My partner and I visited the High Valley Wine and Cheese Co on a recent trip to Mudgee. My first impression was that the garden where customers are seated is quite nice, although the view from the other side of the building probably would have been nicer (particularly during winter when the grape vines are bare). Our experience began with the waitress telling us that they were out of several lunch items on the menu, which was fine for us as we were there purely for the wine and cheese. We then ordered a wine, only to be told that they no longer stock that particular wine and that "it should have been taken off all the menus" although clearly had not. My partner and I had seated ourselves along the wall where the tables were all set up for two people only. The first table we chose we quickly realised was next to the bathroom so we moved to the next table over, the problem with which was that we were seated behind a small lemon tree and it seems out of the view of the waitress. Although I waved at her several times to get her attention, she was much more concerned with the family of about eight people sitting across from us who were receiving excellent service. Unfortunately for us it was about half an hour before we were able to order our cheese, and then quite a long wait for it to arrive, despite there only being about five other tables with patrons in the entire establishment. Fortunately as we had ordered our wine early we had a nice red to keep us entertained during the wait. Upon finally getting the waitress' attention - which involved getting up out of my seat - we ordered the Antipasto Grazing Plate for two, and chose two cheeses from the selection: the Stefan Blue and Pesto Feta. Having paid $35 total for the two of us I was not expecting much, however was pleasantly surprised. There was a huge amount of food on the plate - more than we could finish between the two of us - and the waitress was kind enough to offer us unlimited bread and crackers to go with the selection. Apart from the two cheeses we had a pumpkin and feta spread, ratatouille, chorizo, salad and a type of vegetable quiche. All the food was absolutely outstanding, and despite the service issues it was more than enough to make me want to return when I next visit Mudgee. Definitely worth a visit if you don't mind slow service - and let's face it, there are worse places to sit around waiting than in a chair in the sun, in a nice garden with a bottle of wine.

Terrible service, average food. We came for lunch during the Easter break of 2012. The menu looked great and the prices were on the high side, so we were expecting quality. The food took 70 minutes to arrive, and the portion sizes were really very small. The quality of the food was also not great, certainly edible but not good enough to justify the price. One of our party didn't get potatoes with her dish, even though it was specified on the menu. We voiced our complaints to the polite waiter, who went and notified his superior. He lobbed up to our table, and after standing there for a few seconds, said "So people aren't happy here?" We explained our grievances and he simply said "Well what do you want me to do about it?" We were slightly taken aback by the rudeness, but eventually managed to get a free round of drinks out of him. In summary, I paid rude people 24 dollars to wait 70 minutes for a burger that was less than 10cm in diameter. I plan to never do so again. Don't be fooled by the attractive building and grounds, avoid this place like the plague.

My family and I visited High Valley in May. When we entered the tasting room it was quite busy, but even so I noticed that the staff did not make eye contact and just continued on their merry way. Eventually we were begrudgingly served and my daughters were most impressed by the produce, so we indulged in a tasting plate and a bottle. We purchased some produce and wine, which we subsequently enjoyed. Yesterday we returned hoping to buy a bottle of wine for one of our daughters. This time it was definitely noy busy, but the service was pathetic. We stood at the counter and were ignored by 5 staff members. They were not busy just chatting amongst themselves. After at least 5 minutes my husband said we were leaving. As we got to the door we were finally acknowledged. The young girl serving wine said,'Were you hoping to try some wine?' My husband answered,'We were.' We then went to Frogrock where the experience was entirely different and made several purchases. It's not as though we were freeloaders out for the day. We have made many a trip to Mudgee. We definitely won't return to High Valley and we'll also tell our many Sydney friends.