New Farm Seafood — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I’ve been to this restaurant a few times and previously had good impressions, but my recent visit was deeply disappointing and upsetting.

We arrived around lunchtime and waited quite a while without anyone coming to take our order. When a male staff member finally came over, he took the first item of our order (oysters), then abruptly left to take the order from another table, claiming they arrived earlier — without any apology or explanation. It felt dismissive and unprofessional.

Later, I politely asked if it was possible to order 200-300g of prawns (instead of the half-kilo on the menu) because we wanted to enjoy a variety of seafood dishes. The waiter responded in a rude and condescending tone, saying “it has never been allowed” since he started working there. But I’ve ordered smaller portions on previous visits without any issue, and there is no sign or menu note stating otherwise. When I asked if he could check with the manager or owner, he refused. I even requested a different staff member — again, refused.

At this point, the service had become so unpleasant that we decided to leave. I asked a female staff member (possibly the manager) whether we needed to pay for the sparkling water we barely touched, and she kindly said “don’t worry.” However, about 10 minutes later, the same male waiter came out to tell us that the owner insisted we pay $7 for the water. It wasn’t about the money — it was the implication that we were trying to avoid paying a small bill, which I found deeply insulting.

This entire experience made me feel disrespected and unwelcome, and I couldn’t help but wonder if my ethnicity played a role in the way we were treated. It’s very disheartening to feel this way, especially at a place I used to enjoy.

Sadly, no matter how good the food might be, the lack of respect and professionalism has completely changed my view of this restaurant. I hope the management seriously reflects on their customer service — particularly how they treat regular customers and those from diverse backgrounds.

Dear Michael,

Thank you for your response.

It is unfortunate that as the owner, you chose not to acknowledge the core issues I raised as a customer. It appears you did not carefully read my feedback, nor tried to understand the genuine experience I had during my visit.

That is completely your choice, and I respect that. Perhaps one customer’s experience doesn’t matter much to your business. I sincerely wish you all the best in the...

I has good and tasty food and I have had eaten here 6 or 7 times. Good decoration but the problem with inside dining area is that it is full of fishy smell as they present raw fish in same space as you dine and it is not so pleasant to eat while you can smell the fish. The biggest problem is serving staff as most of them feel a bit arrogant and they think they are doing a favour to us letting them eat there. One happened this was as that I sat on a table waiting to order, there was no cutlery on my table. So I just grabbed a menu and a set of cutlery from the table next to me. After a few. A couple of minutes later a male waiter came to me and in an angry tone told me that you shouldn't pick up tut cutlery from other tables and you should sit and we come and set your table. He wanted to educate me. His attitude really increases my blood pressure and I told him that I wouldn't eat here again and he replied it doesn't matter! As a business owner I understand that that purpose of a business is to serve and retain customers and even if what a customer does is not the right way of doing it, we won't lose a customer because of that. What I did wasn't a big deal but the way the waiter reacted was overreaction. If I was the owner of this business I wouldn't even mention it to the customer. It seems that management haven't invented in training staff and reaching them how to deal with and treat customers. So what could be a relaxing lunch experience, turned to a...

This little shop of horrors made what was easily the worst fish and chips I have ever had in my life. The chips were soggy and underseasoned And the aioli was more like a sour mayonnaise then a true garlicky aioli. Even though the lemon pepper calamari was tender the batter was soggy and it was extremely greasy Their battered cod was nauseatingly horrid and although it looked fine at first (although there was an off smell about it) the fish tasted like it had been caught in the brisbane river there was a really unpleasant taste of chemicals and I couldn't even finish one bite before I had to throw out the fish. I'm currently feeling quite queasy rn and I ate less than an ounce of fish.

Perhaps the non-fried food is better but as the other customer reviews suggest the fish and chips here are BAD. If you're looking for fish and chips there are other restaurants nearby that are significantly cheaper, tastier and better portioned that don't sell cod that tastes like it's been preserved in formaldehyde. I had high hopes for this place and it brings me no pleasure in writing this but I wanted to warn potential customers because I don't believe that the cod I had was safe to eat and I don't want others...