Kealba Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

Dissappointed with our visit tonight. We ordered three kid's meals where it clearly says ice cream is included. We paid for the meals and were provided vouchers (6 in total) for a drink and ice cream each. When collecting the ice creams, we were faced with a dilemma. Our three children aged 4, 6, and 7 stood at the ice cream counter, their eyes were filled with excitement when they sighted the very prominent 6 flavours in tubs. When placing the order, we were told they were not able to choose a flavour and could only have a vanilla Dixie cup which were on the outer edges of the ice cream bar. The only thing visible to the kids at their height is the variety of flavours and the cones to have with them. Not the Dixie cups. At this point I was mildly annoyed, stating "I wish we were told that when paying for them". I then asked the girl if she could get the Manager for me as I wanted to let them know they should advise their serving staff to inform parents/grandparents of the restriction in choice to avoid disappointing children. The girl toddled off, returning one minute later simply stating "there is no Manager on tonight". Needless to say, I was a little more annoyed and asked her to find the second in charge then. Once again, she toddled off while I stood with three excited children waiting for their flavoured ice cream in a cone which I would now need to pay for. The girl was taking quite some time to come back, resulting in a different girl coming to ask if I needed help. I explained I was waiting for a Manager but she could help by preparing the three ice cream cones. She asked "are you paying for them?" I replied "Yes, I have no choice". She then proceeded to prepare the cones, holding onto them until she sighted my credit card had been charged. In the meantime the other girl did come back with a young man. Whether he held a higher position in the bistro or not, is not known. I explained the situation, asking if the people taking the money at the point of ordering could remember to explain that the menu is misleading as the choice is restricted. He responded "we have had that complaint before, so we print it on the receipt now". I pointed out "we don't get the receipt until we pay". He then replies "we also have it on a sign here saying it is a Dixie cup" while pointing towards another side of the ice cream counter. I again, reiterate "but you pay at a different counter and no one tells you". He repeats "but it's on the receipt". At this point I'm not quite sure how much simpler I can make my statement so he can understand. So I explain I am very familiar with false advertising due to past employment and let him know printing on a menu that the kids get ice cream, without stipulating there is a restriction, taking their money, prominently displaying more tempting choices and then saying you have to pay additional money for what is listed on the menu is false advertising and illegal. Not sure if he truly understood but agreed to specify "Dixie cups only" whenever they print new menus in future. I agreed it was a good idea but knowing that may be long into the future, I asked that people be advised before handing over their money in the interim. The three flavoured cones only cost $9. The Dixie cups probably are very similar in cost. So it's more about the intentional deceit of continuing with the unclear menu even when the issue has previously been brought to their attention, getting little kids' hopes up, and finally taking additional money off the parents/grandparents without feeling bad about it. To end this review, I will add that the kids enjoyed their actual meals. Unfortunately my vegetables were cold when placed on the table and the parma was a little tougher than I've had there before. On the plus side, it was easy to get a table with only 15 minutes notice when all other hotel bistros in the area were fully booked. Perhaps that fact should have given me a hint at what we could expect when...

I was really disappointed with the service here. From the moment we walked in it felt unwelcoming. There were 6 of us who were shown to a table and then left. While staff stood around loudly chatting and joking, we waited for someone to take our order. Due to our table being big enough for 10, no one say the QR code on the other side of the only napkin holder. No one who worked there thought to mention it. The meals were very slow to come out despite there being hardly anyone else in there. They were, however, overpriced for a venue like this. The kids meal came with a drink in a flimsy plastic cup and when our 2 year old spilt it, 2 separate staff members looked as the walked past. Seeing us try to mop it up with napkins. No one thought to offer to help or wipe the table down so we weren't sitting on a sticky table.

The pokies area was the worst I've ever been to. People were playing 2 machines at a time, it was small and cramped, people were bashing on the buttons. All in all a very depressing place to be.

I had to give stars for the play area, which the kids loved, and for the quality of the meals which was nice. However service goes a long way, and due to the careless attitude of the staff, I won't be...

This place used to be quite good. Decent food and value for money Though over the last couple of weeks this place has gone really downhill. We dine here with a friend who is allergic to onion and can only eat a small selection things from the menu. Usually the staff are quite accommodating and have been so kind to help remove onion from the meals she likes. though lately there has been a flat refusal to remove anything from the menu to accommodate for her allergies. Last night as we went to order an appetizer as normal we were told that we couldn't have it without onion. As the food arrives we were told that there wasn't any onion on it and that looked to be true. Luckily I tried the first piece and found that they buried the onion under the rest of the toppings. If my friend was to eat that she would have been violently Ill. The quantities and sides have also started lacking in value and quality. From now on I think we will be going elsewhere. Somewhere that can respect and cater for it's regular patrons as well as those with genuine allergies. Bottom line beware coming here and avoid coming here with anyone that suffers from any...