Tio Tapas & Bar - Mornington — Restaurant in Melbourne

We made a reservation weeks in advance in our COVID world so we'd be sure to have a table, and at that time, length of stay was never mentioned. Then, on the day of our reservation for dinner, they called to confirm we were coming, which we confirmed, again with no mention of length of stay at the table. We live close to Main Street and this was our first time at the restaurant. We even invited two couples from outside MORNINGTON to join us.

We arrived at 6:45, waited almost 15 mins while they pushed tables together because they weren’t ready for us, then we ordered food, cocktails and wine. The food was delivered at 7:10 pm and when we went to order more tapas at 7:40ish, we were told that we couldn't place any more orders as our time was up. So, 40 mins after seating (remember, we had to wait past our original reservation to even be sat since they hadn't set up a table for six), we asked for another bottle of wine and more food when we were told “Sorry, you can’t order anything else as your time is up.” What? We told the server we never were told there was a time limit and we'd only been their 40 mins, anyway...and they argued with us and told us we were told about the time limit when they called earlier that afternoon to confirm the reservation. Needless to say we were appalled and embarrassed in front of our guests. The server left after we expressed our dissatisfaction and came back and said, “okay, you can order one more time and have the wine.” If we weren’t concerned we couldn’t have left and gone elsewhere, we would have left right away.

We eat Spanish tapas around the world, including in Spain, and the food at Tio Tapas was not flavorful, the fried chicken was incredibly dry, the gambas lacked seasoning, etc...and the only thing I can say was good was the calamari, which was average. We did have more below average food and another bottle of wine and left the restaurant, still hungry. We told one of the owners on the way out and his manager or whatever the guy's role was argued with us again, insisting that we were told. Overall one of the most MEMORIBLY TERRIBLE DINING EXPERIENCES we’ve ever had in a restaurant anywhere in the world. And, it's no excuse due to COVID to tell the customer they are wrong and that they were told there was a time limit in advance when that is completely false. And, again, COVID aside, the staff defending their position and arguing with us was rude and disappointing, and most of all, the tapas are not good. I will never return here. We luckily went to DOC Italian because we were still hungry and they got us in right away and provided us with excellent service and food, as usual, I recommend that you not go to Tios Tapas and find another place.

In fact, we tried to go to this restaurant once before during lunch and we were told they couldn’t seat us because they were making an advertisement and they needed a certain type of ‘look’ for the people sitting at the tables. I should have known then this place is all about trying to be cool rather then providing great service and great food.

They have missed the mark for anyone serious about wanting a great dining experience. If you're reading this to consider going to this restaurant, I highly suggest you find another place to eat where you'll have better service, food and overall value.

And, seeing the restaurants response which I have just read and can't find a way to comment...they have again accused us of lying...we were not told of a seating time limit...we did get turned away n a prior visit when there were tables and were told it was because the restaurant was doing some kind of commercial or advertisement...and the food is truly not good in our opinion. That is our opinion and experience, which differs greatly from the restaurant and now you, the reader, can make your best decision. Read my other many reviews and none are like this review. I'm reasonable, professional and mature, and my opinion is I had a terrible experience and I don't lie, nor do we ever skip out...

At first sight this place looks like you have hit the jackpot. Clean. Very presentable. Music playing. Great!!

We ordered the entree of smoked veg, the sizzling prawns, the scallops with ink rice.

The sizzling prawns were drowned in oil, only 5 of them, and no flavour….. the scallops were half cooked, again only 5 of them, not hot, with the ink rice that had raw rice throughout, gluggy, and honestly tasted awful! The aioli was not smoked, it was definitely just blobbed on from a jar I’m sure! The vegetables were steamed within an inch of there life. NOT smoked by any means, and just not what the menu said, and not edible. I would say they also were a day or so old and perhaps reheated?

To top it off - we were in Alfresco dining where another customer sat and smoked😳 The staff did ask her to stop….. which I understand is a hard Situation, but with awful food infront of us, it just made us want to leave faster. We got more food else where as we were left still hungry, and certainly were not going to order anything more!

The Service was ok. Friendly enough. But only showed us the specials once we were ready to order. 1/2 filled glasses of water and didn’t leave the bottle, so kept having to ask for refills. We were served the ‘main tapas’ before the entree order….

Just such a disappointing meal out with my mum who was visiting from Interstate. We drove over an hour to come to Mornington as well, so it was a special trip out there as well.

So so so disappointing. Whatever is going on in that kitchen...

Tapas were great. The lamb cutlets were the best cutlets I’ve ever had! The waiter was great too. Unfortunately that’s where the positives end. We ordered the tapas & paella at the same time. We were told the paella would take 30minutes, which was fine. Tapas came out within 10minutes of ordering. We arrived at 6pm and ordered at 6.15pm. The paella did not arrive until 7.30pm. This is a totally unacceptable amount of time to be waiting for food. We were given two different excuses at two different times. First, there had been a lot of orders for the paella. And then later on, “we are really understaffed.” Sorry, but both of those excuses are not acceptable for an almost hour and a half wait. I saw multiple people being seated and served throughout the evening. There was no turning people away and the place was busy and full, which is great to see. But I’m Sorry, Don’t over book and keep taking walk-ins if it is going to compromise your service. We spent hundreds of dollars to wait way too long for food. And I’m sorry, but it wasn’t worth the wait. Totally understand businesses are under pressure to recoup losses for the past 2 years. But the customer shouldn’t have to pay the price for that and be waiting that long. We booked early because we have a young baby and didn’t want to be out too late and for too long. Luckily I brought her food as a back up because my plan was to give her some paella. We are given 2 hour seating times, yet waiting 1.5 hours for the food,...