The Dayboro Drop — Restaurant in Greater Brisbane

SUMMARY: A complete lack of customer focus!

DETAILS: My wife and I decided to book The Dayboro Drop for lunch for both Wednesday (9 June 2021) and Thursday (10 June 2021) as we had read about their supposedly good food. The lunch reservations were made the week before (on Thursday 3 June 2021). We had originally booked our Wednesday lunch at a competing restaurant located another 20 (or so) kms further out, but decided to cancel that booking due to The Dayboro Drop's much closer location. The other restaurant was cancelled a week ago as we never leave things to the last minute in deference to the establishments that we visit.

Although The Dayboro Drop had accepted our Wednesday booking a week before, my wife gets a call from Stacey (the restaurant's owner) one hour before our scheduled lunch advising her that they were not going to open that day! As they had known about our booking for almost a week, having our booking cancelled one hour prior to our lunch is completely unprofessional and unacceptable in our opinion. As there were limited alternatives close by, we decided to buy some picnic supplies at the local IGA and ate that those for lunch instead.

On Thursday (10 June 2021) we turn up for our second booking at The Dayboro Drop and expressed our disappointment to Stacey in relation to the previous days events. Due to the massive inconvenience caused to us (as we are not locals and the Wednesday visit basically wasted 3 hours of our time driving to Dayboro and back), we asked Stacey to provide us each with a glass of complimentary wine to provide some compensation to us for the inconvenience. The cost to the establishment for these two glasses of wine would have been about $6 in total; not much in terms of dollars, but it would have at least shown us that their “apology” was more than hollow words. Despite the fact that we would have been willing to spend at least $70 for lunch, Stacey advised us that she wasn't prepared to provide anything complimentary to us. She the mentioned that cancelled bookings (by the restaurant) "happen a bit". Stacey then went on the interrogate us about the situation ... the insinuation being that we had booked two restaurants for the same day and only cancelled the other at the last moment (which was totally false as we had cancelled the other restaurant a week before). We then advised Stacey that we would find somewhere else to eat.

Although we can't comment on The Dayboro Drop's food, we can comment on Stacey's customer service ... which we think is appalling. Does a restaurant owner think that it is acceptable to cancel at the last moment and offer nothing other than an apology? Most other restaurants would have provided a free meal, but this place couldn't even offer a couple of glasses of wine as a gesture of goodwill.

RESPONSE TO OWNER’S COMMENTS: To suggest that we tried to bully you for $6 worth of wine is preposterous. In fact, your tone suggests an attitude on your part that the customer has no rights unless you grant it to them. We never bully anyone, but we do expect an acceptable level of service. The reason why we didn’t order before speaking to Stacey was to explain the situation and the fact that we did expect some form of gratuity in recompense for our previous “non experience”. Had we ordered, we would have been unable to leave and go elsewhere, and would have been waiting “cap in hand” for anything that Stacey may (or may not) have been willing to offer us. From our perspective, expecting more than an apology for us having wasted a three hour drive is not unreasonable and is what any customer focused business would do. Your food reviews may up until now may have been good, but we believe that your customer service is severely wanting. And, now that you have a new Chef, we hope that your food standards are maintained; as it is presumably the food that keeps your patrons satisfied (unless they have received a vastly better level of customer service...

Ordered pick up during the week and were told would be ready in 30 minutes. Arrived 35 minutes later and had to wait a further 40 minutes. Only three tables occupied so not overly busy. Regret being able to watch staff cook and prepare the food. No hand washing. No gloves. Opening and closing walk in fridge by all staff. Picking up potatoes bare handed, and while used a spatula to lift the Schnitzel then used hands to move around the pick up box. The expressions on our faces was misread for how long the food was taking, as they joked that they were about to only now start making the takeaway meal 45 minutes from our call. Our expression was the pure shock and disgust of what we were seeing. We were questioning whether we should just cancel the order and go. Have been here before to dine in, and while overpriced, and never a varied or original menu, thought it was a convenient option on the night. Will never attend again.

After reading the unprofessional response to our review, I can understand why the quality has DROPPED. Notice that when anyone else gives you a low review you come up with excuses or insult the customer. Why is that ?

Let me point out, We ordered our food over the phone and were told over the phone that the order would be ready in about 30 minutes. We then arrived 35 minutes after placing the order to then have to wait a further 40 minutes. We have the phone record of the call. If we were told it would take 40 minutes, or 2 hours, it wouldn't have been an issue, but we were told it would be ready in 30 minutes. That is why we were upset.

I appreciate businesses can be busy. However, only one other person was getting a pick up when we arrived. Also, if a restaurant can't handle 20 odd take out orders in a night, you are running the restaurant as effectively as handling your own PR.

Yes we weren't over the moon with our first visit, but it wasn't all bad, and we had hoped that things would change. Unfortunately, they didn't. Since that time (Not the commencement of the business) we would have thought there would be some menu ideas, but it is the same. Do you also recall what the complaint was about ? Being able to see into the kitchen !!!.

You may feel you have trained your staff. I challenge you to watch your "CTV" and note the amount of times staff wipe their faces, pants, hands, then open and close the same handle that all other staff use before handling food with no hand washing in between.

Yes we didn't sit, because at no time were we told it would be another 40 minutes. We were told "not long now", or "ha ha just starting". As if that would improve our mood.

Also, we wanted to watch our food being prepared and have eyes on those touching our order.. regrettably.

Certificates being issued are great. It doesn't mean someone follows what was taught. No, handwashing didn't occur. It was a hands on experience. Hands that had been everywhere, but the kitchen sink.

We hoped that you could learn from the negative feedback and do something to improve, and perhaps flourish as a business. Dayboro has such potential. Unfortunately, your response and actions indicate you can't improve or take on criticism.

Thankfully there are some other great options available now for those wanting variety and hygeine, and I'm sure you will find someone who is still happy with your hands on dining experience. For me most of what was served did...

Went for a day trip and stop at Dayboro for a late lunch. We ordered A P Burger and Mi Goreng Parmy (Parmy of the week). Here's our feedback and review:

Parmy of the week - partner: Partner: Parmy portion is big. Very tender for the chicken breast and crispy outside. Full flavour on the Parmy but the sides (baby potatoes) portion is a bit small. Not sure if it can claim the best Parmy, but it's a good Parmy that has everything you ask.

Overall, good dish. 7 of 10 if there is an option to rate. (PS: I'm not really a Parmy person)

Me: same with my partner that I cannot say it is the best Parmy in Brisbane, but it is a good Parmy dish that can compete with most of the bar food (Parmy only) in town. It does tick every box you expect from a Parmy dish. Mi Goreng add on... Not sure if it is a good idea. 8 of 10.

AP Burger: Partner: the bun was well pan fried fluffy and crunchy. Meat patty was a bit too salty and very marinated and can't taste much of the beef flavour, not sure if was a Wagyu one.

Me: well if it is a Wagyu patty, I will rate it 6/10, if just a normal beef patty 8/10. Meat patty was good, but not juicy. Lettuce was crunchy and tomatoes were fresh, overall a good Burger. Flavour was well seasoned, it would be something I could recommend to order. Couldn't really go wrong with it.

The Dayboro Drop is a good place to recommend to visit if you stop here in Dayboro on a road trip. Definitely a place we...