Sandstone Point Hotel — Restaurant in Greater Brisbane

Private function - Full bar, private space and canapes provided. Music too loud to speak or be heard. Music turned down a little at our request. Snacks very basic. Food mostly fried. No labels for food allergies. e.g. GF. Veg, Fish, Seafood, Nuts etc.

Chicken skewer was covered in fish sauce - fish and seafood allergy kicked in. Asked for assistance from first aid. Laws mean that they can't give anyone any anti-histamine. Fair enough, nothing else available. (First Aid gentleman very helpful and even looked up alternate pharmacies I could visit within a 25min drive.) Airways starting to close. Asked for a coffee to try and open the airways (a bush paramedic trick), bar server (young lady) said that she didn't think coffee was covered (full bar tab). Other cocktail/barman said to just do one, she then rolled her eyes at me and sighed deeply. (Don't mind me not being able to breathe...) After 10 mins of waiting, she got another young man to make one for me. He was very helpful and kind. He even added a freckle for me. Thankfully the scrubbing of my lip that touched the fish sauce and the coffee did the trick for getting the allergy under control and breathing normalised.

Food service during the fuction had all the food being placed in the far end of the room, with little space. No passing around snacks or any information about what the food was (hence me thinking a chicken skewer was fish free). More snacks came out hours later, when at least half of the party had gone home. Our dedicated service rep for our function was very helpful, but should have had more staff. She brought out containers to place the food in for the end of the evening (trays of food brought out that was going to waste). These had only been brought out about 20 mins before. We were about to leave the function with take away container, only to be told that we were not allowed to take food away from the premisis (even though we were staying at the attached resort). When asking why, she said that she made a mistake and her manager corrected her. I asked to speak to manager, who was very abrupt and said that no food can leave the premisis and a contract was signed. Case closed. I asked if this was to do with food safety and he said yes, and that he wouldn't want to eat food that had been out that long. Churros, fruit and pizza were the things in our tubs. Food left to be thrown away. What an end to the event. A memorable one, but not for all the best reasons. A lovely venue, but not all customer...

This place is a disorganised mess. Terrible service ruined what could have been a great festival! We arrived at the lookout festival at 3:30 and got strait in the bar line. At 4:30 we got our first drink. They had 3-4 people serving at each bar and 15000 patrons. They sold the tickets ahead of time so it’s not like they didn’t expect that many guests. When the people at the front of the line were served by the world slowest and most overwhelmed bar staff, the crowd cheered each time somebody left the line. We are local to the area and there was no advertising for temps or attempts to get more staff in. A whole band set was missed while we waited in line.

All festivals involve waiting for drinks and waiting at the loos but this was just crazy! They had cases of beer and rum cans sitting on benches and were handing out warm beers because they didn’t think ahead and plan for the volume. They had no ice buckets and the refrigeration couldn’t keep up. They appeared to have no back bar staff restocking or managing the flow. They didn’t even have a organised system for the line so people jostled and shoved their way to the bar. The bar lines snaked through the toilets and stank to high heaven.

The ticket sales alone brought in $2.25 million dollars based on the general admission price. Put some bloody staff on and serve the people who you invited in! If you’re going to host a festival do it properly and provide at least a minimum of service that people expect.

They prohibited the food trucks from selling soft drinks so a lady behind us in line waited over an hour for a soda water!!! This is pure greed.

They didn’t allow picnic blankets or chairs so 15000 people, mostly 40+ years old stood up in the crowd or sat on sodden ground after months of rain. The wet bum brigade was in full force.

It was a disorganised mess and it ruined the entire day. They really need an overhaul of their festival planning staff because this was a disgrace! They now have 15000 thirsty and cranky patrons complaining about the venue for the years to come. It doesn’t make good business sense to try and save a dollar and not provide...

I've been a regular at your venue for over 10 years and have always appreciated its charm. However, my recent experience was disappointing and well below the standard I've come to expect.

It was unclear whether the Head Chef was on leave or there was a breakdown in leadership, but the kitchen service was disorganised. There was a complete lack of coordination—none of our five entrees or five mains arrived together. The first two entrees arrived, then the next one 8 minutes later, and the remaining two 12 minutes after that. By the time the mains started coming out, we had only just received the last entree. One main appeared 5 minutes after that, followed by another a few minutes later, and then a further 17-minute wait for the final two dishes, im big on timing and would rather wait 30 mins for entrees would been happy to wait a whole hour for mains, sometimes its better to make the customer wait but deliver exceptionally well.

When I asked the floor staff about the delay, I was given the usual vague response. To his credit, the manager looked sharp, but the execution in the kitchen was a mess. Having worked all over the world and managed restaurants, hotels, resorts cruise ships & production factories myself, I can honestly say I’ve never witnessed such disorganisation in back-of-house operations. It's frustrating to see such a decline, especially from a venue that used to deliver reliably great experiences. Sadly, this marks the third time this has happened, not to mention two wedding events where similar issues occurred.

That said, I want to acknowledge the positives. The venue still has charm, and the cocktails were excellent—huge credit to the bar team for their professionalism and energy, which really helped salvage the night. The flavours in the food show potential—especially the curry, which took me right back to Colombo Sri Lanka, the lamb took us back to Europe. I hope the kitchen team can rediscover their passion and commitment because the foundation for excellence is still...