The Croft House — Restaurant in Brisbane City

I ate here a few times for dinner and breakfast while staying in Brisbane and really liked it - I was actually staying at another nearby Accor group hotel but liked it here so much it became my stand-in hotel bar-restaurant. It's open all day with a short brunch menu until 2pm, and then an evening grill-focused menu with above average wines. Atmosphere: the place looks great, nicely furnished, good lighting, and has the low key hum of a hotel bar-restaurant. Although based in the hotel, doors open onto the street as well, actively inviting in non hotel guests, and it did seem like there was a mix. Service: It was really the staff that made the place for me, particularly the friendly evening front of house duo who made me feel welcome as a solo diner, warmly engaged with me, and indulged my banter ❤️❤️❤️. Food: the food was all prepared to an elevated standard, was interesting, technically excellent, and delicious. I ordered the breakfast bruschetta of beetroot hummus, avocado and eggs twice, once it was great but the second time it was overpowered by hollandaise (4⭐). The roast pork belly with carrot puree, heritage carrots and compressed apple was delicious (4.5⭐), and the shallot and goats cheese tart was sublime (5⭐). While I enjoyed it all, and the cooking was clearly highly competent, it struck me that the dishes would have benefitted from more restraint to stop adding on ingredients. Desserts: I didn't try desserts but the cheese board was enormous, with the bonus of an excellent mini baguette and french cultured butter, but I would have preferred more quality and less quantity with the cheese selection (4⭐). Drinks: The wine list was a real highlight with a huge range of wines by the glass, and pairing recommendations for each dish. I particularly liked that they had a list of "house" wines and a list of "reserve" wines to satisify preferences. All the wines I had were particularly good. Top notch. Value: on the pricey side but the quality was there to match the prices. Accor Plus dining benefits apply. I note the fairly low average review score on google maps and elsewhere, which was certainly not reflective of my experience across multiple visits. I'm so glad I was not deterred by that. Trying to make sense to that I looked through the reviews and these seem to reflect historic experiences of service and food that must have been worked on actively. Personally, I loved it, it's now pinned with a heart in my google maps, and the next time I stay in Brisbane I'll be looking at staying...

I recently stayed at the hotel and decided to try both breakfast and dinner at the hotel restaurant. Unfortunately, both experiences were deeply underwhelming.

Breakfast: Although breakfast is supposed to open at 6:30 AM, punctuality was clearly not a priority. I ordered two poached eggs, which took an astonishing 20 minutes to arrive—despite the fact that there were only two customers in the entire restaurant. Poached eggs don’t exactly take that long to prepare… and to top it off, the staff was unfriendly.

Dinner: For dinner, I entered through the hotel entrance, but no one was there to greet or seat me. After a few minutes, I went to the street entrance, and just 2 minutes later, I was finally shown to a table. The waiting continued. Fifteen minutes later, I saw the waitresses chatting behind the counter with a friend, and by that time, I had been seated for 20 minutes without even a glass of water. The tables weren’t cleared, and there were only six customers in the restaurant! It felt like a serious lack of professionalism. The table I was assigned didn’t have salt or pepper, and it took 20 minutes to get a glass of wine. Despite requesting water, it never came. To make matters worse, the two other tables that had ordered 15 minutes after me were served first. Forty minutes after placing my order, my food finally arrived. 😞

Food Quality: The bread was decent, but I was served two crusty slices from the loaf—hardly what you'd expect from a restaurant. The pepper mill was empty, and the poached eggs were overcooked and waterlogged, resembling hard-boiled eggs rather than poached ones.

Dinner: Dinner didn’t fare much better. The fries were served in a huge bucket, almost enough for four people. The chicken, which was supposed to come with veggies, arrived with only a single branch of broccolini and some peas. The meal also came with what looked like common ham cubes—quite underwhelming for the price.

Menu Issues: The menu offered no clear guidance, particularly for dietary restrictions. There were no symbols or notes to indicate which dishes could accommodate common dietary needs (e.g., gluten-free, vegetarian), even though there was a "legend" at the bottom of the menu. This made it incredibly difficult to make an informed choice.

Conclusion: All in all, this was a truly disappointing experience, and I won’t be returning....

The renovations have really elevated the atmosphere of the place. The double doors also offer a very welcoming feel to enter. But then there is a sign to wait here to be seated.....but no one came or acknowledged us. We had to line up at the counter and as for a table and the girl said sure just sit anywhere. I then had to ask for a menu as well. Definitely made the process feel unwelcoming. There were lots of staff around but they were doing odd jobs rather than attending to people arriving. One girl was refilling salt n pepper shakers, the other was relining the bin the other was just grabbing coffees made and taking them to tables. The gentlemen behind me even said yeah they are not great at customer service but the coffee is good. We ordered our food and return to our table to then have a plate of food on our table that was not ours. Had to tell the girl that it wasn't ours and she just shrugged her shoulders and took the plate away. The girl at the register had to make some drinks as well so it just delayed the whole process. My Bellisimo Avocado arrived and my first impressions were not great. It looked and tasted like cold mush on a piece of toast. Super disappointing, the flavours were confusing with the melted almost sauce like white cheese sauce on top of the mashed avocado. However the eggs benedict was balanced in taste and well presented. All in all I will try other food on their menu but wow you guys really need to work on your customer service. It seems it is your downfall not only recently but for some time now looking at the comments. If you worked on this and maybe genuinely wanted feedback on your food so you could improve you will be an amazing place to dine at. Then you would also align more with The Sebel level of quality they offer seeming you service their clientele. Your customer service is the key to be successful. People will pay good money for great...