Red Gum BBQ — Restaurant in Melbourne

We did NOT RATE THIS VENUE EXCELLENT, quite the opposite, a minus zero review would been so much more appropriate. Simply rated excellent to bring the attention to many who believe the positive reviews. Front of house were not welcoming nor friendly and almost dismissive of us, we said hello to a young lady in suit at the front desk and no acknowledgment, we later came to find she was the Manager. We were placed at the back near the smokers, only one cook for at least 200 diners for lunch. We had to wait 20 min for a drink and 45 min for our lunch, the meals were cold, tough, very dry & barely eatable. I spoke to the cook later who told me they arrive early to start the cooking/smoking process, so you might think there is some mis advertising, as they claim 12 hour smoked meat process. We ordered a 2nd lot of drinks and after 15 mins complained to waitress again, why the holdup especially when the venue had emptied out somewhat, she went to the bar staff and seemed to be ignored, they certainly were no rush to serve/fill the order, the waitress walked away and I finally complained to the front desk. A young girl at the front desk (barely seemed high school age) claimed to be the manager and no compassion for the poor treatment when I mentioned the service & food were extremely poor. We would have been more satisfied with a McDonalds meal and even their service, at least you know what you are paying for. She apologised and we asked to cancel our drink order, shortly after another young lady came to our table as we were about to leave, not much older than the younger so-called manager (I am guessing she doesn't have time to listen to the their diners concerns when they first complain). She began to apologise and told my partner and I that our meals took so long, as they had so many large tables of diners for lunch and hence why the wait, so although locals pay for same service we are penalised for being a couple. We witnessed diners arriving much later after we did and being served first. We have never experienced such poor service/attitude/food. The staff are very young and seem inexperienced and for most of the time, looked lost without direction, the manager possibly the not the best example of professionalism, with a lack of leadership, as we received nothing but excuses. To say we so very disappointed is an understatement as we were celebrating my partners 60th Birthday, what a horrible memory, of a long awaited dining experience.

We couldn't agree more with another review posted from Jon P/Rosebud and what he wrote:--- "When the tourists have gone you will be wishing you had serviced your local patrons a bit better. Your front of house staff don’t care which leaves a lasting impression. Pity really as we go out of our way to support local business. What a shame.

The owners of this establishment should perhaps invest in customer service training and making the diners...

Our experience at this BBQ restaurant was disappointing. We had a booking for 19 people with a $60pp set menu, but unfortunately it didn’t meet expectations: Our table wasn’t ready when we arrived on time. I informed staff upon arrival that our group was 19 instead of the 20 originally booked, but we were still charged for 20 on the final bill. Waitstaff said someone would explain the set menu, but nobody did. It took 45 minutes for food to arrive. Only half of our group was asked for drink orders, and drinks took 30 minutes to arrive. Despite noting in our booking that we had a coeliac diner, no accommodations were made. Even after we specifically mentioned their dietary requirement, no replacement food was provided. When the coeliac diner asked for substitutions for the mac and cheese and bread, the waiter dismissively responded, “You’ve already ordered chips, so it should be enough?” This meant the coeliac diner paid $60 but wasn’t supplied with $60 worth of food. On top of that, we had to pay extra for chips we ordered to fill us up! The menu promised 1/4 chicken per person, but we received just 1/2 chicken for 4 people—this was inadequate. Portions of meat were too small (e.g., only 3 pieces of brisket for 4 people), leaving us still hungry. While the sides (mac and cheese, coleslaw) were plentiful, they were bland and overshadowed the meat, which should have been the highlight. There was no salt or pepper on the table. To top it off, the restaurant was uncomfortably hot with no air conditioning.

To be fair, the meat that we did receive was quite tasty, but the portions were far too small for the group, the poor service and lack of attention to dietary requirements ruined the experience. In the end our bill was reduced and we were given extra food to compensate for what was lacking, so we were satisfied with this. However for $60pp, we expected much better. This is not a place we’d recommend, particularly for a...

A nice enough venue, but won't be back to be honest. We attended at 11am (as the only time they could accommodate a booking of our size) and there were definitely a couple of red flags.

The brisket was extremely dry and was served at room temperature; in fact, all of the food came out quickly, but was served was room temperature, indicating that as the first sitting of the day the food had not been prepared fresh to order.

I also don't believe that the stated "100g of each meat per person" was accurately served to us as a booking of ten. There were nine pieces of brisket served and some of them were not large; the portions of pulled pork looked equally as small. The sides of mac and cheese and coleslaw were far too much by comparison and indicates that this venue (which prides itself on the quality of its produce) is more interested in filling up its diners on cheap sides.

I understand that they are somewhat transparent about their surcharge, but charging a 10% surcharge on Saturdays and Sundays for a venue that relies predominately on weekend tourism and visiting seems a bit reductive. It would be better to just factor this into your pricing and have your customers know what they are paying for up front. Additionally, I do think it's a bit rich to have a surcharge at all when I can safely say that the service was poor at best. Even before it started getting busier later in the morning, staff had to be flagged down to take food and drink orders, and drinks took forever to come from the bar even when there were only a few tables occupied.

Overall, it was fine, but not worth driving hours for. I'm also equally as concerned that the owner of the venue, instead of taking feedback on and understanding that your customers might have something of value to say decides to refute or challenge any constructive comments. This says a lot about how they run their business and indicates that they are not open to feedback or...