Alimentari Smith Street — Restaurant in Melbourne

I have been to this restaurant a few times before, and the service was always pretty good, so I had high expectations. Unfortunately, this visit was a huge letdown.

We waited forever for someone to take our order. When the waitress finally came over, she didn’t even ask for our order but instead told us, “our breakfast time is ending in a few minutes, you need to order now.” That was so rude—like, we were literally waiting for you to come and take our order!

My coffee spilled, and no one even bothered to apologize. It wasn’t a big spill, but still, some basic manners would’ve been nice.

We reserved a table for two, but there were three of us. I politely asked if we could switch to a bigger table, and they said no, everything was booked. But here’s the kicker—there were empty tables around us the whole time we were there (from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.). I even asked if we could just use one of the empty tables temporarily because our table was way too small, but they still said no. Those tables stayed empty the whole time, which makes no sense. Their reservation system clearly needs work.

Throughout the meal, nobody explained the menu to us or provided any real service. At the end, the staff straight-up asked if we wanted to tip. Honestly, we’re happy to tip if we get decent service, but aside from refilling our water a couple of times, there was no service. Even when they cleared the dishes, it felt rushed and careless, with no interaction at all.

It’s really disappointing because my past visits were great, and I expected the same level of service this time. Hopefully, they can sort out their management and train the staff better because this experience was far from what I’m...

I would highly recommend that this restaurant look into the staff that they hire. We entered at 3.04 pm and were told that the kitchen was closed and we could order salad from the already prepped ones on display which we did. Three customers came in, ordered take away salads and were served and still no salad to our table. We then asked one of the waiters in case they misplaced our order and he said it would be with us shortly and we watched him tell the waitress. She then looked at her watch and snorted as if to say that the order was only 10 minutes ago, why were we asking about our food. She then continued cleaning up (I guess they’re closing soon). She proceeded to place one salad in the plate and then disappeared for a few minutes and then returned with two chopping boards. Then served a bit more salad, then dropped it to serve two other customers. So much for horrible and SPITEFUL customer service. We left and will not return. We’re in hospitality. The salads are right there. No prep… maybe we should have just taken take away but anyways word of mouth has an effect and just thought I’d share that if anyone wants to be insulted… please go in and visit.

** I feel compelled to add that although I immediately received a response on this review as you can see below, I followed up by providing my email and contact number and information and I was never...

Hi, Been twice and can't complain about the service nor the food quality. Overall as expected, given the place was packed on Sunday & Monday.

My complaint is about overcharging. We came on Sunday for lunch and had a whole flounder, we were overcharged by $5. The cashier could not explain the error, she politely apologised and offered the change back, coffee or cake etc. we opted for cake as the apple cake was delicious.

We came back next day Monday for breakfast, my wife ordered poached eggs on toast +salmon +Avo +Tomato. The charge was $35.5, instead of $28!! again the cashier apologised with no explanation. When I query if this is a habitual act of overcharging, she blamed the other girl being on her first day in the job though we saw her yesterday.

What arose my suspicion was not being offered the receipt. When I asked for it, she gave me the eftpos receipt, I said the tax invoice please. She hesitated, she printed it, she looked at it for 20Sec and then passed it on!!!

I got my $7.5 back no drama, but it is not about the $7, but is this act being sanctioned by management or is it done at floor level, where the waiter first over charge, then refund him/herself the extra amount once the customer walks out of the door.

Then again it could be just a...