San Churro Kotara — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

Disgusted! Several months ago, I visited this store with a group of girlfriends. The service was very poor, time of service very slow, and tables filthy. We put it down to a busy night, even though there were hardly any people in there at this time, there were used cups, plates, etc all over the place. So, this evening, a family member wanted our party of 6 to go here for churros and drinks as a dessert for a birthday outing. It was NOT busy, yet there were at least 8 tables covered in dirty cups, plates, etc. There was rubbish on floors and a really grubby feel overall. After some deliberation, we chose a table that seemed the best option, yet there were greasy smears and squashed strawberries on the table and under chairs. We ordered the 18 churros/6 dips (with cream), 2 Frescas, 1 smoothie, a bottle of water and a bottle of coke using the QR code ordering app. We waited about 15-20 mins before the churros came out, minus the whipped cream we had paid for. The churros were OK but much smaller than lead to believe from all the promotional pics. We then waited at least another 20 mins before the smoothie and 2 Frescas came out. This service was far too slow. It seemed they could make these drinks but completely forgot about the bottles of water and coke. We gave them a few more minutes to give them the opportunity to realise they had missed some of our order, but no recognition at all. So I approached the counter and stated that we were waiting on the two drinks, but that we only wanted the bottle of water now and I would like a refund on the coke and the cream I had paid for that hadn't come. At that point the young girl toddled off to get the manager, Paige, who really didn't offer any real apology for the situation. Happily refunded me, leaning all over the register. Customer service really is apalling. I reminded about wanting the bottle of water, and also suggested that she get someone to clean some tables as it was really grubby out on the floor and tables. This was met with an apathetic comment of recognition. In the hour that we were in this store, we did not see any tables or surfaces cleaned. It was not very busy with only 3-5 tables occupied (including us). Staff did not know table numbers and were wandering around aimlessly with customer's orders. Whilst waiting at the counter for my refund on 2 items, I observed a lack of urgency of staff, grubby, smeared, greasy surfaces all over the counters. The whole experience was really not up to a healthy, clean state that you would expect from a food outlet. Very poor form. Then I get on this forum to leave a review, which I never do, but was so incensed by this experience, only to find this is a common theme.....slow service; apathetic, young staff disinterested in proper customer service; filthy premises; and apathetic young manager who obviously has no skills in actually managing a team in hospitality. In addition, I have read the responses by the owner to poor reviews and they all read the same. They will 'take it back to the team'.....it seems the message isn't getting through to the team if they are demonstrating the same poor standards months later. This is very poor...

Terrible customer service terrible food- staff need to be trained in customer service Popped into san churro at 6.45 pm 25/11 thought I would have a quick coffee whilst waiting to pick up a takeaway … the restaurant was empty so I thought coffee wouldn’t be too long… first 5 mins observed 4 staff doing cleaning jobs and politely asked one of the staff if they were making the coffee …staff member said no someone else will .. I then received the small chocolate I ordered to have with the coffee (without the coffee) … ..another staff member finally came out from the back kitchen and I could hear them discussing that there was a coffee order … coffee was ok but the girl making it could barely crack a smile .. I then went back to the counter and politely asked if I could buy a brownie slice in a takeaway bag and stood there thinking the staff member would just grab it straight from the counter (they were not busy or serving other customers!!!) .. the staff member then looked back down to the counter to continue to flick through some menus instead of just grabbing the brownie which was a meter away .. I then said would you mind if I grabbed that now as I might have it with my coffee …same staff member then walked off out to the kitchen and came back with a box which I then said .. oh isn’t the brownie just in that cabinet here? .. the staff member said '' oh I just grabbed one from out the back'' … when I opened the box the Brownie didn’t look the same as the one on the cabinet as these are dusted with icing sugar .. I tried a piece off the corner and it was almost frozen and as hard as a rock and tasted like cardboard .. I then decided to leave and not even finish my coffee ..on my way out I took the box back to the counter and told another staff member that I was just given this and it’s not eatable and as hard as a rock … I didn't even bother asking for a resolution as the staff working here are all young and it wasn’t even worth my energy to carry on over a refund … glad to have had this one off experience at San Churro Kotara as a lesson learnt …will never make the mistake again...

Firstly, this is nothing so much against the staff - they all looked quite young and during a busy school holiday period it’s very hard to keep up with the demands that the store has - however, it seemed there was a lack of leadership, care and urgency on the day I attended. I waited approximately 23 minutes for a $8.18 coffee. I’m unsure they that would be acceptable anywhere. The staff looked like they had no sense of urgency but I think that comes from no one driving the need for it - I saw two different tables come to ask where their orders were. The barista left her station mid way through making coffees and I saw that 2 people had to have their coffees remade - one had only milk in her mug. The floor was quite dirty with napkins strewn across the floor and a messy front counter which could’ve been off putting. The coffee tasted amazing though, and I sincerely hope you take this as constructive criticism - retail is hard done by these days but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t trying to do our best and it didn’t seem like there wasn’t a want to within the store on this day (my opinion only) - I was treated politely and courteously, and I probably would’ve been less frustrated had I been given and indication on how long a takeaway coffee might take prior...