Bridges Restaurant, Bar and Function Centre — Restaurant in Melbourne

I rarely write reviews, but my visit to Bridges was so appalling that I feel compelled to share my experience. It was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had.

The food was pretty average, tending towards poor. But what really sets this restaurant apart—in the worst possible way—was the customer service. The staff were unbelievably rude and unhelpful, to a degree I’ve never seen before.

Just one example: I asked a younger waitress (in her twenties) if my 13 year old son could get some sauce to go with his chips. Her response? She said he would have to wait until she had finished serving food for everyone else at the function (about 120 people). This meant my son would have to wait about 30 minutes to start his meal. Not only was this response completely unacceptable, but it was delivered in the most rude and dismissive manner imaginable.

The overall attitude of the staff was abysmal—they clearly make no effort to help customers, no matter how trivial the request. Complaining to management is pointless because the owner (an older lady) is just as rude and dismissive as the staff (I wonder who taught them that this behaviour was acceptable). There is no way this twenty something girl could get a job in a proper restaurant, she wouldn't last 5 minutes. The fact that this behaviour and approach to life is engrained at such a young age is very sad.

If you ever find yourself forced to go to this restaurant for a function, the only way to salvage the experience might be to have a little fun. Try making a few completely reasonable requests in quick succession and see how poorly the staff handles them (watch their heads explode). Compete with your friends to see who gets the most absurd response and make sure you share your experiences here - if enough people write honest reviews about their experiences they might be forced to not treat customers like garbage.

I cannot recommend Bridges to anyone. The poor food quality, coupled with the unbelievably bad customer service, makes it a place to avoid at all costs. It’s clear the staff and management have no interest in improving or even meeting basic standards of hospitality. Save your time, money, and patience for a restaurant that values...

Apparently new owners and has unfortunately gone WAY down hill! Attended a function. Entree ‘bruschetta’ was 90% onion and not nice at all, weird fried cauliflower likewise. No plates provided for entree, had to ask for some and server just bought them out and dumped them in a pile on table. Bought out two meals and 40 mins later rest of the table still hadn’t received any. Eventually bought out rest of table’s meals which were all the same not alternate as advertised. Asked for the alternative to be bought out which after another 45 mins still hadn’t happened. Two people on our table didn’t receive a main meal as they apparently forgot to bring it. Asked what was happening and they finally offered to defrost some chicken but by that time function was over. Those who did receive a meal reported the fish as jelly like and undercooked and the chicken was dry. Kids meals very small and bland. Kids ice cream icy and topping tasted strange so kids wouldn’t eat it. Asked for refund for the meals not received and management was very indifferent and suggested we chase it up with the event organiser who had already paid the restaurant in full. Organiser of event should not have to chase up this refund for restaurant’s inadequate service. It should have been given on the spot along with an apology, neither of which were offered. Do not recommend anyone booking an event here, not sure if these people have never run a restaurant before or what is going wrong there but it is certainly not good! Have attended many events here in the past and always used to be great, not any more! *Update: received call from manager this afternoon who was lovely and apologetic, saying they will try and do better with their training. Doesn’t alter the experience but I have upgraded the service rating to 2 star as at least she seemed to know how things should have been and has agreed to...

Booked a function towards end of last year paid the room hire fee for 5 hours, phoned last week (2 weeks prior to function) to confirm numbers and food package to be told by function manager that there function packages have now changed and now we had to finish function at 10 rather than midnight and if wanted to stay longer extra $ as well as other hidden costs. We understand food has increased in price but from $ 24 to $ 40 really ???? when asked why they hadn't notified us of all these changes seeing booked last year, they had no reply at all except they were doing us a "favour" by not charging $ 2000 room hire for the 21st !!!!!!. We have had many functions there over the years when Nick was the owner and never had these problems. Needless to say trying to find a venue for 90 people in 2 week period was hard but we had done it and the other venues we had spoken to where disgusted in how our booking was handled by Bridges. Management need to learn about customer service and glad we are not going there. On a positive note we got a deposit...