Crackerjack Beachfront Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Unfriendly staff. We asked for a table for 5 at 3.00 pm on a Sunday. There was no space and were told that if waited 30 min that they could try to provide. Perfectly acceptable. Because we had a 10 month baby needing to be bottle fed and there were several tables for two available we asked if we could have a table for two instead. The idea behind it was that all the others could order some ice creams and drinks standing or going to the park while the mother could feed her baby. Still not available. Later we found out there were tables available but the greedy manager assumed we just want a table to feed the baby and would not consume - not sure why as we had just asked for a table for 5 before. So no money no table. Conclusion: 1) we WERE all going to consume so staff assumes instead of asking 2) staff really unfriendly to families and babies as money is above all others.

It looks the managment change made this place worse. Used to be a really busy but families friendly place before. If you are a single couple with a trendy job probably you will be well treated but if you are a family instead just not so sure....

Edit 3 months later:

1. I was unhappy but was not rude or loud.
2. I insist that a table for two (for my wife) was refused on the grounds of not consumption when we never said we would not consume. This is what made me unhappy that you refused a table for 2 that was clearly available.
3. I did not approach another staff member. Another staff member talked to me. I said I already was being taken care of and the staff member insisted to know what I required. I repeated what I had asked before after that. This could have created confusion I admit but was unavoidable with the insistence of the second staff member.
4. advanced booking would not be useful on this case as we were passing by and came up for a desert...

Vegetarians can eat a burger or a cold salad for dinner (literally the only two dinner options, from an otherwise wide range of meat/seafood options). If everyone enjoyed being told what to eat and not having options, menus wouldn't be needed. At least one cooked vego meal shouldn't be too hard to add to the options. I wouldn't recommend this place for group bookings due to the limited dietary options. EDIT: Hi Sandra, I had asked the waiter if there were any alternative vego options from the menu and was told no as he quickly perused the menu and suggested the salad... so are you suggesting that vegetarians call ahead with a recipe and meal recommendations? I feel this is extra work on all accounts... I try not to make extra work for staff and try to go off menus, and only the burger offered a vego alternative, none of the others. the salad IS yum and would happily have it for brunch. Considering I'm one of those who remains vego all day I didn't feel like having a second brunch for dinner. Do the seven options include the breakfast meals? I hadn't realised it was an all day breakfast menu; do the table menus reflect this clearly?? (although I was under the impression this wouldn't change the fact that there were no cooked vego meals) I had checked the breakfast menu at the time in the cafe when I realised the paucity of options for dinner and saw no reason to believe the breakfast was all day... but I may have missed some fine print... and the staff I asked didn't mention anything (hasten to add that the service was otherwise very good so the issue is not with the staff, nor is it with the quality of food, simply the lack of vego...

The coffee at Crackerjack, in my opinion, tastes like dirty dishwater.

We actually had a wedding at the Bowls club and function room. Sandra the manager of Crackerjack was initially tasked with handling our booking. Unfortunately she was deceitful and kept trying to, in my opinion, sabotage our wedding because we didn’t use her for catering (she told us numerous times that she “makes no money off us” if we don’t do food through her). Her behaviour included, but was not limited to: lying about costs despite having a written quote to the contrary (lol) promising access to the venue the day before for setup, then reneging before the event not allowing us in the room at the agreed upon time (again despite having this IN WRITING) chasing the bride around on the morning of our wedding verbally harrassing her not letting 84 year old wedding patrons walk through the thoroughfare to get out of the rain, after they’d already walked up the stairs ...and my personal favourite - literally coming into our function room and telling our guests to come to her cafe for food and drink instead of eating at our wedding!

Luckily the amazing and lovely Jennifer (of Carrum Bowling Club) came to our rescue and salvaged our special day. I’d highly recommend Carrum Bowls club venue to anyone. Beautiful setting, great staff (special shout-out to Rachel) and good times.

In my eyes, poaching business from a wedding is next-level and gives a really good indication of the type of person Sandra, Crackerjack Manager, is. Reading through her responses here also provides insight into the type of human Sandra is.

I wouldn’t let my dog eat at your...