FT Local Kitchen and Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

Honestly, a pretty disappointing experience. While the food was nice, we arrived at 7pm on a Saturday, and it was busy but not packed; there were multiple free tables.

We took a while to order, and I asked for sweet potato fries while we waited. When we ordered at about 730pm, we were told the garlic bread was coming, which confused us (as we were about to order some). It turns out somehow the order for sweet potato fries the waitress didn't remember, but there was one for garlic bread.

We ordered - a burger each, one with sweet potatoes as the chips side, and my own I asked for no spicey chutney and "no guacamole if it's got chilli in it, but otherwise it's fine".

It took a REALLY long time for the food to come - probably close to 45 minutes. When my partner enquired, he was told the kitchen was getting smashed with takeaway orders. This was pretty frustrating, as people sitting in the restaurant having to wait longer because of takeaway seemed to a poor business priority. The waitress came to let us know it was coming, and when we asked about the sweet potato fries she said "since they're a side they're coming with the mains". This confused us since I'd ordered them first, asking for them while we waited.

After we got the meal, there were no sweet potato fries from my original request - it seems she thought my partner's sweet potato fries were the ones I'd ordered at the start? And I had guac on the burger, but also a little dish on the side.

The burgers and fries themselves were great; the vegan veggie patty was delicious, and we all enjoyed our meals despite the wait.

When we went to pay, however, I noticed there was a $4.90 charge for guac; it seems somehow the waitress had added that as an extra, not realising it was already on the burger itself. They agreed to remove this at the end, although it was still confusing for everyone.

Overall, the burgers were nice, but I probably wouldn't go again - having to wait so long for burgers when the place wasn't bursting, and then getting multiple parts of the order wrong was really...

4 of us dined there for the first & LAST time last night! We thought we’d stop in for a quick bite, rookie mistake. It was 7.45pm on a Wednesday night. The place was empty, (1st red flag!) with only one guy enjoying a beer out the front. After ordering, we waited 20 minutes for our drinks. The beer & coke was fine, but the milkshake seemed to be room temperature with a dollop of ice-cream just floating on the top. Apparently 20 minutes wasn’t enough time to mix it properly. (2nd red flag!) We had also ordered 3 of the Wed night Parma specials, a nachos & a chilli con carne. 45 mins in, we were wondering what the hold up was. There was nobody in the front to ask & we considered leaving. (We should have).. we joked that we could’ve shopped for the ingredients, driven home & cooked the meals ourselves, in the time we’d spent waiting. We’d come this far, so we stayed. Approximately 1 hour later our meals arrived. Well, most of them. The Chile con carne never did. The waitress apologised for the wait, offering no explanation. The parma’s were average, although we didn’t have high expectations at this point. The gravy was nice, but the serves would’ve been lucky to be 20mls…. Unfortunately the nachos were tasteless. The hottest & best part of the meals were the delicious chips, but it ends there. We went to pay & they tried to charge us for the chilli con carne that never came. The waitress even went to double check with the kitchen, as if she didn’t believe us. It wasn’t until I got home that I realised each shot of gravy was charged at $3.90, even though parmas come with a choice of two sides.. and we’d ordered 2 of the parmas with just chips & gravy?! We left dissatisfied & hungry as we didn’t finish our meals. Totally confused as to what the staff were actually doing out the back. Seems there’s a complete lack of management. It’s a shame, because the restaurant looks really nice. I never normally write reviews, but I don’t want anyone else to waste their...

I was very disappointed with the service I recieved on my first time eating at this restaurant. I ordered one of their simple beef burgers. It took about 20-30 minutes to recieve (an average wait for many resturants). Upon biting into my burger I noticed the meat was quite rare. The burgers of the other people I was dining with were cooked adequately. I know it is common for these types of burgers to be a bit pink in the middle so I am not the type of person to comment to the staff about matters like this. But I can not say this burger was rare. It was raw. On approach to the counter I told the man behind that I thought my burger was a bit undercooked. He agreed that it was quite rare but was then interrupted by the lady next to him saying "all our burgers are served medium cooked and it says so on our menu. If you didn't want it like that then next time tell us to cook it well done." I replied that if it was medium cooked it would have been fine but this was rare if not raw. She kept repeating that next time I should ask for it to be well done. Believe me there will not be a next time. After she begrudgingly went to order me a new one she returned to the table to ask if everyone else on the tables burgers were cooked to their liking. As mentioned above everyone elses burgers were fine. One of the people I was dinning with had even ordered the same burger as me and hers was truely medium cooked (as mentioned on the menu). The wait for the replacement burger was another 20-30 mins. By the time it arrived it no longer felt worth it. It was a very unpleasant experience which has lost my business and that of my family and friends.

I would like to note that the other staff were seems very helpful and friendly. Not sure if this particular server was just having a bad day or if that is just how she is with all customers. P.s. Their chips were delicious and cooked to perfection but a tad overpriced...