CBCo Brewing — Restaurant in Melbourne

First time I’ve been into a restaurant and been treated this poorly. We entered and sat outside, a staff member came and checked our vaccination apps everything was fine. A few mins later another staff member asked to see our vaccination status, I told him the other waiter had already just checked them, this seemed fine as he went back inside (we would have been happy to show him this again but he didn’t ask). One of our group is celiac so went inside and purchased a gluten free beer and began drinking it just as our food was brought out by the second waiter, he saw the gluten free beer, he picked up the beer held it and went to take it away and told our group member that we weren’t allowed to bring ‘outside’ beers into the establishment, we told him she had purchased this inside and he didn’t believe us, i then said go check since we wouldn’t bring our own beers to a brewery, he then walked off and said ‘well if that’s true then it’s on me’ in a rude way.

We told this to the manager who apologised, the manager told us that initially after we told this waiter we had already showed another staff member our vaccination status that he went inside and told the manager that we had refused to show our vaccination status and that we were all non-vaccinated and had brought our own beers which is a complete lie. Our group was mostly health care workers who are all triple vaccinated and we had purchased the single gluten free beer inside. The manager told us that the first waiter who showed out vaccination status to had left, but there is no way we could have known this.

I hope this staff member is spoken to about treating people this poorly and just about lying. He took the beer inside when clearing the table, I hope he checks that this gluten free beer is sold inside.

0/10 for Service I will never return and would not recommend this to anyone else.

My other note is that this same waiter was not wearing a mask at all. While I don’t really care I find this quite hypocritical given that he had lied to his manager about us being un-vaccinated.

Update: Colonial have followed this up, it is good that the actions of the one waiter do not reflect the whole...

I was happily drinking my craft beverage when my number for food was displayed on the board. I leapt up with enthusiasm, my mouth watering, longing for the test of pizza to pass my lips. As I approached the pass to pick up my order the kitchen staff said good luck. That's odd I thought to my self. I dismissed their words as harmless banter and continued my journey back to my table. I sat down, I could smell the deliciousness wafting up to caress my nostrils. The ingredients looked fresh, the cheese, the sauce, the meat and the innocent little jalapeños. As I moved a piece towards my mouth in anticipation a scary yet familiar smell tickled my receptors. That smells like habanero, I thought. The fleeting thought was quickly dismissed as I was overcome with hunger and I took my first sensual bite. The flavors danced on my tongue the crust was good. I noticed the dancing flavors were increasing their tempo at a rapid pace. My eyes widened with horror as I looked at my partner. This is pretty hot, I said in what was to become the understatement of the century. The heat continued to increase so I took a sip of refreshing beer. No change. The intensity of the heat was increasing at an almost exponential rate. I drank more beer. No change. My breath was getting hotter, tears streamed down my face. I ran out of beer. I lined up to purchase a new beverage, the bartender looked on in amusement. The patrons thinking my partner had broken my heart and I was going to drown my sorrows in beer. How was the pizza? The bartender asked. Drool was streaming from my mouth as I tried to answer. He just laughed and took my money. As I sat down with my beer the heart was slowly starting to subside. It was now time to finish the piece I had taken one bite from. I guess I'll find out why it's called the Johnny...

Tried CBCo Brewing after hearing all the hype around their shrimp burger, which has apparently been labelled as the best burger in town — and while it definitely delivered on the seafood angle, I personally found it a little overhyped. Still a good seafood option, but not something I’d rush back for.

The shrimp patty was well-seasoned, made with crushed prawns deep-fried in a coating that gave it nice texture and flavour. Also ordered the Royale burger with added beef and chicken (+$5 each). It originally comes with chips for $25 — which is decent value. But my order came out missing a patty. When I let the kitchen know (apologising in advance for the hassle), the staff member said, “It’s alright, we’ll just cook a patty and chuck it in the old one,” which was a bit off-putting. I get not wanting to waste food, but the remade burger came back with a hot beef patty wedged into room-temp chicken and beef, and the bun had gone soggy. Kind of ruined the experience.

As for the sides — chicken ribs were okay, not memorable, but the corn ribs were actually pretty solid. The chips had a heavy hand with the seasoning, but were still decent with that thin-cut style.

One positive — the girl who took my order was great. She was engaged, double-checked everything, and gave some solid recommendations. Just a shame the kitchen/service side let it down a bit.

Might not return anytime soon, but if you’re in the area and curious about a seafood-style burger, the shrimp one is...