Market Bistro — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

We arrived at Market Bistro with the intention of celebrating a birthday, which the staff had been informed of prior to our arrival. From the beginning the service was off; the man that led us to our table seemed to dislike us for some inexplicable reason. We waited for quite some time to have our drink and food orders taken. When the drinks arrived, the did not ask who ordered which drink, instead placing the drinks in front of the wrong person, and mocking us for the issue whilst we moved our drinks to the correct person. Our entrees arrived about 30 minutes after we received our drinks. Again they handed the entrees to the wrong people, and seemed annoyed at us for the issue. We waited patiently for our mains, which took far too long to arrive. Both tables on either side of us arrived 30+ minutes after us, with the same number of guests, and yet were served their entrees and mains long before us. We were there for over an hour and a half waiting for our mains, and yet did not receive even a refill on water, and we were ignored the entire time. Throughout the meals, we were not offered more water or drinks, and we were not asked how the meals were or if we needed anything, whilst the tables on either side of us received such service from the same waiter. During our meal we had a number of bugs flying into our drinks and food (we were inside) including a moth and a fly. We also saw people receiving birthday services such as cake, whilst we were not offered anything of the sort. The food was sub par at best. The mains were bland, the chargrilled octopus was far too chewy, the potatoes were far too fatty. We also ordered a meal gluten free, however the member of our party who consumed that meal soon fell sick as there was obviously some kind of gluten in the meal. We also saw staff tripping over chairs and hitting customers on the head as they passed. Once finishing our mains, it was difficult to get the attention of any staff member to get our bill. When we finally received the bill, we had to double check that we had not been overcharged as they attempted to serve us certain sides twice. During the entire experience, we felt ignored and discriminated against. We were the youngest people in the restaurant and frankly, it seemed that we were being discriminated against and underserviced purely because we were young, and they assumed we did not have the money to be their, despite there being a number of other guests who were dressed far worse than us. When went to the desk to pay, they assumed we would be splitting the bill, which honestly felt like an insult. At no point were we asked how our meals were, or how the service was. We spent $365, which was paid on a single card, as frankly we have more than enough money to do so, and yet the entire time we were treated as if that were not the case. They even questioned if we really wanted what we were getting due to the prices. Never in my life have I received such disgusting, discriminatory service, and I would never recommend this place to anyone. If I could give 0 stars I would. I'd love to know the genuine reason for such behaviour, as it was completely unwarranted and unwelcome. Such a poor way to celebrate a birthday and finish off...

Came here tonight to celebrate a birthday and from the moment we walked in we felt like the waiter taking us to our table didn’t like us. We politely sat down at our table and ordered our drinks, entrees and mains with a very kind and polite attitude. After ordering the waiter came out to tell us our drinks were on their way but then went to double check if they were actually on their way. Our entrees came out and after we finished them we waited patiently for our plates to be taken away and to be soon served our mains. No. We waited over an hour for our mains to arrive at our table which by that time we were very eager to leave. Two tables next to us arrived after we were sat down and ordered but received both their entrees and mains a long time before we received our mains which I might add ordered the same meal as one guest on our table, yet us of all people had to wait longer for ours. These two tables next to us also seemed to get more attention than our table for some u explained reason. Food had a fly stuck in the Duck Parfait and a moth flew into the water glass of one of the guests at our table. Waiters had no respect for us despite our upmost respect towards them and we understand the stress and frustration working in the hospitality industry is but this was absolutely unacceptable. No waiter regardless of how hard we tried to grab their attention gave us any. We were polite and respectful but did not even get a bat of an eye towards us or our needs. We were asked if we wanted another round of drinks but they said they’d be back to give us time to decide. AGAIN! They ignored us and did not come back at all through the rest of the night to ask us if we wanted drinks, our empty water glasses were not refilled that night except for once. This was very disappointing and I am beyond upset with the way we were treated tonight, a total blow to our holiday and last meal of our trip which we booked weeks in advance for and looked forward to hoping it would be a highlight. Never in my life have I ever felt so ignored and disrespected as a customer in a restaurant and with the amount of money we all spent tonight and the special occasion of my 21st birthday dinner did not help with making this experience any better. We hoped to have dessert but with the attitude of the floor staff we couldn’t get that opportunity. Trying to get a waiter to come over just to get the bill was incredibly hard and honestly insulting that we were utterly ignored. When we went to pay the bill they automatically expected us to split the bill which seemed very insulting and disrespectful after all we had previously gone through tonight. They also didn’t ask us how our meals were so we weren’t able to give the negative feedback we so thought we needed to give. Our group wasted too much money here ($365) and wasted too much kind words and polite behaviour to be treated this way. The food was alright but the service was absolutely awful and was the complete downfall of our overall experience. I do not recommend this place and will be telling those who come to the Sunshine Coast not to go...

Made a booking requesting a specific table and received a message saying they would try.

We arrived and I asked the manager if we could have the table requested and he tells me it was booked a month in advance. I question this, and ask why would you then specifically say you would do your best to provide the table we had requested when I booked ? Even more confusing was he then started becoming belligerent and arguing and at one point tells me that more than 80% of the people booking last night wanted the specific table.

What?, how is it possible that we had any chance of obtaining the requested table ?

If they had simply been honest I would have booked elsewhere. This in the industry is called fishing, (hook them) tell people they might…..knowing full well that the table was booked a month ago and there is a waiting list of 40 people in front of us.

At one point I was astounded when he said, “if we had told you, you would not have come”, fully admitting to FISHING.

Spoiled (nearly) an important family reunion night out because they were being greedy.

It is simple, be truthful, say that the odds are not very good. P.s. arguing and being belligerent with your customers is never a good idea.

What ever happened to the customer is always right? The manager actually elevated the issue by being combative, if he had simply said sorry for the confusion and we will try for you next time… it would have defused the whole situation. I think maybe a refresher on customer service would do him the world of good. ( Tony, you need to keep a better eye)

All the above said, the great thing about the coast is there are lots more good restaurants to choose from now. Ciao Market Bistro

Update, I wrote the review above while still in the restaurant and very upset so wanted to do a slight update.

The server we had was brilliant last night. She worked hard and turned what had been a very confronting start from the restaurant manager into a night where we all had some fun. The food was marginal, nothing to exciting especially for the price. For example my $68 steak came with some pomme frites and a piece of lettuce. Three people at our table had Steaks and two of them were not cooked as requested.

My wife ordered the SPECIAL of fish and was horrified when it came in a batter. (We do not remember being told about the special that it was battered) Our bill came in at North of $1000 ( over $250 per head ) so all in all MB has slid from the pedestal we put them on when we started visiting them the week they opened to a mediocre establishment which is over priced for...