Doc Hughes — Restaurant in Victoria

As visitors in the area, my friends and I were extremely disappointed with the standard of service we received. We called earlier to see if we could get a reservation as we were a large group and did not want to inconvenience the staff, however the person on the phone was very abrupt and did not seem to want to accomodate us. We understood that as a large group of 13, we may have not been able to get a seat inside but we did not appreciate to dismissive and snarky attitude the waitress gave us when we first arrived and repeatedly told us that we would have to sit outside despite that it may begin to rain and we said it was fine. After our food arrived, we had multiples issues with our orders. We ordered oysters that we did not finish as many of us believed that the taste was off and was not fresh and we sent it back. We also ordered fries that had hair in it (which we had forgotten to take a photo) and we when called the waitress over to send it back, she gave us quite a lot of attitude. One of our fish and chips also had a fairly large bone that would’ve definitely caused a choking hazard if we had not realised it was there. Even with small requests, when we were missing a few drinks after our food had well and truly arrived, we reminded the waitress that we were still waiting on our drinks and she gave us sass as if we were being demanding even though we had ordered multiple of the same drinks. Multiple members of our group also found it quite hard to get the staffs attention and felt like that were purposely trying to avoid serving us. We also overheard the staff members chatting amongst themselves criticising our group because we were of younger age that majority of the patrons there. The staff member who took our payment also made a mistake, despite multiple of the waitresses who served us knowing that our group had been put on two different tabs. One half of our group had gone to pay and when the other half had gone to pay they were told that there was no payment/ tab left and when we had realised that we hadn’t paid for one of the tabs, when we went back to pay and the manager directed a comment as if we had been singled out. As many of us do work in hospitality and have also service experience, we believe the service we received was quite poor and far from accomodating at all and we would not recommend anyone coming here if you are a big group or of a younger age as you will not be...

aside from hair in the food, a large (2cm or more) fish bone found in the fish and chips, the service here was disappointing and borderline discriminatory. walking into the restaurant with a group of 13, whom are collectively people of colour, the immediate reaction to the service was rude and abrupt. as we called in prior to our arrival to provide a heads up of the large group incoming, the staff dismissed our call, lacking all sorts of accommodation to potential customers. arriving, there was clear intention to avoid seating the group, providing excuses after excuses after we stated we were okay sitting outside. food wise, the oysters were not fresh, with a mush-like texture that was obviously off. when the waitress said it would be taken care of, the oysters were just taken away and no further action or apologies were provided. there was a larger sized bone found in the fish and chips, large enough to cut the throat or choke on. moreover, after food arrival, we noticed we were missing a glass of orange juice. when notifying the staff, she responding with disregard and distaste, responding "yeah, yeah" to our question if the orange juice was still coming. as a young group of people of colour, we noticed that after our seating, there were two blonde staff standing on the balcony conversing saying "theyre very young" and glaring at our group. the discrimination seen, not to just our group, but also another POC family who were not prioritised to be seated, is enough to never come back to this restaurant. i want to note that majority of the group are people who work in hospitality, there was absolutely no nitpicking and high expectations of the service and food provided, however this experience was enough for all the red flags to sound in our heads....

Just arrived from the states for a 2 week holiday with my wife. While planning our Torquay visit I placed Doc Hughes at the top of my list for a meal and we were not disappointed! It was pissing rain and bit cool but the place was packed. After a short wait we were seated in the covered beer garden. The heaters were burning and it was quite nice but my girl and I wanted something a bit more intimate, so we asked to be seated inside. Luckily a table had just opened up. Without hesitation the young lady said "give us a moment, we'll clear a table" and we were shown to a corner table for two.

Once seated we ordered a cappuccino, a loaded cocoa (both were quite nice) and "Docs big brekkie" each. While we waited, Tan, one of the owners stopped to let us know our order would be delayed for 30 minutes or so, in case we wanted go elsewhere, as I said, the place was packed. This simple, professional act only made us want to wait. We greatly appreciated the communication as we weren't left waiting and wondering.

Around 30 minutes later our food arrived, as told. This being a simple brekkie, we were quite impressed. the presentation was great, the flavors were quite nice and everything cooked perfectly!

Tan and Brendan, you have a great thing going with fantastic employees from the front to the back! I highly recommend Doc Hughes to anyone visiting Torquay! Thank you both for a great start to our holiday, we'll see you later this...