Alpine Hotel, Warburton — Restaurant in Melbourne

Concerns About Recent Customer Service

Thank you for your response.

I understand from your message that there were already 400 bookings on the day I called. I'm happy to hear your business is doing well, but I still believe that if the table I requested couldn’t be guaranteed, I should have been told clearly at the time of booking—not just two days before the event.

This was meant to be a special Father's Day celebration, and getting a last-minute call offering only a high chair or a “not nice” bistro area left me feeling disappointed and let down. I felt forced to cancel because it no longer felt like a thoughtful or comfortable experience for such an important day.

What added to my frustration was the tone of the reply, which made it seem like I shouldn’t have expressed my feelings in a Google review. But Google Reviews exist so that customers can share honest feedback—good or bad. I didn’t leave my review out of anger, but from genuine disappointment at how the situation was handled. I was never looking for compensation—just a sincere apology or some understanding, which unfortunately never came.

To clarify again, I never accused anyone of being racist. My point was simply that if my accent was hard to understand, another staff member could’ve stepped in. But in reality, we understood each other just fine. The issue wasn’t communication—it was how the change to my booking was delivered so late, without much care or responsibility.

Father’s Day means a lot to me, and this experience left me feeling dismissed and stressed. I believe any customer in the same situation would have felt the same. 6 Sept 2025

Father’s Day Plans Ruined

I’m disappointed with how my Father’s Day lunch booking was handled.

I booked weeks in advance, specifically asking for a window seat for 3 people. Just two days before Father's Day, I received a call ( 5 Sept ar 2:37pm ) saying the window seats are only available with high stools, which I NEVER requested and was NEVER told about when I booked.

The staff then offered a table inside the bistro, and even admitted that the bistro area is "not nice." Why would that be offered as an acceptable alternative for such a special day?

To make things worse, when I tried to explain the issue, the staff blamed me, saying I didn’t say I didn’t want high chairs — even though no one told me window seating came with high stools in the first place.

I also couldn’t help but feel like I wasn’t being taken seriously — perhaps because of my Chinese accent. I truly hope this wasn’t the case, but I left the call feeling dismissed and disrespected.

This was meant to be a special Father’s Day lunch for my family, and now it’s been ruined. Extremely poor communication and service. that just...

Mixed feelings about our visit here..

One staff member, I am assuming the owner/manager was EXCEPTIONAL… 5* for him. He was down to earth and passionate. Other servers were robotic and had no pleasantries about them. Their work ethic was slow and nonchalant. We were seated with menus placed down and told we would get table service. We approached the bar to ask if there were any specials and the member of staff abruptly said we don’t do specials and there’s no Sunday roast available. Pizzas which take up almost half the menu aren’t available on a Sunday so I feel should be a totally separate menu on itself. Questions were asked about the menu and the staff member was not helpful and had no suggestions. Very strict on no menu changes yet options insanely limited. Another customer ahead of me at the bar was told 3 times what he was trying to order was no longer available and the staff member was unhelpful and condescending as he was trying to figure out what it is he could actually order.

Menu options were very limited however with such a small menu the expectations were high. Orders were placed only for us to be told that yet another item was not available on the menu (which was one of two vegetarian options available..). Granted this was early on a Sunday evening, however change in plans and menu choice and a side of gravy was requested to which there’s only chicken gravy available. Not even garlic butter for the steak, no flavoured gravies etc.. which when you’re paying close to $60 for a piece of steak you’d think there was something on offer.

The food arrived and the entrees, stellar - amazing! Absolutely delicious. If I had a do over, I would order purely off of the starters menu and ideally would have liked to see some of these with a main option.

However the mains had no wow factor. The chicken for the Parma was rubbery with a soggy base and had a very distinct flavour that I could almost compare to the smell of bleach. The “salad” was purely some lettuce leaves on the plate. Chips.. appeared home made but left a lot to be desired. Was it worth the $36? Absolutely not.

I get it, the vibe was clearly to stand out from other pubs but they’ve very much missed the mark for locals in my opinion. Tourists I’m sure would love it and I imagine that their target audience are as such.. however as a local I personally wouldn’t return or recommend it.

As a side note, the female toilets were disgustingly dirty with a used tampon sitting on the ground, dirty toilet paper everywhere and just in general felt very gross...

I had high hopes for Alpine Hotel because of the reviews.

Being quite the optimist, I took my husband here for lunch on our visit to Warburton for his birthday.

We were welcomed by the amazing Damo who explained everything to us and we soaked in the view and cozy atmosphere.

We ordered our food and drinks, food that we waited an hour for. Staff walked by our table often and not one asked if we had our meals yet.

While I understand that this establishment hires 36 locals and they had an 18th birthday in the next room, so yes busy, I feel like any restaurant should have the capacity to deliver a parma and a porterhouse steak in record time.

30 mins in, after we watched people who walked in after us being served their food within 15 mins of ordering, we enquired the first time about our meal with a staff member and was told it’ll arrive in 10 mins. After the 10 mins, we went to the bar to ask about our meal again, by then the birthday celebration vibe wasn’t as great as when we’d walked in and I was apologetic to my husband for taking him here, he wanted a refund for our $140 bill, I insisted we stay. Mistakes have been made.

So initially the fries came out in a basket and we were famished, so we started on that, we got the parma as the basket was nearly empty, then about 15 mins later the steak came out. The parma was a good portion, hot and tasted like a typical parma, which we were grateful for.

The porterhouse was cold and the butter on it was overpowering and sour. Matched with another dollop of sour mustard on the side which was just a sad outcome for a well anticipated meal, we dared not return the meal for fear of waiting another hour for a new one. By then we just wanted to leave and forget the experience.

Honestly, we wanted a nice quiet lunch that was delivered hot and on time to celebrate a good thing during our visit and it was disappointing. To their credit, the view is stunning and you get your drinks...