The Rogue Squire — Restaurant in Melbourne

The Rogue Squire Review 13/12/2020

If you have not been to this place for sometime, you may not recognise this former pub which has undergone extensive renovation.

It once offered special late event for young people on Thursday night, but now it is a bit posh for these patrons.

It has ample parking, and failing to find a car park, you can use the general car park shared with Wheelers Hill Hotel next door.

The Rogue Squire belongs to the same AHL chain, and is 75% owned by Woolworths.

As you enter the premise, the interior has a very rustic look, and a rather interesting display of beer barrels on the right side of the entrance. There is plenty of standing room to have a few drinks, a burger or a pizza.

The dining areas are located upstairs, through two flights of stairs. You can choose to dine inside the brewhouse with restaurant experience, or outside, still under cover, with full glass windows to view the panoramic scenic distance of the Dandenong Ranges while dining or relaxing on the comfortable club lounge furniture.

There was once an open deck, with nothing to block the views of the Dandenong Ranges. After sunset, the distance dotted with myriads of lights, was too beautiful beyond words could describe. Unfortunately, that is history.

Despite the short coming, the present atmosphere is still very pleasant, and the waiting staff of the night was very pleasant and patient.

Although the Covid-19 restrictions are not fully relaxed, the inside can accommodate 139 people, and the outside 70.

The menu is not very extensive, and almost comparable to Wheelers Hill Hotel's. However, the waitress later shows the Chef's special menu as an extension to the regular offer. The wine, beer and non-alcoholic drinks are listed in the same menu.

We are a party of four, but only ordered three different menu items. My 2 dining companions enjoy their Grain Fed Scotch Fillet 300g., tender and cooked to their requirement. One orders Tuna Steak, and it does come out nicely presented. The beef and tuna are well sizzled with criss-cross charred marks over the top.

I had steaks during the previous two days, so I decide on the Scicilian pizza. The pizza is medium size, soft base, and not very thick. For a price of $22, I expect the chef can be a little bit more generous with the topping. My rating to the overall experience is marked down by the pizza.

The waitress suggests Orange Chocolate tart - the dessert of the day. It does look good, but it is really for people with very...

To start, I am a fussy fart. Risotto is favourite meal and most of the time my expectations are way to high. They're often ok and rarely great, but last night I tried the Duck risotto. Oh my god, AMAZING! Second best one I've ever eaten. For me it was perfect in every way. Thank you to whomever cooked it for me, great job chef👏 My fiancè and I also had the Pork belly entree. Delicious 😋 The waiting staff were great as well. It was fairly busy and they never rushed and were alway polite and available without making me feel they had more important things to do or places to be. On the down side it was a hard night for some of them. We as customer's can be very demanding, fussy and rude. They are young people and it's just they're job. It can be you're son or daughter working there. So, after my meal when I called a waiter over and said with a straight face, I have a problem with my meal, I got her full disappointed attention. I said how perfect it was and to pass my compliments on to the chef, her relief and smile was sad to see. It seems there were a some customers who were disappointed with their choices and wanted a refund or sent food back or whatever... The waiters don't cook the food. They bring it. It's not hard to be nice to them. On our way home my fiancè said she ran into a waiter in the bathroom crying about how she was treated that night by some of us customers and she felt awful. That's not why she goes to work. To be made to feel crappy for serving people. It's not an easy job working a kitchen in front of behind the counter. It's easy to be angry and rude at the servers but, I felt they were doing a wonderful job. We should be treat them a little better, they way we all would like to be treated at work. To the young lady in the bathroom. I hope you're next shift is nicer than last night's. It was our first time going to the Rogue Squire. The layout is really nice, not just tables squashed on top of tables. There are booths, benches, tables, couches and a nice outdoor balcony with beautiful view. Looked modern and inviting. There was a large selection of beers and the cocktails. Passionfruit Martini was very nice. If you're expecting a cheap night, this may not be the place for you. Saying that, I don't think it was over priced either. Definitely not a pub meal like I expected. I'll be recommending it to all of my friends and family and will be back soon. Wonderful night, thanks to...

We were invited to 21st birthday at this venue. Everything was great, and everyone was enjoying themselves.

However, when 10:30pm. hit, we were told that all under 18s must leave the venue due to the venues licensing restrictions.

The manager (Ramona ) portrayed this message to everyone unprofessionally and quite aggressively.

Upton speaking to the family there were not advised of this prior to booking out the venue. I assume it would have been in the contract agreement. However, something like this always needs to be conveyed verbally and fully understood on both sides.

Ramona then decided to argue with the guests and pace around the venue, trying to kick children and young teens out.

This then leads to the family having an argument with her and then leading to the majority of the guests leaving.

Her behaviour was completely unprofessional and unjust. This would have all been avoided if the information was advised prior to the booking. Which was not. Also I note that she did approch the young teens directly not their parents. Again, I found that unprofessional.

As they are under 18, she should have gone straight to their parents. The poor youngsters didn't know what to do. They obviously came with their parents. She was basically kicking people out.

In the future, I strongly recommend that you advise of your liquor licensing restrictions prior to anyone wishing to make a booking with the venue.

I have never been to a venue where this type of behaviour and unprofessional manner has occurred. This left a bad taste in many guests' mouths, and most people who didn't have under 18s also left as well as they felt uncomfortable vibe.

I also strongly advise that Ramona is offered some customer service and management skills training. As a senior executive myself , that is not how I speak or communicate with my clients.

When dealing with a conflict or situation. I deal with many difficult situations and people, and not once have my staff acted in this manner.

I hope the venue and Ramona move on from this incident as a learning curve and ensure they portray important information like this to their customers verbally...