Smiths Bar & Beach Food — Restaurant in Phillip Island

NOT DOG FRIENDLY & RUDE UNHAPPY STAFF

We went to grab a light breakfast and a coffee this morning after walking our dog.

My husband was sitting outside on the bench seat with our dog on a leash whilst I went in to order.

We were sitting outside at a bench table which I will mention was not clean - bird poo and dollops of sauce on the table. Our small dog jumped up to sit next to us on the bench seat. At no time was the dog sitting or slobbering on the table....and we were outside.

We got up to leave, dog still on the leash, still outside of the shop. Our bench seat was near the entrance of the store and as we stood up, our dog stood near the entrance for a split second - a man (who I believe would be the owner) yells out aggressively at the top of his voice from behind the counter “OH PISS OFF DOG!!” Shop full of customers and patrons sitting down for breakfast - How disgusting!!! I was in shock and quickly took the dog away. My husband naturally reacted and said “you are joking aren’t you!!” Words were exchanged and then the shop owner says “...I’m sick of all you people and your dogs...”

Maybe they should reconsider the business they are in and their location. Phillip island for most people is a place of recreation. There are going to be lots of people around who have dogs.

Not to mention the business of hospitality - customer service with a friendly smile!! If you do have a problem with a patron maybe you should quietly approach them to resolve the issue without the attention of everyone else in the vicinity.

Our house is located about 500m from the shop. My husband’s grandfather built and resided in one of the first 5 houses on the estate. Our family has been here for 50 years and have been customers of this shop ever since it opened. We have seen owners change hands many times. Now I can say we will never go back and I will share our story with as many people...

Order a beef burger and small chips. I waited 28 minutes until I received my food, whilst in the meantime many orders of chips went out, making me think there was some kind of holdup on the burger patty or something, hopefully it will be good! As soon as I bit into my decent looking burger, I was disappointed. There was a lack of sauce, the only thing I could taste was the juice from the tomato/the patty. The lettuce was too thick with the white parts and parts of it were good and others were far too crunchy and flavourless. The patty was properly undercooked. It was a purple in most places and pink in some, and you could tell from its perfectly flat nature that it was a store bought burger patty. So much more disappointment brewed in me I felt the urge to litter outside their restaurant.

I have to admit, the venue of the restaurant is very good, the place looks nice inside and the staff were pretty friendly, however I was no way going to send back my uncooked burger only to wait another 30 minutes!

I dined with other people, and out of them, 2/5 had undercooked burger patties with very little sauce, 1 of them had a lukewarm smoothie (they didn't have frozen bananas, but couldn't put ice in?) And all of us had to wait between 20-30 minutes for our food.

The prices are far too high. $20 for a mediocre burger and a small chips is too expensive, I learnt that if you want that, just order the kids meal as it is the same size burger without the tomato and lettuce, and it comes with chips for $10?? Also $12 for a smoothie???? Unreasonable. I wouldn't go back unless I was forced to, and I would probably prefer to have a panini or a toastie instead, surely you can't mess that...

The way this place is run is a complete and utter joke. Was told it would be a 15minute wait to order some potato cakes….that’s fine. Waited for 1 hour and 15 mins (with two young kids in tow) and then when I asked for some salt this took a further 10mins to receive (apparently they couldn’t find it) So nearly 1 and a half hours for some potato cakes.!!! A lady by the name of Sharon (I assume the owner or manager)started talking quite loudly to someone so that everyone else could hear, about how bad all of her customers are and they should be happy with what they get. Some advice for her…every single customer that was waiting with us during that 75minute wait felt robbed. The place is managed poorly. There was only one line, so someone who wanted to buy a drink had to wait in the long line with everyone else ordering food. So those reading…just because a place looks busy, it doesn’t mean it’s good. Sharon, I believe you’re in the wrong business…you seem very angry and you’re attitude towards the majority of people inside the store was appalling. In regards to the potato cakes…they were ok but because of the service, definitely not worth...