Lucky Little Dumplings — Restaurant in Melbourne

Re: Bullying from Manager at Lucky Little Dumpling restaurant

I wish to make a formal complaint against Lucky Little Dumplings restaurant, and request this email is forwarded to the owner/s and NOT the manager (man with pony tail) as the complaint is about him.

We had made a reservation a few days prior for dinner at 6.30pm for the 12.11.2022. (Saturday evening)

Upon arrival at precisely 6.30pm, the manager (man with pony tail) rudely told us that we will have only (1) one hour until 7.30pm to sit and eat, and then we must vacate as he has other bookings.

We were shocked to hear we only had one hour to eat, and asked what the policy was to which he replied the sittings were 90 minutes (1.5hrs) but because we’d booked for 6.30pm and not 6.00pm, we had to leave at 7.30pm by default.

We replied that we weren’t aware of this, and had we have been beforehand we would have made an informed decision not to book.

From the outset, the manager displayed rude, arrogant and bullying behavior to us in front of staff and other patrons.

After trying to explain that we were not aware of this policy and that we had not been informed, he insisted we had to leave by 7.30pm.

At this point, our evening dining experience was ruined as we didn’t book to have a quick ‘take away’ style meal.

He then relented and said we could stay until 8.00pm only.

As it was too late to book an alternative reservation somewhere else because we had a movie booked for afterwards, we reluctantly stayed to eat.

During this time, we witnessed this manager bullying staff in his mannerisms. Our entrees were not delivered until after 7pm, where upon we had to ask wait staff to take our orders rather than be served.

At 7.30pm, there were atleast (5) five empty tables in the dining area, so his bullying behavior in hindsight was uncalled for and had caused my partner and I undue stress and anxiety throughout our sitting.

At 7.45pm we were almost finished out main meals and considering desert, and the manager with the pony tail came to our table and collected our plates and asked us to leave. At this point, there were more than (4) four empty tables visible (before leaving I took a video of this as proof which I wish to provide the owners of Lucky Little Dumplings restaurant)

Our table was the only table this manager cleared, as he was at the front door all night waiting for other patrons and bullying staff.

By 7.50pm we were made to feel unwelcome, paid our $140 bill and departed.

This is our 2nd time to this restaurant, the first time was when it first opened. We will never be back again, and have left a truthful review of our bad experience. We will also be telling all our friends and associates not to bother coming to this restaurant.

This manager is bad for business, and needs his employment terminated immediately – even his own staff mentioned they do not like the way he treats them. (this is how we found out he was only the manager and not the owner)

We will be taking this complaint to the Fair Trading Commission.

Kindly pass this complaint onto the owners of this restaurant, and not this manager who we suspect will not pass it onto his employer the owner of the business .

sincerely,

RW

N.B. Photo attached showing empty tables, and that this whole episode needn't...

An extremely disappointing experience. I usually come here once a week for lunch and enjoy it. I usually get the salt and pepper chicken with fried chilli and love it, however tonight the chicken was well over cooked, so much that just trying to cut it in half the piece flew off my plate I also had pieces that were just batter. I tried to eat as much as I could because the last time I sent a dish back I felt as though I had been punished with the spice level.. (yes it comes with fried chilli but this was different even the chicken had an extreme spice) so because of the last time, I tried to power through although I was not entirely happy. The manager (guy with the pony tail) always asks how everything is at the end when I pay and I usually say that it was all very delicious. As I was not happy with my experience this time I thought I would share my thoughts with him about how the chicken was so over cooked. He then rushes over to my table and grabs my plate, he says that if I wasn't happy with it I should have said something earlier in a dismissive tone. This I understand but like I said earlier I didn't want to send anything back and I wasn't asking/expecting anything from letting him know how unhappy I was with my meal. I just wanted to let him know it wasn't up to the same standard they usually do. It is not because of what he said that I am unhappy, it is because he couldn't even hear my complaint. Being in customer service you should know that all people want is to know that they have been heard. He could not even do that, he dismissed what I had to say and couldn't take my payment quick enough to get me out of the restaurant. From going there once a week for about 2 years I will not be going back there purely because of the way he dealt with me. Very disappointing that I now feel like I do not want to give...

Very disappointing. The venue is very clean and tastefully decorated and furbished. Our waitress was very attentive, polite and friendly. The food was a huge let down. We were really looking forward to eating here as it's close to home, trendy and one of our favourite cuisines. We ordered a variety of dishes from the famous dumplings, specialty dishes through to the traditional honey chicken and fried rice. Every dish lacked seasoning and was bland. The sweet and sour crispy barramundi was the biggest let down of all. Jar sauce heated up in the microwave drowning what would have been a lovely crispy fish topped with defrosted packet mixed veg and defrosted shrimp. Seafood lettuce cup had one chopped shrimp, no sauce, was very dry and bland. The fried rice (when it finally arrived) was steamed rice combined with frozen mixed veg and microwaved. If not for the chillie oil on the table which we added in abundance to give each dish some flavour, there was nothing mourish about the food. However, my biggest gripe is that all mains were ordered together yet all came out separately. I cannot understand how the same table of mains placed together is not served together. Each main was served with 10 minute intervals, and the fried rice was the last plate served after we asked twice. By the time it arrived 3 of the 5 on our table had finished their meal. Maybe they had an off night, so we're prepared to give...