Templestowe Living Room — Restaurant in Melbourne

I provided this restaurant the opportunity to respond to this very disturbing incident and 1 week has passed without a response.

We are regular customers of many years and have celebrated lots of special occasions in your restaurant. We are members of your VIP club. We also supported your restaurant during lock down by ordering take away to ensure the restaurant could continue post lock down.

Last Saturday night (05Feb 22) we had a reservation @ 5.45pm for 4 people. When I made the reservation, I was told anytime between 5.30pm and 6pm would be okay and that the restaurant needed the table back by 8pm I agreed to this.

My husband and I arrived just before 6pm and our guests were already seated. We were reminded at this time that the table is needed back by 8pm. Again, we were okay with this. We ordered our meals, service by our waiter was quite attentive and our meals were good. The main course did take some time to come to the table, not really a problem, but this did take up some of our precious time at the table. After our main course we were offered dessert and coffee. We declined this as we wanted to finish our drinks as we were mindful of the time and wanted to be considerate enough to ensure the table would be vacated by 8pm. After this another waiter (name unknown - young male with dark hair) approached our guest at 7.50pm and told him it was time to leave. We discussed this amongst ourselves at our table and decided there was sufficient time to finish our drinks so we could be out by 8pm. The waiter had spoken to our guest in a very rude bordering on aggressive manner. I do not know this waiter - I think maybe he is new - young male with dark hair.

I then raised this issue with one of your regular staff - Adam, I think? (Duty manager) By this time we were standing at the counter - I said to Adam I was disappointed to be treated and spoken to in such a rude manner and reminded him that it was not yet 8pm. He absolutely shocked me by responding aggressively and waiving his finger at me saying "You have no reason to be disappointed, I told you 3 times to leave" - please understand it was not yet 8pm. I then shared with Adam that our main course took some time to reach our table and I am really glad that we didn't order dessert and coffee and his response was 'So did everyone's, now leave'

He then proceeded to chastise me about the fact that my husband and I arrived late for our 5.45pm reservation - we arrived just before 6pm. I am not sure what the relevance of this was but I certainly do not appreciate a waiter taking me to task for arriving a few minutes late. I pointed out the time to Adam? (still not 8pm) and to my shock he waived his hand at me and said "Just Get Out!!"

This was all so unnecessary as there was never any indication from us that our table would not be vacated by 8pm. We agreed verbally that we would vacate the table in time and then made every move to ensure this happened.

Most importantly the staff should have used alternative language when speaking to a customer, in a crowded restaurant, within hearing distance of other patrons.

I have never ever been treated or spoken to in such an appalling manner by any wait staff in any restaurant without any justification. This was very embarrassing. We will not return to Templestowe Living room after many years of loyal patronage. I will also caution anyone else to be aware that this restaurant can treat their loyal customers in such a disgraceful way.

At no time did we delay our departure from the table. We were out in the street @ 7.58pm. This behaviour has now cost this restaurant our patronage. Adam and the wait staff involved definitely need some training in customer service when under time...

I have been coming to The Living Room off and on for several years and after a long hiatus I returned with a friend. Nothing has changed (except the menu). The superb choices of dishes, great staff and warm atmosphere continues. We arrived on Friday night with a lovely greeting from the staff. We were seated at one of my favourite tables and that's when the great service begins. I could focus on the food but it goes without saying. The food is always superb with a nice choice of wine that complements each meal. However, what I noticed more than ever was the attentiveness of the staff. First - they listen. Listen to our tastes, thoughts and likes. They make gentle selections and expand our options for dining. My friend and I ordered the same meal although one was a main the other an entree. From order to table was 20 minutes. In the meantime we drank a stunning Yangarra Shiraz. Our glasses discreetly topped up. No intrusion on our private, intimate conversation. Once our meals arrived we were offered extra freshly grated Parmesan and black pepper - then left alone to eat. Just before we'd finished the waiter checked in. Nice. Discreet. Not asking for anything more than 'how's your meal?' The Living Room was full this night as it is many nights, so book in advance and if you can't make it at least be courteous and let them know. It's the people and culture behind a place like this that makes it great. So I decided to snap some if the staff. Fun. Friendly. Professional. There is plenty of parking around but do look at the limitations as inspectors are quick off the mark. This place is wheelchair friendly with a ramp at the rear. Kid friendly but more so earlier in the evening. High chair available. Toilets clean and regularly checked. I know locals who come here regularly and I will continue to visit as my restaurant of choice with a new date. Thank you to all staff for making it another...

The Living Room-Templestowe. Went there for dinner tonight as party of a 25+. (on two tables) Arrived 7pm for a 7pm booking....waited an hour for menues, for which we had to ask for since they thought that we were still waiting for people. Once we had our menues it then took another half hour to get our orders taken. We waited another hour and a half, in which the other table had received and finished their meals while we were left waiting. Steak and 2 Lamb dishes were cold (without potato since they had run out). 3 pasta dishes were over cooked. a main calamari consisted of 6 pieces, when asked prior to ordering a entree was 5 pieces. The place was obviously busy with 2 large bookings, yet only 4-5 waitresses on. When issues were raised to the 2 managers they were unaware of being out of potato, we were told that since we were late that was why it had taken so long( when we had arrived on time). We were told we should have complained earlier, but after waiting 2 and a half hours to get our meal, we were starving and ate what we had in fear of waiting another hour and a half. We should have just walked out instead of waiting so long. They offered us free coffee, we all declined saying we just wanted to pay and leave. Disgraceful, never going back and would advise people not...