bills — Restaurant in Sydney

Yesterday my partner and I dined at Bills Double Bay for the first time and had an awful experience with service. They decided to seat us outside but as it was windy I asked if we could sit indoors and they said there was no space due to covid restrictions. A couple sat next to us outside and they asked to be seated indoors and they were accommodated immediately and even said “of course”. I guess covid restrictions don’t apply to everyone? Once we were seated we waited 20 mins for someone to take our drink and food order but they must have forgot and we had to grab the waitress’ attention to come although there were two walking around. The couple next to us received both their drink and food order before us even though they arrived 20 mins after us and we were waiting upwards of 30 mins just for drinks. We also ordered pancakes after our initial lunch order which she wrote down on paper and when we asked if it was coming the waitress said it wasn’t on the order and we had to wait again. When the waitress put down the plates and cutlery she put it down in the middle of the table for us to fix ourselves whilst the table next to us had their plates and cutlery laid out for them. This was truly disappointing to what was an already awful service experience. We spent 2.5 hrs altogether due to their slow and disappointing service during a non peak lunch period after 2pm. I regularly dine at Surry Hills and Bondi in addition to a couple of their international locations and I’ve never had such disappointing service as yesterday that I feel inclined to tell friends, colleagues and family about my experience and to stay away from...

My colleagues and I had brunch here today, and were meeting a client for lunch. We asked to be moved to a bigger table if possible, to which they couldn't accommodate at that time. However, after eating 2 of us moved to a free table for some privacy for a meeting and one of the hosts said we could sit at that table until the 12:30 booking arrived which we completely understood and assured her we would move when the booking is arriving. Our previous waiter came to us and urged us to not sit at the space and she had told us this, however, we were okay'd to be at the table by her colleague and when we mentioned this she walked to the manager to complain about us. Making us feel uncomfortable. At 12, the bill was dropped to our table and we were told all of us now had to vacate. I checked online, and to our surprise there were tables available to book in the same timeframe, so we didn't understand why we couldn't be moved to a new table with no booking. We had just had food, and drinks so spent well for 4 people and would've spent more, as we were meeting a client. We all felt quite shocked that we were essentially kicked out, for no reason when there were empty tables. Disgraceful service and as our client arrived we had to pay and find somewhere else to have our lunch - which was a shame as our client was coming from NZ and we told her how delicious the food always...

I went to Bill's on Sunday whilst running errands. It was a hot day and I didn't so much as get my water refilled. I saw the waiter refill water for the couple sitting next to me - I looked at her in shock, we locked eyes, she went back inside without refilling my glass. No one asked if my food was okay, no one asked if I wanted anything else (I would've ordered another drink). I had to flag someone down to pay and no one brought me my change - I had to ask for it, which is presumptuous and rude on their part. The food was awful - the bread was stodgy/under toasted and the avocado is merely peeled and chucked on top - no seasoning whatsoever. Customer service-wise, it would seem that the staff are highly prejudiced - they're happy to serve you if you're in Gucci loafers but if you dare rock up plain faced and in activewear, prepare to be completely ignored. I've experienced a completely different experience attending Bill's dressed up with friends. I live two streets away and I've never felt treated like such an outsider before. I shouldn't feel as though I need to dress to the nines to grab a meal and be treated with respect. I would be mortified if I were Bill Granger to have my name associated with this...