The Baths Sorrento — Restaurant in Melbourne

I am sharing this post by my niece who in turn shared my wife’s private email of complaint to the restaurant.

My wife did not receive a response to her email. However the restaurant immediately responded to my niece’s post claiming that it did not receive my wife’s email nor a follow up email. It provided a different email with a promise to respond to my wife if she resent the email - which she did. Alas! The restaurant has still not responded. Whilst acknowledging how difficult the restaurant business is- this business just doesn’t seem to be interested in providing good service nor owning up to shortcomings!!!

“I am sharing this review on behalf of my aunt who dined at the restaurant on the 4th of Jan, 2021 and emailed the following review to the restaurant. She is still yet to hear back. She would give the restaurant 0 stars if possible.

Dear Sir/Madam, I feel I have to write to you to describe my meal at your restaurant. My family and I are longtime holiday owners at Sorrento for over 60 years. We went to The Baths with a table of 4 tonight being the 4th January 2021, as a special occasion with my husband, pregnant daughter and her partner. The food was terrible. We were so disappointed and embarrassed. The meal cost $355 plus a $20 tip (we wanted to give a tip to the waiter who was trying his best it was in no way a reflection of the food). My daughter had the gnocchi which was inedible the waiter gave us another for her to try which was better but still unpalatable. The herbs and cheese were burnt and covered the gnocchi in a melted burnt mess. My linguini was dreadful and I ate an eighth of it. My husbands fried fish was fine, the ceviche ordinary. My daughter's partners fish was ok but was a ridiculously small serve. For you to have the audacity particularly in this covid time to provide such low standard fare and at such an inappropriately exorbitant price is at best misguided and ill-judged. What are you trying to do? - with so many restaurants and food people going out of their way to provide wonderful food and experience with the hope that people return and support them why have you not tried to do the same? The advertising on your site misrepresents the experience. In comparison my brother was at the Sorrento Sailing Club tonight with a group of 4 everyone had an entree and main course, one bottle of wine and the bill was $298 plus tip. The food was delicious and they will go again. We feel that we should receive a refund for this meal and will await...

Where do I start, from the moment we walked in we were told that our pre book table (three weeks in advance) window seat was not guarantee and was sat near the entrance, despite there being numerous tables which remained vacant the whole time we were there. Staff were also very rude and inattentive.

The food was horrible and not worth the price tag (cheesecake had freezer burns and was also curdled).

To top it all off they tried to slug us with a public holiday tax on a non public holiday day, just because it was a long weekend. Honestly this place is overrated, don’t even waste your time or money here. We will never be returning.

[Edit, further to your response ] One row back is a bit rich! There was a whole table of 10 seated in front of us. Based on the size of your restaurant we were closer to the entrance than the view. Regardless the fact is I had requested a table by the window when I called and this was confirmed by your staff at the time of booking and subjected to rude and dismissive response by your staff with no concern for our misfortune.

As I said in my above statement there were two vacant tables by the windows (including a 2 seater) the whole time we were there and plenty more that became vacant during our lunch (Refer photo). A considerate wait staff would offer for us to move to meet this request when a table became vacant.

At no point did I ever provide positive feedback about our meals as this completely contradicts our experience. Our table was cleared by various staff after each course who were not interested in engaging with the customer. The fact your response summarises the encounters from multiple staff suggests your response is fabricated to cover your restaurant’s image.

I am thankful for your response as it is now out there for all to see that rather than accepting criticism you choose to fight and mock your guests with this nasty attitude that you and your staff ALL seem to have. I emphasise all as there are many who shared the same attitude and lack of service. Seems like a staff culture problem.

Since visiting today I have complained to many people I know who have shared my sentiments.

I have never been compelled to write a google review before however today’s experienced could not go unchecked. Hopefully this should give all future guest an idea of what your...

We came to The Baths Sorento looking forward to a delicious meal with a fabulous outlook! At prices ranging from $28 to $42 for a main meal we anticipated top quality, flavoursome food with excellent service. We were not disappointed when it came to the view, however unfortunately the food and the service left a lot to be desired. Of the four of us that dined, only one had their first meal choice. Two meal options were unavailable which we were not informed of until after trying to order.

After we made our choice, (two of us first ordered the grilled fish but after seeing it come out to someone else a minute later, promptly changed to the fried). After a small wait three of the four meals arrived, two of which were the fish, however only one was fried and the other was grilled. The third was the chicken salad (the second choice for her) which after a few bites of it she realised the apricot was missing. Upon telling the waitress we were informed that the apricot had been substituted for pear. Luckily there were no allergies to contend with.

After two of us had eaten half our meals the mussels arrived for the third person and after a further wait the fourth person finally got the other fish and chips. Whilst it was understandable that she has a wait due to the kitchen or wait staff's mistake, there was no reason for the mussels to come out late and no apology issued that they had.

When initially reading the menu we thought the flourless chocolate cake sounded appetising so when the waitress asked if we would like to see the dessert menu we jumped at the idea. However, a separate dessert menu came out with different items on it. When we queried about the cake we were informed that they had run out of this also. We chose to decline dessert.

We proceeded to go to the counter to pay to find out after paying we had in fact been charged for three fish and chips instead of two. Fortunately we thought something was awry and asked for a copy of the bill again and got the extra money back.

Overall what an incredibly disappointing experience. At close to $45 a head for a main meal and a glass of wine the expectation is an exceptional experience, not subpar like we had. We will not return and hope that others learn from our mistake to set foot...