The Alby — Restaurant in District of Woden Valley

The aesthetic is amazing! If you’re looking for a cute vibe and nice atmosphere, the Alby is a great spot but only if you’re not looking to order, have friendly service (specifically from the female staff) or timely service. I’ll address these in details based off of multiple visits.

Aesthetic The furnishings, bar and lighting is warm, cozy and very cute. With a beer garden, restaurant, bar and downstairs games basement, the interior design is beautiful.

Food It has now been three seperate visits where the food was below quality. Specifically the schnitzel which caused an upset stomach, was undercooked and incredibly small. The chips, almost white in colour with how pale and absolutely no seasoning. The chips have been pale all three visits they were ordered. The only food that is actually well cooked is the pizza and the hummus is pretty good too.

Service The previous two visits, the female staff have not only been unfriendly, they were actually rude. The male staff behind the bar are attentive and deliver with friendliness.

On one occasion one of the female staff members said excuse me to get through whilst holding a tray of drinks after which when we immediately moved and apologised for being in her path, she sharply and with a punchy tone said “thanks”. This while unpleasant to experience is really not that big of a deal if it was an isolated occurrence. Later we enquired with a different female staff member about the churros we ordered for takeaway a while ago which we could see sitting on the pass ready for the past 15min. She, with a negative expression, advised she will check on them and returned with the churros. Even after we advised we could see them there for 15min (and few people remaining in the restaurant) she made no apologies for the delay. We checked whether the churros were still warm, which they obviously weren’t, and asked to have them reheated. Again with a negative tone she merely took the box and checked with the chefs who advised they can only microwave them. When we expressed our disappointment (in a very quiet and polite way) her response was “nothing I can do about it”. Again, no apology. Even with our politeness and understanding, she remained cold and rude.

In this instance, the professionalism of the staff member created an even further negative experience when a simple genuine apology would have gone a long way in not having us leave the venue with disappointment.

Additionally, staff members repeatedly stepped over a chip that had fallen on the ground for over an hour which was gross.

The ably has so much potential for being a great spot and one that Southsiders frequent as we had in the past, however these recent visits have accumulated to a negative outlook on the venue. Shame because we really liked it and would come back if we knew the service wouldn’t leave us...

Truly have never written an online review before but the night we had at the Alby was extremely disappointing.

Booked for a birthday event 3 weeks in advance through the phone & informed staff we would like a table from late afternoon till late. We were told this would not be an issue. We then had to confirm the booking electronically to hold our booking.

We were happy upon arrival, but were told halfway through our booking that we only had the table for another 20 minutes as bookings had a 2 hour limit. Our large group were shifted to another table well before our booking limit was up.

We were initially grateful that we were able to remain at the venue and so were happy to sit at a smaller table. However, after less than an hour, we were told that we would have to give up one of the tables in 20 mins and another in 35 mins…

We ended up leaving the venue and interrupting our birthday celebrations much earlier than anticipated as a result.

Having worked in hospitality, I understand the difficulty of juggling bookings during busy nights. However, the inability to give us table for the time we needed was inexcusable as we had booked well in advance. Moving us would have been fine provided we would be able to stay at the venue. We were not informed when being moved that we had a time limit for this second table either.

In both situations staff members were abrupt and rude. The energy was extremely passive aggressive. They would walk past us and check their watches in front of us.

I don’t think I have ever remembered a time where I have been so disappointed by the service. Our whole party was put off what should otherwise have been a great night. Would not recommend to anyone, under any...

The Alby is beautifully well-appointed and the decor is brilliant. On face value it's a jewel in Woden's crown. Unfortunately there were some severe customer service issues when I popped in for dinner and drinks on Friday January 28, 2022 with a couple friends. I think this place has been around for a few months so you'd think they would have sorted out any major teething issues by now.

We ordered using the QR code on our table (#52 from memory) and we were left waiting over 30 minutes for our jug of dark & stormy to arrive. When the jug did arrive it contained several fruit flies (delicious) and the young gentleman serving us said that he'd bring a replacement jug...however this took another 30 minutes, meaning we were left waiting for an hour total for one drink. This was despite multiple follow-ups and courtesy responses "yea i'll get that right away". This particular staff member didn't seem to care one way or another as he also mentioned that he would bring us a second jug for free by way of apology but this never occurred (after another 30 minutes we explained the situation to another staff member and he graciously brought the second jug out very quickly). The food also took the best part of an hour to come out.

My advice would be that if this place is even moderately busy you should avoid ordering drinks from the QR code system and just walk to the bar and order instead. This should alleviate any big delays in getting your drinks. The food is good quality for pub style food, albeit a little overpriced.

I'm hoping the customer service improves in future as this place has a lot of potential to make...