Archie Brothers Melbourne Docklands — Attraction in Melbourne

Being an avid arcade goer who frequently plays in many venues around Melbourne I’ve had many interesting encounters at arcades all around the city, most of them very positive! Particularly with the staff. However that was not the case with my visit to Archie brothers Docklands last night. Having been playing nothing but DDR for all the evening I was having a pretty good night. Upon returning to the machine from a water refill I crossed past a staff member on my way back. It’s a Friday night and the place is pretty packed so she was held up by a small group of people so I popped passed her not wanting to run into her or the small group. Well. Apparently that was a big mistake. Not only did I get a horrifyingly dirty look but she proceeded to then slowly follow me back to the machine. Once she approached me on the machine I asked if there was something wrong? Remaining with her dirty look she asked to see my ID, now I do look pretty young for my age it’s a pretty common thing for me to be asked. However up at this point I’d been in the venue for over an hour and had made brief eye contact with this staff member multiple times over that period and only up to this point had I been asked for ID. So after taking out my ID and looking over it… for a full 30ish seconds, still giving me a dirty look of course. She then asks me my age. I have a full Victorian license. With my date of birth on it. There was no reason for this question. I comply and inform her of my age, she proceeds to still have my license in had staring me down. Wanting my ID back and feeling slightly intimidated I pop my hand out and said ‘I look pretty young for my age’. Finally handing back my ID she responded with ‘Yea. To young’ and walked away. This was encounter was really uncomfortable and unpleasant. Even if this was a genuine ID check, it was really uncomfortable and very unwelcoming which an ID check really shouldn’t be.

This does NOT speak for any of the other staff members who are friendly and very easy going and in some cases are up for a good chat! But this experience with this particular individual was really unsettling, I hope that next time I visit I won’t have a repeated experience…

EDIT: I’m updating this review after being contacted by Archie bros management. After discussing the scenario, the incident has been resolved in a matter that’s been deemed satisfactory. Management take all feedback both positive and negative and strive to make a difference which speaks volumes to the level of professionalism the venue holds itself to, alone turns this into a 5 star review.

I would like to reiterate again that this place really is one of my favourites and the aforementioned above does not represent the venue as a whole. Great for mates to spend a ripper night or one of many places to visit in Melbourne for a great time!

Once again thank you to management for reaching out and resolving the matter. I will be...

I recently booked a bowling party at Archie Brothers for myself and eight friends. The initial greeting and setup were outstanding, with bar staff and FOH staff providing excellent service and assisting us with the booking process. We had reserved two games each in two lanes. Halfway through our second game, a staff member approached us, suggesting we relocate our food and drinks. When I asked why, she explained that our time was up, and another booking was waiting. This came as a surprise, as we had not been informed of any time limit.

I requested to speak with the manager, a short-haired blonde woman. Despite our polite request for a time extension, she granted us only an additional five minutes, explaining we had exceeded our time by ten minutes. Although we understood and appreciated the offer of complimentary bowling vouchers as compensation, her approach felt dismissive.

At this point, I had a $500 tab for food and drinks, with separate charges for bowling, spending around $700-800 for 8-9 people. I chose to speak with a different manager, a gentleman who was respectful, solution-oriented, and addressed my questions. Later, while waiting for bumper cars, I approached the original manager to ask about billing, and she abruptly dismissed me, snapping and shouting, "I am sending another staff member, okay?" My friends witnessed this interaction, All of them said that this was unnecessary and her attitude was really bad. we chose to laugh it off to avoid creating a scene, given that it was my birthday.

As a project manager myself, I understand the pressures of the role, but a manager's professionalism and attitude are critical. Unfortunately, her behavior was not up to standard. All other staff members, from bar and FOH to cleaning staff, were exceptional in their friendliness and attentiveness.

I hope Archie Brothers will consider reevaluating this manager's approach, as her conduct may affect the experience of other guests, particularly younger ones or children. I would love to see Archie Brothers continue to thrive with a team that matches the professionalism displayed by the rest...

All in all, a pretty average experience. We had a Christmas work party booked using one of the party packages that included standard drink package with 1 hour of arcade games. The drinks package wasn't able to be utilized well due to the lack of effort of bar staff. It was a busy time and there were multiple parties going on, however there were multiple occasions where 4 bar staff were making 1 drink or 1 was serving while others were all collecting glasses or talking with each other behind the bar. This meant that it took over 10 minutes to get a drink on multiple occasions so having an unlimited drinks package was actually worse and more expensive then just buying the drinks when possible.

Our party planner was really friendly and helpful but seemed to have a lot more on his mind then organizing us. Information wasn't really presented to us unless we ask, such as which games can be played with the 1 hour arcade games and how the flow of the 2 hour package works. Staff were overall very nice and professional except for one member in particular. There was a staff member in a leg brace working the front desk and while receiving our bracelets for the drinks package, walked behind one of our party. Our party member was stepping back to allow our party planner to get to everyone in the group and the staff member in the leg brace told her " You better not think of hitting my leg" in a aggressive attitude. Another member of our party was inquiring about dodgem cars that previous ran at 3pm and was signed to run again at 4pm. The time was changed to 4:40pm which fell outside of our 2 hour party time. She enquired with this same staff member and was told " it was never 4pm, it was always 4:40pm". When the staff member replied with "no, it did say 4pm before and I just wanted to check" she was met with bad attitude and told that she was wrong and that" it was always 4:40pm because we have no staff"

Kind of disappointing with how excited everyone was but the arcade games were a lot of fun and our party planner did give us extra time of playing. Overall an ok experience but would not plan an event...