The Boathouse — Restaurant in Melbourne

I usually go for the Parkrun at Maribyrnong and this is their local cafe for a catch up after. I've been here before and had an easy time with coffee and breakfast.

But I had a really poor experience today and in my opinion, it could've completely been avoided with some courtesy and consideration from the lady at the till.

It was an inauspicious start when I arrived and when sitting at my table, the staff member who looked like a very harried middle-aged lady told me to order using the QR code on the menu if I wanted to pay for my own coffee and breakfast saying they can't split it later. I ordered a coffee and breakfast- it all arrived no problem. Then my friend arrived- he's older and verbally placed an order for his coffee without using the QR code - the same server lady rolled her eyes at him but brought the coffee.

Then I placed an order for a turmeric latte using the QR code which asks for payment at the time of order. Twenty-five mins later the drink hadn't arrived so I went to the till and asked them to check if it got missed out. They said they couldn't see my order so I showed my phone - the lady at the till asked if I'd paid for it - I showed my card transactions and confirmed my payment. The barista then made the turmeric latte and brought it over, thanking me for my patience. So far so good - I was just putting it down to a technical error or a glitch and had forgotten it.

Then to top things the lady at the till came to the table as I was drinking my latte saying 'here's your latte order' and said it had gone missing in their system because my friend hadn't paid for his coffee yet. I explained he'd pay for his at the end but I had already paid for mine and was requesting my order.

I have no problem with her rocking up to my table saying oh, it's a system error and we found your order, sorry for the delay! Instead she made it sound like we were At fault when we were told to use the QR code to order individual orders. She also said I was making an issue when there wasn't one- I was just calmly drinking my turmeric latte and enjoying conversation with my friend. Her attitude was really poor and there was just no apology - most unrelaxing turmeric latte of my life, I'd say! All the young baristas and servers are so nice - but the lady at the till and the middle-aged server lady should understand that we're not there to inconvenience them - we are just paying for our order and expecting it delivered to our table within reasonable time. Please treat customers with more respect and courtesy. I also work in a people-facing job and I can understand sometimes it's stressful but offloading your stress onto others is so not okay.

I won't be back here again and won't recommend this place to anyone else. Having a heated argument with someone is not my idea of a fun morning coffee. It's just five bucks for crying out loud! A poor attitude over a small drink is totally undeserved - if you hate your job so much, don't do it! I had a very bad experience due to this and it was very unnecessary.

I'm not expecting anything - please just reflect on yourselves and do better for others. Don't bully and be rude to customers for technical issues in...

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. My sisters and I visited The Boathouse at 12:30 yesterday afternoon, hoping for a pleasant dining experience. Unfortunately, from the moment we arrived, we were met with cold, unwelcoming service. The hostess who greeted us displayed a clear lack of warmth, and it was evident that her attitude was inconsistent. We observed that the couple ahead of us received a friendly smile, while we were barely acknowledged. As visibly Muslim women wearing hijabs, this felt discriminatory and left us uncomfortable.

Despite this first impression, we decided to give the restaurant a chance, taking a seat outside and ordering our meal. Our waiter was courteous, and we appreciated his effort to check in with us. However, we waited 17 minutes before he returned to our table, surprised that our order hadn’t arrived yet. He assured us that our food should be next, yet we continued to wait. Meanwhile, we watched as two tables who ordered after us were served before us.

I approached the hostess to inquire about our order and was met with a dismissive response: she informed me that the other table’s smaller order was prioritised, which struck me as both unprofessional and inconsiderate. After an hour of waiting, we decided to cancel our order. Despite our disappointment, we paid for the drinks we hadn’t touched as we had been waiting for our food.

When I requested to speak to the supervisor, I learned that the very person responsible for the poor service was the manager herself, Suzy or Susan. The manager’s condescending remark, “Your food is on the bench, are you sure you don’t want it?” only reinforced my concerns about the discriminatory and disrespectful treatment we experienced.

I am extremely disappointed by this experience and will not be returning. I hope that management takes this feedback seriously and implements necessary changes to ensure respectful and inclusive service...

Went to the Boathouse for Lunch on Sunday. There were quite a few things that made us feel not so welcome and on top of that had some issues with food too.

Waiting staff wasn't that polite all the time and not super knowledgeable of the menu. One of us had a small bag next to their chair and a waiter walked past and simply shouted "that is dangerous" and kept walking by.

When ordering food one of our party needed gluten and dairy free options due to allergies. The restaurant had a gluten free menu, but she pointed out that she also needed dairy free. the waiter pointed out a couple options for her and she ordered one of them. When the food arrived, it had cheese and other dairy products in it. We only noticed as the cheese was crumbled on top.

The staff manager came over to apologise but still we felt a little bad because our waited said to the staff manager he did not hear our friend say she needed dairy free too. and then soon he came to our table to say he had not know there was dairy in the meal. Two contradicting stories that were both told to us.

Eventually got all the food. It was basic at best (had a pizza, two risottos and a beef burger).risotto was a little bland. Pizza had way too much cheese (and olives that almost half had pits in them) and the burger was overcooked and not very juicy.

Overall a disappointment as we had looked forward to visiting...