The surprise Aussie city beating Sydney and Melbourne for customer service

Warm hospitality shapes how you see a city, whether it is a welcoming smile at check-in or a helpful waiter explaining a complex menu.

It reveals how excited residents are to share their city with visitors from around the world.

A patient local guiding you through an unfamiliar experience can be a saving grace, especially when there's a language barrier.

Australians like to think of ourselves as a welcoming bunch, happy to point a new arrival in the right direction or offer grace when a cultural misunderstanding arises.

Yet the evidence points in another direction.

Analysis of more than 100,000 customer reviews by insurance comparison platform MoneySuperMarket found that only one Australian city ranked in the top 20, and it wasn't Melbourne or Sydney.

Adelaide, the latest recipient of a Michelin Guide, was named the 19th friendliest city for customer service in 2026.

Researchers judged cities by the highest number of reviews that "explicitly call out friendly staff and excellent customer service in their restaurants and attractions".

For Adelaide waitstaff, the online praise is glowing.

"We were terrified it would be pretentious given the hype, but the staff are the absolute definition of fine casual," one diner at the high-end Restaurant Botanic said.

"They explained twenty-odd courses with total joy, remembered which one of us preferred left-handed cutlery, and treated us like old mates."

Hotel staff also get a nod in online reviews, with one visitor to Adelaide gushing over The Mayfair Hotel on King William Street.

"The front desk team managed to sort out a lost luggage nightmare with our airline before we had even finished our welcome drink at check-in," they said.

Restaurant Botanic executive chef Jamie Musgrave said the excellent standard of service is not a fluke, it's the result of striving for daily excellence.

"Maintaining composure and interacting with guests in our style of service is a standard that every table receives, the team thrives on pressure and turns it into a challenge," he said.