arcobar heatherton — Restaurant in Melbourne

My sister booked Acrobar due to the number of great reviews they had so we had high expectations prior to arriving. She called and enquired about booking a table for 5 people and was told there was no need, they don't do bookings just walk in's which we were happy to do.

Saturday 28th of September we arrived there for my 24th birthday dinner. We were greeted at the front by a female waitress that when we told her we'd like a table for 5, enlightened us to the fact they had a sold out gig that night and had no tables inside only outside. We questioned why we weren't told there was a gig over the phone to which the waitress responded with "well, we have one". Considering it was 16 degrees outside and windy and it was close to 8pm we had no other choice than to take a table outside or eat Maccas on my birthday. We sat for a while with no water, cups, forks, knives, napkins and no one to attend to us or give menus. I myself walked in and asked for menus, cups and water. No one had told us that they in fact do orders at the front and orders weren't taken from the tables so we sat for a while waiting until I walked up and ordered everyones meals at the front.

I had a chocolate cheesecake I'd like to refrigerate to bring out later and was told there was a $10 fee for this. I have dined for birthdays at many restaurants but never once have had to pay $10 for some teaspoons and small plates to eat a birthday cake. After I paid the $10 the waitress was very eager to walk off and start doing something else. I waited at the counter with my cake while multiple staff walked past and never once was I acknowledged, approx 5mins later the same waitress came up and said "was there something else", despite her rude tone I mentioned "you didn't take the cake?" where she then proceeded to take it and put it in the fridge without one word being said. Meals started to come through and once we had all meals we had nothing to eat with. I went to the front (again) and asked for forks, knives, spoons, napkins ect. all the basic needs of eating a meal. When eating the cake my mum kindly asked if the waitress could keep the cake box to use later for left overs to which the waitress replied with "which I'm already doing". It was an appalling experience to say the least, rude, dismissive and belittling attitude from the two waitresses ensured we will never dine or recommend this restaurant.

Look, I have never written a review for anything! restaurant, book, movie you name it. But the way the staff made me feel the night of my birthday made me upset, disappointed, and for the first time in my life I actually wished we had dined at the alternative....maccas.

Regretfully, I cannot go...

Usually our go to place, especially that my partner really likes the calamari here.

Quite disappointed when we went to Arcobar today around 2pm for outside dining. My partner first got to the counter as we wanted to pay in separate. Once my partner ordered, the staff (maybe the owner - wearing a red polo shirt) condescendingly approached her with “Are you dining outside?!” “Whats the table number?!” “You gotta know the table number first before ordering!”. Unwarranted, abrupt and unprofessional to say the least. My partner then panicked and went outside to check the table number. I can see from her face that she was shocked and confused. My partner is constantly battling mental illness, this is the least she needs or anyone else in this regard. In addition to this, he vented to his colleague saying “people should know better than just blindly ordering at the counter without knowing their table number.”

I intervened and let the staff know that this is a genuine mistake told him his approach could be better. He let me understand that this is a constant thing within the restaurant and it gets frustrating on staffs behalf.

Now, I get where he’s coming from but there should be at least signs on the entrance, counter saying that before approaching the counter, guests should have their table number ready, or place a QR code on tables to prevent this “frustration” from occurring.

The situation could be executed better if this staff member spoke to my partner in a correct, respectful manner as respect goes both ways. Really disappointed with my experience again. I really hope this never happens again.

EDIT: The owner clearly cannot take any honest reviews/criticism from people 🤣 it’s appalling how this owner Brooke replies to any comment about his/her business. First of all, my review was 6+ months ago, but seeing how Brooke’s responses to his/her business I’ve reduced my 3 star review to 1 to emphasise how poorly this business operates. (I hope the best for Brooke). Public hospital has better service than Arcobar lmao.

It’s a shame that we used to enjoy to go to this place, but seeing how the business operates, the reviews really reflect this. I really hope people see this embarrassment of a business. Clearly Brooke is in his/her feelings and maybe it’s time to get your head out of his/her rear since Brooke only allows 5 star reviews!

What an embarrassment of a person

Goodbye &...

Normally this place is great but today's experience was less than favourable. When ordering my meal which was salt and pepper squid I asked for salad instead of rocket. The meal was bought over with just chips and squid so I politely pointed out to the waitress that the salad was missing from my plate. In 20 secs my plate was returned with a small hand full of mixed lettuce leaves thrown onto the plate literally. I called the owner over given he was nearby and expressed the fact the salad was just thrown onto my plate was unacceptable and perhaps it could have been dressed mixed in with some cucumber and tomato. He became aggressive, impertinent, offensive and extremely arrogant and in a loud voice told me "that perhaps if it was a third world problem I might have had the right to complain". In a extremely rude manner he advised that he only had one chef working today and was doing the best he could given the place was full. He further proceeded to tell me that if we didn't like the service we could leave he didn't care. When my friend stepped in to tell him he can't speak to customers in that manner his reply was "Yes I can I'm the owner and if you don't like it feel free to leave, I don't care if you don't come back because I can fill these seats with other people." The sheer arogance was unbelievable. This abuse went on for at least 15 mins at this point all the nearby tables were just looking to see what the commotion was about. Had the owner politely said look I'm sorry I'll get it fixed for you, we are short staffed and only have 1 chef on I could completely understand but this man just went on and on showing no respect, courtesy or professionalism and just kept on with the abuse. He didn't value the fact that we were there to support his bar/restaurant. All I did was point out that the salad literally thrown onto the plate was unacceptable. At the end of the day the meal was not free, I was paying for it, it didn't merit all the aggression, rudeness and disrespect that we received today !!! We frequent Acrobar often but will never return due to the owner"s insolent, ill mannered and contemptuous behaviour shown to...