Allenstown Hotel — Restaurant in Queensland

Post from my mother's 60th birthday function:

My birthday celebration was held in the Allenstown Function Room on Saturday 18 June. After having three (3) face-to-face meetings with the Functions Manager, I was told that I could come on Saturday morning at 10.00am to decorate the room. They would have the room set-up to the plan we had discussed. My family and I arrived at the Hotel at 10.30am and upon entering the Function Room expecting to see the required lay-out, we were horrified to find the room hadn’t been cleaned from the previous evenings’ function. The room reeked of cigarette smoke; dirty glasses remained on the bar; the tables and chairs were sticky and dirty from spilt drinks; one table still had its dirty tablecloth on it (along with someone’s jacket); balloons were still present and the floor was littered with the previous guests’ confetti. We had to open the doors to let out the swarm of flies which were present in the room and while doing this one of the curtains and its curtain rod fell down onto my husband. We immediately informed staff who replied they didn’t know anything about us coming in to set-up for our fully paid for function and informed us that the Functions Manager wasn’t at work that day. We then had to wait while a bar staff member cleaned the tables and chairs; and rearranged the furniture to how I had requested with the Functions Manager. The carpet wasn’t vacuumed so obviously, strict cleaning and hygiene practices that had been introduced to combat Covid were longer being observed. Arriving back at the Hotel at 5.45pm for a 6.00pm function commencement, we asked if the air-conditioning could be turned on but were told that it wasn’t working and hadn’t been working for a couple of weeks – just open the doors!! Upon the guests’ arrival, we asked for the microphone (included in the cost of the hire of the function room) only to be told it also, wasn’t working. We had paid for the two-course buffet, and while the food was nice, the cold meat platter which was listed on the menu plan, was nowhere to be seen. A further embarrassment to me as the host, was the state of the dinner plates which guests had to use. They were filthy and crazed and you had to search through the pile to find a clean one to use. There was no milk supplied for the tea and coffee station; no plates for serving the birthday cake and the butter knife we eventually got to cut the cake was also quite dirty. And let’s not forget the state of the toilets!!!!! Only 2 “functioning” ladies’ toilets; cracked and split toilet lids and at the end of the evening the floor was covered in water – unsure where that had come from!!!! The wait staff that served us at the function were very lovely. We have three major birthdays happening next year in our family and we will NOT be going back to the Allenstown Hotel to host...

I really want to give this place one star but I feel like people might disregard my rating as an outlier.... This pub seemed great when we first showed up. Modern-ish looking, nice big open windows out front, actually a nicely laid-out place. Then we got our meals... We all ordered schnitzel and ate in the front bar, although one person ordered from out the back and wasn't informed of the unexplainable $6 price difference. We all got exactly the same tiny serving... Not exaggerating when I say this was the smallest schnitty I have ever eaten. That being said, it was actually not bad food, just bugger-all there.. so there's your second star, Allenstown hotel. The main reason I'm giving this place such a terrible rating is the horrible service.. admittedly we were here on a Monday night, but it was taking at least 10 mins on average to order a drink.. with not one of the three staff on duty behind the bar at most times. There was one nice old lady here that never even got her dinner. I'm not making this up when I say it was her birthday. Her partner had brought her out to have her birthday dinner and they didn't bring it out for over an hour and fifteen minutes.. after the couple were forced to finally ask about it. There was no refund or discount offered. They seemed like a really nice old couple just trying to do something (moderately) nice for her birthday, which is why we happened to get chatting to them next to the pool table... Then to top it off, when her food came out it wasn't what she had actually ordered and the staff tried to pass it off as a fault on her husband's behalf, saying he had not been clear when asking for Dianne sauce and veg, instead of mushroom and salad... Oh, and did I mention the pool table? Wonky AF and one corner so worm out it was like a little black hole. Lucky you didn't get one star. Thankful I don't have to come...

An update on my previous review. Went for dinner last night. Team members in the bistro where very enthusiastic tonight which was good compared to last time. We ordered some garlic bread and wedges and drinks through the app that came out reasonably quick. When our drinks came out I thought I would be a little cheeky and ask if they had any mint sauce or jelly as I was thinking about ordering the land chops, guess what NO mint again, which really wasn’t a suprise. I ordered the sirloin, cooked how I asked and very tender. Wife ordered the Barra nice crispy skin. Guys order some mint, it’s not that difficult!!!

Over all a nice place to visit and Reasonably priced food. The team members you had on tonight in the bistro really looked like they didn’t want to be there which was a little disapointing. The last two times I have been I have had the lamb chops. First time i ordered them I asked for some mint sauce an was told they seemed to have run out and will need to get some more. Tonight when I ordered the the lamb chops I asked for some mint sauce and you still didn’t have any. Chips where fresh and crisp but had no salt or seasoning on them. Vegetables where fresh and cooked nicely but where not seasoned and had not been drained of the water properly as I had a pool of water on my plate from the vegetables. The mushroom sauce I had with my chops was watery compared to the thick almost glue like pepper sauce my wife had...