Squires Loft Williamstown — Restaurant in Melbourne

DO NOT COME HERE - I am so disappointed with our time wasted at Squires Loft Willliamstown tonight. This restaurant has gone downhill and I won’t be surprised if this place closes down within the next 12 months. How disgraceful to run such a sad restaurant and have your business represented by people who don’t care or have any passion for their job or customers in the slightest. This place has so much potential and is in such a great location, I can see why they were not busy at all on a Saturday night. 30/07/2022

We booked a table for FOUR people we were made to wait 5 minutes whilst disorganised staff who had absolutely no structure or plan AT all. There was about 10 empty tables for them to walk us to but they made us wait at the door like idiots whilst they did other things to make up for other incompetent staff who had no idea.

We were given a cocktail menu when we sat down at our table, which was pointless! We were told there was no cocktails tonight (poor owner, what a loss of money for them, we were prepared to order 4, lol)

We heard the waitresses yelling and screaming at the kitchen and were acting in such an unprofessional manner, we heard one waitress addressing her colleague in the kitchen yelling whilst on the floor of the venue “bro where is this order I’m waiting.” I’m also concerned seeing them talk and lean over the counter where the kitchen put the food so closely. I think they all need some proper training .

Bar staff had no clue - i ordered a vodka soda, I was given a vodka lemonade, we also ordered a Gin and Tonic and was asked after 15 minutes of ordering it what we would like to accompany our gin. - No clue at all, I’m guessing the person behind the bar didn’t even have an RSA to serve alcohol with ridiculous questions and no knowledge like what we saw tonight.

We were also prepared to order another 2-3 rounds of drinks - but after the horrid poor service that was given to us. We finished our drinks before our meal came and would rather sit there with no drinks to accompany our cold meal instead.

We waited over an hour for our food and it was still cold AND we also observed other tables expressing dissatisfaction regarding their food/service whilst we waited - if we were not starving we would have happily walked out. McDonald’s contemplated our thoughts a few times, it never seemed so good and we are not the avid McDonald’s fans.

We counted 12 tables full of cups/food from people who had left before us, sitting there with dirty plates. Staff were too busy running around with what seemed like no purpose and had visibly no sections to manage.

I’ve actually never written a review for a business before, but my goodness future patrons should be aware of this mess….

THEN…. Our poor experience continues, our steaks were not hot as you’d expect, my guess is they were resting for a good 7-8 minutes and the one half rack of ribs we got was a reasonable temperature, the second half rack was cold and not edible at all. Staff took it back and took it off the bill which was nice, but we really just wanted our food.

I won’t be coming back...

This is a three star review...

One star for service One star for atmosphere One star for the Manager trying to fix a bad dining experience

I recently saw this restaurant advertising on a reel on Facebook. I'm always looking for great places to eat and the reel look impressive, so we headed there.

Squires "Loft" had me envisaging a restaurant upstairs. Nope, it's downstairs, in the basement of a building. First impressions were of the STEEP metal staircase, and I mean STEEP. The photo doesn't do it justice. The electric seat on the side is a must for anyone with walking issues of any kind. I'm fit and healthy and found navigating the decent a bit nerve racking.

Once downstairs we found the restaurant décor and atmosphere charming. Dark bluestone walls, heavy timbers and dim lighting set a cosy scene. We couldn't fault the presentation and atmosphere.

We were promptly seated and given menus. The prices weren't the dearest nor the cheapest we've experienced. We weren't shopping for price, we were seeking a high-end steakhouse dining experience. We had high expectations and were truly looking forward to making this place "our place".

I ordered the Black Angus 400g steak with potato and blue cheese sauce. My better half ordered the salmon with potato and a side of grilled vegetables to share. Now, $75 for a steak maybe dear to some people, but I've paid more over the years and have always valued quality over price. I believe if you want quality, you have to pay for it.

Our meals arrived promptly after we finished our entrée (Trio of dips). I must admit I was excited to get stuck into this beautifully presented steak. It looked good and smelt good, but, that's where all the good stopped. It was TOUGH, and I mean TOUGH. I battled through two thirds of it and had to give up on the rest.

I can't relay how bitterly disappointed I was at this point. I had such high hopes for this place, and perhaps my expectations were too high? The cheese sauce was nice, I'll give them that. The Mrs salmon was cooked well and tasted beautiful. It was just the steak that let them down on this occasion. Such a pity.

When it came time to leave and pay for the meal, to the Managers credit, he made every effort to apologise profusely and didn't charge us for the steak after hearing of my poor dining experience. I told him I was prepared to pay for the entire meal as I didn't want to come across as just another winging customer looking for a discount. That wasn't the point of my criticism of the steak. It was to bring an obvious failing of their meat quality to their attention. To his credit he removed the steak from the bill and asked if we'd please come back on another occasion and give them a second chance.

We're still looking for...

So I sent this email and didn't get a response, hence this review. Don't waste your money or time.

Hello,

I would like to share our recent experience at your restaurant on Saturday night. 25/06/22.

We ordered drinks, we were advised we couldn’t have cocktails as the bartender was away- fair enough. I ordered a vodka lime soda, my husband ordered a wild turkey and coke. I was asked to confirm what drink I wanted 4 times by the end of the drink order. We then had another waitress come to the table to ask how my husband would like his whiskey. He reiterated with coke. She then asked “yes, but how would you like it” he explained the process of “in a glass with ice and coke” Our drinks arrived, his was a whiskey on ice. Anyway, it was sent back and asked to add coke.

So then our meal order was taken by a lovely (however not bright) young lady and obviously sent off to the kitchen. My husband and I looked at each other as no notes were taken during the ordering process and we just knew, something would go awry. Moments later, a gent from the kitchen came to our table, asking us to confirm our order. Thankfully, we noticed it was actually missing items.

So our meals arrived minus the garden salad, the steaks were good, my rib eye was sub par. My daughters chicken burger was too spicy for her.

I quickly ordered more drinks knowing they would take quite some time to come out. This was a genius move, as the drinks did take longer to be delivered than the cooking of the meals. To be fair, it was made and was sitting on the bar, waiting for a smiling waiter/waitress to bring it to me. I contemplated several times interrupting their conversation to ask for my drink or going to get it myself. I just couldn’t bring myself to break up what looked to be a riveting chat.

After the wait, we ate and went to pay. Noticing we were also being charged for a chocolate pudding - which, to be honest sounded delicious. However, I could not wait to leave. I would have loved to stay, have the kids eat dessert and have a few more drinks. I just couldn’t warrant the time it took to get 1 drink. The friendly waitress giggled and removed the dessert we didn’t order and the salad we didn’t receive.

We have eaten several times at your restaurant, each time not having any issues. Last weekend we spent less than this meal and had the most amazing steaks and service at The Exchange in Port Melbourne.

It’s disappointing that Squires Loft which has a name for quality and service lacked in both departments and we had to suffer for it. Both our pockets and also our loyalty took a beating.

I would love to get a...