Spice Temple — Restaurant in Melbourne

Starts with trying to call the restaurant a couple of times the previous night and the phone would ring and then just get cut as I had to modify the reservation.

Anyways went there to celebrate my partner's birthday along with a few friends. We were 5 in total on Wednesday, assuming it would be slightly quiet and I am assuming even the staff expected it to be quiet but I guess they were overwhelmed as well.

The ambience reminds you off a Gangster house dimly let with shades of red with eclectic music playing. Loved the vibe of the restaurant.

We were seated at our table after we had to spot the hostess inside the restaurant as no one was at the hostess desk.

Majority of the staff leaving a few friendly and hospitable (however one server stands out of them all and his name is HIEU).

After being seated for almost 10 minutes it took us to get a server'w attention to serve water on the table and bring the menu cards and then another couple of minutes to take the order for drinks and food.

The first server who came felt more like a runner, initially he thought he could take the order, however he got lost midway and informed he would get someone else.

Finally the saving grace and knight in shining armour Hieu came to the table with his ever charming and a smile on his face.

Placed the orders for the food as follows Entrées Fried Calamari Typhoon Shelter Style Hot and Numbing Dry Beef Pan Fried Wagyu Bao Lobster and Prawn Dumpling Lamb Dumplings with Chilli Mains Stir fried noodles with blue swimmer crab and xo sauce House fried rice. Stir fried prawns Jiangxi Style Pippies with 4 chilly sauce Kung Pao Chicken Asian Greens Stir fried Wagyu with lucky money dumplings and eggplant

Now coming to the food.

The dimsum portions are decent, however the other entrées - calamari and beef the portion size is small which automatically makes you assume that the portion size for Mains would also be small but it's the opposite. One main can easily suffice for 3-4 people.

Coming to the food individually

Fried Calamari Typhoon Shelter Style - perfect texture , taste and spiciness, a must try.

Hot and Numbing Dry Beef - Taste and texture is nice, but didn't get the numbing effect, probably more Sichuan peppercorn is required.

Pan Fried Wagyu Bao Lobster and Prawn Dumpling Lamb Dumplings with Chilli Overall decent, I preferred the Wagyu Bao over the others but nothing that blew my mind.

Stir fried noodles with blue swimmer crab and xo sauce - this was good just like how it should be.

Pippies with 4 chilly sauce - flavour was nice, but it was gritty, so had to send it back. Hieu was kind enough to offer a replacement or take it off the bill, we choose the latter.

The rest of the main course were decent nothing spectacular.

Our friends tried 2 desserts and they mentioned they were nice, personally I don't think one can really go wrong with desserts unless the chef is super bad which is a rare case.

The cherry on the cake was when Hieu brought out a small pastry with a lit candle to celebrate my partner's birthday. He made it special.

Overall I am not sure if I would prefer to go there back again, as the food was nothing spectacular.

Personally for me I guess it would be a one time thing.

However thank you to all the staff (service and kitchen)...

Let me start by saying we are 'very regular clients' and the food at this establishment is very good. The problem is that as a customer you dare not question or have an issue or you will be refused a booking in the future.

Yesterday I tried to book a table of 6 for my fiancee's birthday (it's her favourite restaurant) for a quick dinner with her kids before a movie. After initial conversation around time etc I was told they could not take our booking due to an incident at my birthday on the 21/06/19. The incident in question was very very minor and must I say very poorly handled by the waiter/manager on the night. At the end of the night 2 coffees were ordered that were 'dishwater' and after the bill was paid and a $150 tip was left we were hit with a $13 bill for the coffees after a very simple question was asked of the coffee. Fast forward and 2 of my guests asked if it would be possible to get a glass of wine for the inconvenience, the response was 'no chance and we think it's best if you leave' at which point I suggested getting the $150 tip back and lets go somewhere where they want to serve us.

During the booking process I was told I could take it up with the manager which I did, the manager during the conversation lied on 3 seperate occasions; 1: That I have previously been involved in another dispute at Rosetta (sister restaurant) - I have never even walked in the door of Rosetta... ever 2: That they have no room for our group of 6 at 6pm - were prepared to make the booking until my name was flagged 3: And that I 'swore at her' during our conversation - i never ever swore at her and my fiancee was sitting next to me and heard every word. I may have made reference that their position was BS...maybe

After getting nowhere with this person I spoke to the Senior Manager (i think his name is James) who 100% supported his team - which is noble as I would also, long story short I asked for a meeting with himself and Neil Perry and was told 'he handles all this stuff and there is no need for Neil's involvement'

Interestingly I have had 3 bookings at Spice Temple since the 21/06 all under my name or my fiancees name and at no time has there been an issue, we actually like dining there and I'm flabbergasted that no one during any of these 3 dinners has pulled us aside to discuss 'their concerns' and were more than happy to take our money.

So go ahead and book if you choose, the food is good, just don't even consider questioning them as you will be refused in future.

One thing i've always attested to in business; "Although the client may be wrong, the client is always the client" as such Spice Temple has lost a long term, loyal client that unfortunately will never grace their doorstep again! Time to grow a thicker skin management and look after your existing...

To Manuel and team,

This evening we were welcomed in by a nice young lady and shown to our table. All was fine and we were looking forward to the meal.

1. Then came disappointment after disappointment, the wait staff assigned to our table was a complete grump. She was very dismissive and just not interested. 50 Minutes after placing our order (Restaurant was not even half occupied at this time) we politely asked if our food would take much longer ....no response just walked off and came back 5minutes later with cold food! Then before we could even finish with our food she began taking dishes off our table without even a simple question if we were done or if we needed more time!!!

BTW, telling us we had 90 minutes and then taking nearly an hour to deliver food to our table is a bit rich don't you think?

2. I would also highly suggest getting your "cook" if even that to actually get out and try Chinese food! If your dishes are a fusion or some self made recipe then don't call it a mainstream name! Your Kung Pao Chicken was soy marinated deep fried pieces of chicken soaked in a sweet sauce and then as an afterthought had some dried chillies stirred in. The chicken was terribly sweet, had absolutely no hint of spice or chilli. You would have been better off buying a Kung Pao Sauce packet from the supermarket and it would have tasted better! $51 for this despite the inflation and location is a rip off any day of the week.

The Chinese broccoli was dry and looked pathetic (perhaps from sitting around too long) and again the sauce was unbelievably sweet with a few drops of oyster sauce on top!

The other dishes notably the prawns, eggplant and fish were all just mediocre with too much sugar and not much else. Seriously mate, this is not how these dishes are made. Perhaps use a different name and description in your menus if this is your standard.

To add insult to injury, there was an $8 service fee ....which begs the question .....WHAT SERVICE?? We had the worst experience of our lives here today.

We understand staff are hard to find but training is essential esp. at this level, youre better off having a few great team members and investing in them then having so many who are not interested in working and instead leave customers reeling from such a bad experience. Customers being treated badly from the onset for no real reason is really just not acceptable and when you add horrible food to the equation, it becomes a truly sour experience.

Hopefully this is remediated for...