360Q — Restaurant in Queenscliff

The location and fit out are five stars.

The menu seemed Asian inspired that lacked any real depth. Both mains came out with the same tub of microwaved rice and pre prepared bok choi. Lazy cooking. Salmon was supposed to be medium rare (according to the waitress), but was overcooked. Essentially it was ordinary pub grub (but pub meals are often great these days..,) but this was an ok menu that was perhaps an ok attempt at fine dining for a market of people who are, generally, a little bit older.

The entrees were great, but it’s not hard to fry calamari and wrap duck in a pancake with hoisin sauce…

Our waitress was also great and super friendly. Though, when I asked how the salmon was cooked I meant was it panfried, char grilled etc (the Asian descriptions meant little to me), and she couldn’t tell me. She did mention ‘medium rare’; perhaps a simple misunderstanding(?) it came out cooked well-done…. Some restaurants feed every meal to the wait crew and teach them about it so they know what they’re selling. Not every Head Chef thinks like that though. Some have a keener eye on the bottom line I guess. In the end it was over-cooked in the oven. The skin was, unfortunately, unappetising; chewy and stretchy.

The lady who checked our vaccination certificates was all business and forced a smile (a dedicated employee for standing at the door seemed a bit extravagant considering they had hardly any customers?).

The two waitresses at the bar who ignored us while they finished off drying glasses seemed tired after a busy weekend too. Sadly for them it was only the start of the shift… I was a bit surprised that the waiting uniform was jeans and street shoes, with their shirts being the only standard item they all wore. Hard to get staff in a pandemic I imagine.

All in all, the location is really something and the outside area is truly special. Architecture aside the paper napkins on the table give you an idea of what to expect. The fit out is fine dining, but the rest is a more or less a friendly pub. I enjoyed it.

I was also a bit taken back by the response to my review. Firstly I did enjoy my dining experience, but it wasn’t the food or service that did it. I try to have fun wherever I go. They refer to ‘common threads’ after reading my reviews (most of which are 5 stars I believe…). I think it was a failed attempt at implying I go out to find things wrong bla bla di bla not to enjoy dining… I get the feeling rude outbursts towards staff are in issue for them and not because they look like they crawled through a muddy tunnel to get to work. The issue is clearly managerial. Less time in front of the computer or on the phone would be a start to achieving this business’s potential.

The outsourced ‘security guard’ is a slight and looks like a disgruntled eighteen year old child by the way.

“Your valid points have been discussed with the team, Sorry that you did not enjoy your dining experience. Most guests go out to enjoy themselves and the company of others. On reading your other reviews there seems to be a common thread. We have had to have an outsourced security guard to keep our guests safe, strictly covid compliant, which eliminates rude outbursts to the waiters when checking vaccination status. (The only restaurant that ‘had’ to have a security guard (?) Sounds like managerial BS to me!) Our team put in 8 – 10 hour shifts on hard floors hence them wearing runners to avoid planta fasciitis. We use single use napkins so as not to have soiled linen napkins hanging around until collected by laundry company, again being totally covid compliant. Our team love what they do. I trust you can enjoy your experiences whenever you go out in the future.”

I didn’t experience love at 360Q. More like children failing at playing at fine-dining leaning on the reputation of the genre (and businesses that do get it right) for proffering overpriced and creatively unfocused fare done poorly in the case of my meal.

Huge potential. Time will tell. Relies heavily on its architecture and location. ...

Horrific customer service experience. Used to be one of our favourite restaurants, we came many times. Decided to take my elderly 87 old mum for lunch, drove all the way from Melbourne, had a booking for 12 pm . Upon Arrival, when we sat down at the table, we were told that , we have to vacate the table by 1 .15 pm ..the waitress just said.." so you know, this table is booked after you, so you have to vacate it by 1.15 pm. I was very surprised, as this was the first time I heard about it and certainly would not have driven an elderly person for 1.15 min sitting in the restaurant. I said that I was not informed about time sittings , when I booked..our waitress said , that their usual sitting is 1.30 min, however this particular table is booked at 1.15 pm..I didn't want to get into any arguments , just wanted to make sure my mum has a good experience, so just went with it. We ordered 3 course menu, we were happy to specify which dessert we would like to have, however we were told not to bother ordering until we finished our 2nd course. The second course arrived at 12.50 pm , we were finished by 1.05 pm ..then our waitress chose not to approach our table for 10 min, clearly seeing we have finished and waiting on dessert order. ..when I asked about dessert, I was told that our time is up. I said ..but we gad clearly ordered the 3 course menu from the start and you can't just decide on our behalf, that we are not going to have it. The waitress just glared at us, saying " do you understand that other people are waiting outside ? " , I insisted on having it, mainly because as my mum was looking forward to it, and this was the first time after lock down she endeavoured to come out. The waitress appeared clearly upset , hence the dessert was served it in silence...no words exchanged between us. We were made feel, that the waitress was absolutely desperate to get rid of us and the whole experience was horrible , we finished our desserts as fast as we could and took off , never to be back in this venue. It is obvious, that we have staff shortages in hospitality , but maybe fine dining , not cheap restaurants, like this one used to be once, should really employ people , who have a better idea about customer service, not someone like we had. The...

After reading many of the reviews I'm of the belief that my experience was a rare slip in service but still something that's worth mentioning.

My partner and I on the back end of our holiday were spending a night in Queenscliff before jumping the bay back to Sorrento. Looking for a restaurant, I found 360Q. Looked good, reviews were good and it was close to where we were staying! All good things for us!.

On arrival, all was normal. Checked in, seated and ordered drinks. Here is where I think we've had a different experience to others now.

Entree came out, looks good. We finish out first drinks and after some time the wait staff take the empty plates away and after a bit out empty glasses. We were asked if we wanted another drink to which we said yes.

After what felt like a very long time we got our mains.

Mussels for my partner and steak for me. My partner was looking forward to this Vietnamese influenced dish only to have it come out saltier than the sea. She was expecting salt cause hey... It's mussels and the broth likely had fish sauce, but it felt like there was no effort to compensate in the dish for the amount of saltiness.

My steak, ordered rare, came out closer to done than anything else. Definitely a good steak still, the meat itself was delicious and it was seasoned well, just obviously not to my request.

Desserts were also a bit lackluster, I have nothing against PFD, they do some good stuff. But when we're paying an amount closer to 200. I'd be expecting something with a bit more personal touch then a pre-made tart, passionfruit from a can and a dollop of cream.

To summarise, we had a rather disappointing experience, food was a bit of a miss. Staff was a bit inattentive and we felt a lack of value for money.

Again though this appears to be against the normal experience, but it's something that we likely won't do again next time we...