Hotel Phillip Island — Restaurant in Victoria

Having a lovely girls weekend away, stopped here for drinking in the afternoon, ordered a couple of cocktails that took between 15-20 minutes to get to us, that should have sounded the alarm bells. We made a booking for tea anyways. 9 women, 2 ordered steaks both different and both to be cooked differently with different sauces. The lady that ordered medium with mushroom gravy got rare with peppercorn, didn't discover the wrong gravy till it had been poured on top. The other lady who ordered the medium/welldone with peppercorn got really really rare with mushroom sauce. Told the waiter who then ordered new steaks, when delivered this time the girls closely inspected the steaks to discover they had again been given the wrong graves, but this time they hadn't poured it on their steaks so all was good. Turns out steaks were discussing and neither ate them. One other lady ordered an open steak sandwich that was blue no other way to describe it and it was cold. Call the waiter over and he tells us that's the way it's served here and walks off... We had to ask to speak to the manger. Went to the bar to pay for the food that was edible and waited to be served for nothing short of 15 minutes? just to pay money. Then when we eventually got served they wanted us to pay for the steaks, not happening mate. As we left (we not paying for the steaks or open steak sandwich) one of the locals called us over and told us the steaks here are crap, wish he could have told us that an hour later. Shame cause its in a great location but they need a proper chef and 10 times more...

Nice atmosphere and service was generally friendly, but the food was disappointing. Ordered two kids meals while despite cheap $25 porterhouse steaks being available, I opted for the $50 scotch fillet. When the scotch fillet arrived it was cooked very nicely (rare as requested) but the cut itself was chewy and low quality; by the time I’d put all the inedible gristly pieces to one side, I only had 2/3 of the original steak left. The side of potatoes were not cooked in the middle - very firm and unpleasant to eat. The side of greens was extremely oily. Only one kid’s meal arrived and I asked about the other one; server got a wide-eyed look and vanished for some time before returning with the meal with no explanation. So by the time everyone else had finished, one of my children had only just started eating.

I then ordered a hot chocolate for my other child who had long since finished their meal and was getting restless waiting for their sibling. Server said no problem and disappeared for 15 minutes, then came back and said the kitchen had run out of milk.

This was also during a quiet winter evening — it wasn’t on-peak and it wasn’t busy, so the staff weren’t overwhelmed or stressed. I can only imagine the experience during a peak time. It’s not just a question of patchy service, though — I understand needing to make a profit, but if a customer opts to buy the most expensive steak on the menu and they receive a low-quality cut, it’s not going to inspire...

We came here to celebrate a birthday and asked the bar staff if they could offer a discounted drink for the birthday girl. Unfortunately, the request was declined, which was a little surprising, but I carried on with my drink order and all good.

Vinny and Daniel were fantastic—warm, friendly, and very hospitable. They really stood out and made us feel welcome. However, while we were deciding on our dinner, the staff member who declined my initial request at the bar approached our table and, to our shock, said, “If you don’t stop talking about me, I’ll throw you out.”

It was completely uncalled for and extremely unprofessional, especially as this individual, Emily, turned out to be the manager and told us she was the owner. Her behavior was not only unjust but incredibly disappointing for someone in a leadership role. Shocking!

Thankfully, the rest of the staff were excellent, and their great service was the reason we decided to stay. The food and drinks were also fantastic, but Emily’s attitude left a sour taste in what should have been a positive celebration.

Management training on customer service and professionalism is clearly needed. Word of mouth travels far, and while I hope this was just a bad night, the experience won’t...