About
Harbour Lights Snack Bar has been a fixture in Portland, Victoria since 1955, operating as a cafe and snack bar that covers breakfast, lunch, and dinner under one roof. The menu spans classic fish and chips alongside burgers, calamari, prawns, scallops, and potato cakes, with coffee and a dessert selection rounding things out for those who want more than a quick feed.
The venue offers dine-in seating with outdoor tables available, and takeaway for those heading off. It is family-friendly with a kids’ menu and high chairs on hand, and the venue is fully wheelchair accessible with free parking nearby.
Reviews are a mixed bag. The staff draw consistent praise for being friendly and approachable, and the pricing is considered reasonable for what is served. Food quality and wait times, however, have been inconsistent across recent visits, with some patrons reporting longer waits than expected during busy periods. The fish and chip shop side of things covers the classics well enough on a good run, though the experience can vary depending on the day.
Portland locals and visitors passing through the southwest Victoria coast will find Harbour Lights a convenient spot for a sit-down meal with the family. See opening hours and menu below.
Business Hours
Dine-In Available?
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8 Reviews on “Harbour Lights Snack Bar”
The place have amazing personnel- we popped up few minutes before they close. Super friendly and helpful.
The food is ok- fried fish and chips. No beer, unfortunately. Very good value from money.
We visited after reading some food reviews. We were told there was a 30 minute wait but it was an hour before we got our food.
The wait was ok as we figured the food would be fresh. We received 7 very sad packs. Chips were dry, calamari was so overcooked the kids couldn’t bite through it. Nothing special about the fish and my son found a hair and
A Cotton string in his pack. We were so disappointed and wouldn’t return again.
Expected more from a Portside town.
Disgusting! Expired drinks and old not fresh food. Desert tastes overly sweet. Worst food I’ve had in months, genuinely. Especially for $32!!!
This was the slowest takeaway I have ever experienced. I was waiting for well over 30 minutes for a very basic order. There were people behind the counter cooking but no food was coming out. Crazy. Finally got our order. Hands down THE WORST FISH AND CHIPS EVER. Smallest portion of Flake I have ever seen. Even the dog wouldn’t eat it. So disappointing as it got good reviews.
Just went here for dinner. Saw there was some bad reviews but took a chance. Pretty average for multiple reasons.
1) food took AN HOUR to come out. If they told us it would be that long we would have gone elsewhere.
2) ordered a standard steak sandwich which lists Porterhouse steak, Turkish bread, oak lettuce, onion, bbq sauce.
I ordered this because there was no tomato listed. Got steak sandwich. No onion, but has tomato all over it. For $16 it was certainly not worth it and while it did taste ok, it wasn’t filling.
3) partner ordered fish and chips, she asked if there was and the woman said yes. came with no lemon, no sauce- it’s a given to have lemon with fish and chips usually.
Positives – the food was ok taste wise and the chips were pretty good. But that may have been because we were starving after an hour wait.
Usually I take photos but this one wasn’t really worthy.
Didn’t live up to expectations.
Having read some of the reviews and even advice from some locals, this café did not live up to expectations. I realise that with any food businesses it all comes down to who is the cook/chef on the day. Portion wise, very happy with the family pack. The calamari and prawn were nice and crispy. The fish size was very generous, but he batter on both the fish and crab sticks were not crispy and hence soggy and oily. The chip sizes were small, so they went soggy as the meal progressed. As we dined in, we appreciated the plates, found it difficult to eat with the wooden knife and fork, and was not offered any tartare sauce. Service was pleasant and friendly by the young team. I won’t say don’t go here, as you will need to be your own judge, however, would I go back again…..No
Poor customer service.
I stopped by Harbour Lights Snack Bar after finishing a night shift and was already exhausted. I politely asked for the menu, but the staff completely ignored me. After some time, they finally showed the menu on the TV and told me to pick from that.
Even though I was speaking respectfully, the responses were rude and unhelpful. Any questions I asked about the food were met with disinterest, and nothing was explained properly.
Customer service really needs improvement. A little basic courtesy and willingness to help would go a long way.
Extremely disappointed. Ordered an Americano and had no tomatoes or onions. I think we had half a jar of pickles on the burger, was bland. Chicken burger wasn’t much better. No flavour and dry and had a mountain of pickles. We like them but we don’t need a whole heap! Pretty disappointing!!