Tres Mexican — Restaurant in Melbourne

Where to even begin, a disaster from start to finish.

After trying this place when it initially opening and finding a few teething problems as we were told we decided to go back to support local. What a terrible decision it turned out to be.

We made an online booking for 6.30pm for our first anniversary dinner since the birth of our second child.

We initially turned up prior to our booking time and was told our booking had been crossed out but then the staff were accommodating and found us a table. We then ordered our drinks and an entree. After finishing the entree, we then ordered more drinks and mains then the drinks took another 15 minutes to come out with most of the staff were standing around in the bar area drinking cans of soft drink.

After the drinks arrived then 25 minutes, we finally managed to flag down a member to see how far away our mains were, she went and checked then came back stating 3 minutes away which would have been perfect timing as we’re just finishing out drinks to order more.

We then waited a further 15 minutes for the mains after being advised for 3 minutes. After no update from any staff members and no mains had been served, we had reached the end of our seated time as stated on our online booking for 1 hour 630-730pm.

We then had no choice given the limited online booking time and the time we had booked our babysitter for we were forced to leave on empty stomachs without receiving our mains leaving us with a disappointing experience from start to finish.

We approached the front counter to express our disappointment at the terrible service and lack of communication and in turn asked to speak to the management, then were advised that the management - Ruchi was uncontactable. We were then handed our bill for $53 for the entree and 4 drinks prior to leaving on our empty stomachs.

We then asked for a discount on the bill, but we’re advised no one was authorized to do this as they had not decided who was in charge of the shift.

After returning home I called the restaurant and spoke with jasmine I explained the situation and advised I would like to speak to the shift supervisor. Jasmine advised that jane was in charge for the night I the spoke with jane and explained the situation and our disappointment.

Jane then advised she would be happy to refund the $59 if we returned to the restaurant the next day, ( which was the Saturday)

We then returned on the Saturday and advised that Jane unavailable, told a refund of $19 could be processed. I advised that was not what was agreed upon last night with Jane. Then advised that Jane was not in charge and can’t make that call. I asked who was in charge as the manger is unavailable and was told they are still trying to figure out.

I mentioned the huge inconvenience as we had hired a babysitter and was told that is not my problem which I found to be very u professional.

The chef then came over and started yelling and became very rude and aggressive towards myself.

Then a younger guy with a ponytail then went away to make a phone call then came back and advised that a full refund could be made but only the manager could process. He took my details and advised he would call with a time to arrange the refund.

Still no refund or even a phone call from the so-called manager!! This was well over a month ago.

Complete shambles!!! Do not waste your time or money...

First things first. We had a great experience and the food was delicious! The slight back story, I attempted to book a table for 2 using their online booking process. I put all the necessary details in and waited as it tried to confirm. After about 5 plus minutes it timed out. As the restaurant had been open only a few days at this point I think it may have just been technical teething problems. I then contacted them on Facebook, sending them a booking request on Messenger explaining the issue I had with online booking. They replied 24hrs later saying "yes, they could do that. As I didn’t technically have an email confirmation I was slightly nervous that the booking might not have been put in their system. Approx. 10 days later when the booking was placed for, me and my wife turned up to the restaurant. The place was at about 95% capacity and the staff where quite studiously looking at their screens looking for our booking. After a few minutes I started to lose a little confidence but to their absolute credit they got us a table and made zero fuss about it.

After that, the staff were friendly and it was great to have the option of either using the QR code to order food or wait for a staff member. Once ordered, there may have been a slight communication error (or a misjudgement on our part) but instead of the entrees coming out first, the whole meal came out together. To be fair, it was quite nice to have it served this way as it meant we could interchange and nibble on different things at the same time, giving it a slightly more tapas feel.

As for the food, I love Chili poppers so always order them if available. I ordered 4 at $15 a serve which seemed slightly steep at $3.75 per jalapeno. Having said that, they were delicious, especially the filling. Unlike a lot of places, these ones were were not deep fried in breadcrumbs. This was quite refreshing and very tasty but I must admit (as a lover of spicy food) that they were a bit of a challenge and not for the faint hearted. The shared starter I enjoyed was the charred corn. I loved this too. The Chipotle sauce was just perfect on top. For the mains I had slow cooked beef enchilada. The slow cooked beef was so nice that I would have loved to have ordered a second helping if I hadn't already become so full!

A couple of notes on the place itself. The decor is bright and gives a good atmosphere, though it did seem a little sparse and could have maybe done with a few extra bits. It has a slight canteen feel as the place is enormous so could maybe benefit from some zoned/themed areas to give a little more intimacy. The place has some fantastic robots that bring the food which definitely adds to the experience and is a talking point. I imagine it's due to the room needed for the robots that the place has quite a simple layout as to not hinder there movement. The last point is that the restaurant could maybe do with the heating cranked up a little. I noticed just about everybody was eating with their coats on. I was about 30 mins in to being there before I braved taking mine off.

All in all, an excellent Mexican restaurant which I am very happy to visit again. I think they're working through their early teething problems and have a bright future, an excellent addition to the...

Where to even start here? By far the most disappointing dining experience I have ever had. We are locals who booked tonight as soon as we had heard this restaurant was opening and attended for an important family celebration. We were told up front that they were short staffed and a couple of the girls working were genuinely trying their best but a glaring number off the staff could not have cared less.

Once we sat down, the waitress ordered drinks form 3 people on the table and completely ignored the other half. Then delivered the 3 peoples drinks and sped off, not hearing my request to also order a drink. I gave up trying to make the "I need attention" eye contact and waved down a waitress who WAVED BACK AT ME, then kept walking. I finally got my drink and it was incredibly watered down and disappointing. My children ordred lemonade and were given warm cans (for $4, WHAT?!)

Next came the entree- Nachos. With 0 cheese, globbed together uncaringly/hatefully by whoever made it. Worst part, we found a hair at the bottom of the bowl. Given it was a family members birthday, we decided not to make a scene and hope that it was just a mishap, it then dawned on us that almost none of the staff had hair tied back. Yuck. We decided to scale back what we had ordered for mains because we were suspicious about the quality at this point.

The main then arrived and was essentially inedible. Cheap ingredients arrived cold with burnt quesadillas. My oldest child got 7 chips with a bite size taco (even for a children's meal, it was tiny). I gave her half of my burrito and she said it tasted weird. I had a bite and it was uncooked rice with a thin layer of chicken that did indeed "Taste Weird".

We decided we did not need to have desert and left to pay. Behind the counter were 10 or so staff, all chatting to one another and the foulest "chux" cloth I had ever seen. I literally took a photo of it to send to my friends (they're called chux for a reason, guys). FOH kept bringing up the wrong tables orders and in the end, I paid over $100. For WHAT?!

Worst dining experience I have had in many years. Not even the cute robot cat was enough to redeem this place. Save yourself the money and make elpaso at home. Biggest waste of money and time, I am so utterly disappointed and will...