BearBrass — Restaurant in Melbourne

Me and my friends went in Bearbrass to have a good time, the mood of this restaurant seemed nice. Nevertheless, our evening was just a nightmare! Firstly, the waiters were not able to fix anything I just asked for fries with my beef instead of vegetables and it was impossible for them to do it. If only this mistake was the only one... Secondly, the waiters were totally absent throughout the dinner, it was impossible to ask for a bottle of water or anything else. Thirdly, as the waiter told me it was impossible to replace vegetables by fries I chose the Burger Chicken. It was awful, the chicken was not even cooked, it was red and I ate blood vessels, I couldn’t finish my plate and was sick the day after (do not want to share all details with you). Finally, when was the time to pay the bill we waited for almost 10mins and when I said to the waiter about my chicken burger he just said that if the meat was a pink it was absolutely normal. I mean who eats a non-cooked chicken? I understand if it was a ramp steak or something like that but this is unacceptable. I am a comprehensive customer as I was a waitress before but this was my worst restaurant experience ever. I absolutely do not recommend this restaurant at all!

Français : Je suis allée dans ce restaurant dans l’optique de passer une bonne soirée entre amis, malheureusement ce fut un cauchemar! Tout d’abord les serveurs étaient incapable de faire le moindre changement dans le menu, j’ai juste voulu remplacer des légumes par des frites et il était impossible pour eux de le faire. Ensuite, les serveurs étaient absents tout au long du repas, impossible de demander une bouteille d’eau. Après que le serveur m’ait dit qu’il etait impossible de remplacer les legumes par des frites, j’ai tout simplement commandé un Burger au poulet. C’était une catastrophe, le poulet n’était pas du tout cuit et j’ai même eu le droit à des vaisseaux sanguins de poulet, j’ai été malade le jour suivant (je vous épargne les détails. Enfin, au moment de payer l’addition nous avons attendu 10mins et quand j’ai dis au serveur que mon poulet n’était pas cuit il a tout simplement dit que si le chicken était rose c’était normal. Le chicken c’est de la viance blanche ça se manges cuit, ce n’est pas de la viande rouge! Je ne me suis jamais plaint sur Google je suis une cliente très compréhensible car j’ai déjà était serveuse mais cette expérience au restaurant a été la pire de ma vie je ne recommandes absolument pas...

I visited BearBrass on a Monday morning for breakfast. I wasn't thrilled. We were advised that their gluten free bread order had not yet arrived, so we needed to discount that as an option. That wasn't actually a big deal for us. But they also told us there were no avocados as they'd had a big weekend and were out. In hindsight, we should have pulled the pin then but we'd already ordered coffees so we persisted. I noted on the menu that 'extras' for bacon or avocado were $5 each! I think that's pretty rich. I ordered the Big Breakfast, requesting no toast or hash browns (can never be sure they're actually GF). With the lack of avocados, the plate of two poached eggs, bacon, a couple of field mushrooms, a scoop of spinach and two halves of grilled tomato was cooked ok, but not outstanding. My husband and son ordered the Tuna Poke bowls. Very disappointing in appearance....rice, tuna, eggplant, nori sprinkles and a mayonnaise-based sauce. There was supposed to be avocado but..... The poke servings were on the small side (you get much better value going to 'Poked'....fresh, a range of ingredients, a choice of sauces and cheaper!). For what we were being charged, it was all a bit underwhelming. I probably would have let it slide, but remember....$5 for avocado as an 'extra'. We had three meals which were all supposed to come with avocado, no option for gluten-free bread, and two lattes. The bill was $72!! It would have been a positive gesture if they'd given some sort of discount for the lack of avocado at least. With so many cafes doing so many great things in Melbourne for breakfast, I regret going to Bear Brass, and I won't...

Starting with the good points, the waiting staff were excellent. Very polite and attentive throughout. The food was really disappointing though. To start we shared the beer and smoked cheddar croquettes with aioli. Instead of the aioli coming on the side so you could control the amount of aioli, the 4 very small (and cold) croquettes were dumped in a huge pool of aioli meaning the taste of garlic was totally overpowering as they were saturated in the unnecessary amount of sauce. Really greasy too and a real rip off at 16 dollars. I then had the chicken burger. Was disappointed to see the chicken burger was tiny compared to the bun. It only filled about half the area of the bun meaning I was just left with dry bread towards the end. Came with a really small amount of chips. My wife had a pizza. Again, pretty underwhelming, mostly just crust with a very minimal amount of topping or flavour. The description mentioned truffle oil which we were doubtful was used at all. While I appreciate it was a Saturday night and very busy, it felt like the kitchen staff had either given up or were just too busy to take any care. I wasnt expecting the best ever food, we just wanted a quick bite but this really fell short of my expectations for such a great location and left feeling ripped off. It felt like the kitchen used the cheapest ingredients to maximise profits and everything...