Bang Bang Hampton — Restaurant in Melbourne

7:45pm booking, we were seated quickly and dropped menus. We ordered a round of drinks and our food which was a mix of starters, small and big plates.

By 8:15pm (seated for a total of 30 minutes) we had received 6 dishes out of 8. I asked the wait staff to slow it down if there isn’t another seating after this (they confirmed there wasn’t) this was ignored and we then immediately received our final 2 dishes all before 8:30pm. All 8 dishes received in 45 minutes or less. Meanwhile empty glasses on the table and no suggestion for another drink even though plates were being dumped left right and centre on our tiny table.

SLOW IT DOWN GUYS. I get that you might need to push food out depending on seating times, but you still have the full allocated time to use. Space it out, upsell drinks or touch base. Don’t push the food out in under and hour and then have another hour or 45 minutes for the guest to sit there and feel stressed as to how many plates are on the table. Pace it correctly.

The food overall was super oily and deep fried with heavy sauce seemingly the theme. The karaage fried chicken - what have you done?! Lathered in Saracha, mayo(?) and then heavy amounts of sesame seed? The chicken was so over fried it couldn’t have been drier and the extensive sauce was too much.

Music - my god. No one wants to listen to another endless 10 second beat of the exact same tune over and over...

The food was wonderful, and consistent with other Bang Bang restaurants.

However the service, while very friendly in manner, wasn’t great. We booked a table in advance, but when we arrived, on time, we were told they didn’t have a table for us as they gave it to someone else. Then stared at us blankly like it was our problem to solve. After a short wait, we were seated.

It took a while for someone to come take our order. We ordered two of the same drink. Only one came. We asked for the other. After 15 minutes, it still didn’t come so we had to flag someone down and ask again. It never came so we let it be, yet, we were still charged for it on the bill.

Can appreciate it was busy, but the wait between check ins was long, usually requiring us to flag someone down. And they didn’t clear plates the whole time we were there, even though we sat for at least 45 minutes after our meal having drinks, after the rush had died down and there were barely any tables.

But, as I said, when we did get service, it was friendly and done with a smile. Will still return as the food was great and hopefully it’s just teething problems.

I do however think it’s really strange that the venue has only been open a week and there is a huge amount of Google reviews already - majority 5 star. This isn’t really inline with the average amount of reviews on any other stand restaurant in that time frame....

I booked dinner at Bang Bang Hampton for the first time in October with a friend. I ordered the bao buns as starters and the crispy pork belly as a main and my friend ordered the salmon something as entree and prawn and spanner crab salad as a main. So I was surprised when the bao buns came out with the mains as typically, everyone eats entree, then the main served. By bringing it out all together, the hot food goes cold, the table looks and feels jammed, and we feel rushed. At that dinner, supposed to be a nice catchup, we were out in 45 minutes. So I was disappointed. Last night I went with my husband as he was keen to try it. We ordered the bao buns as entrees, and prawn and spanner crab and the twice-cooked lamb ribs as mains. So this time, my prawn and spanner crab main came out on its own while my husband sat there. I had finished my main by the time the entree bao buns came out and afterwards, his ribs arrived. Again, the whole exercise took 45 minutes. It is poor service not to bring out entrees first and bad to have someone sitting there so long their dining partner has finished their main by the time the other main arrives. But from arrival to finish in 45 minutes makes it feel like a fast food joint. If you’re going here for something very quick before a movie or even a first date if you’re not sure if you’ll like them, it’s perfect but for a nice leisurely...