Bracken Ridge Tavern — Restaurant in Brisbane City

So I was convinced not to leave a review by Chad the owner who offered me a free meal for me and my family due to the incident that occured. However after accepting the offer of a free meal in exchange for me not leaving a review, Chad nor any staff members have responded to my emails regarding the discrimination of me. My elderly parents were there at the tavern one night I have not been to this place except once on a way back from a funeral in January. We were in the area again and my parents decided to get dinner here. I was out with a friend and later on agreed to meet my parents at the tavern around 8.30pm-9pm. I walked into the club to find my parents, only for me to be stopped. The lady with brown hair and brown eyes kind of tall (waitress) stopped me I remember her clearly . She told me I was not allowed to be there. I was very very confused and humiliated Infront of everyone. I asked her why and explained I didn't understand as I had only been there one other time and she didn't even know who I was as she had not checked my id. She refused to check my ID nor identify me to confirm it was a mistake. At this point everyone started looking at us. My elderly dad went to security who asked why the waitress had told me I wasn't allowed to be there and requested they check my ID because it was a mistake. About 10 minutes later after this confrontation Infront of everyone the waitress came back and told me she made a mistake. I left anyways as I was humiliated and had very severe anxiety at that point. I am still confused to this day why I was discrimated against. I had not drunk anything and had simply just walked into the club to meetup with my elderly parents. They created a scene Infront of everyone and publicly humiliated my family all over a mistake made. I will be furthering this complaint to human rights commission , the office of liquor and gaming regulations and QLD office of fair trading. Not only was I discriminated against for having autism and wearing a hoodie in winter (the hood was not up) but I was wearing a pokemon hoodie and beanie to which I have a medical condition where I can't regulate body heat hence the beanie as well which was a pokemon beanie (nothing offensive). But they further have refused to answer any emails from me since then after offering a free meal in return for me not posting the review about the incident that occured. That's why I am now posting this review because I have given them a fair go to respond and reply about a month maybe 2 months and they chose to ignore the emails. So I will now be going ahead with making formal complaints elsewhere to have this incident investigated properly to prevent it from happening again. I was extremely distressed after the public humiliation that night to which I told Chad I was quite upset and how it had affected me emotionally. Anyways just be careful going to this place. Chad apologized about the staff members behaviour but since then has not gone through with the agreement for resolution which I was willing to just let slide because at first I thought Chad generally felt bad that his staff member had acted that way. I now think the company puts on an act to make it seem like they cared they were wrong to do this but then deals with the issue by not responding....

Terrible experience with Jennifer White - General Manager of the Tavern. We booked for a family member's 18th several weeks ago - this was meant to be a family affair of mostly adults and a few teenagers and children. We were called and told our booking had been cancelled with 2 weeks notice because they "don't book 18ths as policy". They offered to seat all 40 of us in their dining room which seems to me like a logistical nightmare.

I was given to the manager who blamed a new hire for making the mistake and told that they would make sure it wouldn't happen again. Meanwhile we are left in a lurch with no venue and people have already taken time off of work, invitations sent. We hard organized catering with BRT and so we've got to start at square one on a very short timeframe.

After pleading our case, Jennifer conceded and said we could have the party there if we paid a security officer $45 an hour, for a 6p-11pm booking. Most of our family doesn't even drink (including the guest of honor), and it was meant to be an adult crowd. Its insulting that we would have to pay for some sort of handler to ensure good behavior.

Jennifer could really benefit from a masterclass in customer service. She actually shouted at me to not tell her how to do her job when I informed her that I've managed restaurants much of my life and would never cancel a birthday booking with short notice based on some vague policy. Maybe its time to hang up the hat, Jen! She told me she's been there 42 years - yikes!

Deferring blame to a subordinate employee, ZERO attempt at consolation, and was told that id be hard pressed to find another venue anywhere else that books 18ths (as if refusing the booking after taking it weeks ago wasn't disheartening enough). And when I referred to the events booking aspect of their business as a function venue, I was told "we are a hotel". Sounds to me like code for "That's not my job".

They are clearly making enough money off the pokies to not care about an honest to goodness family event. So best of luck to you Jen, I know the pokies can't run themselves. Cheers to your hopefully...

Host - 5 stars

Food - 4 stars (some 5 stars, some 3 stars)

Drinks - considering that this restaurant is directly adjacent to one of the best craft beer stores around in the area, it's hard to believe that the craft beer selection was so poor, and none on tap. And trying to order a beer was complicated by the simple question "can I put the beer on the table, or do I pay for it now?" I thought it was a relatively straight forward question, but it led to an overly complicated response by someone who clearly didn't understand the question. Or the system she was working under. I'll never get those 2 minutes back.

Noise - there are ways to reduce noise reflections in large open spaces like this, but having a completely flat ceiling is not one of them. We could hardly hear one another from across the table, and everyone had to lean forward to avoid having to shout at each other for conversation. This wasn't helped by the number of children that were running around yelling and screaming. I would think that COVID protocols would not allow for them to use other, empty tables as a playground but apparently this was overlooked. No one made any comments to the parents about the noise or disturbance caused by treating the restaurant like a playground, which makes me wonder why?

I think this restaurant has an identity issue. The menu and food are great. Service was ok. But for those prices I would expect a little more respectful environment where kids are not running around yelling and screaming. I think the venue is letting itself down by allowing this type of behaviour. Will it discourage some people from coming back after being called on their behaviour, probably. But if it's not done, it will discourage others who are looking for a reliable local with good food from coming back more regularly.

And I struggle to pay quality restaurant prices in a place where I have to get up to order drinks at one place, and food at another. For me to get up and order food like a bowls club, I would expect bowls club food and prices, not this. It has parts of a quality establishment without going...