Lickerish

I’ve been to Lickerish twice and one visit was better than the other. There are many places where I give 3 stars and wouldn’t go back — I would probably make an exception here. Their service is good — they greet you, don’t ignore you, treat you as you should be treated in a restaurant.
You get a great view up and down Semaphore Road and on a warm day sitting on the balcony feels very nice indeed. The place does have a beachy feel or maybe it’s the view of the beach creating it. It’s laid back and simple, a little eclectic perhaps.
The food isn’t bad but I’d stop short of saying it’s memorable. Their specials are written on a large sheet of butcher’s paper and feature some fish, meat, pasta and salad dishes, to satisfy most. The pizza menu dominates and gives you the idea it’s more of a pizza restaurant.
On our first visit pizza’s were the order of the day and they were pretty good, the bases good but not great, not very traditional in their toppings. On our next visit we had a variety of dishes, including scotch fillet where they somehow mixed up all our orders of rare, medium, and medium to well. We all got the wrong thing, or rather we all got something similar to medium to rare. This suited me but not the others who failed to finish their meals.
Lickerish is a little odd in how they appear to what they serve but it’s worth a visit. I’d like to give it more stars but am, overall, not impressed with their menu.

It’s taken me ages to review Lickerish and I’m not sure why. I’ve been here a number of times for all different occasions, including my own wedding!
It is casual and unassuming, with relaxed décor and service. The staff are helpful and friendly but not at all overbearing. Lickerish hits all the right notes for relaxed easygoing dining and is the perfect vibe for Semaphore. On a warm night when the candles are lit and there is a nice breeze, soaking up the sea vibes on the balcony is pure magic.
The wine list is a great mix of local beverages, including some good crafty ciders and beers nestled among the wines. The food is casual but quality. The pizzas are original flavours, but make sure you try the mains. I rarely order chicken in restaurants as it seems too pedestrian, but ordered it on a whim when it was one of the specials and wow! This was moist, juicy and tasted like actual chicken. Followed up with a nice slice of chocolate tart and I left full and happy.
I am keen to book in during winter when Lickerish do their famous slow cooked pork roast and sit on the balcony with a glass of red watching the people of Semaphore go past.
Fantastic food, outstanding service and a unique seaside location is a trifecta hard to beat.

I must say, Lickerish may be known as a pizza restaurant, but that sells it so short. While pizza appears to be their speciality, don’t just look over the smaller plates/​sharing menu — there is fantastic stuff on there.
A lot of the reviews mention the odd branding/​appearance of Lickerish, and how its presentation comes across as a dessert and drinks venue rather than the savoury side. This is very true. It’s also fairly easy to miss if you’re wandering down Semaphore Road. Lickerish is upstairs above… I think it was a newsagent, and the entrance is via a winding set of stairs beginning in the Foodland car park. Once up the stairs, there are two different seating options: balcony or indoors. I strongly recommend the balcony in summer, but wear sunscreen. I got burnt, and it was only 28 degrees! Décor includes small plants on each of the outdoor tables, large blackboard inside displaying specials and fairy lights. I think some more could be done visually to reflect the nature of the food and what Lickerish is about, but the balcony was packed when we were there, so clearly they’re doing a lot of the right things!
We came here last Saturday afternoon for a late lunch and we were totally famished. We ordered 5 of the small sharing plates between the two of us, and it was the perfect amount. We chose the tempura zucchini flowers stuffed with chevre, sake and citrus cured salmon, pork belly with an Asian herb salad, creamy crab on toast and broccolini with anchovy mayonnaise. Now, some of those sound a little odd, granted. Honestly, I was a bit apprehensive about a couple of them. I mean, crab on toast? Anchovy mayonnaise? What had we ordered?!
Much to our delight (and admittedly, surprise — we’ve eaten at some pretty average seaside venues), everything tasted absolutely fantastic! The tempura zucchini flowers were crisp, and the batter was thin (unlike so many ‘tempuras’), crunchy and free of excess oil and the chevre inside was creamy and delicious. The salmon was fresh, light and zingy. The sake was well-​balanced against the citrus, and did not have an overpowering alcohol flavour at all. The pork belly was crunchy and the salad was well-​balanced and the dressing wasn’t excessive. The anchovy mayo I was a little worried about got scoffed with broccolini, and the crab on toast tasted fresh and rich, and the radish accompaniment took the edge off the intensity.
Overall, it was a great experience and I’m really looking forward to returning and bringing more people here. Fantastic place to eat good food and just watch the world go by.

I must say upfront that when I looked at the menu and realised this was a pizza joint, I was pretty shocked… The name, logo, décor, bar and general vibe just screams ‘tapas and desserts’… Minus a star for confused branding… Other than that, being a Saturday night, the live music across the street was distracting to the vibe of lickerish — its interior lends itself to a softer style of music.
Now to the food, I had the duck beast salad which is unusual for me as it had artichokes, cabbage, walnuts, watercress and orange so the combination was unusual but worked amazingly well. 5 star meal (note, I didn’t order pizza!) my hubby ordered the burger and I quote ’ it’s massive’. He liked it though and decided to walk it off afterwards with a stroll along the beach. The fries had a funny flavour meaning they had shared the oil with something else like spring rolls (a pet peeve of mine)

Beautiful for a sunny Sunday drink and eats. Came on a Sunday briefly, for the second time and remembered why I told myself LAST time I should come here more often. Beautiful space, warm and comfortable inside when outside is dreary, but when the sun is shing, get out there on the balcony. The only way to eat!
Grab a bottle of something, and feast on a couple of platters.
Its run by old ‘Greedy Goose’ hosts John and Justine Hall, and it has the same attention and love of their food after all these years!
I had zucchini flowers (with cheese!) which were devine, the cured salmon melts in the mouth and theres a range of pizzas, most of which can be made gluten free (with a $ 3 surcharge)
Great place, great food, great service — everything I look for, and more!

When you hear of the name you automatically think of sweets, however this is a place of tapas, pizza and wine. It’s stylish, has odd bird art and candle lit tables, but plenty of ambience. Although it was quiet crowded too they had sound boards on the ceiling, which I haven’t seen in a while. They sort of helped.
I had a glass of moscato and the lil piggy pizza. The pizza had a lot of salad on it, you had to drill down to find the pizza it self. The combination of apple and pork belly went well together. A little less salad would have been good, although it did seem to make it healthier.
I didn’t have any dessert but they didn’t look like their speciality anyway. The staff were friendly and attentive, especially when I dropped my knife, they heard the clang and brought me another one almost instantly. Wow.
I’d like to come back and try some more of their dishes. I won’t completely rule them out :-)

I am sorry to have to do this as it appears everyone else on Unilocal has had a pretty good experience here to date.
I came here on a Wednesday night after reading the reviews on Unilocal and the first impression was pretty bad as the waiter didn’t really want to serve us. We sat outside and after it got too cold we decided to move in but as all the doors were open it was just as chilly inside.
I ordered the thai squid salad and my colleague ordered the steak on special. The salad was ok but for the cost, there wasn’t enough of anything in it and I found myself hungry almost an hour later. The steak came with chips, just chips! Nothing else. It was ordered medium rare and it was borderline well done. When the waiter was told it wasn’t medium, he looked at it and said ‘looks fine to me’ and walked off. Not the best attitude to have for a $ 30 steak. Then when the waiter was approached again and told that on the ‘specials’ board it says the steak comes with a potato and parsnip purée, salad and other trimmings, he said that the board is a couple of weeks out of date. 1) Why is there an out of date specials board? 2) how can a steak and frozen chips be the same price as one with all the trimmings?
We left quite disappointed and hungry. I really want to come back here and experience what everyone else did but I’m not sure if I want the disappointment again.

First time here. Lovely waitress. Great location, not far from the beach. We had lunch on the balcony which was nice!
The food was ok, but not spectacular and not inexpensive.
6 Oysters Kilpatrick — $ 19.20. Small oysters, not grand, but ok.
We had a share/​nibbles plate with nice arancini balls, nice cured salmon, okish tuna croqettes, good salami, ok tapenade, and some pickles and olives.
Certainly nothing wrong here, the location is nice and the waitress was friendly, just didn’t set the world on fire for us.

Scrum-​diddly-​umpchious.
WIth soft blankets for cold knees and Lani had a smile with our menu. We came in and were wrapped in the warmth of Lickerish, filled by our wonderous meal, tempted and enlighted by tomatoes for dessert and left glowing — but that could have been the brandy.

When I was in high school, our English class was visited by a poet who had made his career romanticising the freaks and weirdos that frequented his local drag, Semaphore Road. I couldn’t decide whether he was trying to be some hero for the dock-​working class or if he was celebrating mediocrity, so I went to the pub.
If Lickerish had existed back then, they would have thrown two big greasy spanners in his works: firstly it ‘aint spelt like it should be which makes it a prick to Google, and secondly it has no business being around the mediocre.
Situated upstairs in what used to be the Greekest restaurant in the world, they have fitted it out like your hipster sister’s sharehouse full of awesome artworks (all for sale), funky furnishings and interesting table centrepieces.
The wine list makes me cry. It’s like a greatest hits of cool and interesting wines and the waitress we had knows more about them than is reasonable.
The food is interesting and original. All delicious. Gin and beetroot cured salmon was a highlight and the Fig & Proscuitto pizza made me want to do totally inappropriate things to it.
We shared a bunch of tapas-​y stuff which, while popular with the ladyfolk, means I need to get back there ASAP to work my way through their list of «proper» main meals. Tapas is for communists.
I am a simple kind of fella. I like bread and good service. Lani is a superstar and is worth twice whatever they’re paying her and the bread is a thing you will enjoy eating.
Lickerish. A pain to spell. A great place to eat. Anything but mediocre.

The food, the atmosphere and the service conjured up *all sorts of emotions.
Lickerish was the *strap that broke the camels back. I now know why service with more than just a smile can have even more meaning than great food and a cool environment.
Our waitress, Lani, was so passionate and having so much fun in her job that we were convinced she was the owner of the place! She was not shy in sharing her opinion of the wine we should be drinking nor of having a chat in between serving others, we walked out feeling like a regular of the place — still bubbling from the friendliness and genuine concern for ensuring we had a good time.
But I also can’t go past the food. Here are 3 key finger lickingly good tips for you when dining for dinner here:
— Sharing is caring and worth it for anyone on a budget or who gets food envy (yours truly). But don’t feel limited to the Bar/​Share menu, you can share the pizza, the mains the smaller plates and you’ll be full from 4 – 5 dishes between 2!
— If you like unusual flavour combinations, that is still accessible to the normal palette (ie. not offal) this is the place for you. Gin and beetroot cured salmon or Fig & Proscuitto Pizza, even the mushroom stuffed baby squid all were such simple concoctions but so well flavoured.
— Get there at sunset, it is really well enclosed on the balcony outside and if you have a coat in winter you could easily sit outside and watch the beautiful sunset over Semaphore beach + score 100 romance points too!
Like a kid in a candy shop who just found the best sweets tucked away in the back of the shop, I am still hyped up about Lickerish and can’t wait to save up my pennies till my next visit with friends.

The food & service was flawless, friendly & welcoming. My parents were visiting from NSW & we wanted somewhere with a good vibe & good food. We had a 3 course meal with a bottle wine, starter drinks & coffees. We shared an entrée which was fish balls deep fried with corn sauce, so good! We ordered the 2 house special pizzas, one was BBQ chicken & the other was fig & prosciutto so good! We ordered a side of the most delicious mushrooms baked in garlic & butter! Reasonably priced & great food. Will go back again!

Third time to Lickerish and I can’t sing it’s praises high enough. Each time it has been great. The food is fantastic, interesting choices, perfectly cooked, and would suit most, good for sharing or a leisurely lunch or dinner. Sitting on the balcony on a nice day (above the street) with the water in view, (or inside it the weather’s not so good) lovely food and wine, what more could you want. All the meals I have had have been excellent and there are always interesting specials. Owned by former Greedy Goose proprietors they do things exceptionally well and are perfect hosts. A good wine list, great food, perfect setting… it’s certainly on my favourites list.