Bakehouse Steakhouse — Restaurant in Ipswich City

First & last time we go here. The worst experience doesn’t begin to cut it.

We were seated at 5:30pm. Given complimentary bubbles and water on arrival. I’m pregnant but not obviously pregnant, so my husband drank the extra bubbles but there was no offer for a drinks menu or to order other drinks upon arrival. We then waited 45 minutes for our clearly finished water to be replaced and to be given a drink menu - both which had to be asked for by my husband basically holding the empty water up in the air because each time we tried to catch a waiters attention they’d look at us directly and move along.

It got to 6:30pm and we ask what wait times were because we had not yet received entrees or even the complimentary bread. We were told it would be another 15 minutes for bread and around 30 minutes for entrees. This was fine, happy to wait after being told.

Bread arrived and it was mediocre, tasted like it had been sitting around for a while because it was cool & stale. Entrees arrived and were cold & again, tasted as if they’d been sitting for a while. The baked brie had a crust that had started to form on the outside of the pre-cut area so it was clear it wasn’t freshly cooked / had been sitting. Again, I tried flagging a waiter down but was stared at then they walked off. So I stood up with the plates, took them over to the kitchen and demanded a refund for our 4 course set dinner menu which was paid for online. Staff sort of looked at me blankly before after what felt like an eternity, then it was offered for the food to be re-heated, which we didn’t want after already waiting so long so we again requested a refund. After fumbling around for a minute, they said they couldn’t do a card refund & it needed to be cash (which is fine) we were then given a cash refund on the spot. We were simply told ‘the kitchen is under a lot of pressure tonight’ but through the night, the kitchen wasn’t the only issue we’d had. If our meals came out hot, and the service wasn’t less than we probably would’ve stuck it out & enjoyed our meal because the menu looks amazing!

Throughout this experience, we’d on 3 seperate occasions been offered food / drinks that weren’t ours and witnessed this happen to multiple other tables. Even seeing food getting placed on tables before then being taken away & placed on the correct table when it was highlighted it’s not what they ordered. We also saw a very obviously pregnant woman handed bubbles by the inattentive waitstaff, she then had to ask for something else but you’d think the waitstaff would’ve have the forethought to offer something else from the get go.

Waitstaff were poorly presented (no uniformity in what they wore, messy hair) and not very well trained. They weren’t aware of table numbers and it was clear they were counting numbers off as they went and getting in wrong most of the time. At any given time at least half of them looked as though they had 0 clue what was going on or were off in a corner despite most tables not having been served or having empty plates / glasses. At one point I’d even asked a staff member where the bathroom was & was sort of just grunted at then told ‘Back of the courtyard’ with an eye roll and attitude as if I, a paying customer, was an inconvenience for asking this question.

Definitely not going out of our way to go back in any hurry and won’t be...

SHOCKING Service! We were seated quickly which was great and the atmosphere was lovely so we had really high hopes for our dining experience. Unfortunately, this is not how the evening played out!

We then had to wait 15 minutes for a drinks menu and even water for the table. Then waited probably 20+ minutes for the drinks and then finally were able to order dinner. It took well over AN HOUR for the food to arrive and several tables around us that ordered after or were seated after us, all got their food before we did. Our last side was “just coming” and even that was another 5 minutes. We are happy to be patient, but at no time did any servers check on us, see if we needed more drinks or water, or let us know there would be an extended delay on the meal. We had to resort to going to the bar to get an additional drink. When we finally asked about our food, there wasn’t any sense of urgency or apology for the extremely slow service. We understand when it’s busy, things can be slow, but the servers need to be better at communicating that to the guests and we shouldn’t have to hunt down servers for service! We expected better communication and care for the price we paid (Eye Fillet and Rib Fillet), but those were extremely lacking. Both our steaks were cooked wrong, but we didn’t bother even bringing it up to the wait staff as we didn’t want to wait any longer and figured with the apathy overall, we wouldn’t get anywhere.

Upon paying, you expect the manager to ask how your service and meals were, but we had crickets so paid and just left. Also, for a “steak” restaurant, you expect the chefs in the kitchen to take a bit more care or have more support. While waiting to pay, we could see right into the kitchen and there only seemed to be one chef cooking the steaks and they were all just piled together so no wonder both of ours were cooked so poorly as they appeared to be all jumbled together. For the price you’re paying, the quality of steak, the overall quality of the final product and service should be MUCH better. Only plus side would be the portion of the chips / salad served with the steaks (although the chips were bland and cold when they arrived) and the wedge salad was really nice. In the future, we’ll most likely have to drive into Brisbane to get better quality and better value as we won’t be splurging at these prices again for what we received.

Sincerely, very...

After reading so many 5 Star Reviews on the Bakehouse Steakhouse website, it was with high expectations that I joined with friends to enjoy our regular Friday Night Dinner out. So it is with a good degree of sadness that I find myself offering only 3 stars for my experience. Let me say that the steak itself was very good... well cooked and exactly as I had ordered it. As a result of the reviews, I lashed out and also ordered a bowl of Baked Carrots with Feta and Dukha. Very nice but expensive for what they were. The soft greens were unremarkable and their Never Ending Fries were so fast-foodlike that I'd be surprised if anyone ever asked for more than the original serve. The noise levels grew as the night progressed to the point where conversation turned to lip-reading. And then, there was an unrelenting rush to clear used glassware and crockery... even as I was still with food on plate, cutlery in hands and liquid in my glass. I actually threatened to smack the waitresses hand if she touched mine! I was very surprised by this and then came to realise that they wanted us gone so they could fill our places with another group of diners. We had not been advised of a time limit on our dining... rather, we had been asked to come earlier than we had requested and in a spirit of cooperation, we had agreed to do so. Sadly, two of our party arrived at our normal Friday night start time and we waited for them to come before placing our orders... unaware of the consequences to come. The settling up process went smoothly but sadly, there was no expression of Thanks for our business or encouragement to return... so for myself at least, I won't! I don't make my remarks lightly... it's clearly a popular place but for me, it was an expensive learning experience and value for money was not achieved. It's possible I'm old school and I hanker for the ability to converse with friends, enjoy great food in an interesting environment and at a leisurely pace without keeping the staff up till all hours. Perhaps it's time for the managers to visit some other venues to ensure they are getting their mix right. There's work to be done here. I do wish them well in these tough times but they need to polish their performance. Cheers... Chris...