Tower Hotel — Restaurant in Adelaide

Absolutely horrible and unprofessional service at this venue. I booked the Alehouse for a 21/22nd. Due to covid I decided to have an all-out 22nd birthday celebration. I initially met with a functions manager Cherie who stated she would forward me a formalised quote and details to officially book in the event. I never received an email and had to enquire again via email and received a reply from functions manager Cooper who was helpful. I met with Cooper and was happy with his friendly demeanour and willingness to work with us to plan the event. I had ordered a custom cake made by Heidelberg cakes that cost me 253 dollars which included a custom cake topper that I paid $20 for. I had ordered this cake before finalising the venue as it was the only thing I was very certain of. On the night of the event, the functions manager Cherie was present, at 8:15 she approached me to discuss cake-cutting at 9pm. She explained the cake would be brought out at 8:30 to take photos and do the cake-cutting and would then be taken to the kitchen to be cut and distributed. At 9:15 my guests noticed that the cake was being distributed to all the guests and asked me why I was not cutting the cake. I immediately approached the bartender who was not able to help me. I went to the bar at the back of the venue and spoke with someone called Sebastien who was also not able to explain what had happened or why. He said he would go to the kitchen to see if a remaining piece of my cake could be brought out for me cut… i explained I just did not understand what happened as I had recently discussed with Cherie what the plan was for the cake. I have attached photos of the sad mess that was brought out to me in front of my 50 guests… deeply upsetting and so disappointing. I live locally and believe in trusting local businesses especially during such troubling times for many. I trusted the tower hotel to host the 21st that I couldn’t previously have only to have experienced this mess. At the end of night I was not given any compensation in what I was paying, Sebastien stated that I was required to pay the full amount despite what had happened with no empathy or understanding towards me other than to say “We aren’t sure what happened but there was some miscommunication about the cake”. He explained that all they could do was take the 50 dollar cake cutting fee off the bill. I emailed the venue and explained my frustration and requested an explanation of how this type of error could occur. No one has been able to explain this situation apart from saying “we don’t know what happened”. I demanded a full refund of the price that I paid for the cake, $253 for the cake + cake topper. After 1 month of back and forth emails and chasing down a copy of the invoice from the cake store, today I went in to receive a full refund, only to receive $233 as apparently the cake topper doesn’t count. Honestly what a joke of a venue and the staff clearly have no empathy or understanding towards their customers. I will never visit this local venue again and if you are considering hosting an event here, I would urge you to go elsewhere. No amount of money can make up for a mistake of this gravity, but when no one is able to explain how this mistake occurred this is only more frustrating for the customer. I have lost so much respect for this venue and the staff. I don’t think it was too much to ask for a full refund of the cake and an explanation of what occurred. This doesn’t make up for even 1% of the disappointment I...

Went in for a cheeky punt just before closing time. I was aware the venue had changed hands and feared the worst but being one of only 3 venues in walking distance, and the closest option by far, it was a fairly easy choice despite what knowing what kind of experience I'd have.

The expected staff changeover had occurred, but I was pleasantly surprised by the new faces on overnight. Machines were no different but the place was kept tidy and there were no issues obliging when I requested a soft drink, and both staff were friendly and hospitable. I won some money, tipped to satisfy the karmic law of the universe, and made my departure as it was closing time.

I went back the next morning thinking the machine I had found my luck on the previous night may still yet have more love to give, and was disheartened by the familiar face of an old staff member whom I'd had far more unpleasant encounters with than the amount of positive interactions.

Despite that I won more money again, received no small amount of attitude at my request for a soft drink, as though the simple task of pouring a drink was too much effort. To her credit she did come and find me out on the gaming floor when I said I'd be back in a moment to collect the drink but I was just going back to check on my machine as i had a substantial amount of credit on it that I didn't want to leave unattended for too long.

This may have been driven by the fear of me leaving negative feedback at the earlier sass, or may have been genuine as an attempt at professionalism. I suspect it was neither and was simply an opportunity to assess the machines credit meter and thus tip potential, as I noticed her eyes were on the screen rather than myself as she handed me the beverage. I thanked her, pulled the cash out, and after not too much longer made my exit, this time without tipping.

My career is in hospitality, and so I do like to think I am somewhat of a connoisseur of the high quality customer experience, amongst the other key facets that make a successful operation in what under no uncertain terms is, a service industry.

Sometimes, we as staff, as people, have average days. We have things going on in our own lives, and sometimes it can even feel like its too much to handle, and yet we are shown no mercy, nor compassion, before being cut down in a review. Personally, I understand that, and as such give a great deal of leniency before casting my own judgement.

But when it is the norm, someone scoffs at a customer, rolls their eyes sarcastically, begrudgingly fulfills even the most basic part of their roles requirements, or condescendingly addresses someone who is a paying customer, and also one that is being pointedly courteous, and considerate in their approach and expectations, and the par course is to simply be rude by default, then in my opinion that is pretty unforgivable.

This isn't the industry for you.

As for the rest of the venue, it was clean, I was one of the few visitors present on either occasion, though the car park can be quite poorly lit late at night, depending on which side you approach from. Games are a mix of semi-modern to nearly current titles, and though I didn't in this instance experience it, last I recall the food was phenomenal, just a couple of years ago, and I recall the beverage selection being very noteworthy, with no real gaps in...

First time visit tonight. Meet some friends and thought we'd give it a shot. Nicely set up hotel and relaxed beer garden, thought at first glance, this will be a nice night. Walked in, unsure where to go, had to flag down a waitress. She was unsure of our booking, couldn't find our name till I mentioned we did it online. Manager sitting at a table, really uninterested in helping, had the reservation sheet. Took him a few minutes to look up and register that patrons were looking for help. From there we were seated. No menus, no water, nothing, waitress walked away and didn't come back. Since it was a while since we had seen our friends we had a good chat while we waited for service. An hour went by without anyone coming to check on us. That's just bad service, so we walked up to the bar and got menus. Went beck to our seats and thought, we'll wait for service and decide what to eat. Another 30 minutes went by, not a soul came in to check on us. Other tables had been seated in the meantime, had water and drinks brought to them, and we were just being overlooked. So, we decided to go up to the bar and order our food and drinks. Get there, and had the manager ignore us, and 2 other staff walk past without a word, until I said excuse me, we want to order food. Blank look. I asked again, can we order food, she said over there. Over where we asked, and the manager walked to the bar and said here. Quite weird at this stage, the service was appalling, but didn't want to let it ruin our night. The manager took our orders without making eye contact at all, no smile, nothing. Once again, I found this really rude and strange. So we paid and sat back down. 3 other tables that walked in after we had ordered fit their food first, and their drinks while we were still waiting. Dumbfounded by the service, I asked a waitress where our food was and she advised it was on the way. Finally got it over half hour after paying. Food was really nice, and food price too, service absolutely disgusting.

So anyway, we finished dinner and wanted to accuse we were ready for dessert, as we ordered and paid with our mains. Do you think anyone was around? 4 tables including us in dining room, no staff anywhere. Again another 20 minutes before we could find anyone to ask for our dessert. Finally got a waitress, and she rushed off to get it.

Another 25 minutes, still no dessert. Finally came after 30 minutes.

Luckily we were not in a rush, but the whole experience was terrible, no apology our explanation as to why everything took so long, and no thank you for coming.

I liked the food, but I don't think I'll ever come back. You have your staff and manager to thank for the crappy service....