If you want the worst service in Melbourne, this is the place for you.
After arriving at 6:30pm to find the minuscule bistro full, we decided to jag a spot in the front bar. After all the waitress told us we could order anything from the bistro menu and have it in the front bar no worries. All seemed pretty good so far. It just so happened to be 2-for-1 meals also which we thought was a bonus.
Ordered a bottle of red wine and placed our food orders at the bar. One entree and three main meals (there were three of us). The entree came out about half way through the bottle of red. Okay was a bit slow but so be it. Not too much of a fuss.
Some hour later the bottle of red was finished, the entree had been cleared ages ago, the front bar was now completely full. and several people had entered the front bar, some a good hour after us. After they all had their meals served well before us we queried with the waitress as to how long our meals would be. She said she'd check. We continued to wait. and wait. and wait. We then queried with the manager how long. He said 5 minutes. The waitress or anyone for that matter still hadn't even bothered to come and check on us, give us an update or anything. But they were quite happy to have a laugh and a chuckle with each other behind the bar while serving no one. We then thought we'd ask again how long the meals would be. No one seemed to know. Clearly the meals had been forgotten, which is a miracle seeing as they have a fully electronic ordering system. We decided that we wanted a refund on our meals as an hour and a half wait in a pub for a meal is nothing short of disgraceful. And to have no one, absolutely no one offer an explanation, or even hint at maybe just a complimentary pot of beer or something for the wait was a slap in the face. And then what do you know, the meals appear.
Aside from the fact by now we weren't even hungry, the food was average and the Chicken Parma was cold. I contemplated sending it back, but wanted to get home this side of the next millennium. Then after complaining to the manager again, he had the arrogance to stand there and just say sorry. there was nothing he could do about it.
What's most annoying is that any half competent management or wait staff would realise just basic communication with your customers is a pretty important part of your job. Unfortunately the self-importance of the wait and bar staff at the Brighton was clearly higher on their agendas than actual customer service.
So all in all the wine was nice, the service was rubbish, the staff were arrogant and unhelpful and perhaps this was the worst experience i've ever had at a pub in Melbourne.
Will we go back, no, would we suggest you go there. Sure go for it it's a nice looking pub. But that's about it. Shame about the people that work there.
For what it's worth we then went to the Middle Park Hotel which was amazing, great people, friendly service...should have gone there from the start. Lesson learnt. read more