Fairfield Park Boathouse & Tea Gardens — Restaurant in Melbourne

Absolutely 0 service, you have to everything yourself. Why on earth does this place not have the codes to be able to scan with your phone and order from the tables, rather than waste so much time do everything ourselves?

This is such a beautiful location and heritage cafe, but it is so frustrating booking here as a large group, especially with elderly people and children. There was 10 of us booked, including kids and my elderly parents. We sat on the lower veranda with beautiful views over the river.

Since table service isnt offered, and since my parents struggled a little bit with the steep steps, my sister and I had to collect everyone's coffee orders then go up the stairs and wait for about 10 mins in line to place the order. Then we had to wait another almost 10 mins for the large coffee order to be ready.

Then we had to precariously carry all the coffees on trays down the steep steps, something my parents and the kids would not have been able to manage, so it pretty much relegated my sister and I as the waiters for the day.

We then wrote down everyone's food order and make our back up and got back in line about 11.55am, but when we got to the front of the line at about 12.05pm, the waitress said that they stopped serving breakfast at 11.45am. This was frustrating because if we didnt have to waste so much damn time ordering and waiting for all the coffees to be made, we would have easily got the order in on time. So..... I had to go back down to the table and get everyone to update their orders to items that were available and go back up and wait in line, again, to place the updated order.

We made our order and got the buzzers for the table. Credit to this place, the food was ready quite fast and the buzzers went off about about 15mins. However, it meant me and my sister had to again make two trips to go up the steep stairs and get the food for the table since my parents and the kids would likely drop it if they tried carrying it, and my parents would likely injure themselves if they fell down the stairs carrying the food. The food tasted great though, but was at a premium price given the location.

However, overall, my sister and I wasted more than 45 minutes having to wait multiple times in line, for the drinks to be ready, and go up and down the stairs with the orders. Overall this was a quite frustrating experience in an otherwise fantastic cafe and location, though the service even when ordering was overall quite indifferent.

The food and drinks are not cheap and still no table service is offered. I cant believe that this cafe doesnt implement QR codes on the tables to be able to order food without wasting so much time in line. Then, instead of having staff assigned to just taking the orders in person, they could actually try and help their patrons and bring the food to the table.

Look at the other reviews, they keep ignoring this consistent negative feedback.

This is still a beautiful place to visit, but I would not recommend it for larger groups, unless everyone is ordering separately, or to go here at times when it is busy since you will waste half your time waiting in line and having to serve yourself - you even have to get your own cutlery. Overall a...

Planned to have our baby event in the area. Was talking to their event sales manager when I sent an enquiry on their website. She gave me a contract with all the information about the event, including how long we’ll occupy the area. Was told to sign the contract first so she can transfer me to the one in charge of the venue. I was hesitant because I still have loads of questions regarding the minimum spend and how it would go and communicating thru email isn’t enough since the replies takes too long. So we told her we’ll visit the area and see how we go before we sign the contract. Turns out the staff in the venue wasn’t even informed that we were coming nor what most of the things she told me was true.

And we can’t use the area as said in the contract because it’s only for a much more limited time. And regarding the preparations, we were told we can do it outside of the booking time while the staff on the venue said we can’t. We can only do it within the 3hr limit (because it’s not a wedding) of the booking while the one in headquarters said we can book the area for 5hrs (as per written in the unsigned contract).

We were also told at the venue that it’s a bit difficult to do our planned parlour games as we need to minimise the possible noise on the day (like telling you you’re not allowed to have fun in your own party).

But other than that, the major problem really is, the miscommunication between the respective parties. It’s a good thing we didn’t sign the contract and get told off on the day that we couldn’t do this or that.

Please fix your managements’/offices’ communication or how you should handle such things, because it’s a hassle in our part as well. Now we need to look for a different venue that can cater our needs and hopefully with a better communication line. Thank you.

*edit: First of all, we didn't request to bring external "food" because we are already taking your cocktail package as per contract but we only specifically asked if you allow customized cakes or cupcakes for the event which your staff, Camilla strongly said "No, you know we sell cakes, right?" then later added "But you can double check with Angie about the cupcakes." And it's not just that, but repeatedly mentioning that they can't save our spot for "free" as you also need sales. Even though customers who comes and goes to your establishment can order 1 cup of coffee and stay there for a few hours or so, you don't tell them to leave just because, right? What's the difference in holding our supposed to be booked area (which was the tent that your staff recommended) for an hour outside the "3hr limit" even though it was supposed to be a 5hrs booking time as said in the contract? How can you say that to your future client? The amount of disrespect and having our own event as insignificant because it was not a wedding while talking to her is beyond me.

And not bringing the sound system, changing the games to a much more serene vibe was alright with our party. Again, it's the miscommunication, and your staff's attitude has made it a bad experience for us that we don't even want to give an effort to come back and double check with your other staff who she said we'll talk to. Please keep that in...

Came here a few years ago. It was a really nice experience and always thought to take a date out here.

Now i take my partner and had an overall bad experience.

The vibe is nice, the old boathouse feel and nice atmosphere.

But the customer service was all over the place this day. Maybe they got new hires but the door person didn't give an explaination or anything outside of a greeting. Not a huge issue but first impressions matter.

Handed menus but the lack of information has people confused on how to even order food. For reference, you order inside the tea house, then pickup drinks there, and food at the grill. I thought maybe because I had missed a sign, but plenty of people before and after us were confused.

Finally, the food. I ordered the beef burger and my partner ordered the grilled fish (salmon).

For the price, it was not worth it. The beef burger had a little sprinkle of chips. My partners, had an even sadder pile of chips. (See photos)

The chips however were delicious and nicely fried.

The burger itself was delicious, however the patty had questionable quality to it. The mince was mushy and contained bits of cartilage, which informs me its premade. The cheese was not fully melted and the carmelized onions did not taste fresh.

My partners salmon was underseasoned and did not taste fresh. All the seasoning was on the skin. Their salad did not have any dressing and was just leafs thrown on the plate.

However both meals were cooked well just had poor portions and poor ingredients.

For the price they charge i cannot recommend ordering these two dishes. Maybe the pizza and cakes are good, however won't be back to try.

If you're here for a lunch with coffee and cakes, followed by a boat ride it would be nice. However don't come here for grub...