THE DISPENSARY Coffee · Kitchen · Bar — Restaurant in Queensland

Had a terrible experience last night. Firstly, the minor issues - ordered bread to share, which arrived promptly. Then had a 40 minute wait for mains. Ordered another serve of bread which was never brought to the table.

Now for the big issue. The most shockingly bad customer service when I complained about my food. Ordered the pork agnolotti. Took my first bite and had a mouthful of rock salt. Tried another few bites and it was a Russian roulette experience of salty mouthfuls. Advised our server and asked for it to be taken off the bill.

Then the fawlty towers experience started. James came to the table to tell me that he and the chef had tasted the dish and I was incorrect that it was too salty. Other customers had eaten the same dish and hadn’t complained. Sometimes customers don’t like a dish and that’s the customers issue. I reiterated it tasted like mouthfuls of salt - ‘oh it could be the capers or the butter’. I was gaslit for complaining about the dish. James then went away to discuss my feedback with the chef.

When he returned, I was offered a 50% reduction for the price of the meal, as that was all the head chef would agree to.

I told James I would leave this review, and it wouldn’t focus on the quality of the meal (everyone can have an off moment and make a mistake with the food), but it would focus on the awful customer service relating to the issue. James then stated it as his idea to offer the 50% discount as the head chef didn’t want to acknowledge my feedback. So the head chef was thrown under the bus.

Honestly, you couldn’t make this experience up. Myself and my friends were completely gobsmacked at this ‘customer service’ experience. At one point during our conversations with James I had to say ‘I’m not sure why we are having a discussion about the quality of my meal’.

Good food is not the only requirement for an enjoyable restaurant experience and most issues can be resolved easily when the restaurant team view the customer experience as an essential part of their service, sadly the dispensary staff seem to be more focused on the head chef and his opinions instead of the customer and their...

Well the dispensary was recommended by people at work and only being on a short term 2 week contract I value the opinion of locals It was my wife's birthday we booked a table for two at 6pm Our first encounter was with James who was so welcoming and engaging It was such a lovely evening temperature that we decided to eat outside on the pavement area. Very spacious Mediterranean feel to the setting

Bought a bottle of Pemberton sparkling which was as good as any champagne. No shoeys for us but slowly sipping away whilst Emily with her infectious smile served us. Such a superb professional

Met one of only two gentleman wearing glasses in mackay, Anish who again was all smiles and happiness. Thank you

Whitsunday risotto for Mrs g and black crab tagliatelle for the old man

Two side dishes of vegetable to die for and we were done

Then just couldn't help ourselves and shared potentially one of the best pavillovas we've ever had

Finished with a single Irish malt and then scooters home!

Purposely went into her kitchen to thank the team. Alex, you have done a great exercise in producing a superb team and in such a calm happy setting

Overall having been to Michelin star places we would rate this as probably better overall ...... The staff make unbelievable food into a dreamy dreamy experience

Had coffee then next morning at 6 am to check it out again and the coffee...wow

Thank you all and for any traveller to mackay you won't find better any time...

We went here expecting quality food to reflect the prices and word of mouth reviews. We tried the tasting menu to get an idea of what the chef and area had to offer.

Overall the food lacked flavour, was really oily and salty and the different dishes all seemed to follow the same flavour theme. Part of the dessert was watermelon which looked like it had been frozen and defrosted and was basically inedible.

It took 2.5 hours to reach the 4th course by which time we had had enough of waiting in between dishes and asked for the last 2 courses to be taken as takeaway. Sitting on the high bar stools outside for this long period of time didn't help to make this a great experience. Whilst we were asked if outside was suitable when making our reservation, being visitors to Mackay, we didn't realise that this meant bar stools and not normal seating.

The different courses were delivered to the table with no explanation of what each course was which is unusual for a tasting menu.

The wait staff were quick to clear the table, get fresh plates out and check if we were good for drinks however the kitchen staff just couldn't back that service up with timely delivery of each course unfortunately.

Overall, dining at the Dispenary was a very disappointing and...