We tried the porter house steak which had a bit of fat left on it and it was cooked to perfection. The waiting staff here is just so good, we had a wonderful time here and the food was just absolutely delicious. read more

Can I leave a lower rate than 1 star? I'll be brutally honest. The wait staff were friendly and professional but this was the best part of this restaurant...and the wine. I really wanted to like this place and was in the mood for a good steak, but left disappointed. Entree~ My oysters kilpatrick were drowned in bbq sauce, couldn't taste anything else... My wife's prawns were ok, probably the best dish we ordered, but still nothing to write home about. Mains~ 500g Rib eye on the bone served rare, was more blue than rare. That didn't bother me as much as half the steak being fat! This was an awful cut of beef that was at least 50% fat, and at $40+ was a fat rip off! Jamaican chicken was marinated in rum, but tasted more like it had been fed rum it's whole life and then drowned in rum. Overpowering alcohol taste that didn't work on the plate. The last time I saw a salad bar was a Sizzler! As if your not paying enough for this, you have the added bonus of being your own wait staff and getting it yourself, which was ok for Sizzler but not what I expected at a decent restaurant. Didn't bother with dessert. Wine was reasonably priced and was the best thing we ordered the whole meal. I don't usually savage a restaurant but felt pretty pissed off with the quality of the food here. If your wondering why this review is so long, it because I've been sitting on the toilet the whole time writing it. read more

Nice meal. A little bit dark inside. An historic building and the service was good. A little pricey but was enjoyable

Love the ball and chain. The steaks were just a smidge under, but they fixed it quickly. The salad bar was great, but could use a freshen up, the iceberg salad was pretty brown. All you can eat salad and flame grilled steak! Yummy! read more

Ridiculous place, I came three times in 6 months and kinda as a regular customer I guess, but this time's experience really may put me away and will never come back again, neither will recommend to my friends. Started with me and my husband ordering a main dish and an entree, a waitress called echo came to serve us. She told us that only the person who order the main dish can use the salad bar, or there will be $10 extra. We agreed that only my husband will go get salad as he is the one ordering the main dish( in fact we are sharing everything but it's fine as we knew the rules before plus I paid no interest to the salad bar anyway). So far it's fine. But what happened next really pissed me off. My husband went to get some salad for himself, it's echo again, at the salad bar, told him, that "only you can eat this salad, if we see her eating from your plate then it's gonna be a charge." What the... it's like if she is so sure that I'm gonna eat that salad, it's almost like if we are treated as a kind of thieves and being warned that they will keep an eye on us. This place is not a $10 $15 fast food place, it is a proper fine dining restaurant, you don't expect a service like this, eating while being warned. Doesn't matter about the food quality anymore, we lost the mood of enjoying the place already, I don't know if the manager told all the waiters and waitresses to do it so or just that waitress decided to do it so. I hope we are the only people who experienced that. So far, one star from me. read more

We ate here in September 2012 and had a quality dinner. It's hard to walk away from this place unsatisfied, as a "salad bar" was included with the meal. This was not simply an array of greens and dressings, but included prepared salads as well as plenty of other side-dish options. Everything tasted fresh and was well prepared. For the main course, I chose the lamb shank and have no complaints. It swam in a rich sauce, falling apart at the mere hint of fork, and was served with mashed potatoes. Partner had wallaby sausage, which resembled a somewhat richer version of beef sausage. Further, got to top this off with local brews. The atmosphere is dark, but not uninviting and service was perfectly on point. Prices were generally moderate and in line with other options in the Salamanca district. read more

Just had one of the worst meals for some time. Disappointed because a friend had given my daughter 2x $100 gold gift coins to use there. We were looking forward to a high quality meal. What we got was a tasteless seafood platter entree. The fries were inedible, so full of fat - it's over an hour since we left and I still can't get the taste out of my mouth. I ordered eye-fillet rare, which was well over-cooked (this is meant to be a steak specialty restaurant). Daughter had eye-fillet with pepper sauce which was so strong, forget about tasting anything else. Wife had a scotch fillet which was full of gristle - remember this is a quality steak restaurant! Bill for 3 was $253. We informed them how bad the meal was and how disappointed we were. Just said next time we come it would be better -but we won't be back. read more

Bit expensive but super delicious and super friendly, very impressed with the wine pairing knowledge. I had the prawns for entree, possibly the best prawns I've had. read more

Seriously old school Steak house. I enjoyed two meals here, one the eye fillet, perfectly cooked mid rare, and the ocean trout, Possibly better! A great example of a traditional steak and seafood restaurant that is some what stuck in a time warp. The menu hasn't changed much since the 70s but then again the quality is still right up there! I would still recommend it but with the 'old school' tag attached. read more

Pretty stock standard steak house - well-cooked steak, brilliant beef cheek, simple salad bar, delectable peanut butter ice cream pie. Service was good though at times we couldn't get the waiter's attention (during peak hour of dinner service). We had a main (under $30 ea), dessert ($13) and a bottle of wine ($50) to share among 3. Pretty standard price I'd say. read more

It took one hour to serve - for the grilled beef. How long can that get prepared? No apology, not a single sign of saying sorry. A medium size mug of beer costs AUD 10. The quality is just so so. Not recommended at all! So disappointed. read more

The concept of the restaurant is good, the salad bar is a nice touch. But all the food lacked seasoning (especially salt!) I have never used my salt shaker so much! Disappointing cause otherwise everything was great read more

fine wines, huge buffet and very tasty and sweet meats ! a great place for a dinner !