Half Acre — Restaurant in Melbourne

FYI - This review is for anyone interested in having their wedding at Half Acre, organized by Food & Desire. My fiance and I were extremely excited to have our wedding at Half Acre, organized by Food & Desire as the company in charge of handling their event venues. However, after paying our first round of deposit, their service went downhill from there.

We were dealt with lack of empathy, leniency, and professionalism. In some instances where we had phone calls with the staff, we were thrown away to different managers and was ultimately left with not much help at all. After 4 months of dealing with them, they showed why I'd strongly recommend for anyone that is interested to go with Half Acre & Food&Desire to avoid this altogether - the hassle and struggles that my fiance and I had had to go through was not only stressful, but entirely dreadful and negative.

For a few reasons:

•When dealt with via email, they have many times pushed for us postponing the wedding to a further date (which in the contract states that we would have to pay a large amount of fee on top of that). We were adamant about cancelling our wedding, because our guests are primarily from overseas, and even though Victorian laws of COVID are easing, other countries have not. It was as if they had missed the point and that all our guests would just magically show up. For us, this showed lack of professionalism, and lack of empathy.

•When asked whether or not Food & Desire can help us downsize the event so that we can account for the cancelled overseas guests, we were only responded with a strong no - with the sole reason that they do not control over the smaller event space of Half Acre (although it clearly states on the website that they do). A clear tactic to avoid us downsizing and potentially spending much less than that had wanted us to. Again, this demonstrated a lack of empathy and leniency.

•When asked for whether we can utilise our first round of deposit as credit form to use with Half Acre restaurant in the future, we were given a strong no with that as well. However, other vendors that I had to deal with (i.e. Photobooth, DJ, Photographer, florist) with had given us the ability to utilise the deposits we've paid as credit form. Not only does this ensure that we can support their business in the future, but keeps the relationship professional and good. Food & Desire is the outlier in this case.

•Food & desire's contract is airtight - they do not include any mention of pandemic and natural disasters / Act of God etc - which of course before signing the contract, we would not have expected such an event as COVID-19 to occur. As a result, they had shown no interest to refund even half the deposit we've paid for, leaving us as a couple financially challenged moving forward for our future plans ahead.

In summary, we were dealt with in a way that shows lack of empathy. In times like this where we can help one another out, I have never personally witnessed a more finance-motivated organization that prioritised cashflow over customer service. The way you guys treat your customers and the ability to show empathy and grace is something that is intangible and can't be calculated in the forms of digits and numbers. Customer service to us as paying customers is binary. It's either good - I would love to come back again, or bad - never would I ever want to deal with them. For my fiance and I,...

Unfortunately, we were all pretty disappointed with the level of service that we received.

The Host on the day wasn’t warm or friendly upon arrival. My mother (who we were there to celebrate) made a comment that she didn’t introduce herself or smile at our party once. It felt extremely awkward. We waited for our table standing in the middle of the bar looking across at our set table being ignored. When I went up to the host to explain that our group had arrived and that we were ready to be seated … she repeatedly told me that our group wasn’t all here (which we were) and dismissed me twice.

When we were finally seated the waiter didn’t really seem like she wanted to be there .. she didn’t really explain the concept of the dining buffet experience or wasn’t eager to help us get started with our drink order. It seemed like the venue was very short staffed. The drinks service was extremely slow .. taking upwards of 40 minutes for 2x lychee martini’s. The buffet wasn’t fully replenished and when we asked the kitchen for the chicken to be refilled, the staff kindly offered to bring a serving straight to our table. However, the food never arrived. The plates were very slow to be cleared. For the majority of our dining experience we didn’t know if we needed to keep them or if we should get clean ones…. It wasn’t made clear.

In addition, the “Made to order” menu wasn’t explained to our table. So we were all pretty disappointed when we couldn’t order a second dish. When we explained this to the waiter he informed us that the kitchen was already closed (our group was still within our 2 hr time slot). However, he did say that he would make an exception and bring over pancakes. Unfortunately, it was only one serving across 9 people which was challenging to split.

Lastly, when it was time to leave we have 2 separate waiters come to our table and tell us different finishing times (12 minute difference). One waiter gently told me that we had 2 minutes left as she put down my cappuccino. So I felt very rushed. I probably would not of ordered a coffee if I didn’t have time to drink it or alternatively, the waiter could of set us up for coffees at the bar.

I have been to Half Acre before with 4 girlfriends and had the most wondering time, the staff were so attentive and happy to service us. We couldn’t keep up with the plentiful flow of drinks. So, as you can imagine I didn’t hesitate to book for a group of 9 this time when I had an important family event to host.

Just overall, I felt like it was a below average...

This place feels like such a hidden gem. It doesn't look like much from the outside and the neighbourhood, but when you enter, you are wowed by the beautiful setup and the gorgeous courtyard.

I want to address the buffet, because I went into it thinking it was a full buffet and was very disappointed to discover it is not. There are a selection of various side dishes - mainly vegetables, salads and some cold cuts such as smoked salmon, which are all buffet style. The dessert station is also buffet style - panna cotta, brownies, flourless cake, and a make your own pavlova. The meat dishes are on a made to order basis and you can only order 1 per person. So just make sure you wrap your head around that before you go, and then you will enjoy the experience more. I was doubtful that I would get my monies worth from the buffet, but the quality is amazing, and once you top it off with the desserts, you are very full! So much variety of tastes and textures. The chargrilled bread is phenomenal. Add some cold cuts to it and you are in heaven. And for the price, it really is wonderful.

The staff are all amazing - great service with a smile at all times.

My only negatives, other than the buffet that's not a full buffet, is I was disappointed that you can only order 1 main dish per person. I think if they allowed you to choose 1 veg dish and 1 meat dish - for example, 1 potato rosti and 1 lamb dish - that would feel much more enjoyable, as it is a let down to have such mouth watering dishes on offer and only being able to order 1. Perhaps charge an extra cost to be able to choose multiple made-to-order items. Or add an extra cost to have access to a buffet meat station. Also, if you are like me and have a toddler or young child that doesn't eat whatever is put in front of them (aka most kids), you may want to feed them before coming here, or bring them snacks. The only option that my 2 year old ate, was some fried chicken bites that were pretty much the only kid friendly item in the buffet. And you can't order them a main dish as they are free customers. If it wasn't for the chicken bites, he would have just been eating bread for lunch.

Overall, I do love this place and would happily go again now that I know how it works and what the quality of food, service and...