Modus Merewether — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

I came here with my partner for lunch after hearing rave reviews. The beer list is amazing and the food was really good too. Having worked in retail for 8 year it pains me to say but the he staff friendliness however leaves something to be desired. When I arrived I ordered a beer paddle. I noticed on my first glass there was a small chip and crack in on the lip of the glass. I understand this might not be noticed by staff. But not wanting to potentially drink glass fragments I took it to the bar, the girl actually said to me “dirty glass?” Making me wonder if this is normal? When I explained she said yep and finished with her current customer. She then poured the existing glass of beer into a new glass (rather than pouring a new glass from the tap). When I asked if I could have a newly poured glass she glared at me as if I was asking for her soul while begrudgingly tipping out the beer and re-pouring (in the same new glass she had potentially just poured beer with glass fragments into). I took the glass without complaint and returned to my table. After choosing from the menu my partner ordered for us at the bar given our table didn’t have a device to order on via phone app. We were told 40 minutes wait on the food. Perfectly okay given the place was pretty busy. After 1hr of waiting and the waiter offering us a few dishes that where not for us we became skeptical our order had possibly gone to another table. A few people who arrived behind us had got their order before us making us even more skeptical. Given we’ve previously been forgotten at other restaurants before when a order ticket fell behind a register I thought I would politely ask. Just to make sure a mishap hadn’t happened. I spoke to a guy at the bar who spoke to another girl near the kitchen. She asked me if I had been advised of the wait. I responded “yes we were told 40 mins but it’s been 1 ho-“ I barely got my sentence out before she curtly cut me off saying “there’s 200 people here! It’s coming soon.” (I went back to my table and it arrived after this.) I complete understood it was busy and I was only asking about the meals to ensure we hadn’t been forgotten but the staffs immediate defensiveness was abrupt. I’ve worked in retail in a busy environment so I have a healthy respect for hospitality staff delays outside of your control. However being rude simply to someone politely asking about something whether it be glass in your beer or making sure they weren’t forgotten it think could be handled a bit more politely.

Moving the review to an incorrect site makes...

We came to Merewether to try this microbrewery. It certainly looks impressive. From the front entrance and its open-air feel, the surroundings are very welcoming, and we loved the vibe created.

We wanted a tasting paddle to try different beers. We felt a bit let down when we couldn't select our own beers and were directed to try the already 3 pre-selected beer paddle options. The attendant was giving us minimal guidance on what to try. He looked bored and like, "Oh, here's another person I have to explain the beers too!".

I found the display board confusing to read. With so many different beer options and not placed into categories (beer style or by flavour strength), the display board made the selection hard to navigate. It's even harder if you've never been here before. There was a chart for flavour strength, but again, it was not in any order, so that was hard to navigate. It wasn't till we sat down and scrolled through the menu via the qr code that we could get a better understanding and breakdown of the different flavour profiles. Maybe a flavour profile sheet that you can peruse could be an option?

We ended up staying for lunch and were underwhelmed with the food. The presentation of the meals was on point but after that we were so disappointed.

The Meatball banh mi was basically 4 meatballs in a small hotdog roll. There was a little grated carrot underneath the meatballs. Garnished with a bland creamy sauce and sprigs of coriander, purely for presentation purposes, did not add flavour to the meal. Served with chips, that was the tastiest part of the dish. No Vietnamese flavours came through at all from the banh mi. It is best described as a meatball sub, very disappointing!

The Chicken Soba Noodle Salad, again presentation was perfect, but was smothered in a bland creamy dressing with no evident flavour profile. We left half of the salad because there was just so much dressing, we couldn't taste the noodles, chicken or the edamame. Also, the cabbage was also starting to get soggy from all the dressing. Maybe a light Asian style sesame vinaigrette dressing served separately would have made the salad a healthier and tastier option. I guess burgers are the better pick if you are eating here.

The beers were tasty, but I don't know if we'd return in a hurry after...

Nice venue, We had a group of 14 people most ordered on QR code and 4 ordered over counter. 3 had steaks which came out as medium rare,but requested as medium well when ordered,we accepted meals as no one else had steaks on table and assumed they had to be ours. Meals were very average quality,just warm ( cold by time I had finished) and had clearly been sitting somewhere for a while. I provided feedback to waiters who offered us drinks which we declined.Waiter did mention we should have advised him earlier as no point doing it once eaten.When we had finished the steaks, two more steaks were delivered to the table,cooked as originally requested, medium well with redwine juice, waiter returned them to kitchen as we had already eaten. 4 people at our table still hadn't received their meals of pork and chicken burgers which were ordered at the bar before others using QR code. I went to advise staff at the bar we still had 4 outstanding meals who advised they had no record of the meals ordered at the bar and retook the orders. They finally received their meals approx 45mins after others at table finished their meals.4 of us ordered flat white coffees which arrived just warm and drunk quickly before they were cold. When dining out and paying your prices I expect to receive as ordered and as hot and fresh as possible,clearly this was not the case for several of us at the table. I won't be back nor would I recommend the average food quality to anyone. P.S I don't want a free meal or drinks! I just want to feel satisfied when I dine out and enjoy the experience. Paul and...