Varsity Lakes Tavern — Restaurant in Gold Coast City

GLOWING POSITIVE REVIEW FOR BOTH JACOB AND OLIVIA, DISASTROUSLY NEGATIVE REVIEW FOR UPPER MANAGEMENT or owners who were either understaffing intentionally, being oblivious to nights that are expected to be busy (evening before ANZAC day) or for not properly replacing ill staff members.

Food was ordered at the table to avoid getting up for our large birthday party table. Food was staggered to come out (first plates coming at least 40 mins after ordering) and then some of our party did not even get their food. After sorting out some things with the manager who came to our table, everyone received their food, although quite late at this point. The consensus of the table was that the food was subpar and the chicken in my partners schnitzel was undercooked which I don’t have to tell you is dangerous and completely unacceptable from a restaurant.

Jacob, the manager, was trying his best to fix things. I had seen angry patrons line up to have a go at him the whole evening and he seemed to handle all customers with patience and decorum which is a feat of its own when dealing with disgruntled people and I commend him. When I spoke to him for our table, he was shaking and clearly distressed because of the severity of the understaffing. Despite this, he maintained a professional disposition and warm countenance. Nothing but praise for how he handled everything but it was clear he needed more support from upper management and that this support was clearly not a consideration or a priority for this poor man or his team was disgustingly disgraceful. Olivia was one of our servers too, she was fantastic. She was deeply apologetic and friendly with a tone that was not disingenuous and that I, and my table, appreciated very much. She stepped up and helped out even though we hadn’t asked her to help with the clearing of plates for cake to begin with and that was a fantastic display of customer service.

There were two staff members that I need to put emphasis on to make an attitude adjustment desperately and this was the “head chef”- I am assuming- a woman with short grey/silvery hair and glasses in the kitchen who I can understand was under a lot of pressure however made time to have rows at customers who were complaining. This was visible to every patron in the room and was shocking to see. She was unprofessional and rude to some of our table guests too telling them they’ll “just have to wait” for the food that was taking over an hour.

The other staff member was Jade, a server who had the ugliest attitude I have EVER seen in a restaurant setting. She slammed meals down, was rude to guests at my table, spoke awfully to a member of our party when asked to help clear plates for the cake we had brought (this is when Olivia stepped up to help since Jade had removed herself from speaking to my party member abruptly and left her flabbergasted about the way she was just spoken to.) I can also note that after a meal was set down so hard the burger almost slid off the plate, I had made a horrified look at what was just presented and Jade had turned back twice to see my disbelief and appeared to either flip me off or make some nasty comments to herself about me, very noticeably. It was unbelievable and if Jade was a member of my staff and under my management, she would be gone...

AMAZING!! Been here a few times & it has been consitently awesome service & food, very family friendly & great atmosphere! Cant speak highly enough of the staff, they go above & beyond to make you happy. On our first visit we waited to be seated no more than 30 seconds & the lady behind the bar made sure we were seated by someone, Tina always makes us feel welcome & gave my son a candycane when we visited just after Christmas, they also had Christmas lollies at the tables which I think was a nice touch that I haven't seen anywhere else. Its always really clean & tidy & you see the staff cleaning the chairs & high chairs (something that also doesn't happen everywhere). On our latest visit on Sunday it was extremely busy with a function & a sport game on so they had no tables inside. While I was ordering I mentioned to our server Michael that our 3 year old is struggling a little to sit on the bar stools outside & within about 5 mins he came outside to tell us he had found a more suitable table inside next to the kids room. We were beyond grateful & the exceptional service didnt stop there, despite having a huge birthday party & getting smashed, the food came out in a very reasonable time. All the staff there were happy & polite & bent over backwards to keep customers happy! We were so impressed, well done!! 😁👏 Food was delicious as always, the only thing I would say is the nutella caramel tart sundae needs to go on the regular desert menu, was devastated we couldn't get it on Sunday & a few more strawberries would make it next level! Southern fried chicken burger & pulled beef & cheese loaded fries are also outstanding! No fake smiles anywhere, you can tell the staff genuinely care that you're getting great customer service. LOVE...

APPALLING ATTITUDE

We attended a family members 30th birthday last weekend who had hired out the sports bar. My partner and I had our little 11 week old baby with us who was asleep in the carrier the whole evening (I was wearing him). Every time I approached the bar to order a drink I was completely ignored by both the blonde and brunette bar girls. I had to jump in as they went to serve someone else so I could get a Soda water. At around 9pm the blonde bar girl approached me and let me know with some attitude that I would need to leave at 10pm given the licensing rules, which I respectfully understood having owned my own bar and personally held a liquor license. As the night continues and as I was talking to another family member who had traveled over from New Zealand, the same blonde bar girl came up to us, rudely interrupted our conversation and said “YOU NEED TO LEAVE NOW”. We were both taken back by this, and I said excuse me. And she reiterated that she already told me that my baby wasn’t allowed to be on the venue after 10pm. It was 10.06 PM when she approached me. I didn’t have a watch on me and was not aware of the time however the attitude that she presented towards me was absolutely disgusting. I completely understand liquor licensing rules however her choice of language and tone was unprofessional and down right rude. I had every intention of leaving, had only had one drink the entire night not to mention this was a private family function. It would have been nice if she politely informed me it was past 10 and due to licensing, unfortunately we would need to leave. Its appears bar staff need some customer service, communication and general etiquette...