Max's Woodfired Pizza & Burgers — Restaurant in Melbourne

Had the second worst meal I have ever had at a restaurant tonight. It's my mother's bithday, so we went to Max's Woodfired Pizza & Burgers. We have been there quite a few times and we have always enjoyed the food. Not tonight. I don't know what has changed - new owner? new chef? new management? But the food was horrid. I ordered the Red Hot Chilli Burger ($16) took one bite and couldn't eat it. The burger was pink. I like my meat well-done. It took all my effort not to vomit. I also ordered the side of rustic wedges ($3.50 - I'm sure you can imagine the serving size and this was my whole dinner) - they were cold, but I ate them - very average, could easily make better myself and they'd be warm. My mother didn't eat all of her meal either - which isn't like her - she loves salad and complained to my brother and I about how generic and disgusting it was, leaving hers on the plate. When it came time to pay, my mother mentioned that I couldn't eat my burger. The staff member said "our burgers come medium-rare". It doesn't say this on the menu. My mother said maybe you should tell people that or ask them how they like their burgers... my mother was dismissed with a "thank-you". We had to pay for a $16 burger that I took one bite out of. No apology. No - "would you like us to cook you something else?". No - "would you like us to remake it but well-done?". No - "we'll remove that from your bill". All of these options have been offered to myself and people I know when meat has not been cooked to a person's liking. We will never go here again - which is a shame as we used to love the place. We also noticed that the pizza that I used to order was removed from the menu; hence why I was stuck...

I rarely leave public reviews, but I feel compelled to share what was, unfortunately, one of the most disappointing service experience I’ve had in recent memory.

After placing an order and having it read back to me in full, I waited patiently for over an hour and a half while the wood fire oven was being prepared only to be told, eventually, that “there was no order.” Not only was the pizza never made, but instead of acknowledging the error, the staff shifted the blame entirely onto me, denying any responsibility. There was no apology, no gesture of goodwill, just a dismissive attitude and an unsettling unwillingness to own the mistake.

Mistakes happen that’s human. But what defines good service is how a business responds when things go wrong. In this case, the lack of accountability and empathy was frankly astonishing.

As someone local who values community and supports local businesses, it’s disheartening to see such poor customer service. I hope this review serves as constructive feedback, not just about a missing pizza, but about the importance of humility, courtesy, and basic...

The worst service my family have experienced, especially on an anniversary. Waiter had us sit down at a cleared table, waited and we still had to ask for it to be wiped down and to be served. Waiter did not give out menus, we had to take one from the front. A couple who entered after us was able to be served even quicker. Got 2 out of 3 drinks, had to be asked for our third as it was forgotten. Wait staff did not check on us after we ordered. All other tables around us who ordered had received their meals. 90 minutes had passed and asked a kind waitress. Turns out our order’s docket had been “dropped”, and the kitchen had not known about our order. Thankful that our drinks were comped. Thank you for that. We understand it was busy, but by the time we had left there were only 3 tables to serve. Please train your staff in attentiveness, and organisation. For context we sat down around 6:45pm and left at 8:30...