Dohtonbori (Docklands) — Restaurant in Melbourne

Came in on a Thursday around lunch time and was seated quickly even without a booking BUT that was the only time the service was quick! We waited about 20-30 mins before they took our order then another 20-25 mins for the food to come out. We ordered a lunch set and the side dishes came AFTER our main dish as we were finishing our main dish. They only had one staff waiting about 10 tables in a teppanyaki style restaurant! Luckily within an hour another staff came to help but he was also quickly overwhelmed with the number of tables that were waiting. You could see other people growing frustrated with the wait and one couple even walked out. Luckily the food was good (though I dont think it was worth it given the wait time) but it’s the only reason why I’m giving it a 2 star otherwise it would be 1.

EDIT (after owner replied): Since the owner included certain things in his reply, I'd also like to include few things that happened when we dined there:

• When we got seated at the table, it is customary (at least for the restaurants we've been in except this one) to serve the water first. We were happy to get it ourselves but the water was on the bartender's counter which we assumed is only accessible for the wait staff. Water was served after main meal was served.

• As per the owner, this restaurant is DIY style and we knew that and didn't ask for the staff to cook ours BUT since it is DIY, we did expect the service to be faster since customers ARE doing their own cooking.

• Yes, there was an iPad that we used for ordering BUT the iPad wasn't given until 20min after we were seated. Infact one of the said iPad was not working and the staff had to fetch a different one. We even tried to find a QR code for ordering as so we don't have to wait for the staff to take our order but unfortunately they don't have one.

• Because the wait was so long, the table beside us who were seated way before us left the restaurant. That alone would reflect how slow the service was.

• It is customary for the side dishes to come first or with the main meals. We ordered 2 sets of their lunch set menu which included 2 sides. The 1st side dish (salad) came first which came after both main dishes were served. The 2nd side dish (karaage) came after we had consumed both main dishes and was burned and hard to chew.

It would probably benefit the restaurant if their staff has further training on customer service, or even just have enough staff for the number of tables they have to serve. Maybe it would also be beneficial for the restaurant to have a QR code system for ordering so that customers won't need to wait for staff to hand them the iPad. That being said, I would downgrade my review to 1 star as the owner seemed hesitant to be accountable about what...

Food was okay, but we received the worst service ever.

Booked the restaurant at 7:30, the manager said please wait as they prepare the table and it won't be long but then we were only shown to our table 30 minutes later. At this point we feel like the manager start to avoid us and let the other waitresses to help us As we have waited TOO LONG, we want to order straight away but there's a problem with the iPad so the waitress want to take our order manually. As she took our order, the manager came and threw an iPad to our table and said to the waitress "just give it to them", I personally think this is very rude, especially coming from the restaurant manager After around 15 minutes our yakitori order came. We initially ordered the pork and the beef one, but when we were shown our order receipt, only the pork went through. We asked for the beef one but they said they no longer have it. We find it upsetting since we weren't informed when we ordered so then we have to order another one and wait again The okonomiyaki batter came around 20 minutes later which I think was again too long considering all of the ingredients are still uncooked. They also need to cook it for around 15 minutes. As this is our first time coming to Dohtonbori, we have no idea how big the food will be and asked if 2 okonomiyakis and 2 yakitoris would be enough for the 5 of us. The waitress said she think it will be more than enough as the Hiroshima one is big. Turns out it was not that big, just standard size and it's not enough for us. We ordered another 1 once the batter was poured but didn't receive the batter until we finish out first 2 okonomiyakis. At this point we got very impatient and dissapointed and walked away from the restaurant before finishing our meal because we have waited too long and didn't receive good service at all.

What's most disappointing is the fact that the manager is so unprofessional and rude towards us. One of my friends called him but he said "one second" and leave us and then without being told anything just put the topping bottle on our table and then leave again. He never says acknowledge that we wait for that long and receive poor service.

Please consider this to fix your management...

Been waiting for this appear so I can rate this place. Was going to go to one at Bourke Street but it was closed (what the restaurant closed on Sunday), so went out our way to go to dockland. My goodness, was it a huge mistake we made and regretted for the rest of our life. We waited one hour to be seated despite being told 20 minutes. Upon seated we quickly put in our order through their iPad, naively thought that we will get our food immediately. We waited another 45 minutes for the food to come out! Oh and wait- not cooked food right, just ingredients that we need to cook on the hot plate!! We knew it. But why did it take 45 mins for them to come out! Even though the waitress cooked it for us, and it's another 25 minutes wait for the pancake!

We order 3 pancakes but only 2 came out. After we finished, the 3rd one still was no where to be seen despite us asking numerous times. We had to cancel that order as it was close to 10pm (we were there at 7.30pm!)

I guess i will never be able to find out why the 'ingredients' took so long to come out - the kitchen didn't even need to cook them, and carry this regret going to this restaurant into the coffin the day I die. The restaurant was busy but wasn't that busy that they can't bring food out at all.

In the end pancake was very tiny and we have to go to KFC afterwards . We could have gone to CBD to dine at many delicious Asain restaurants, and have 3 meals for that amount of time that we were sitting and waiting around.

Glad to see others have great experience, but in our case it was a total disaster. Bad luck I guess. Staff was nice enough, though I suspect the failure we experienced was due to these staff not experienced enough to handle crisis. We couldn't see anyone mature enough to manage the place.

Last words: notes to self - avoid this place at all cost. We will travel to Japan for the real...