Harmonie German Club — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

Just before 1:30pm today, I entered the Harmonie German Club with a friend.

We intended to enjoy a couple of drinks, a meal and possibly a game on the pokies.

After stopping to greet a couple of old acquaintances, we approached the bar at approx 1:35pm.

Just as we were about to place an order at the bar, a female employee with a flustered appearance walked by and called loudly to the younger man behind the bar, “no more orders today!”, and walked to the far corner of the room to retrieve empty glasses and used plates.

“Oh, that was just what we were here for”, I replied.

The barman explained that they’d been “overwhelmed” by too many orders, and had a larger group next door to cater for. He told us to speak with the lady who had just given him instruction, “who might be able to fit two more in”.

As she passed by on her way upstairs, he asked if there was any possibility of taking another order.

He didn’t get a chance to finish, before she loudly interrupted, “NO MORE offers! We can’t do anymore”, and walked away.

I very quietly looked at the barman and said “well, we’d better go then. And we won’t be back”.

The barman loudly replied “goodbye then, farewell, have a nice day then”….

…. and that was it!

This isn’t the first time I’ve been curtly spoken to by younger bar staff or other employees in front of friends and patrons.

What seemed to be constant renovations and building work (and ensuing shortfalls and inconvenience), has largely been completed now.

However, the more pleasant ambience provided by these renovations haven’t appeared to improved the consistently negative attitude of some bar staff and employees, which I’ve witnessed on more than one occasion now.

The club staff often appear completely overwhelmed, (even on what I would call reasonably quiet days). Our presence as patrons appears all too often to be an inconvenience to some members of staff who cannot provide the names or descriptions of the beers or other menu items.

Today was the FOURTH time I’ve been turned away from trying to order at a very reasonable time (one one occasion we had more than more than 45 minutes before the kitchens were meant to be closing).

And today was the last straw.

While I’ve met with many beautiful members of staff, the highly visible minority have ruined my last three visits to what used to be my favourite local club.

I now intend on fully resigning my membership and encouraging my friends, family and acquaintances to seek out other, friendlier alternatives.

Garth...

Visiting Canberra for a few days and on NYE we decided to try the Club for dinner. The website boasted about the restaurant so we paid $10 per head to book a table for dinner. We arrived and were ushered to a table which had not been set up, and waited for cutlery etc... while looking at the menu. Menus were A3 poorly printed paper and my wife's one was nearly torn apart at the trifold (it did eventually rip altogether). The wait staff went in to great detail about her NY resolutions, and gave us no info about the menu or other. We made our selections and waited ....... I then saw people queueing at a counter waiting to order meals. My mistake as it must be a bistro, not a restaurant. I joined the queue. Placed our order of bruscetta ($15) for starters (requesting a gap to the mains) being a snitzel dish ($35) and nachos ($24). The bruscetta arrived - 2 triangles of toasted bread with toppings (no basil). Our mains then arrived just as we finished chewing - no gap as requested. No issues with the snitzel but the nachos were just corn chips, a bit of mince, a few beans, cheese and a few bits of chopped tomato. No guacamole or shallots as described on the menu and no offer of sour cream. I asked about the missing ingredients and was told they were out. The person who took my order then said "didn't I tell you we were out" and I replied "No you didn't, and all you did say was asking the kitchen staff if there was enough beans left to serve the order." We were left with a plate of stodge with absolutely no freshness at all. No attempt to replace the missing ingredients with some lettuce or cucumber. I returned to the table and a few minutes later the wait staff offered to replace the dish. They tried to offer an excuse of short supply, while avocardos were $1 each at the shops. We agreed the waited 25 mins for a kiev to be prepped and served, by which time I had finished the snitty. We were pretty much over it by then, and left soon after. So much for a special dinner out - never again! FOOTNOTE : I emailed the Club Manager politely as I thought he may be open to some feedback. Apparently not. He stated that as I had left a review then it was his policy not to engage further. Weird! Most mamagers would appreciate the opportunity to listen and respond, but not this one. No acknowledgement, no understanding, no apology or reply...

Honestly don't get your hopes up expecting an extremely nice meal. I have had better German food at my local pub. The first thing that struck me was the stench of sauerkraut. The room where the "restaurant" (I use this term loosely) is situated is poorly ventilated and the smell made me nauseas. Don't get me wrong, I love sauerkraut, it's in my heritage, if you cut me I probably bleed it, but the smell of this was off and I couldn't escape it. That was the beginning. A few suggestions I have that could improve the experience very simply: Invest in a couple of "Reserved" table signs rather than scrawling it in marker on a napkin, I just checked and you can buy 6 of them for under $20 on Amazon. Have the staff show people to a table even if they have to order at the counter, casually lounging against the bar and pointing people towards a dimly lit corner is not really professional. Take the plastic cups out of the kitchen. Small ramekins, metal cups, there are a number of alternatives that you can serve gravy and dips in that don't involve disposable plastic cups that both look unprofessional and create unnecessary waste. I'm not sure if you use instant mashed potato or actual potatoes, because the consistency was very watery and it felt like instant. If this is so, potatoes are also very cheap but much better tasting. Open Youtube and search for videos on "How to plate food". Rather than throw two pretzels on a plate on their own with three plastic cups of dips and mostly melted butter packets, maybe find some colourful napkins to pop underneath, pop the dips into some dishes mentioned in point 3, and place them with a little bit of love. I don't mean this maliciously or with any ill intent. This comes from a place of love as someone who loves her German food, and thinks this could be a great place to go and I would return if the experience was slightly...