Sonder Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

First (and last) visit to Sonder this week! What was meant to be a nice Chrissy dinner, became a stressful and unpleasant experience. 1) Upon arrival, we weren’t acknowledged or seated for nearly 10 mins even though a staff member looked over at us. 2) Mid exchanging/unwrapping our gifts, a waiter asked us (not much of a request) to move tables as a larger party arrived and we politely obliged. However, the other table was visibly dirty and we asked if he could wipe it down to which he snappily replied that it already was but he could wipe it again. I didn’t feel comfortable asking much else and used a tissue to dust crumbs off my seat. 3) After being seated and not approached for another 15-20mins, we went up to the bar and asked if we had to order there or if there was table service. The reposted was “I can come to your table IF you like?!” We awkwardly headed back with him, but while we gave our order, he was constantly distracted, looking around and not entering anything into his iPad. We felt so rushed and uncomfortable, and after ordering we asked if he had our full order and he asked us to repeat it again (NO apology). The same waiter brought our drinks over and as I asked for a straw but he had already turned and walked away. I went to get one at the bar and the bartender/manager there spoke to me like I was asking a stupid question and said she didn’t understand what I wanted ... after repeating it a few times, I finally got a straw! 4) We ordered 5 share plates (2 were French fries), only to receive our food TWO HOURS LATER. Tables that arrived and ordered well after us were served long before (they still waited over an hour themselves). I asked a waiter if he could please tell us how much longer the wait was and he said “it should be here soon, we’re just really busy”. I said I understood but at least 3 tables who arrived and ordered after us were already served. He just repeated “it will be soon”. 5) The bartender who brought my friends 2nd drink over, slammed it down on the table, and glared at us mid walking away saying “your food will be here SOON” (emphasis on the soon ... assuming the other waiter mentioned it). His demeanour was cold and rude ... no apology or smile. The table next to us could see that we were uncomfortable and gave us an awkward smile and shrug. 6) We then received 1 of our share plates, but the waiter had taken off before we could ask for plates, cutlery and a bottle of water for the table (which every other table with and without food had). We had to wait for the waiter to come past again to ask for this. They made us feel so uncomfortable and we kept saying sorry each time we asked for anything we needed like they were doing us a favour. After another 30-40mins, the waitress/manager was putting more food down on a nearby table, when she looked over at us and must have caught two very distressed and fed up looks and came over to see how we were. I explained that we had been waiting nearly 2 hours for our food (again two of those were French fries, come on guys?!). Once again, we received no apology and just an excuse that they were really busy tonight. I replied with my earlier response that I understand but it’s been 2 hours and we came here when it was empty, and that a number of tables who came long after us were served much earlier. She said she would send it right over. The remaining dishes finally arrived 5 minutes later. 7) Mid meal, the rude bartender who initially slammed the drink down, reached over us and placed two drinks on the table (didn’t excuse himself) & mumbled “on the house” with the same cold look while walking way. I appreciate that it can get busy but 2 hours for the minimal food we ordered was ridiculous, not to mention being served after so many tables that came after us. The food and indoor venue was nice but the service was a HUGE let down. Had the customer service (at the very least) been polite and apologetic, it would have gone a LONG way to turning this experience around. We would have appreciated a genuine apology over a free...

I rarely write google reviews but this afternoon's experience was so bad i felt the need to. My wife, 5 year old son and i went to this venue this afternoon for lunch. There was one staff member on the floor, a gentleman with long hair. There were two other customers sitting in the whole venue other than us.

We were told that he couldn't take our order because he was too busy and that we should order via the QR code based ordering system. I thought that was not a friendly opening statement but ok. Anyway we tried to use the system but it didn't work.

I then asked for assistance and was told "the system is down we are rebooting" and to wait for five minutes. We did as we were asked. It took ages to order food and drinks because if you want order a glass of wine you literally have to scroll through the entire menu. Anyway i managed to get the order in. Then i got an error message at the payment process . . . something about credentials needing to be updated.

I showed it to the gentleman and he just shrugged his shoulders and said he had never seen anything like it.

No assistance with the app was offered. He did not offer to take our order manually over the bar so we left. The body language and facial expression offered indicated he saw us as a bother.

It's a shame because my wife and i had heard good thinks about Sonder and this was our first experience giving it a go. We...

The vibes of this place were immaculate! Loved the busyness of it all, and I feel like you don't often get an atmosphere like this at a local bar - more so one you might find at the city.

Serving sizes of food were really generous and I appreciated that, because I feel as though you don't often get that at bars. My partner ordered the heinanese chicken which tasted awesome! The combination of sweet and spicy worked so well together, and the skin was a little crispy making it that much more enjoyable!

I myself ordered black bean pork noodles, which on the other hand was a little less enjoyable. For me personally, I am more used to black bean beef, and the change of the meat threw me off a little and it tasted a little inauthentic to Asian flavours. It was still an enjoyable dish, however, probably not something I would gravitate too straight away.

Overall, I really liked my experience and I would...