NINETEEN Hunter Valley — Restaurant in New South Wales

I am not normally one to make reviews, however my friends and I were so disappointed with the service we received today. We attended around 4pm and ordered 2 cocktails each. The young lady who served us at the bar was extremely rude from the get go. I don’t even know how to describe her attitude, but it was so poor. I work in a customer facing role, I know how difficult it can be at times but it’s also not hard to fake a smile. Once we ordered and found a table we were all talking about how shocked we were because we all experienced the same thing. One of my friends requested a cocktail that wasn’t on the menu and instead of politely telling her she was unable to make it her response was “ahh nup sorry can’t do that”. There may have been a genuine reason like not having the correct ingredients or she didn’t know how to, but she didn’t provide a reason (despite the menu stating you could order your favourites that weren’t there). I then asked for a different cocktail that wasn’t on the menu and was able to purchase that, it didn’t make sense because they were similar. It didn’t matter that my friend couldn’t get the cocktail she requested, it was the poor tone and communication from the staff member. It was a pretty long wait for the cocktails, but as we ordered two each it was understandable and we didn’t mind. She can make a great cocktail though - I’ll give her that. Unfortunately the service doesn’t get any better though because the other female staff member who was delivering the cocktails was just as rude, if not worse. My cocktails came out first, she did not greet us or say hello, she said “right- margarita” in the rudest tone, place it on the table and walked away. She was completely silent when delivering all the other drinks too. Even simple, basic customer service was completely non existent. I’ve had people in a drive thru be nicer than that. I also asked had to ask her a question about a food order I made through the QR code and my friend had to say “excuse me, she was talking to you” because she ignored me. Even after I asked my question she didn’t acknowledge what I was saying, didn’t give a simple “no worries I’ll check for you”, she again walked away as fast as she could without saying a thing. She later acknowledged what I said when she brought another drink over. I want to preface that in both situations with these ladies we were still nothing but kind and polite despite the customer service we were provided. I tried to see if both members had a name tag but they were not wearing one. I want to add that there was one young gentleman with an accent who brought one of our final cocktails over and was walking around handing the Korean bbq chicken menu out and he was so lovely. We all agreed that the service he was providing is what we should’ve had from the beginning. There was also another man who also had an accent that said goodbye was we were leaving and he was super nice too. These two men were polar opposites to the women I mentioned before. I had been looking forward to going to this venue for a long time. I’ve had so many people mention the cocktails were great and that it was the place to be. I have to agree that the cocktails were great and priced really well for the area. Unfortunately, the service was so bad that I don’t think I could give it a second chance or recommend to anyone else. After reading some other reviews it seems like the service isn’t the best and staff members attitudes really needs to be addressed - as a local it’s super...

Worst service EVER!

Hi there, I saw your latest reply and here is my follow up review:

For your response of “nineteen is a self-service venue, and we aim to make that clear through the notes on our menus.”

Q: When we walked into the restaurant, there is no staff greeting/welcoming, no staff approaching, no seats direction, NO MENU provided. We scanned the QR code on table to process the order. What do you mean by your effort of making it clear through the notes on your “menus”based on the “zero interaction service” ? There is no indication on the QR code page explaining customers are responsible for picking up their food from kitchen either. Is that how you define self-service?

Regarding to your response of “but we can confirm the 20-minute wait for food is within our usual timeframe during busy periods.”

Q: We walked into around 3.45pm yesterday in a drizzling rain. There were 3 staffs behind the counter and a table of 2 men already dined in. NO MORE other customers on this floor, nor on the deck. Is that what you called your full capacity for more than 20 minute wait for a single plate of squid during “busy period”? Kitchen staff said he didn’t see the order that’s why it got delayed. Again, your upstairs service staff provided 0 help in checking for the food but standing there chatting around. Does that meet your rules and standard of the service?

Please clarify.

We went to the bar an hour ago and was told oven is broken. So we ordered salted squid however waited for more than 20minutes with no serve of water nor cutlery.

Then we asked the boy behind the counter when will our food be ready HOWEVER was directed by this staff to downstairs checking with the kitchen about how our food goes by ourselves . This staff then keeps chatting around with his colleague and providing nothing help.

To this staff behind the counter: It is YOUR job to serve and provide help to the customer. Not customer themselves.

To the manager of nineteen: I am a pregnant woman who is unable to go to downstairs picking up my own food. My husband did it for me. Have a look at your staff’s poor service. It’s a shame in customer service industry around Hunter Valley.

I am a returning customer of chateauelan However i will not return to this restaurant as it is totally suffering and...

I appreciate you taking the time to reply to my post, however, Nineteen may wish to seek further advice on what constitutes being a responsible adult.

There is nothing in liquor licensing legislation in NSW that defines a responsible adult as being 25 years of age or older.

What is says is that a person that appears to be under 25 years of age can be asked for identification.

At 18 years of age a person is deemed a responsible adult and my son could well be deemed a guardian of my daughter in the absence of a parent and he is a direct blood relative.

Nineteen would benefit from more diligent risk assessing of situations which have a potential to cause 'harm to staff and patrons'.

The risk of two very responsible young adults having pizza on a Sunday night versus the risk of intoxicated persons after having played golf on any day of the week is very different on the scale of hazards.

I trust you will review your in-house policy and provide further training to upgrade staffs knowledge of legislation.

Do not go to this venue if you are under the age of 25!!! You apparently aren’t regarded as an adult until you are 25??? Despite our family being locals and business owners in the community my son 18yo and daughter 17yo were asked to leave the premise to eat their pizza as they were under 25??? Wow wow wow….. perceptions and judgement of customers in the Hunter Valley hospitality sector needs to change and service quality needs to improve markedly (as per other reviews for Nineteen)…... you should not need to be 70 and look like you have money and potentially like you will behave responsibly??? to be accepted. Both of my children play golf at the Vintage and are extremely responsible adults and my son at 18yo is a capable responsible adult. Obviously some sort of unwritten policy has been implemented and needs immediate review. Look forward...