Maria Trop
01/01/2021
3 years ago, I left a negative review for the Grange Hotel, and I can't believe that I would be back again writing another and final NEGATIVE review. Never ignore a review, no matter how negative it is! Potential customers typically read independent reviews from past customers and will base their future dining decisions on this.
My brother-in-law booked a table for 15 people for New Year's Day (public holiday) family luncheon. We waited close to an hour before they served our main - mind you; we needed to remind staff of the wait time. Garlic bread finally came, and we were told our mains were 8 minutes away - which was not the case. We had children at our table - poor kids were starving. Spoke to the venue manager, who was not helpful and didn't apologise for the excessive meal delay. We also noticed other people who came in after we were being served their meals.
People when you ask the waitress if your meal can be modified, i.e. how spicy is the meal? A little advice, if requesting a modification to a meal please ask that same waitress that you will get what you had ordered because they will change the point of discussion to their needs not the needs of the patron.
My sister-in-law asked if the crab fettuccine was overly spicy - the waitress said that she would ask the chef to make a plate up for her, which was too not spicy.
Finally, our meals arrived, which were substandard and overpriced. The fettuccine ended up being spicy. My sister-in-law queried the order with the waitress who told my sister-in-law that she didn't speak to the chef as she knew that the fettuccine isn't spicy at all.
Everything just spiralled from that point on. My mother-in-law ordered grilled fish with chips but was served crumbed fish - speaking the same waitress we were told that they would replace the meal with grilled fish as per my mother-in-law's order. We noticed that they had scraped the crumbs off the original fish. We questioned this, and we were told by the same waitress that the fish was freshly grilled.
It just seemed that each time our intelligence was being questioned.
As we were seeking compensation, the venue manager finally came over to discuss the level of poor service quality of food, the timing of our meals - he offered us 25% discount off the total of our bill. We agreed to accept his offer. Approached the counter to be told that we couldn't pay for our meals separately.
The total amount was $359 - he agreed to take $59 off the total bill. And to top it off, we even paid the 15% surcharge. The overall experience - was horrendous!!! Never, ever will we book a function with the Grange Hotel.
The professionalism of the staff is inadequate.
If you choose to open your establishment on a public holiday, please have more staff on to avoid disappointment. And, of course, when the establishment charges patrons 15% surcharge to have the hotel opened to its patrons, you would expect service levels to be of a better standard.
Food - a small plate of fettuccine (a handful of pasta with three prawns and no crab meat) overly priced.
It is very clear that the owner/owners do not seem to care about patrons' opinions.
The customer is always right - read the reviews and make changes.
A powerful way to make your restaurant shine is to focus on customer service!