Fenway Public House — Restaurant in District of Woden Valley

First off 5/5 for the floor and bar staff, they were incredibly attentive and provided excellent service throughout, came to the table offering more drinks and food options on numerous occasions. They are the reason this isn’t a 1 out of 5 review

I attended a friend’s Birthday dinner here on a Saturday night. We booked two weeks ahead for 10-12 people, however upon arrival our reservation was not on the list, we had an email confirmation that the reservation went through and everything.

The young lady who was on host called the Manager over who’s demeanour was incredibly unprofessional due to his incessant gum chewing and general disinterest in the situation - yes it was the Manager! (I get that it’s a casual atmosphere they’re trying to go for but come on).

The Manager THEN calls over another staff member who informed us our booking would have come through but had been overlooked.

He went out of his way to get us a table on a packed night, gave us drinks on the house for the inconvenience as well. We appreciated his efforts and felt bad as it wasn’t his fault.

Regarding the food, I ordered the schnitzel, which was $27 and came with chips, a watery gravy and coleslaw. It was okay, but for $27 you can get a larger meal at other places with similar to better quality and at a cheaper price.

I’ve worked in hospitality before and don’t like to be overly critical but the poor value and unprofessional management rubbed me...

Service left a lot to be desired. The simplest of things were sadly lacking. I was asked “are you here for breakfast or lunch”, I said “lunch”, and was told we are not serving lunch until 12 so if you come back in half an hour. Why ask about lunch then? I sat down anyway and was approached by a staff member and asked, can I get you some menus and water. I said, just a couple of coffees to start with. To which the reply was “we don’t offer table service, just order at the bar, I can get a menu”. Why not have the menu with you when you approach people, with the water; or just greet people and ask them to find a seat and order at the bar when ready. Seemed chaotic and uncoordinated. Lost count of how many orders came to our table which we did not order - even though you get a table number when you order. About 20mins after ordering a coffee a staff member comes with a pad and paper saying “I am having trouble with my dockets, I’m sure your order is there somewhere but need to check”. Extra hot cappuccino was like warm at best - it probably sat for 20mins on the bar with the lost ticket. Fortunately in Australia, customer service is not expected - so this place should do well given prices, locality and trendy fit out. Maybe just some ‘new store’ opening teething issues, but for me there is nothing unique or stand-out about this...

I was quietly optimistic when I saw the reviews for Fenway public house that I’d get a cool spots bar with amazing atmosphere and great gastro pub food. On arrival I was not disappointed.. Until…. we discovered that my part of 9 people was to be seated at a table for 6. Not to worry, that was fixed up by some attentive staff after a 15 minute wait. There were a bunch of spots games on the various TV’s and we were given a single tablet to order food and drinks from (awkward for 9 people). Roll forward another 15 mins and food starts coming out in such a haphazard order that I wonder if it’s hit the kitchen in completely separate orders. Sadly, not one meal.. from the steak that seemed to be entirely comprised of sinew, the the stodgy glutinous gnocchi, the tiny oily kids pizza, or the cardboard-like snitzel was worth the wait. So much so that my son and his two mates up and left to go to McDonald’s (never a favourable comparison) and I cancelled my chimichanga order for fear that it would be equally bad. Surely 1 out of the previous 8 dishes to arrive at our table might have given me confidence. My rating.. 4 for atmosphere and beer. Minus 3 for food. I hope it was an off night because there’s no excuse for getting a simple pub menu that...