Urban Alley Brewery Knox — Restaurant in Melbourne

My partner and I have a severe allergy which can land us in hospital if even the slightest cross contamination occurs to our food. Obviously, beacuse of this, eating out at restaurants can be very stressful and risky, however we were invited a birthday dinner.

The day of the booking we called the reasturant to ask if we were able to bring our own food so would could eat at the dinner, we ALWAYS call ahead in situations like this and a no is completely understandable. The gentleman on the phone was extremely nice and was more than happy to let us join our friends with outside food, already we were very happy as he was excellent about the situation and made us feel pretty confident it wasn't an issur at all.

When we arrived at the reasturant with our outside food, we were met with a rude employee that immediately and without question or hesitation asked us to leave. Once we explained that we had called ahead, he was still rude and said "I dont know anything about this" even after we explained that we had been approved ahead of time.

Eventually he checked with a different staff member, who was completely fine with the situation and we were we allowed in. This was mildly uncomfortable and frustrating but understandable, restaurants reserve the right to refuse you, but after being confirmed would be a bit strange. The staff member who cleared uo the situation immeditaly made us feel at ease again after an immediately rocky start, and a clearly annoyed guy at the front desk who didnt want to let us in.

Later in the evening while we were still eating our food at the table, and after having ordered drinks from the restaurant (which if we bring our own food we will usually attempt to order something from the resturant) a waiter came to our table to clear the surrounding plates and cups. Without saying anything at all, leans over and takes our yet uneaten food. When we asked what was going on, all he said was "You aren't allowed outside food" and continued taking our food. We explained "We spoke to the guys at the front, we've called ahead as well, we got approval already". At which point he extremely begrudgingly gave the food back without a single word.

Again, restaurants can say no in this situation and we respect their right to run their business as they see fit. We were a bit taken aback by this, and everyone at the table was pretty annoyed and horrified. To not ask why we had outside food, how we got past the front door, to not check with your manager when you see customers with other food, to just walk up in pure silence, take someone's clearly uneaten food, then not at all apologies that you just did that, and then to even be annoyed that YOU made a mistake, is pretty poor form.

We've run into resturants saying no, that's fine. We've run into restaurants changing their minds at the front door because the person we call isn't there, annoying but fine. But to walk up, take our food that we payed for, with no intent to say anything about it to us, and then to not even acknowledge that you did that, left an incredibly sour taste in our, and everyone at the tables, mouths that evening.

An important side note: If you see outside food, it'd be safe to assume that it's there for a reason, likely "they can't eat our food" usually due to an allergy. Don't walk up with your extremely cross-contaminated hands and start touching said food, that would be a very terrible and very expensive mistake for everyone and neither of us saw ambulance parking out the front of the resturant.

To the guy who talked to us on the phone, and cleared up the situation when we got there, sorry you have to work with people who seem like they get commision off being as rude as possible to people who are just trying to celebrate their friend. The food looked...

I have been a regular customer of this restaurant for over three years, frequently visiting with a group of 4 to 10 people nearly every week. Unfortunately, our experience last night was far from what we’ve come to expect, largely due to the behavior of a new staff member, James.

When we arrived, one of my friends asked James to seat us at the table in the back. To clarify which table, my friend said, “The one near the restroom.” James responded with mockery, asking, “Inside the restroom?” This was not only inappropriate but also unprofessional. How could a waiter seriously ask if we wanted to seat inside the restroom?His body language/ face expression and tone were clearly condescending, which made us, a group of customers all over fifty, feel disrespected.

What added to the discomfort was the fact that my friend specifically requested that table because of his back pain; the table was lower and more comfortable for him. There was no reason for James to make fun of this request.

Later in the evening, I personally asked James for an additional salad. Even if I had mispronounced the word due to my accent, it was clear from the context that I was in a restaurant and not a mechanic’s shop. A new waiter could easily understand that there aren’t many other words that sound like “salad” in a restaurant setting, especially since the word is quite common across many languages. Instead of understanding this, James repeatedly asked, “What?” in a way that felt condescending, and then exaggeratedly corrected my pronunciation as if teaching me how to say it.

As a university professor, I familiar with student’s behaviour in his age and I have no problem with learning or being corrected, but it was evident that James’ intention was not to assist, but to mock us as immigrants. His behavior was unprofessional and inappropriate, not just for us, but for any customer.

The rest of the staff, as always, were polite and professional. My intention in writing this review is to help James improve his approach for the future and ensure that the reputation of this wonderful restaurant and the welcoming spirit of the Australian people are upheld.

Thank you for considering...

Decided to drop by on a very hot day given there was a happy hour between 4 and 6.

The online ordering at the table didn't show any happy hour prices so decided to ask a staff member behind the bar who, after checking in their system, confirmed happy hour was on although there was the public holiday surcharge....fair enough.

After checking what drinks my group wanted I came back and placed my order with another staff member only to find out that the drinks I ordered were full price...I explained I was told something different but that was explained away as it was a public holiday... After politely saying I wasn't happy to be told one thing and then something different 2 minutes later the staff member refunded a good chunk of my bill which was nice... Thanks.

I thought for my second round I'd order via the urban alley dedicated app... What a pain that was. So, in today's environment where businesses are getting hacked why are you asking for DOB, email AND phone number? This is ridiculous, you don't need my DOB, email and mobile just one is more than enough.... If staff are worried about underage drinking they would know this when the staff bring out your drinks.

Despite this, I stupidly signed up and tried to place an order... 1st attempt was paying with Google pay... Was told that the Google pay account urban alley was using was a test account... So no worky. Ok, tried with credit card... Came back saying an incorrect expiry date was entered... Strange, so tried to try enter it again.... Nope, for the next 15 minutes despite multiple attempts it said payment was pending? It's either invalid or it's not... Why say pending?

Anyhow, app uninstalled... But they obviously have my details to use as they choose as there was no option to delete your account... Do yourself a favour and NOT install an app that can only be used in two places in Melbourne... If you are adventurous and don't mind missing out on deals you can have by ordering at the bar you can just use the web app.

The drinks we had were fine. Venue was clean with indoor seating as well as outdoor seating with heating.

I probably won't be back as I wasn't impressed with the Docklands...