Dark Shepherd — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I want to start by saying that this place is absolutely not where you should celebrate your birthday or any special occasion. My husband and I had been here once before and enjoyed it, so we made the mistake of returning with four of our friends for my birthday yesterday so a party of six.

We all decided to go with the special lunch banquet, as we had previously enjoyed it and recommended it to our friends. However, one couple in our group doesn’t eat seafood, and instead of offering any flexibility or substitutions, the staff simply removed those dishes altogether. As if that wasn’t bad enough, as the dishes started arriving, it became obvious that they were bringing out portions meant for two couples instead of three. We had the exact same banquet as a party of two before, and the amount and variety of food were significantly more than what six of us received this time.

When we raised this with the staff, someone who introduced himself as the manager, “Yani,” came over, I highly doubt he was an actual manager, because his behaviour was shockingly unprofessional. Rather than acknowledging the mistake, he insisted this was intentional and even claimed they serve the same amount of food to parties of 10 or 20 people, as if that somehow makes it acceptable! It absolutely doesn’t!! Doing something wrong repeatedly doesn’t make it right, it just shows how low your standards are.

To make matters worse, he raised his voice at me, and at one point even called me and my husband rude and just left our table!!!!!! I was stunned!! What kind of manager behaves like that?

It’s honestly sad to see a business ruined by such arrogance and lack of basic customer service. I would never recommend this place to anyone again.

Edit - responding to your comment:

Thank you for your response, though I must say, reading it only confirms exactly why this experience was so disappointing.

If this is the standard of “customer service” your team aspires to, then there really isn’t much left to say. Instead of taking accountability, you’ve chosen to write a long justification full of excuses, deflection, and false claims!! all while implying the customer is at fault for expecting consistency and respect.

Let’s make one thing clear: we had the exact same banquet before as a party of two, and the portions, variety, and service were completely different. What we experienced this time was not a “curated experience” or “reduced food waste.” It was simply cutting corners and offering less to a larger group. That’s the issue, not the “value” of the ingredients, which you keep bringing up as if that somehow excuses poor delivery. You can claim the food value was $10,000 if you like, it still wouldn’t change the fact that six paying guests did not receive what was promised or expected.

As for your version of events, I find it interesting that the so-called “supervisor” (who raised his voice and called guests rude) is now being painted as the professional in this situation. If that’s what you consider professional conduct, it perfectly sums up the deeper problem here.

We didn’t “misunderstand” your banquet structure, we understood it perfectly last time when it was done properly. I truly hope future customers read both sides and see exactly how your restaurant handles...

貴又難吃，服務差不專業。 千萬不要來浪費錢！ An extremely disappointing birthday dinner — overhyped, overpriced, and utterly underwhelming.

We decided on a last-minute celebration for my husband’s birthday and chose this place based on its seemingly glowing reviews. Big mistake.

From the moment we arrived, the experience was off. The waitress asked for my name, then proceeded to flirt openly with a waiter in front of us before finally seating us. Unprofessional doesn’t even begin to describe it.

When ordering, I pointed to the banquet menu and was asked, “Chef’s dessert?” Confused, I replied “Sheer Delight,” the name of the set. She then asked how many portions we wanted — shouldn’t banquet menus be ordered per table? It became clear she had no clue about the menu. Turns out, she was a new hire — only one week on the job. Who lets a completely untrained server handle customers alone in a supposedly fine dining restaurant?

We declined alcohol, yet the wine list was left on the table😧I have to put it back myself — just one of many signs of a lack of attention and care.

Then the chaos began.

Oysters and bread were served at the same time. The bread was aggressively salty — I had to scrape the salt off to even eat it. Worse, when the server cleared the plates, she asked me to put my empty oyster shells back on the original serving dish. Seriously? I asked her to please just take my plate and bring a clean one — basic hospitality.

The food trickled in slowly and inconsistently. Scallops, steak, pasta balls, and prawns all arrived together. The server’s fingers touched the edge of my husband’s scallop shell — highly unhygienic. Our sparkling water had been topped up with still water by then. Two diners, and they brought us only three slices of lime. Zero attention to detail.

The steak had a char so bitter it overpowered everything. Calamari was absurdly salty — inedible. I sent it back. For a restaurant under Chef Michael’s name, this was shocking. $110 per head for this?

The pasta balls were cold inside. And why were four different dishes served all at once? Is the kitchen trying to rush people out?

By dessert, we were already full of regret — and not in a good way. The table was cluttered with used plates that weren’t cleared for ages while the staff continued their banter. When they finally brought new plates, I was genuinely surprised they didn’t ask me to reuse the old ones again 🙄.

Then came the lamb. Cold. Yes — cold, just like the grilled red pepper it came with. The potato was warmer than the lamb, which is saying a lot. It was overcooked to the point of mush, then clearly sat for ages before being served. At this point, my husband (who’s not picky at all) didn’t even bother to complain — we just wanted it to be over.

The dessert? stale, overly sweet, cold citrus cake — not fresh, and definitely not enjoyable.

At checkout, we gave honest feedback. The front desk apologized, but pointed out we had eaten the food — as if we were looking for a discount. We paid nearly $230 for what was easily Brisbane’s worst fine dining experience.

Food: 0/10. Service: 0/10. Atmosphere: Non-existent. Regret: Immeasurable.

Avoid at all costs. I’ll be warning all my friends, colleagues, and clients — this place does not deserve your time, money...

Was looking forward to finally dining at your establishment. Having many relatives and friends dine here and telling me how good it was, it was a night we both were looking forward too. My partner had booked us a table for 2 a few weeks ago for my birthday. After having confirmed on the day and receiving confirmation, it was surprising to find out our booking had been cancelled when we arrived. My partner also spoke to a staff member on the day, whose name I won’t mention on here, to organise a candle for when we ordered dessert. They mentioned they use a sparkler instead of a candle.

Besides the scallop, which was dry and seemed the wood fire took away that beautiful scallop taste, all the meals we ordered were fantastic. We ordered the Toothfish, the Moreton Bay bug Orzo pasta, the Youvetsi, the red potatoes and the Knafeh for dessert.

Food was fantastic but it was the service that let the experience down. Having dined at SK the previous evening, it didn’t come close to the attention to detail you would expect from a fine dining establishment. We were seated in a booth next to the entry. The guests previous to us were given blankets to keep warm as there is a draft that comes into the restaurant. This was not offered. As much as I love to see fresh seafood on display, the led light in the display case is blinding. This can’t be avoided if you are seated in the booth.

Our booking was somehow cancelled, lucky they could fit us in. When asked what the daily specials are, “ I think we only have the king fish soup available”. We ordered our cocktails and ordered our food. Cocktails came out in a reasonable time and so did the food. When ordering specific meals, like the orzo pasta and youvetsi, you would think that some service cutlery would come with it when they can tell you are sharing. Had to ask twice for spoons so we could serve the meal into our share plates. When we ordered more drinks, we waited and waited until I had to ask for them again as clearly they had been forgotten. No apology, they just arrived and dumped on the table. In a fine dining establishment, water should be topped up continuously. Again, had to ask for this over and over as it didn’t happen. Ordered some more drinks and they came out promptly. Clearly these were not forgotten.

Overall, the attention to detail was not there. All those little simple extra details you would expect in a fine dining establishment, from topping up water, providing service cutlery for shared meals, drinks not being forgotten, offering blankets to keep warm, and not having to see staff finishing their shift and walk through the restaurant to leave work and not even a farewell when we departed. The service was lacklustre. Would we visit again, yes, for the food, but I wouldn’t expect much from the service. I’ve been in the industry a long time and am aware of the service that should be delivered in a fine dining...