Parkside — Restaurant in Melbourne

Food was decent, a little pricey - especially given that it's next to a campus for students. But the customer service - strap in because you're in for a ride.

Was dining in with a group of 6. The waiters there - manager included - extremely snobby, don't smile, give you weird looks, glares even, lack basic customer service skills such as asking for dine-in or takeaway, and make their own assumptions about your order. This by itself is not the greatest but it's tolerable. However, we had a friend leave their half eaten food to go to the bathroom, and a waiter TOOK THE FOOD (there was a very large portion left) without asking if it was okay (mind you, the rest of us were still sitting at the table) and left. We went to the chefs to tell them about this who offered to make us a new meal (they were very lovely by the way, just about the only nice staff experience we had here so props to them) but we declined and asked if the friend could get a free drink instead. Going over to the counter, we spoke to who we presumed was the manager. She curtly told us not to speak to kitchen staff 'next time' in the event this happens again, as they 'Don't know what happens on the floor'. In the first place, there shouldn't be a 'next time' - staff should be trained in how to treat customers. She also didn't seem very apologetic, and we found this quite rude. For sure, there will not be a 'next time' for us - if you want an enjoyable dining experience with staff with basic manners that don't treat you like people on the street, you might as well head...

I popped in for something quick, but I have to say it’s one of the best burgers I’ve had in a long, long time. It was really, really juicy, and full of flavor. To top it all off, the chips were great as well: really crispy, golden, and served with the perfect amount of salt. They were simple, but done to perfection.

I have to say, the overall experience was different because of the service. The staff was particulary nice, very engaging, easy to talk to, and overall, everyone made the place feel really nice and friendly. It’s not very often I find a combination of great food and excellent staff service, but Parkside certainly nailed this.

I absolutely recommend it for anyone in the area in search for a chilled out environment coupled with excellent food and wonderful service. I certainly will...

I get my coffee and a meal here sometimes as I go to the zoo a lot. I love the salmon for lunch. My friend ordered fish and chips and I wrote clearly ‘no lemon, allergy**’ as she’s anaphylactic. The order came with a lemon on top of the fish, we told the waitress she was anaphylactic and that the order stated there was an allergy. My friend ate around the spot where the lemon was and also spat out some of the fish as she could feel her allergy and tasted the lemon. The waitress never came back and offered a new dish in fact there was no apology. My family own multiple cafes and this has put me off coming back here. When it comes to allergies of this severity it’s worth offering a new meal to a customer when your kitchen messes up the order. Poor service....