Rare Steakhouse Midtown — Restaurant in Melbourne

My recent visit to Rare, a longstanding favorite in Melbourne for my friends and me, turned sour due to an unfortunate encounter with the restaurant manager, Kerrie (or Carrie, as she introduced herself). Despite making a booking for five people earlier in the day, we needed to add one more person. However, repeated attempts to contact the restaurant to modify our reservation went unanswered.

Arriving 15 minutes before our reservation, we politely approached Kerrie to request adding an extra chair to our table. Surprisingly, despite numerous vacant chairs visible throughout the restaurant, Kerrie responded with unwarranted rudeness and condescension. Her dismissive attitude and refusal to accommodate even a minor adjustment left us feeling deeply disheartened.

Throughout our interaction, Kerrie's demeanor was unnecessarily hostile. What was more frustrating was that other staff members attempted to assist us, but Kerrie outright prevented them from helping. Instead, she responded with sarcastic remarks such as, "What do you want me to do?" and "Where can I magically get a chair from?" Her behavior was not only unprofessional but also embarrassing, especially given our loyalty as repeat customers.

Adding to our frustration, we discovered on the restaurant's website that we could have easily adjusted our booking to include an additional person, as there were multiple tables and chairs available. Kerrie's lack of awareness of this option further highlighted her indifference to customer needs.

When I expressed my intention to leave a negative review due to the poor service, Kerrie dismissively responded with "C'est la vie," showing a complete lack of concern. Her apathetic attitude was further underscored by the fact that numerous chairs remained empty the entire time we were discussing our options.

It is disheartening that one individual's behavior can tarnish the reputation of an otherwise excellent establishment known for its quality food and ambiance. My disappointment extends to the management for tolerating such disrespectful treatment of loyal customers. Kerrie's dismissive and unprofessional conduct has unfortunately overshadowed what was once a preferred dining experience for us in Melbourne.

As we left, Kerrie's indifferent wave and nonchalant attitude reinforced our disappointment. Her attempt to rectify the situation felt insincere and too late. This experience has left me questioning whether I can continue to support Rare, where customer service is so blatantly disregarded.

In conclusion, while the culinary offerings at Rare remain exceptional, Kerrie's lack of customer service skills and disrespectful conduct have soured our previously positive experiences. It is my hope that management takes appropriate action to address this issue and ensures that future patrons do not experience...

An absolute disappointment! 👎🏻👎🏻 We WON’T be coming back.

While we were ordering, I was keen on ordering a eye fillet. On the menu, there was 3 different types - to which I asked the service staff what was the difference between the 3 types. He responded by indicating what was the cheapest / most expensive. (Obviously I can see that from just looking at the menu) He could barely give a decent response other than to say they are 3 different brands.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt and ordered the most expensive one ($70+). I ordered no sauce and “medium” doneness. Upon receiving the steak and cutting it into half, it was medium well / well done (last pic). The steak was extremely hard and chewy. I’ve eaten lean steaks too (e.g. filet mignon) in other steakhouses and it was tender and juicy.

Moving on to my spouse’s steak, he ordered “medium” doneness and with no sauce. When the steak arrived, it was smothered in sauce. He notified the service staff and was told that it was marinade. We never eat steak with sauce. A good steak cut DOES NOT require sauce. It would be flavorful enough on its own. His steak had 3 different levels of doneness which indicated that it was cooked so unevenly. He alerted the service staff and he told us to speak to the manager before leaving. My spouse did just that and the manager said the service staff should have done a “steak check” upon serving the steak to us. Basically, the manager and the service staff didn’t want to take ownership and just wanted to push the blame to each other.

Won’t be back here… there are MUCH BETTER steakhouses in the vicinity.

Some other points to note:

1. the restaurant puts a hold on your credit card to make a reservation ($50 per pax)
2. there’s a dining time limit of 90 mins for a party...

Earlier this evening I decided to go for a walk through the city after wrestling with horrific internet speeds making my preparation for an expo tomorrow frustrating. Whilst walking I was pondering on what to eat for dinner, was thinking of going somewhere near the apartment for a burger and then all of a sudden, it was as if I had walked into a cloud of steak BBQ goodness. I looked around and couldn't find anything obvious and kept on walking.

Further down the road, I looked up as I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye, it was a steak restaurant! As if I had been divinely guided there.

I look at the menu, thought to myself, pricey but let's give it a go, why not spoil myself.

I am greeted by a lovely smike and escorted to a table. Menus are given and given a moment. A waiter comes over and we have a chat about what steak to go for. I ordered the kangaroo kebab and the scotch fillet with both BBQ and mushroom sauce.

The kangaroo was bloody delicious! So juicy, never have I eaten kangaroo that juicy before. Usually it's tough and gamey but this was superb! It gave me the idea to source kangaroo meat when I get home and low and slow cook it in the smoker.

The scotch fillet came out and I wish it were a real thick juicy cut because it was that delicious. When you eat meat, you can tell the quality of it and this literally melted and paired with the BBQ sauce... Heavenly!

Honestly, I was absolutely surprised with how fast the food came out. The beer I ordered took longer to get to me than the entrees and mains but even then, it was "here it is mate".

Superb experience, great...