Schnitz South Melbourne — Restaurant in Melbourne

I am considering reporting this store to the health authorities after a terrible experience. I understand how difficult it is to thrive and survive in the current economic climate, and therefore it is has been a regrettable decision to write this unfavourable review.

My partner and I attended this store in or about a month ago for dinner. Prior to dinner, we only ate bread for lunch with our parents. My partner ordered something different to me. Somehow, about 6 hours later I fell seriously ill resulting in the ambulance coming to my house. I had the worst stomach cramps I have ever experienced in my life. Another 6 hours passed and I found myself at the Alfred Hospital. I was in so much agony that the triage let me in straight away. Anyway, after several tests performed, turns out I had Salmonella. Whilst it is difficult to prove 100% causation that Schnitz’s food caused the Salmonella, on the balance of probabilities and in conjunction with discussing this with medical professionals, the most plausible cause of my Salmonella was from my meal at Schnitz.

I am not usually the type to make a huge fuss, so my partner called the store just to let them know of my case and to alert them of the possibility (and I would note a very high possibility) that their food caused a bad case of salmonella. The person who answered the phone said that her manager (“Maria”) was not available but she would get her manager to call us back ASAP. We never received a call back until we called back 2 days later. Evident from this store’s behaviour is a management team who does not treat cases like mine with much seriousness. That’s the first part of my disappointment.

After 2 days and finally getting in touch with the manager, the manager (who I am guessing is the owner - but I am only guessing here) took a very defensive approach, merely advising inter alia, that their store adheres to strict protocols in how they manage their food. However, to be fair, the manager did offer us a refund for our meal and asked us to come into the store to obtain a refund.

However, after finally getting the chance to visit the store today to obtain the refund, the manager decided to go back on her word and to only refund the item in question that allegedly caused the salmonella - which was approximately $3.50. This is where I am extremely disappointed and concerned. Her basis for her U-turn in decision making was “you cannot prove your meal caused the salmonella”. Well actually, based on my pattern of eating that day (just some bread, which my parents ate as well and they did not fall sick) in conjunction with the Schnitz meal, a reasonable person assessing probabilities would come to the conclusion that the only plausible conclusion would be that the food poisoning was caused by the consumption of the Schnitz meal. I am not one to blame so easy, but after discussing the chain of events with multiple independent medical professionals (for which I have evidence of those reports and tests results), the consensus was that this meal from Schitz caused the salmonella.

I am writing this extremely negative review because consumers should have a right to be aware of unethical and borderline unscrupulous business conduct. Look, doing business is not easy, but a business owner should take ownership for mistakes. Simple as that. I have previously worked in hospitality before and if a customer complained of food poisoning and if there was even a remote chance that it was our fault, we would take it very seriously. In this situation with Schnitz, they sure did take it seriously - they were serious about defending themselves by quoting that they have protocols to follow to ensure their food is safe - but hey, nearly every franchise business in Australia has protocols but having protocols does not prove that protocol’s were followed. Even if protocols were followed, it does not mean a mistake was not made. From that standpoint, the manager’s “arguments” does not stand.

Above all, the care factor simply...

I went today around 1:00 pm, they gave to me a table outside and they say to me that they come to my table to get my order, I waited 15 minutes outside and no one of the 5 people that was working come to get my order, the restaurant was quiet just 2 tables inside full that was already eating, anyway at the end I got my order for take away better customer service at home, 5 people wasting time and getting pay for do nothing. Sorry boys but not coming back to get worst service. I think but communication between you and your workers because that’s why I ask first they said yes no problem. Anyway...

Whilst the food is cooked quite well, my experience was soured by the rude older asian lady that works at the cashier. I simply wanted to check on my online order that I had waited over 20mins for. She passive aggressively told me without letting me finish my sentence that my order would he called out when it was ready. It wasn't very busy when I asked her and she could've simply taken the time to answer me politely. Simply don't work in the hospitality business if you can't even deal with simple questions. Won't be returning, rude lady should be fired or find a new job where she can be...