Electra — Restaurant in Adelaide

I generally don't complain but this is a must for all the headache that this place had given me.

I had organised my work Christmas party on 12/12 evening in level 1. Firstly, the communication leading up to the event was lacking. Despite multiple attempts to confirm the reservation and discuss specific details, I found it difficult to obtain clear and concise information. This made it challenging from the time I enquired till the time i left the place. Prior to the event, I was pressurised to do a seating arrangement of 40-45 people by myself (expected to do a table plan which i have had no clue about), pressurised to do the prebooked menu within 2 days of enquiring about the function room. I acknowledge there were time constraints due to last minute enquiry about the event room (~7 days in advance), but I never was given an explanation for the rush to attend to menus because this could have clearly been done and sent on the day or atleast 24 hours prior the event, infact it was specified in the booking form " booking form to be returned a minimum of 24h for processing" . I work in a highly demanding environment and so do my colleagues, so it was rush for most to pre-order dinner menu in such a short time span. Secondly, i was extremely disappointed at the manager for advising that there is a "$2,000 minimum spent". Due to this particular reason, I informed everyone to ensure a minimum of $45 to be spent per individual as 45 people were supposed to attend. I was pressured to do so, since I did not wanted to pay out of my pocket in case, people end up buying only meals or just attend for gathering and not pay much. I did the calculation in such a way so it would be fair to all and in that way, I was not risking any losses. I also had informed people that there would be a cancellation fee of $45 if people RSVP and dont turn up. The issue is, after organising all these, my guests clarified that they would buy expensive drinks at the venue to ensure the minimum spend is attained, since total dinner cost ~1250. Some of my colleagues bought expensive bottles of wine just for reassurance. I was constantly doubting, however, if I had risked and shouldn't have booked this event room cos I was skeptical whether i could reach the 2K mark. Whilst in the function room, we discover that they dont have the drinks that people wanted to buy so they had to go downstairs to buy drinks -which was not even included or being recorded towards the minimum spend. So, now i dont understand, why would you have a minimum of $2000 for hiring the event room where dinner costs $1250 but you dont do drinks (such as cocktails and all), instead encourage people to buy elsewhere where its not being recorded under our account, but also simultaneously, we are expected to reach the minimum spend. It doesnt make sense. Anyway, after all the purchases, the manager then clarifies that "dont worry about the minimum spend!". Are you for real? This should have been made clear way prior to organising this event, and prior to myself advising my guests of the cost to hire the function room. In that way, we didnt have had any pressure of who needs to buy or spend how much.  It seemed like a marketing strategy to alert a customer in advance so we are pressured to buy more from that place. Half of the guests had already paid money close to $45 pp in advance, which was more than their dinner, so now when the manager says i shouldn't worry about minimum spend (since i had paid for the dinner, the costs are covered), am I expected to go back to my bank account and return that extra money to all of the 40 guests??. It is extremely frustrating since prior to the event, I had asked the manager if we can negotiate on the minimum spend because people have had cancellations. I was told "no". I dont understand the reason for all these facade. Thirdly, food was extremely salty. Not even one guest was contented with the food. I did not report this because of my experience with the manager...

We have been here quite a few times with a social club. There are usually quite a few of us (30-40) so we book the PMQ room. Recently the rest of the hotel was renovated and we've been told that we can't book the PMQ room unless we pay a $1,500 minimum spend up front. I suspect we spend about that much anyway. Shame but that's their call.

We had our last function there Friday 13th September and had 51 people attend for our last meet. We will have to cancel our October meet because of the new booking rules.

The food has always been fabulous until that night. I know of 6 guests that were unhappy with their food, and my meal was so salty I couldn't eat it. No, we didn't complain to the hotel. There is no point when we are leaving shortly afterwards.

The policy to only accept bookings with such a large holding fee seems ridiculous for a room that can only seat approx 20 people. Most of us stand and mingle.

*New menu is very limited and not great quality. *PMQ room not changed (nor dusted recently BTW) *New policy of $1,500 spend upfront doesn't seem possible for such a small room with only approx 20 seats.

Thanks for having us, it's been great for 14 months... we are in the look out for the next place to take our cash and good vibes.

Update October 2024

Dissapointing. Our LGBTIQ+ social club includes a number of people who have sensory difficulties and people with disabilities.

We have been many times previously and booked a small room to cater for stand-up cocktails and dinner options.

Recently, the menu changed, making it a limited choice for GF, V, and others. Shame. They have also changed their rules around booking.

Intending to go for our last time as the social event had been advertised for 6 months, we booked tables specifically in that room rather than the entire room.

We were disappointed to discover we had been moved to a large open bar with loud live music and approx 70 other people having drinks.

For obvious reasons we stayed in our usual smaller room until most of our guests had arrived. We felt the managers dissaproval when we told him we have members of our group with sensory issues and needed to be in the room we booked or somewhere accessible. He told us, 'we can put you wherever we feel is the best place, it doesn't matter what area you book.'

There were only 11 other people in our usual room, we (27ppl) made do until a close by venue could be found to cater for us. Sadly, many of our group felt overwhelmed by the changes and left or chose not to come (we immediately put a notice on our advert).

Thank you to the Franklin Hotel on Franklin St Adelaide for welcoming our large special needs group at short notice. They provided excellent food and service with a choice of a small area specifically for us or the beer garden. Nine more people joined us for dinner and were comfortable.

We really appreciate not having to explain our disabilities to get a...

LGBTQ+ and neurodivergent people beware: I have previously been to Electra House on a number of occasions with a group of friends which includes members of the LGBTQ+ community as well as neurodivergent people. We have always booked ahead of time and for the PMQ room which is a quieter location as we're there for conversation. We've booked for a combination of dinner and drinks. Prior to their renovations the service, food and atmosphere was good. On the last occasion, the food had gone down substantially in quality with my wife being unable to eat her dinner because it had been badly oversalted. However, we decided to give it another go. On this occasion, despite having booked for the PMQ room we found we'd been placed in the main room right in front of the DJ booth. The noise was so loud in there it was necessary to shout just to be heard. I spoke to staff believing there had been a mistake. They got the manager who told me that he knew we were 'that group' and that as we'd asked for dinner bookings we were deliberately moved into the main room (there is nothing in the booking system that indicates that one can't have meals in the PMQ room - and we'd eaten in there before on every occasion). The manager was rude and aggressive in his manner while I tried to have what I thought at the time was a genuine booking mixup rectified (I accept that him shouting at me was because it was impossible to talk in the main room at anything approaching a normal volume of voice). It appeared to me that despite not ever having caused any issues the previous seven times, management have decided that members of the LGBTQ+ and nuerodivergent communities do not fit their 'new improved' look. I feel that the move to a totally unsuitable location for dinner was a deliberate and premeditated act. I am so very disappointed to find out that this is the case. I would like to warn all of Adelaide's members in these communities and their allies about Electra House's new position on their...