Dame — Restaurant in Melbourne

The café looks and feels quite nice. I can see a lot of work and care went into it. It is truly a shame to have such bad customer service. My partner and I live around the corner in Melbourne, and we really wanted to support a new local business. We came in today after 10am, before the lunch rush. We sat by the bar for a good 10 minutes, no one served us, no one gave us the lunch menu. When I finally asked a girl who was working behind the bar if we could order anything, she took my partner's order and walked away, without even looking at me or asking what I would like to order. We had to call her back to order my coffee and meal, after experiencing more horrible altitude, we decided to cancel the order and left. It is unbelievable really, and unfortunate. The café wasn't even full, and this was before the lunch rush. If this is the kind of service that local customers are getting, the management should seriously look into this matter and fire the girl (with hair up and pink hair band) immediately. It is certainly not on par with the effort and care went into the business. We would like to give the café another try, and support businesses in the neighourhood. I understand that there may be teething and staffing issues. Happy to adjust the rating as we visit more.

Edit: to respond to the reply below, and to help the management team to understand what happened better. We waited to be seated as soon as we walked in, the grumpy girl told us to seat wherever we liked, so we sat by the bar where most of the staff were. If guests need to be seated by the staff, then clearly the same rude girl had no idea what she was doing. We were offended by the terrible altitude more than not being served.

We appreciate your message Jackie, and we look forward to visiting Dame again. Hope it will be a better experience. As we do want to support new...

I attended two Melbourne Fashion runway shows 23" with my partner, including the Collins Street Runway, and we had VIP lounge access for $600. While the venue was beautifully set up by Melbourne Fashion Week, the experience was unfortunately overshadowed by the venue hosts and staff. One particular older woman, who I assume was the manager, was wearing a pink romper and seemed genuinely surprised that we could afford to be there while she was working.

She came around with hors d'oeuvres served on little spoons, and when we were finished, we weren't sure where to place them, so we put them on the far side of her tray. To our surprise, she scolded us as if we were children, saying, 'Don't put that there.' It was awkward, unprofessional, and completely unnecessary. Out of politeness, we apologised, but then she took the spoons from us with her bare hands, which seemed unsanitary. There should have been a separate plate for used hors d’oeuvre dishes.

I noticed she continued to serve others in the same amateurish way, walking around with spoons in her hands. Although I considered addressing it with her, I decided to focus on enjoying the rest of the event, which was much better. However, the gift bags were a letdown. Considering I paid for the gift bag, they were some of the worst I’ve received. Overall, the event had potential. Rename to "Mutton...

Rude and disappointing service. Attended with a colleague where we sat at a small table outside to discuss work and dial into a meeting. We each order a coffee which took about 10-15mins to arrive. We had been there for about 40mins when one of the wait staff placed the bill on our table and then returned immediately with the eftpos machine for us to pay while still in my meeting. I explained that we actually wanted to order another coffee each to which he responded well you can only stay for another 20mins and that we cant sit there for that long and only order 2 coffees each and that is why they offer takeaway. I asked where is that stated and had observed others also doing the same thing as us. Our coffees didn't arrive for another 12mins. We left at just over 1hr. We had planned to return for lunch after attending a meeting close by but chose not to after this interaction. Nor will anyone who witnessed the interaction in my meeting. Important to note that there also wasn't anyone waiting and there was still vacant seating. A shame as the coffee...