Meringandan Hotel — Restaurant in Queensland

We went to the Meringandan Hotel a couple of Sundays ago for lunch.

The online information for the hotel said it was open until 10pm. When we chose it, we weren't aware of their break between lunch and dinner.

We arrived right at their closing time (not ideal, I know) so I went inside to ask if we could still be served. I was told yes, but we'd need to order quickly.

On the way in, I noticed the sign on the door saying NO DOGS.

I took photos of the menu ( they don't have printed ones) and went outside to tell my partner, who was waiting with our little dog.

While we were looking at the photos and trying to choose, a couple of the staff came out and told us we'd have to order immediately. I mentioned that it was our first visit and that I'd be right back to order.

There is seating on the front porch, so I told the employee who took our order that we'd sit out there with the dog.

Before we got seated, a woman, perhaps a manager or owner, came to tell us that dogs weren't allowed on the premises, but allowed that we could stay on the porch. She also mentioned a beer garden in the back where there was seating.

I stayed with the dog on the porch while my partner checked out the beer garden. He came back and said there was room and we should move. So he took the dog around the building, and I walked through, stopping to let the staff know we were moving.

The woman appeared almost immediately and too close to me for comfort, saying she told me dogs were not allowed on the premises and she couldn't make an exception because then others would think they could bring their dogs, too. I apologized for misunderstanding what she meant when she mentioned the beer garden and offered to leave. And then she told me we could stay if we were seated on the front porch.

So we did.

My partner had lamb and said it was very good  I had fried fish that looked and tasted like fish sticks we had on Fridays in elementary school.

I realize we made two faux pas of our own. I appreciate that they served us at the end of the lunch period and allowed our small and very well-behaved dog to be with us on the front porch. They could have both refused to serve us at all and turned us away when they realized we had a dog with us. We've been traveling a lot in places where dogs are welcome in many outdoor eating areas and sometimes indoors as well. And, the sign on the door only said NO DOGS - which i interpreted to mean inside, and did not address their being on the porch or in the beer garden.

However, the tone of the woman's communication was so off-putting that I'm not sure we'll return. I can only hope she'd had a very bad day and that she's normally...

Terrible experience. Booked for 11.30am and told we would have the table until 1.30pm. We ended up at the end of a large line to order. We finally were able to order our meals and sat to wait for them, meals kept coming past and ours was the last to arrive (we did order last so that is fair enough). Myself and the others at our table began our meal, I literally had 2 bites of the meal and one of the staff came by and said "sorry for interrupting, but you have 10 minutes left on the table" (this was before 12.30pm) he then said "we have plastic takeaway containers you can use to put your food in". At this point we lost our appetite and asked another staff member for the containers, he left, then came back some minutes later saying "we have no containers left", I then asked what are we to take it home with? He said "we've got tin foil". I advised him that we were not going to wrap our whole meal in tin foil and take it home with it leaking everywhere, and I said that I think we are at the point of getting a refund. He said "OK, I'll go and ask". We never saw him again. Some time after that, another staff member came to the table to take the any empty plates, we had none, we asked what we could use to take our food home, she said "we have some plastic containers, I will get you some". She returned with (surprise, surprise) some sheets of tin foil. I told her that this was not suitable and I think we should be refunded, she quickly offered some plastic plates to go under the foil. At this point we had endured enough and accepted the plates, tipped our food in and left. I understand the covid restrictions but from go to whoa this was amateur hour and one of the worst dining experiences I have ever had. What's more, I had to pay around $160.00 for the privilege of being part of this comedy of errors. Like I said 'TERRIBLE'

Thankyou to the management. They investigated their problems and counciled their staff, I will be returning to this reseraunt in the future, I have dined there many times and it has always been great atmosphere and food, this one off should not be a barrier for anyone wanting a great time...

This place renowned for huge meals. 6 of us today for mum's 82nd birthday. 5 huge meals. And an unusual chicken Kiev. Unusual in that not only was it most certainly NOT huge, it was in fact THE tiniest chicken Kiev I have EVER seen in my life - even the awful supermarket ones would dwarf this mini Kiev. Top service, top marks for 5 huge meals but please ... advertise your miniature food items accordingly because the one who ordered it was the biggest and hungriest in our party ... see photo for a good laugh!!

Edit: establishment has responded that this is a "mini Kiev". If only it had been shown as that on the menu board!! Our group ordered 4 dishes from the lunch specials list and 2 from the standard menu. There was nothing "mini" about the other 3 dishes from the specials board. They were as massive as the regular menu items. Hint to establishment ... don't be afraid to list "mini" items accordingly. It is disingenuous to retrospectively suggest that a patron has ordered a small serving (when it's impossible for them to have known this) ... and offer to make good well after the fact. We saw no signage about being "more than happy to do this" anywhere in the...