Boardwalk Cafe — Restaurant in Greater Brisbane

Well, where do I start?? I arrived for an early lunch business meeting with a client about 10 minutes earlier than arranged and tried to find a table that hadn't been reserved at around 11.20 am today.A few tables were quite dirty, with lots of plates that had been there for some time, I went to the other room, returned and still dirty tables with staff wandering through aimlessly and blind to the job that needed attendance, including the staff member in question.

I moved some plates further along the table I wanted to sit at and realised the table was quite dirty. Looking for another table I was approached by a lovely man Chirs, who asked if I wanted to sit there to which I replied positively. He went about clearing the table and cleaning it while I went to the bathroom and went and ordered 2 glasses of wine. I later discovered he was the maintenance guy & not even part of the cafe/restaurant staff.

After my client arrived we chatted for a bit and went to order our lunch at about noon. While we were eating, I went to order another glass of wine and the same young lady was serving while another staff member over by the sink was showing a young man something on her mobile phone while other people were waiting to be served. I commented to the young lady serving, who seemed to be the only person doing any work, that "that pisses me off" pointing to the 2 on the phone over by the sink. This was around 12.40 pm in peak lunch hour!

A few minutes later Chris again walked past and we briefly chatted. The staff member in question (name Jax we discovered, short hair, coloured red on top) came over to our table and queried that she had upset someone at our table, I responded yes you did offend me to which she said she "was on her break" and I responded that if she was on her break she should do so out of the area and not to distract other employees. Her so-called apology was very arrogant and "Well I'm sorry if I upset you" The so-called entitled "apology" caused more damage due to her arrogance and delivery. As a chef in my 20s and 30s and restaurant owner in the 90s, a hotel manager and retail developer, when training my staff I always reinforce that nobody leaves or returns to the kitchen empty-handed and NEVER walks past a dirty table. No staff member has the RIGHT to have their phone on during working hours and certainly not cause a distraction to other staff!

I was appalled, to say the least! And to top off the staff member Jax's attitude and obvious false statement that she was "on her break" in the middle of busy lunch service, just rubbed salt into the wound! PLUS she ran straight to one of the "managers" to have a whinge, and he did nothing - what a JOKE!

My client who dined with me was also appalled at Jax's attempt...

Just awful…. Arrived and no one to tell us where to go as we had a booking, so we weren't sure whether we had to wait to be shown our reserved table. There were some big groups here so thought oh this must be good. Found our way to some staff whom were hard to get their attention to ask for our booking. Our table was directly in the sun, not a little bit but the whole table was sun lit to the point where we could not sit there for the time we would have eating our lunch. I asked if we could move it a little bit and lady never came back to help us. Chased down another guy who ended up being the worst customer service person….. he literally said to me ‘i cant control the sun im sorry’ ‘we fulfilled your reservation and so our job is done’ ‘yes you can go around and try to find a table however we are fully booked’ i said i didn't want to have a debate with him but that could he please help us put some tables together and that he knows his cafe better than we do on where would be best…... again he repeated we could try to find some tables ourselves. I let him know i didn't want to debate and why couldn't he just help us find a solution. He then grabbed a table roughly and dragged it as if even more annoyed with our request, it was embarrassing how rude and defensive this guy was. This was a birthday celebration and it turned into the worst experience and we hadn't even ordered yet! We decided they didn’t deserve to have our money so found another spot a little way away. What a disappointment and we will never go there agin nor would we recommend to anyone. For a hotel chain with a cafe attached you have a lovely spot there but are letting yourselves down terribly with your lack of hospitality and care for your customers. You guys will not survive if you don't fix quickly and theres a lot of work for you to do as we are experienced in the industry so we do know what we are talking about and this was such a let down. The menu is very overpriced. $28 for a burger! And only 2 kids options. We def wont be heading that way again and what a waste of our time. Find somewhere else to spend your money its...

I came here for Sunday brunch with friends 2 days ago. The moment I arrived I ordered drinks and waited in line for 15 mins before I was actually served. I was only 2 people behind in line. I saw a senior lady at the counter for at least 10 minutes and the staff were doing nothing to help. When the meals arrived, the hospitality staff just called out and dropped the meals on the tables and then walked off briskly. They didn't even bother to ask any of the customers if they wanted anything else. I wanted tomato sauce and the girls didn't hear me as they left too soon. I then asked one of the staff who dropped off the meals and when I got her attention, she said "yep" and "sure". Very rude response. If you know that customers are anxious and frustrated from your body language then listen and do something about it and have solutions in place. You guys need serious hospitality training and organisation skills. The food was way too expensive for the quality and portion sizes, and are over the top cafe prices. However, it tasted nice. Again, Staff need further hospitality training and some manners, service was too slow. A wonderful location next to the lake, if you get these elements right and listen to the feedback, then you will get customers coming back for more. This is my story and some of the others felt the same at my table. I am also in the training and education industry for business, so I pick up the small things and I do expect a lot when going out for dining experiences. So Boardwalk cafe, please pick up your...