The Ship Inn (S06) — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Together with my wife and our two friends we dined here on a busy Saturday night in December. The place was pretty packed, with every dining area, inside and outside full, so that gave it an energetic and lively vibe. There was a queue to check in at the app, but luckily for us, we had made a booking, and our booked table was ready and waiting for us at the appointed time, although not before, as it was occupied.

Bar service was fairly quick, but then we struggled to get someone’s attention to come and take our food order. Eventually the barman himself had to come and do it, but that was the only glitch, because, to his credit, said barman was calm under pressure and remained friendly, polite and helpful. And once the order-taking was accomplished, we didn't have to wait long for the food.

My wife ordered the lamb shanks ($29) and I ordered the beef and Guinness pie ($25), with a calamari for our starter. Our friends ordered a rump steak and lamb shanks. Portion sizes were generous. The calamari (only 5 pesos) was billed as a ”side”, but was perfect as an entrée. It was just a small portion of fresh, chewy fish in a crispy batter that whetted our appetites, but didn’t fill us up too much so as to spoil the main event. Which was just as well because my pie was beautifully constructed to look like an upside down flying saucer. But it was delicious; filled with fresh, chunky pieces of tasty beef and laced with lashing of Guinness ale, all wrapped up in a soft, fluffy pastry. A really exceptionally high quality pub meal. My wife’s lamb was melt-in-your-mouth tender and came with mash and broccoli, topped with toasted almonds and yoghurt. Everyone enjoyed their meals.

There are plenty of seating options both inside and outside. But it being a warm, balmy Queensland summer's night, we sat outside on the terrace, which was ideal and nice to be able to watch the passing parade on the footpath outside the hotel. It was a tad loud though, but I guess that’s unavoidable on a Saturday night, two weeks out from Christmas.

Toilets are inside and not difficult to find. They’re clean and well provisioned , although I was surprised that, at least for the gents, there was only one cubicle.

All up, we paid $75 for a schooner of Byron Bay ale, a glass of sparkling wine, a calamari “side” and two main meals. A year or two ago, that would have knocked me off my chair, but now, as Australia heads towards “Weimar Republic” levels of hyperinflation thanks to the Reserve Bank, this has become the norm and it doesn’t shock me anymore. But it’s incredible to think how far along the road to economic ruin we’ve come, when a year or two ago, this same order would probably have cost under 50 pesos.

We didn’t bother driving, but took the ferry to the South Bank ferry terminal from where it’s a short, but dangerous walk to the hotel. I say dangerous because in this brave new “green” world where “e-scooters” and other “green energy” forms of transport proliferate, the pavements have become chaotic free-for-alls, and a potential death trap for unwary or elderly pedestrians, as scooters, bikes, skateboarders etc whiz past, some doing speeds of...

My partner organised a birthday lunch here on a Saturday. We had plans after and had about 2 hours to eat. We sat down and ordered drinks, waited about 30min before asking where the drinks were, only for the old fella to tell me he had completely forgot to put them in. No dramas, let’s re order them and whilst your here can we order our food. Talks to us about the specials, even convinces me to have one of them, that’s how good he makes it sound. Sit there enjoying our drinks, about and hour goes by and I can see a tonne of food coming out to tables that were clearly here after us (it’s not busy about 5 tables total) . I think surely he hasn’t forgotten again, so I let it slide, it is my birthday so I’m pretty relaxed. About another 30minutes go by and our food still hasn’t come out. I approach the bar and ask if our food is close by as we have tickets to be somewhere at 2. I ask the lady at the bar and she can’t even find the order, YEP! That’s right, old mate forgot the order. AGAIN. AFTER CONVINCING ME TO GET A SPECIAL AND TALKING ME THROUGH HOW GOOD IT IS. He assures me he will put it in straight away and it will be out in 5 min max. Only because he says 5 minutes do we decide to wait around, 25 minutes later the food still wasn’t ready, I was pretty appalled to be honest, my partner felt horrible and like SHE had ruined a good day, when it was all down to this one old chap who clearly is incapable of working there. Won’t ever be back, on top of all this, not one person looked like they actually cared this had gone wrong, if anything. They were avoiding eye contact with me when walking past to avoid talking to me about where our order is. The booking even had to celebrate a birthday. Great job Ship Inn. Think it’s time...

Tuesday night dinning, not extremely busy by any means. Have many food intolerances/allergies and staff bluntly said they would not try making any effort to make a dish without the spices I’m allergic to. Claiming restaurant was too busy. I was force to choose from two meals only out of the 12 on menu, forced to choose a steak meal which I don’t eat normally, don’t like steak for this reason , it was too dry without condiments. Staff said couldn’t do gravy, mayonnaise , or any non vinegar dressing without black pepper in it. They said every meal has pepper in it and they can’t adjust it. Mind you they also said its made in the morning, so if it’s made they should have plain mayonnaise before they add the pepper. Who puts pepper in mayonnaise?they also then said it’s pre packaged with the pepper. So which is it Shipped Inn! The chef or manager did come out and his professionalism and kindness was perfect , he said the restaurant was willing to make something special but other staff had said NOT. I’m lost for words. I would have been much more tolerant about the situation if I hadn’t encountered rude staff in the beginning. We ordered drinks but they were forgotten, and a side dish was forgotten too. Shipped Inn staff treat your patrons better and with respect for their food intolerances as we don’t choose to have these difficulties, don’t forget your patrons orders and get some simple plain condiments on hand. Patrons don’t eat here if you can’t eat pre packaged food or have any allergies, or like a beverage with your food. I Will never try to...