Hellenic Club of Canberra — Attraction in District of Canberra Central

This review is strictly limited to the recently opened Mazi Greek restaurant where I dined yesterday taking a friend there for lunch on her birthday. Firstly the construction noise was horrendous. I nearly cancelled when I arrived but decided to leave it to my friend to decide. She was late and by the time she arrived the workers must have been on a lunch break (way too brief but better than the racket beforehand). I asked the lady at the front of the restaurant to make a fuss cause it was my friend’s birthday. Not a mention from her at any stage. I thought this was poor. I ended up having to order my wine at the bar, it was hard to catch the attention of the solo bar staff member. It was a Friday and the restaurant had other patrons but it wasn’t full. The chef was a smiling man, which was nice to see. When I ordered the large calamari the same front of house woman asked if I wanted salad, chips or Greek potatoes with my meal, I settled on salad then asked if it was included in the meal - she said I could have whatever I wanted, so then I asked what was included in the price ($28), she said nothing was, just the calamari. This made me annoyed and I said to her, if the salad or chips etc cost more then she should say so. She agreed. We shared a pizza with feta to start and it was very nice. My calamari had no sauce at all, so I asked for some mayo or aioli and was told there was none in the restaurant. Seriously? My meal was a bowl of crispy battered calamari piled high and desperately needed something to make it more palatable. There was literally nothing else except a single small wedge of lemon and the calamari. So then I asked for tartare sauce cause there was a fish and chips special and finally some sauce came out. I just felt a complete lack of warmth and hospitality from the staff involved. It spoilt the lunch for me. My friend enjoyed the entree sized meatballs. Bizarrely it came with salad! When I went to pay the same lady just passed me the eftpos machine and when I asked to see the bill first it sent her into a bit of a flat spin. Turns out she had the wrong table number so lucky I asked before I paid but surely it's normal to show the bill before thrusting an eftpos machine at you? I know it's new and there will be teething problems and it's obviously filling a void because there has been lots of people dining there. For me though I won't race back based on yesterday's lunch. The bistro on the other hand is absolutely outstanding and consistently has great steak, seafood...

This was my first visit, and I won't be back. I don't usually give one star reviews but I feel that this is warranted. I came so I could go to the yum cha restaurant upstairs, and I had no plans to engage with the club itself outside of this. I had to go through the intensive sign in process in order to even get to the restaurant. This made me uncomfortable, as it felt like a lot of personal details to give just to go to a restaurant. We were also not told about this process when we booked. I don't carry a physical copy of my ID on me, as I have a digital ID on my phone. I was rudely told off for this by a blonde, short, older staff member with her hair in a ponytail (I didn't get her name unfortunately). When I said I didn't carry my physical ID on me, she asked me "well then how did you get through life this far?". This was an incredibly hurtful thing to be asked by a stranger, as I recently moved to Canberra with no financial assistance and put a lot of work into achieving this. There was no need for this to be made so incredibly personal. I felt very singled out as many people walked in without having to endure this kind of treatment. I told her I had a digital copy of my ID on my phone, she then said that wasn't good enough and I had to have a physical copy. I thought this was strange as I've gone to multiple bars in the ACT and not had this issue until coming here. I'm also covered in tattoos, so I'm clearly not underage. I moved to the ACT a week ago and have yet to update my license. When I showed her my digital ID, and she noticed it was a Victorian ID, she began making fun of me, saying "I don't know what they do in Victoria but we do things differently here, you should know that, it's common sense, etc etc". She said she wasn't trying to offend, while actively insulting me and putting me down in front of my partner and family. However, it turned out she was also lying as I was then able to put my information into their system manually and my ID actually wasn't required at all. I won't be coming back, as I didn't enjoy starting off my afternoon by being bullied and antagonized by this miserable woman they call a staff member. Considering I've read other reviews mentioning similar interactions, my advice would be that if they want to keep a clientele they should consider training their staff in basic customer service skills. If you want a nice, relaxing afternoon in this beautiful city - you'll find it...

What rude and terribly trained staff.

I went there with my family, as the playground is so awesome for the kids, it’s a great playground.

I spent ages ordering the food for everyone, nine meals, insisting with the salads on a side plate, veggies on a side plate, salad dressing on the side etc.

The food came out all on the one plate, nothing on a side plate!!! what’s sort of resturant puts salad on the same plate as the hot cooked food and serves it, it gets cooked. I always request any salad on a side plate. If a resturant can’t follow simple requests, or ignore them, just poor all round.

When I asked the waiter why they weren’t on a side plate, he told me this is how they come, and that how they have been served, for ten years, I tell him, I ordered them on a side plate, and specially asked for this. He told me I was basically wrong, and thats that! It’s how it comes… you can speak to the chef?? how hard is it to put on a side plate. Why would I want to talk to the chef?? I tell him, I ordered the food and know what was ordered….. never in my life have I been challenged by some young man, with dark hair, in front of my family like this. He even had the audacity, to fire back at at me when I was walking away, not even to my face. Three year olds act better than this. Absolutely disgraceful, unprofessional, and exceptionally rude. I let it go, but on another day, I would have returned all the food and walked. I’d be re training, re employing, and re-tendering the catering company here. Abysmal. The Hellenic club should be able to do a lot better here.

Food was barely adequate, certainly not worth anywhere near the $170 I paid. Unloved and over cooked.

Secondly, the fish on display, was looking very tired, and certainly not fresh.

If I could give less than one I would give a zero. If there was no play ground, they’d be out of business. Avoid, unless you need a kids play ground.

To add a side note, I’ve been going to the Hellenic club for over 45 years, perhaps I’m used to quality resturants these days…

Second side note: Hellenic club puts the same note on all complaints, if you want to share your investigation here 27/12/2022, 1330, table of nine, no booking, in bistro. Happy to call you, what’s the name and...