North&COMMON Restaurant at Pentridge — Restaurant in Melbourne

Started off okay. We were shown to our table. The waitress pouring our water spilled some and another waitress came to wipe it up with a wet, dirty cloth. That should have been a song of what was to come. I will start with the food and drinks and then the service. We ordered a bottle of red wine, which after the first glass was poured, was placed on the window sill, not on the table! Our starters were fine, kingfish and pork jowl, then came the mains! We had ordered the half duck, Brussel sprouts and truffle fries. The duck was cold! When I told our waitress, she had to tell her manager, the manager was very apologetic and said he would let the kitchen know and have another one brought to us, he removed our plate. Not even five minutes later, someone from the kitchen brings out the original plate we had started eating from and presented it to us. It had just been reheated. When I questioned it his response was “we didn’t microwave it”. I asked to speak to the manager again. He appeared to be shocked that they had not cooked a fresh dish and was very apologetic. At this point we decided to leave and only pay for what we had eaten and the bottle of wine. He did accommodate us with this. He then tried to get us stay and have dessert on the house. Too late! Now for the staff. Our waitress spoke so softly and the restaurant was so noisy, I had to ask her to repeat herself several times. It also felt like she was trying to push the set menu option. When she was clearing the plates, she reached across the table to collect the plates and also to reset with fresh cutlery and plates instead of moving around the table. At one point she nearly knocked over a glass of wine. I asked her to come around the table to do this rather than reach across the table and in front of our faces, but she ignored me and proceeded to scrape the scraps from our plates at the table. Not sure where the staff were trained, but clearing and setting a table is one of the first things you learn in hospitality, especially in a “fine dining “ restaurant! Our bottle of wine was put on the windowsill by the manager who said he would refill our glasses regularly, but we never saw him again until the fiasco that was our main course. This was a. Birthday celebration for my daughter who has booked this months before and has been looking forward to it so much. It was the most underwhelming, unprofessional dining experience I have ever...

We dined here a couple nights ago as a group of 13 - the restaurant is beautiful and has a high end vibe. We had the feed me option which was delicious, the food is high quality and what you would expect for the price.

Unfortunately our experience was tainted by the wait staff. They were inattentive, if not avoidant and rude at times. We waited 30 mins to order our first drink and had to wave someone down. The place was busy but not full, and there were staff members standing around.

A friend ordered a Shiraz and the waitress advised him (quite arrogantly to be honest) that he should have the Sangiovese instead, however when he asked if he could try before making a decision this was declined. This was because I had asked to try two other wines for myself, and we were told that 2 was enough. Not to be petty, but when you’re paying $17-24 per glass in a restaurant aiming for high end, I don’t think it’s a unreasonable request particularly when it was the waiter who had recommended the switch. It was quite clear it was an upsell situation and I have never come across the 2 wine test limit in a restaurant of this calibre.

There were also no food menu’s on the table for the feed me, and when the mains came out I discovered it was lamb which I don’t eat. To be fair I should have told the staff at the beginning, however when I politely asked if there was an alternative the waitress was rude, said no - and walked away. We were taken aback by this attitude, especially when you’re paying $95 a head. I asked another waitress and she was very kind about it and the kitchen did provide another meal, which was excellent.

Shout out to the cocktail guy though - he made the best old fashioned and even checked with me later to make sure it was ok!

As per a previous review I would maybe try this place in the future once it’s matured, and once the staff have been...

I have literally no idea how this restaurant is hatted. My family had the worst customer service experience at this restaurant, it was quite honestly the worst customer experience that I have EVER had at a restaurant.

We arrived at the restaurant 5 minutes early and had booked our table online. The lady at the counter proceeded to tell us our booking was not in her system, and continued to say there was nothing she could do after we showed her our three booking confirmation emails from the restaurant..

The line behind us began to grow and grow as no other staff in the restaurant were apparently able to show people to their tables. It got to the point where a group waiting behind us decided to make a snarky comment to our group about making US making THEM wait to be seated because the restaurant couldn’t find our booking.. how the restaurant can let people get this annoyed is inexplicable to me.. isn’t the price of the food supposed to cover service otherwise what are the inflated prices for?!?

Anyway after waiting 25 minutes for some type of resolution (that the waitress really did not want to offer us) we finally got seated on a table that had been vacant for the last 30 minutes after we pushed to be able to sit on that table.

The food was fine, and the table service was fine. However there was absolutely no resolution offered to us after the complete sour taste left in our mouths from our treatment for the first 30 minutes. A hotel staff member came over at the very end of our night to ask what happened and our group retold the story. We were offered some blocks of chocolate and promised a call back with a better explanation and resolution. It has been a week and crickets.

As a local this is completely disappointing. I will not be returning or recommending to anyone. This restaurant does not...