By The Bay Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

Firstly the place was not overly busy so it's not like they had an excuse for the lack of hospitality. No one greets you at the door. There was no presence of any kind of management of the dining area. So we had to wait in line at the cashier to be seated. Was not actually told that we have to order at the counter so we figured it out when no one came to take our order. Once we ordered it not only took too long to get our food but all our meals came out at different times. Two of my kids got their orders and we sat there watching them eat. When they were almost finished mum and I got our food. They forgot the side of Bacon she ordered so I had to go up to the counter and tell them. When I go to speak I was cut off by the girl making drinks saying my orange juice is coming. I replied that it's not about orange juice and explained about the Bacon. No apology and says she'll let them know. They bring the Bacon again no apology but checks to see if everyone has everything which is when I realised ok they have no clue my other daughter is waiting for a meal. I explain we're waiting on her meal to which he acts like ok I'll go check when in fact they forgot and no acknowledgement they forgot it. So her meals comes out when everyone else is finished! The girl failed to bring the cutlery even though she was only carrying one plate, with no word at all she puts the plate down, turns and walks off. Realising I say excuse me to get get attention while she was still close by and appears not to hear and continues walking away so I say excuse me again and then a third time to which then she swiftly turns around, hold up a stop ✋️ hand and abruptly says JUST WAIT! So she could hear me but actually ignored me instead of explaining she is getting cutlery. We were all stunned at how absolutely rude she was. The cakes looked delicious and we had every intention of trying some but after that appalling experience I was not spending another cent there. I would not recommend going there at all. Customer service needs an...

My review is based on multiple visits (I really tried), so I will speak generally.

TLDR; food is bad quality and overpriced. Service is lacking, if it is even present (robot "server"). Visit 3030 boulevard instead. (I am not affiliated with either venue in any way).

Owners have been replying to bad reviews and accusing people of exaggeration. My review, like all others, is an opinion and I have taken every care not to exaggerate, instead giving facts based on our experience. Some opinions are included to give you our feelings, and the feelings of other locals about this venue, to give context.

Since the ownership has changed, the quality of this place has gone down significantly. Talking to other locals, this place has been compared to sticking your hand in a lawn mower. "You might do it once, but then you learn your lesson and never return." To convey the quality of the food to people considering a visit, the "Meatlovers" pizza we received was a ham, cheese, and BBQ sauce pizza. We were under the impression the meat lovers has 3+ meats, not 1. The taste is seriously lacking and pizza here may cost OVER $30, when a pizza costs $20-30 just down the marina (3030 Boulevard). In our opinion, the taste and quality of pizza from 3030 is significantly better, in addition to the lower cost.

When the owner/s are in the shop, the customer service is... only okay. When they are not, we felt barely acknowledged by the staff that are there. We have been left waiting at the register while staff chat and laugh out the back.

Adding the robot server is a cute novelty for one visit, but the music is incredibly loud (and in our opinion annoying). We now have to get up and grab our own meals from the robot. I'd love to see servers reintroduced as we come to a cafe/restaurant for human interaction in addition to the...

To say I’m disappointed is an understatement with my service today; I came in with my mum and daughter for brunch, our first red flag should have been the family next to us send their kids food back not once but twice for it being cold. Anyway we ordered our food, pancakes, smashed avo and eggs Benny…waited around half an hour which is fine but when our food came out my daughters pancakes were stone cold and her ice cream was almost all completely melted like it had just been sitting there. The pancakes tasted like they were days old and the berry compote was almost as if it was frozen and chucked in a microwave. The smashed avo also wasn’t great and again the eggs were stone cold and tasted as if they to had been sitting out and reheated, the same with my eggs Benny. When my mum came to speak to someone at the counter you argued with her even though your own chef came out and ADMITTED the pancakes get delivered in the morning and reheated, the berries aren’t fresh even though it says on the menu fresh BERRY compote but because no one had apparently complained we were lying and a refund wasn’t going to happen ( $80 ) but food that wasn’t freshly made, stone cold and had absolutely no taste. I am not one to usually complain so I ate my food anyway because I always feel rude and that is why my mum said something on my behalf. But, in all it was not a great experience, the girl working was extremely rude and the chef was extremely...