Plaza Tavern — Restaurant in Melbourne

Function / event Sidecar lounge Review:

For the positive feedback: The food was great especially the fish and the beef roast. The guests also complimented the look of the venue and the table setting and the friendly wait / bar staff ( I forgot to ask her name).

For the not so positive feedback unfortunately there's a few.

Table setting wasnt done as previously agreed upon. I arrived a little past 1pm im the venue and tables were set but not the name cards. I didnt know that we would have to do this ourselves, I was under the impression that this was included in the set up because the event manager you asked for the list of names with the table numbers and said name tags will be provided. So there was confusion on who sits where since Ive already told the guests that there would be seat arrangements. But no worries this is just a minor issue.

The food was late. Everything came out at around past 2pm including the bread to start. When we went there to inspect the venue prior to the event we mentioned that it was lunch that's why the hire was from 1 pm. We thought that food would be ready by the time we got there, if not 1pm maybe 130pm the latest. One of the reasons why we chose plaza tavern was because they offer buffet so in our minds, this would take less time for food to come out instead of the banquet style or per plate set menu style on other venues. So this was a bit disappointing. There was a lady who spoke to us, who I assume is the duty manager that day, who told us that they will be needing 30 minutes to get everything ready. I asked her if we could get the bread first thinking at least guests could start with that and then just the kids food to follow. She just said we just had to be patient (in a snappy way). I understand that there maybe issues or for whatever reason the kitchen was running behind, but I just didnt appreciate the tone of her answer because I was just trying to help. I mean if the mains are late we cant do anything but wait, right? So at least take the bread out so people can eat something. We ended up distributing our own bread to the guests ourselves ( this bread was a gift to us by one of our guests in the party). Bread from the kitchen came out around quarter past 2 which people barely ate, then was followed shortly by the mains. Even the dessert took time to be served, my husband was asked if it was okay to start serving the dessert, he said yes, but still took them a while to come out. Yes we had cupcakes available but some of the guests already left and havent even had dessert.

Wrong dish. The mains of the kids that was served was chips and nuggets. I understand if this was a bit confusing from our email but I went back to our email conversation and I think I confirmed to the event manager that the kids will just be having pasta.

The communication wasn't great. I've been emailing details to the event manager and still things were missed. Sometimes it will take days before she replies or when I call the pub she's rarely available. I get that she can be busy and i'm not the only customer and it's okay if she didnt reply right away fe the emails as long as everything we talked about was fulfilled like the food, the time etc. They have emailed me asking for feedback and have sent an email with similar feedback and they haven't even replied. That email...

This had been my local for a number of years until it closed for renovations and to allow the plaza to complete structural works in late January 2024. I came here every Friday up until that time, and every Sunday when the fights were on. Having just opened back up recently (early December) I returned for the first time yesterday to check it all out and I have to say, I'm feeling very mixed about all the changes.

I like the pokies for the most part, very open and much more lit up than before. The high backs on the chairs will take getting used to but for me that gets a tick. I only walked through the bistro but other than the walls being a different colour that doesn't look too different to how it was before.

The sports bar I'm very mixed on. I do like the overall theme with the red carpet and walls, fits the look you've gone for in the rest of the place. I do also like the big TV's and that you've moved the couch that used to be in front of the projector to the back. However I am disappointed it's lost the projector, the dividing wall and the smoking area has lost it's TV. I know on fight days especially that was a very big appeal, to be able to sit almost anywhere on that side of the bar and be able to see the fights still and then go out and have a smoke and still be able to watch it, maybe even stay out there to watch it. As to the smoking area TV, I get that people used to throw stuff at it (I think someone threw a pool ball at it just before you closed) but surely you could have one out there with something covering it to stop that. Speaking of pool balls, was really sad to see the smoking area has lost it's pool table. I get why, I know it was broken into a lot, but to sit out there and smoke and drink while playing pool was a big part of what made coming here so awesome.

Also, it appears as if a number of the staff I knew and got on with have left and I have to say, that has disappointed me a bit. To some extent I get it, it's life and they were probably always going to move on some day whether this had happened or not. But I'm a person who likes familiarity and having conversations with people whilst they're serving me (or in some cases automatically knowing what I want before I even ask) was another part of what made coming here so great. So when there's only two people I knew there (none of which I had that relationship with), and I've kind of started to gain that at the place I started going to when you guys were shut, you're really starting to wind down the reasons for me to come here as regularly as I once did.

I won't lie, part of me is really sad to have to say goodbye to the tavern as my local. I've been coming here on and off since I was 18 and have formed memories here that will last forever. But, it's just not quite the place I knew and loved anymore unfortunately.

I won't be one of those negative people who says I'll never be back, but I'd be lying if I said I would be back every Friday like I once was. I would like to see some of my recommendations implemented though,...

I was playing pokies last night , I got in there at around 10:30 pm, and I got kicked out around 12 12:30 am in the morning for no reasons. I went to buy a beer and she said that I looked so drunk, then I came to continue playing pokies After 15 minutes the old lady send the securities to send me out and I didn't do anything wrong. I asked the securities why, they said I was continually banned from Tavern since last year.l have never had any incident there before.She knows that I came there every week end. I wouldn't mind for not getting me a scooner, but sending securities to take me out for no valid reasons. The old lady was so jealous because I kept withdrawing money from the vent machine, and I think that's why they took me out for no reasons , incase I win a big Jackpot. The Australian Day last year, the guy sat next to me took my money out of the machine, and he inserted his $30 ticket in my machine. I told them to look for thier cameras, they only went for couple of minutes, came back and she said that saw me put the ticket in my t-shirt pocket, but don't have pockets on my t-shirt. I got a wallet. They didn't call police, but they call their standby securities to take me out ,I was so disappointed that day, because they covered it up their thieves, the Aussie guy was taken my $450 ticket and left his 30 ticket in my machine. I have heard from other young island couples that play pokies on other week end, it was the same thing happened them, someone took their money while the machine was on reserve , and their staff never give a shit.😡😡😡 There staff are so racism, especially the old ones work their for long time. We don't need to hire people like that, very bad for business especially the owner trying to...