Nodo Newstead — Restaurant in Brisbane City

This weekend will mark the one-year anniversary of my 3 visits to Nodo: first, last and only. Like a mid-afternoon shadow, the memory of this experience stalks me, interrupting love-making and making it hard for me to hold down a proper job. One might say what happened that day wasn’t entirely the fault of Nodo, to which I would reply: “come out here and fight me in the street” because I get aggressive when people disagree with me. I had arranged to have brunch with a friend. We’ll call him Michael because quite simply that was his real name. Two things became very much apparent about Michael that morning: He was not one to cancel a brunch; and He had diarrhoea. We greeted a waitress who took our order with the customer service finesse of one of those budget European airlines where you have to pay for the oxygen masks. Michael got one of those healthy smoothies but said he would not be eating, on account of the diarrhoea. I ordered a pulled pork burger. Michael then popped off for his first visit to the loo. One thing I must commend Nodo for is its vast array of seating - if you don’t get a seat you didn’t bring your bum. Downstairs, upstairs, outside. As the famous lyric from ‘Every Rose Has its Thorn’ by Seal: “you’d need a golden calculator to divide” the number of seats at Nodo. Yet, for all its seats, there was only one unisex disabled toilet. Even sans an outgoing diarrhoea sufferer, coffee is a known diuretic and there should be more toilets. Michael was in there a while, and a line began to snake down the perimeter of the cafe, portraying a time-lapse of a descent into adult anxiety. The lady at the front was hopping about in some experimental effort to prevent soiling herself in a ‘trendy’ cafe. I’m sure it’s perfectly acceptable to soil oneself in the sandwich bars of Bracken Ridge - but this is Newstead. All the while, I awaited my pulled pork burger. Thankfully or otherwise, it finally arrived during Michael’s 3rd toilet break. I began eating at a leisurely pace. The bun was on the stale side, the pulled pork was lukewarm. I’d say it was nothing to write home about but I didn’t write home after I lost my virginity and that was awesome so perhaps writing home or not isn’t a proper yardstick. Finally Michael re-emerged to the relief of a newly assembled queue of anxious over-hydrated patrons. “Burger looks good!” He said. I guess it did. “Mind if I have a bite?” I guess what happened hereafter was what a first year law student would refer to as a “break in the chain of Nodo’s causation”. Unaware that I had been keeping my distance from Michael as if he were a leper Kevin Spacey, a presumptuous smile lingered on Michael’s face. In a perfect world, I would have said no. Mike would have cancelled if he had diarrheoa. Nodo would have had a toilet block. My pulled pork burger wouldn’t have taken so long. But this isn’t a perfect world. I reshuffled my grip on the burger and offered it forth for Michael to bite, however he took the liberty of grabbing it with both hands. We touched. His hands were wet and warm like [redacted]. At least he had washed them, but his hands were so wet that the bun was now soggy. I retrieved my burger from his grip the way one retrieves a cell phone from the washing machine - a hopeless but animalistic sense of ownership. “That’s revolting...” was all I could muster as I lay the burger down in its final resting place. I waited outside, as Michael used the sole toilet for the 4th time, getting sunburnt. I never went back to Nodo and I never ate brunch with...

Very dirty and clear lack of cleaning protocols. Until they make some changes i do not recommend this venue.

I love the Nodo chain because i have dietary requirements so it saddens me to leave a poor review to a Nodo veneu. I've visited a few of the other Nodo venues in Brisbane and my complaints are only applicable to the Newstead one.

The water bottles were disgusting. You could see actual debris inside and stuck to the bottle. It wasn't minor or a one off, all the bottles looked gross inside. We had a large table and i was able tonat least see 10 bottles in disgusting condition. I'm glad i took my own water bottle.

I had to return two glasses and cutlery because they were visibly dirty. Not a little water stain smudge, but actual grease and food smudges. I ended wiping a glass to share water with my kids, since staff completely brushed me off like it was no big deal when i commented their water bottles were disgusting inside. While i understand that the restaurant was in a busy period, the water bottles couldn't have gotten so dirty from just that morning. You could tell they hadn't been cleaned, or at least rinsed, in at least over a week, probably more.

When I purchased doughnuts, as they packed then, before i had any access to them, i noticed there were body hair on my box. I pointed this out and asked for a change of box which annoyed a staff member (probably the owner of the body hair, since he was the only one with body hair) while the female staff were apologetic about it. I saw the male staff member then wipe off the hair and return the box to the pile to be used for packing.

My friend found longer, female like hair on her food, which was also gross and staff made her feel bad about her complaining. Eg not offered a refund, or exchange of the dish, they asked if they needed to remove the hair or if she was expecting an exchange in a tone that wasn't apologetic, but challenging. As someone who worked in hospitality, i found all these red flags appalling. If I had been tjere by myself instead of been there to catch up with a large group i would have left on the spot. I think their lack of higiene is a huge disservice to the venue. Overall, the staff were kind, prompt and helpful, but i think their management is poor and they should review their protocols.

I hope Nodo Newstead reads this and hopefully improves from this feedback, as Nodo is such a good franchise and overall provides excellent service and products for an industry gap (eg dietary...

Im not coming back to Nodo anymore. I have been going to nodo for the last few years and overtime the service has become bad. The girls are nice but its way to slow and unprofessional. Ive had to wait 40mins a couple of times for a single takeaway drink. And during this time, no one updates you or lets you know it will take a long time. Today, I got my usual order again (1x iced matcha latte) and I asked how long it would be and they said 10-15mins. I said I’d go for a quick walk and come back. I came back 10 mins later and nothing. Then went for another walk and came back another 10/15mins later and nothing again. Then just waited where they said to for another 20mins or so. It finally took me going up to the counter and asking for my drink, to which they pulled it out from underneath the register. Each time i came back and was waiting I made it obvious I was there (incase they had my drink ready and called my name while i wasn’t there) but no one bothered to let me know it was ready or bring the drink out to the takeaway section again. Its just unprofessional. In hospitality you’re meant to be aware of these things so people can get their drinks quickly and keep the people and orders coming through efficiently. Not just leave them outside and wait until they come to the counter and ask you if its ready. This is not the first time this and the long waits has happened too. Its also become a lot more expensive and nearly $10 for an almond iced matcha is insane. You should also accept cash. Its by law you have to and covid is long gone and over. I’ll skip nodo from now on and go somewhere else. You’ve lost a...