Felons Brewing Co — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Went to Felons for my birthday recently on a rather cold and windy day. Everything did not go as planned. Wrote some feedback for them and got a response that the GM would "discuss with the management team and get back to me as soon as possible". That was sixteen days ago. Here are the details:

My first impression was that we had decided to dine in a wind tunnel. Entire front of the restaurant was wide open and the wind "blowing a gale". Screens at the railing had been pulled down but this made no difference. The young lady that looked after us from the start was very friendly and personable. Showed us to our table, gave out menus and asked us if we wanted water for the table. Super friendly and could not fault her service or her manner.

When we ordered our meals, I asked if one of our party could have the "potato gratin" with the cole slaw rather than rocket and was told "I'm sorry but the chefs won't change anything".

Let me understand this. I am paying $77.00 for a 350g piece of steak, I'm buying three other meals plus paying for rounds of drinks but I cannot ask for a simple substitution on one dish?

I assured our waiter that I was not holding her responsible in any way and completed the order.

When the meals were served, the aforesaid $77.00 steak was announced as medium when medium-rare had been requested. Not a big deal in itself but when I pointed the mistake out to the the young lady that brought the meals out, her attitude was so cold that even another of my party commented on how she was almost aggressive. I explained to our original waitress (who had by now come to the table and abjectly apologised) that we did not have an issue with her or the service and in fact I was about to eat the steak regardless - I was just trying to point out to the waitress bringing out the food that what we were served was not what we ordered.

What really rubbed salt into the wound was that after all this, three of the meals were brought out and put on the table, but the fourth one was nowhere to be seen ("a problem with the grill"). Not only was it not served until all the other meals had been completely finished, but the steak ordered as "very well done" came out somewhere between medium and bright blushing pink.

So, in summary, not really impressed with my $600.00 71st birthday lunch. Oh, and for the information of your chef (or whoever wrote up your menu), the potato dish you feature would be better described as "potato pavé" rather than potato gratin....

I’ve been to Felons twice and tried to enjoy my visit but unfortunately, both times, it’s been nothing but disappointing. Last night, I came in as a table of 3 for dinner. We ordered 2 matcha lattes, 1 broccoli salad, 1 buffalo wings, 1 cheesy garlic bread/ pizza, and 1 shoestring fries. The bread/ pizza and fries were decent (although not worth what they overcharge you, honestly), but the matcha, salad, and wings were a disappointment. Tell me why the matcha tasted NOTHING like matcha, tell me why it tasted like chai? Do you guys know how to make matcha? The broccoli in the salad tasted uncooked, was very hard, and super bland (unseasoned). The sauce for the buffalo wings was also such a letdown; it tastes just like any regular store bought hot sauce, and is bland/ flavourless.

Finally, let’s discuss the service. As customers, we expect staff of the restaurant, store, etc. we are visiting to serve us to their best abilities and treat us with kindness. We’ve called for servers a few times only for them to ignore us. Issues also happen on the opposite end of the spectrum where they are too attentive and tried taking our plates away when we were in the middle of eating and there was clearly still food on the plates. My friend called over a server one time last night asking for extra tomato sauce and mayo. After 15 minutes of waiting and the server never returning, he decided to go to the kitchen counter himself. He explained the situation right as the original waitress who was serving us walked past by, who just started glaring at him. We’ve read a few reviews on Felons complaining about racism and discrimination towards guests from staff members, and we really hope last night’s lack of service was not due to this.

Overall, I think there are better places in Brisbane to visit that are just so much more worth it. There are a ton of restaurants and bars here that charge for less for better quality service and tastier food. Hopefully we see a change and Felons improves their food quality and...

For a brewery the beer selections are abysmally poor. Only one Felon beer on tap (a mid strength) with all the other taps having comercial beers you can buy at any normal pub around (Little creatures pale ale, Furphy, white rabbit dark ale) with Hawkers IPA and Hawkers west coast IPA the only real boutique beers. Apparently they ran out of their own beer? Sunday afternoon visit was incredibly busy which is great if you like the noisy social crowd (plenty of people watching possibilities) but not so good if you want to talk without losing your voice.

The live music playing in the beer garden out the back was a nice touch and quite enjoyable with a nice atmosphere all around. Actually, out the back was far more pleasant than inside the shed with it being cooler and less noisly.

Food prices fairly typical of a new venue (definitely on the high side). Woodfired pizzas average $25, burgers $18 and mains $36. Pizzas were quite good. Vegetarian bowls available for $18 - $20 with 3 different selections. Kids meals the typical rubbish at $12 (cheeseburgers, chicken nuggets, pizza and fish and chips). It's a shame that yet another new venue does not have any healthy kid meal options. Deserts are $13 (ice cream, pavlova, gelato).

When the 2 cheeseburgers came out both meat patties were still raw. With one of our party being pregnant this could've been quite dangerous. This should not happen, especially for a venue charging $18 a burger. Both burgers were sent back and when the replacements arrived they were not much better (still pretty raw). Come on guys! Pic is of the second burger.

To sum up, the location and river ambience is really nice. Service seemed pretty decent. I'll come again but not for the beer (which is pretty poor considering it's a brewery!). I'll give the food another go perhaps but with so many great venues around Brisbane Felons is nothing special without the views and...