Squires Loft Nunawading — Restaurant in Melbourne

We attended as a family for our recent wedding anniversary dinner. I’m giving 4 stars for a few reasons. Service, menu options, pricing, experience & quality all have impacted my feedback but overall a nice venue, understaffed / lack of training in service, mostly pleasant though, tables need a really good clean with remnants of food in the tabletops, and given the price point they need more ambiance, service & quality control

We had a 5.30pm booking midweek, we were told to come back when we arrived on the dot of 530pm as they weren’t open. Note bookings are scheduled & timed so you only have a window of time booked. We came back at 5.45pm and there was 2 other tables sat & served.

Very disappointed that they do not have a children’s menu at this venue or suitably priced option for small steak/ sausage & chips that isn’t $40. Given the location it surprised me not to be family friendly. Lucky we had checked the menu & fed our son earlier & purchased a bowl of chips for him which was $11

The bread was delicious that was first served & they were kind enough to accomodate my sons request for another piece after he ate his & ours. Yes only 1 piece of bread per person. Seemed a little stingy given the overall cost we knew would exceed $200 and seems an odd place to cut back on giving something to customers.

We both purchased 400g Angus scotch specials at $73 each. We both ordered a sauce which was an extra $11. Note that everything is an extra so be prepared to pay.

Next time if we are to return we would order 1 sauce (baste) as a chip dipping sauce as the pepper was overpowering and you didn’t need it with the steak, the baste was enough and very pleasant. It complimented the meat which was thankfully cooked as requested - medium rare.

The only issue was my side salad came out wilted & tomatoes looked like they were 3 days past due. It was very off putting, not fresh & covered in dressing so I asked for it to be returned and opted for chips. Being a Wednesday I would have thought they would have fresh salad but this looked leftover from the weekend. Chips were cooked well.

Wine is not extensive and we opted for a glass of Shiraz Izway Rob & Les $12.50 each. Very young, needed much longer celaring but being a Barossa it was one of the best choices. I didn’t finish mine as it was just too young and took away from the steak.

Crème brûlée had a good shell but was too soft & custardy as it didn’t hold the spoon, it just melted off. Acceptable for mainstream restaurant, pleasant to eat and we enjoyed as a dessert. $15 for the serve with a small icecream on the side but the berry coullis was under the Ramekins which made no sense as you couldn’t eat it or mix with the icecream

We also purchased a single scoop of icecream for our son which took forever to come out. We had eaten our desert and it was cleared before they even bought out his ice cream. We had to ask twice for it at which the server seemed annoyed that we asked and made the end of the night awkward. At $3 the price point was fine and he was happy.

Overall the meat was very nice. Happy to pay good money for a good quality & well cooked steak, I do feel it’s expensive when you get a foodchain feel but we took it as an evening out for a special occasion and everything was very good overall. We spent around $230 for dinner,...

I was extremely disappointed with my experience over the weekend at the Nunawading, Squires Loft resturant. I was there as part of a group of 25 for a work function. I have a seafood allergy and I carry an Epipen. I always need to ask about food preparation and cross contamination, before I order my meal when there is seafood on the menu. After speaking with The waitress who actually was one of the managers, it was made quite clear to me that all their food, including prawns and tuna steaks are cooked on the same hotplate coals allowing cross contamination which is very dangerous for my allergy. Even vegetarians who dine with you have their food contaminated with meat and seafood juices. The two managers that are employed there to look after guests needs and lead hospitality, were very inflexible in catering for my seafood allergy, so I wasn't able to order a steak. The only food on the menu I was able to order and eat was a baked potato and mushrooms with a feta topping. I chose not to order a salad. No flexibility at all was offered to me. When I suggested that my steak be cooked in a pan or in the oven, I was told that was not an option, that no pans existed for that to be possible and that the chefs won't vary their cooking methods for my allergy. Infact, I was told repeatedly that it was because of the franchise policy that no variation to the menu and cooking methods was possible, Also, that it was a Saturday night. Other members of our party were also very surprised at the way I was spoken to and the inflexibility of your restaurant. When I suggested the hotplate be washed down before my steak be cooked, I was again told that was not possible, that the chefs wouldn’t/couldn't do that to cater for my allergy, so that I could order a steak. Infact, one of the Managers was very rude to me in her communication. I was also told that all Squires Lofts are not able to change how they cook their food to cater for one off allergies. Yet, I've been to Squires Loft in South Yarra, a few years ago and they cooked my steak in a pan for me and went out of their way to accomodate my allergy. The Manager also told me that when the the booking was made it should have been communicated that there was a person with an allergy attending. When I asked what would have been done to cater for me, she told me that I would have been offered a baked potato and the mushroom feta dish and or a salad. My workplace will never book there again, and it has been attending this restaurant for many many years. Most restaurants these days that I attend are able to cater for any sort of allergy and actually go out of their way to be accommodating. Again, very very disappointing. I didn't enjoy my experience and the way I was treated at the Nunawading Squires Loft, their was no hospitality offered to me alt all. I was very very disappointed and upset at the way I was treated and spoken to. I will not be recommending your Squies Loft to any of my...

My family and I were regular customers here but will never be returning. I contacted the manager to organise a takeaway order for Father's Day over a week in advance. I was assured that while they did not take pre-orders, I would have no problem ordering on the day.

On father's day I struggled to get in touch with the restaurant and when I finally managed to make contact with them I was informed that they would be too busy to fulfil takeaway orders after 5:30pm. 5:30 was far too early and clashed with our other plans. By that point it was too late for us to make alternative arrangements with another restaurant, we ended up having to settle for the fish and chip shop.

At the risk of sounding like a 'Karen' , Squire's Loft totally ruined our Father's Day plans. My elderly father had been looking forward to his steak all week and was so disappointed.

The manager claimed they were not expecting to be so busy (in what universe is a steakhouse not busy on Father's Day??) and offered nothing but a perfunctory "sorry for the inconvenience". I generally make an effort to give people in retail and service industries the benifit of the doubt when it comes to work overload and short staffing (I work in retail myself, I get it) but the manager made absolutely no effort to rectify the situation. When you break a promise to a customer that directly impacts their plans, it's basic customer service to try to make adjustments to accommodate them. If it's impossible to make an exception without screwing over other customers, some form of compensation should be offered in the form of a discount or complimentary meal for a later date. No such efforts were made by the manager at Squire's Loft.

Squire's do make incredible steaks but their appalling customer service is something you should be aware of before visiting.

EDIT: I am unable to reply to the manager's response to my review so I will be emailing them privately. I just feel the need to clarify here that the phone call described by them is an absolute fabrication. My mother was the one who spoke to the manager on the phone, and she wouldn't call her worst enemy "a discraceful person" let alone a service worker. All she said was "this is disappointing, you've kind of left us in the lurch", she expressed her disappointment but was very polite when doing so. Falsely accusing her of saying something so vitriolic is beyond insulting and unprofessional. I personally used the word "disgraceful" in my email exchange but it was in reference to the service, NOT the person.

And of course being busy/short staffed is totally understandable, it's the way the situation was handled which was frustrating.

The person we were dealing with at Nunawading has obviously gone to her manager with an eggagerated sob story, painting us as abusive and unreasonable customers to cover her bad service. The manger who replied is just trying to defend his staff member but he has...