Erica O.
Yelp
I am visiting from California and came here for dinner with my Australian uncle and cousins. Initially we were excited by the views of the food and the crowd, however we were thoroughly disappointed by the end of the night.
I'll attempt to quickly recap the service:
Arrived ~7:45, ordered our food a little after 8.
Initial female server never returned after we ordered. (We watched her take orders, deliver food, refill drinks, and even rearrange tables around us as we waited for our food.)
After an hour+, we ask a male server to check on our food. He brings it out quickly. However, all of the meat was cold. He took it back, apologizing. Returned with hot meals, explaining that the chef had been overwhelmed and our meals had gotten pushed aside. We let it go and ate.
However, all of the food was over-cooked and again no server came by to refill water, check on us, or even clear our plates.
After another 30+ mins, third server removes our plates and drops the bill off.
My family was frustrated by the service (or lack thereof) so I asked him if I could speak to the manager, if only to understand what went wrong.
This is where things became unbelievable...
The manager, Mikaela, was the rudest customer service representative I have ever encountered. After I simply (and nicely) explain the events of that evening (in my plainly American accent) she begins by saying that "Here in Australia we do things differently..." trying to excuse the absence of a server. My male Aussie cousin then steps in and says that he has been to this establishment before and has never experienced what she is claiming.
After she realizes I'm with locals, she goes on to blame the cooks, the servers, other tables, and even us without ever once apologizing. She says that we had plenty of servers assist us and they all claimed we were "perfectly happy." She tells us a busy party was "demanding" and that she should have put on a "stronger" server. She goes back and forth with our receipt saying that she "can't verify the time that it took for our food to come out" and that "sometimes tables just get bad service". To top it all off, she states that, "if everything ran smoothly, I would be out of a job"... And all this time I thought a Manager's job is to make sure things do run smoothly?
In the end, she offers to remove the appetizers (the only food that was without problem) and to comp 10%. I explain that it isn't about the money, but the terrible service and lack of an apology. Only then does she apologize to us and say that she hopes we return to this restaurant.
Mikaela, if you're reading this, I apologize for not understanding the "Australian way" and hope that you keep your job when things run smoothly...
But honestly, next time please just apologize immediately and offer a solution. Excuses for poor food and service are not appreciated by customers.