Barbossa Bar & Bottle Shop — Restaurant in Brisbane City

To begin with, the lack of customer service was truly disheartening. Regrettably, I must convey that we have received more courteous greetings and efficient service at a drive-through than we did at your establishment.

One of the initial grievances occurred when I was served a flat coke from a plastic bottle. Upon requesting a fresh one, the bartender informed me that all the bottles were open and would likely be all flat. This lack of apology or attempt to rectify the situation was disappointing. I am not sure why serve flat coke if they are aware of the issue. Additionally, the absence of any visible signage regarding a 15% surcharge, coupled with the lack of information at the time of ordering, was only discovered when we requested the check.

Our order comprised a mushroom pizza, chicken schnitzel, and a vegan burger. The issues extended beyond service to the quality of the food. The pizza was soggy, the chicken excessively salty, and the salad wilted. The chips arrived cold, and the vegan burger, priced at $28, was disappointing with minimal toppings.

The most egregious aspect of our experience, however, was the unhygienic state of the dining ware. Initially, we were provided side plates that were unwashed and covered in food and fingerprints. Despite four repeated attempts to obtain clean plates, we were met with nonchalant responses, with one waitress even expressing an attitude as if providing clean plates was an inconvenience. We were advised that they needed a new dishwasher.Instead, This lack of concern for basic hygiene was again , very disappointing.

Our attempts to bring these issues to the attention of the staff were met with excuses rather than apologies. Manager, who seemed disinterested and displayed an attitude problem, claimed to be unaware of the situation even though we had encountered him multiple times during our ordeal. His response, blaming a new chef and the need for a new dishwasher, did not excuse the lack of customer service and accountability. He advised that getting clean plates and glasses are "out of his hands" as they are done by kitchen staff. When approached staff to and asked if the Salad looks fresh to him he responded "I can't comment on that".

As paying customers, we did not expect to be met with such a dismissive attitude and lack of professionalism, especially on Christmas Eve , where we chose your restaurant to celebrate our family outing and especially again that we were paying premium prices for our meals. Our dissatisfaction extended to the point where we felt compelled to discuss our concerns with management. Unfortunately, even this interaction provided no resolution, as Manager simply handed us your business card with a casual "here you go mate" and walked away. He did not seem to understand the need to listen and offer any alternate compensation or potentially being Christmas Eve any empathy for our situation .

In an attempt to address my concerns and provide constructive feedback, I took the time to compose an email to the manager, detailing my observations and expressing my dissatisfaction. However, my efforts seemed to fall on deaf ears as, to date, I have received no response from the management. This lack of acknowledgment and failure to address customer concerns is highly disconcerting and indicative of a lackadaisical approach to customer service.

In conclusion, our Christmas Eve celebration at your restaurant was marred by poor service, unhygienic conditions, and subpar food quality. This experience has left us disheartened...

EXPERIENCE Not great, high disappointment wont go back! Went for dinner, rang to reserve table which proved pointless. Turned up on time however due to NO TABLE SERVICE, we had to line up for 10 minutes just to ask where our table was, lack of air con made us start to sweat a bit while waiting. Lack of staff meant we had to wait for cocktails to be made, just to ask about our reservation, kind of made being organized (with reservation) a complete joke!

THEN had to go table and decide what we wanted THEN line up all over again to order. Was told NOT TO ORDER DESERT when ordering diner because it would all come out at once (because obviously thats what customers want, eat dinner while desert goes bad..) and that we should LINE UP YET AGAIN... To add injury to insult, the table had a scan code to access menus on our phones, yet no way of ordering via phone which makes it a complete and utter waste of time. Premium southbank location and prices yet intuition of customers needs and technology was close to ZERO.

FOOD Ordered Pork Belly. Was cut into small pieces, stir fried, dried out, way too much salt and not nice to eat. Salad wasnt dressed and absolutely bland af, couldnt even force myself to eat it.

The other meal ordered was creamy garlic prawns with rice. Was quite nice, made well, bit cream heavy but enjoyable and I helped eat it because Pork belly was rubbish and dried out my soul with salt.

Overall - Under Staffed, long wait time, lack of ordering options, no technology making life easier, lack of care towards customers and food, and cocktails weren't cold.

Barbossa has potential to be good however lack of care, lack of staff, poor and slow ordering procedure (McDonalds has better procedure tech ordering for a 2$ cheese burger) and no table service or option for scan code ordering makes for a disappointing and drawn out evening, leaving me wondering where I can get a...

We initially planned to host our work Christmas party at Barbossa, but in hindsight, we’re relieved we didn’t follow through. Communication with the functions manager, Julia, was a significant issue. My calls went unreturned, and after a week of no response, I had to reach out to Barbossa directly to resolve the refund for our deposit. Julia was unhelpful with our questions and concerns, even suggesting our group might not meet the minimum spend requirement—despite my repeated assurances that we would. She then suggested we change our event date, even though we had already confirmed it and paid the deposit. If you’re considering Barbossa, make sure to carefully review their terms and conditions, particularly regarding the minimum spend. Barbossa requires the full minimum spend to be paid upfront, and any drinks purchased on the night do not count toward this total. Ultimately, we chose a different venue with reasonable terms and much better communication, making the planning process seamless. I can’t speak to Barbossa's food or service since we had to cancel, but I would advise anyone planning a large event to do thorough research...