I've been out of the game for a little while now. It's been about 4 years since I pulled my last beer, cleared my last table and yelled at my last Chef. But I'm fairly sure there's a few things that haven't changed:
1. You should welcome guests into the Restaurant, not look at them and wonder if they are lost. Then look at them again like they are something you found on the bottom of your shoe. (Something brown...)
2. If said guests order a bottle of champagne at 10:05am, and your liquor licence doesn't start until 10:30. The answer is not "No" with a head toss. Can I suggest instead "Our licence doesn't start until 10:30 but I'll order it now for you and bring it over when I can". Just a suggestion...
3. When the menu says I should get pinenuts with my Mushrooms and Polenta, then I think I should get them...
4. When FIL asks for poached eggs, I think it is reasonable that he actually gets poached eggs - not the scrambled eggs you somehow thought he would enjoy more.
So - mini vent over - our Breakfast was okay. Luckily the company was good because although I loved mine - the Inlaws were not quite as enamoured with their Full Breakfast.
The Roasted Mushrooms with Polenta, Lemon Pesto and Pinenuts was a nice change from the usual Bacon and Eggs. Although I really did enjoy it, the Polenta was creamy with all the graininess cooked out - a little bit of Parmesan and seasoning would have finished it off nicely. The Mushrooms were delicious but the Lemon Pesto was the absolute stand out. It was nice and fresh, full of herbs but with the most divine, lemony kick - brilliant! As I already mentioned - the Pine Nuts were MIA - but they would have been a nice touch also...
Asides from getting the wrong eggs with his breakfast, the Sausages were quite dry as was the baked beans. A decent offering, but just a bit bland and boring.
I'm not sure if you've noticed - but there seems to be a trend with Brisbane cafe's serving large coffee's in Soup Bowl style cups - not that I mind, as long as it's hot enough to be drinkable to the last mouthful What I don't understand why I ordered a large and got a bowl, and MIL ordered a regular and got a Tea Cup. Mine was nearly triple the size of hers...
So as I alluded to above - we ordered a bottle of Champagne, to toast the Inlaws Wedding Anniversary from earlier in the week, only to be told in no uncertain terms - "No, our licence doesn't start until 10:30."
No alternatives were offered, just our blase waiter stomping off to the kitchen in search of what I can only hope was a better mood.
So we waited until 10:30 (on the dot) and re-ordered the Champagne. By 11am it still hadn't materialised, we had long finished our breakfast and the mood for bubbles had passed. We flagged down a waiter (tall, bald and gorgeous - a lot like my husband actually!) who was very apologetic and helpfully cancelled the order for us. The first real show of customer service we had seen so far. Not bad considering we were on our way out...
All in all - a very average breakfast that was made worse by our "Couldn't care less" waiter. The only shred of service we got the whole morning was from the lovely waiter at the very end. What a shamble.
The Verdict: Good Coffee, Great Views, Okay Breakfast... Crap Service.
Recommendations: I really enjoyed the Mushrooms and Polenta, was also keen to try the Ricotta Hot Cakes that the table next to us ordered... and enjoyed quite vocally.
Oh ! How depressing Joy! What a shame- they used to be so good. I don't like when places turn for the worst.
ReplyDeleteI know - it just goes to show that a Restaurant's success really does hinge on it's staff. I would go back in a heartbeat if the service was better.
ReplyDeleteGosh, my friend is having her wedding reception there soon. I hope that the service is not crappy then!
ReplyDeleteJetsetting Joyce
Don't show her this review!! She's probably stressed enough!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure her wedding will be gorgeous!! :)
Watt was sold to a large company. Since then, it's gone to pot. I won't regale with my tales of outrageously terrible, indifferent, bordering on rude service (several times), but I live up the road and will never go there again. Go to Alto upstairs.
ReplyDeleteAhh... that makes sense on why their website was different to the last time I was on it.
ReplyDeleteMy SIL had lunch at Alto last week and said it was brilliant - will have to go and try there instead :)
Thanks for the feedback :)
Agreed - go to Alto - much better service and more value for money.
ReplyDeleteYep - I concur re Alto. We ordered bar snacks before the Umbilical Brothers gig last year. We knew we were cutting it fine to eat before we went in, and it was quite busy, but they thought we'd be ok.
ReplyDeleteWhen they made the last call and food hadn't arrived we dashed to the bar to enquire. Our order was just up, but we didn't have time to eat it (oh noes!).
They offerred - with no prompting - to re-cook it fresh after the show. Which is what you'd expect really, but apparently customer service is a dying art.
So it was wins all 'round. Yummy fresh calamari and chips for us, and we bought more beers from them that we likely wouldn't have had otherwise.
Shame about Watt. Boooo!
Sadly it seems that we do need to point out the bleeding obvious to some staff. Terrible when it happens isn't it although I thought it was more a Sydney service phenomenon! :P
ReplyDeleteThat's terrible - could be the same waitress or her terrible twin at Joseph Alexander's. We politely asked if they had any other fish apart from snapper and she replied (in Chinese because she knew we were Chinese),. "This isn't a fish market."
ReplyDeleteLater, another young waiter asked the chef for us who actually had a huge selection of fresh fish.
Wishful Pantry - OMG! That is soooo rude! Yes, ever since I went here / wrote the post - so many people have told me their opinion and very little of it good. So wish I'd taken time to research before going :(
ReplyDeleteNQN - No definately not a Sydney ailment - we have our fair share here as well! lol
Very Very Disappointing.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous on Jan 13, 2010 is correct.
The venue was owned by a Brissy lad, i used to manage the events there then. The place was great, always pumping all day, DJ for sunday sessions, it was awesome, a brilliant place to work and the feedback couldnt get better. We got awards all the time. Then i moved onto bigger things, the owner sold a few months later, and the place has been down hill since then. Very Sad. I used to live a few blocks away, and loved to go there after i left. But havent been there for a long time now.