1806 — Restaurant in Melbourne

Great cocktails - shame about the service.

The cocktails at this venue are something to remember - unfortunately so is the service, for all the wrong reasons.

I first visited 1806 on recommendation from friends near to the end of last year. I arrived around 5:30pm to meet friends who’d been there for an hour already on a weekday - not a busy day by any stretch.

Upon being shown to my friends’ table, and advising the waitstaff who assisted us that our group of 2 would soon be a group of 4, we faced a lot of huffing and puffing, eye rolling and attitude as if we were an inconvenience. At this stage, the bar had three tables in attendance so we a tad confused as to why a group of four would be such an impediment so early in the evening.

We were then placed in a corner area and told that if bigger groups arrived, we’d have to move spaces. Not exactly welcoming or friendly.

After three rounds of drinks took an average of 45 minutes to arrive, and the fourth round never appearing even though I approached the bar to query where our drinks were and was admonished like a small child for doing so, we gave up and decided to get our bill and leave for dinner plans. We then spent 10 minutes messing with another staff member as our bill had multiple mistakes on it included drinks we did not order. Not a great first impression when we spent upwards of $300 total on drinks and snacks.

I met friends again at 1806 tonight. Upon arriving, my friends were on a table for two. I waited for a number of minutes at the entrance to be seated, and was ignored by multiple waitstaff on in the main room.

When I entered to approach my two friends at their table and stood by their table to say hello I was suddenly approached by a quickly approaching member of waitstaff who had decided to no longer ignore me. I confirmed that I was meeting two friends and was rudely asked “well who are you meeting?” I confirmed that it was the people at the table we were next to, and started to ask if I could grab a chair to spend 15 minutes with them before a dinner booking. Before I could finish my sentence, I was met with a huff, and a “Well, I don’t think we can…”. I replied “Don’t bother, thanks.” and promptly left before the sentence was finished. When my friends arrived at dinner, they confirmed they had bill issues too.

It’s unfortunate that poor staff attitude and slow serve can tarnish what is ultimately a nice, cozy venue. Feeling unwelcome and like an inconvenience isn’t great when you’re being slugged a decent chunk of change for each cocktail you consume and you would be lucky to leave here with change from $100 after three or four drinks.

I’m not a glutton for punishment, so I would be reluctant to return for similar treatment next time around unless something significantly changes.

Ps. I was aware from the front entrance that a comedy festival show was on at 1806 tonight - if that was a contribution factor, it would have helped it was explained in a friendly manner as to whether that was a contributing...

Visited 1806 this past Saturday from a friend’s recommendation during a trip to Melbourne.

Did not make a reservation but the front staff were kind enough to sit me at the bar.

The setting is classic and contains all the elements you’d expect in a cocktail bar. Aesthetically very pleasing.

I will preface this section by mentioning that i arrived by myself with the intention of purely experiencing the bar - from a friends recommendation. Its worth noting that the mechanics of the bar are slightly different, you make orders with a designated waiter who then communicates the order to the bartender. A bit strange if you are sitting at the bar - but i get it - bartenders focus purely on making drinks.

I was escorted to my seat and greeted by the waiter with a menu and glass of water. Very polite waiter and took time to explain how things worked. I got comfortable, took a look at their shared playlist and drink options - all good. For some reason though I felt un-welcomed? It was strange - I guess i am used to some interaction with the bartender right? Like recommendations etc. Anyways i ignored this and proceeded to make an order with the waiter when her came to take the order. The waiter was pleasant and recommended a few whiskey’s for my drink - and pushed through the order.

The feeling of being un-welcomed grew a bit more after a few guests sat next to me at the bar - all of them were greeted by the bartenders with what seemed genuine and ‘normal’ bartender chat - you know recommendations/preferences/basic bartender chat. This is what had been missing - but ok, maybe all in my head.

For my second drink i wanted to try something new - asked the bartender what he recommended - he responded - but it was bare minimum - very difficult to explain in text - but imagine giving a response because you want to vs have to. Anyways - the order put in - somehow forgotten - and the waiter offered his apology on the mix up.

Conclusion:

This is not a normal bar by any sense. Results will vary.

Why was my experience different to others on the same night? Single guest? not Melbourne based - not sure anyone could tell; or I’m black

Either way - I do...

Went here for a comedy show downstairs. Wanted to buy a drink for pre show, but they seemed to prioritise seating people only drinking water. Weird vibes after the show as well. 3 staff on but not super helpful. I bought a bottle of red wine as I knew we were also having whiskeys downstairs. When I went up to the bar to order (had no idea of it was table service or not as people seemed to just be wandering and not doing much). The guy showed me the wine list. I asked if they were the only reds by the bottle (it only had two which is fine but I wasn’t sure if they had a premium one for bottles only as some places do) he got a bit snarky. “Yeah, we’re a COCKTAIL bar”. That’s fine, but nobody really upsold us cocktails at any point. There were no menus offered and service was blah. We ended up finishing our drinks and going to whisky den up the road. Staff are super friendly and it had a generally better atmosphere. I could be convinced to give it another go, but it would need to be compelling eg an event, tasting or degustation that interested me. I have no idea if they served food. The comedy and tasting (run seperately) was good and the door person they had was more helpful than the staff. Perhaps they aren’t used to having so many people in, or they didn’t care to sell us anything as we were there for...