The Commo (Commun Na Feinne) Hotel — Restaurant in Victoria

The Commo has been a regular venue for our Family and Friends for casual get togethers for many years because of the great food, good selection in the menu, value pub meals, attentive/engaging service. "Five weeks ago" I made a lunchtime reservation for today, Sunday 3/7 and explicitly articulated that we required a table of 7 by the fire. I was told that this would not be a problem because my booking was the only one in the book at that time. I requested this table as we were being joined by our 90 and 82 year old Grandmothers and this table would be easy access for them to get in and out of, easy for them to hear and join in the conversation as well as being warm by the fire. I called the week before to confirm that this was still the case - a table for 7 in front of the fire and this was confirmed.

Upon arrival today, we were snapped at " do you have a booking?"by the Manager. To which we replied yes. At this point we discovered other members of our party were already seated in the booth style seating down the back, away from the fire. Disappointed and annoyed that my request had not been meet after 2 confirmations, I queried why we were down the back of the room and not where I had booked. I was snapped at again and told a table could be arranged in front of the window. Knowing that times are difficult in the current climate with staffing, stresses of running hospitality service etc, I said not to worry about it as we didn't want to cause a fuss and inconvenience the other dinners.

Our salmon, barramundi and calamari meals were lovely however the eye fillet steak was cold when brought to the table and the duck fat potatoes with the duck were soggy. Desserts were delicious as was the coffee.

The young lady waiting our table for the meals was very polite and genuinely engaging. I appreciate that hospitality can be a difficult stressful job, especially in the current climate, but the "grumpy" Manager's really needs to look at the tone taken with patrons.

A disappointing...

My family and I used to be regular customers at The Commo, however after our most recent experience I doubt we will be back. It all started when my mother called to book a table, and was barked at through the phone that they were busy and she would need to call back later as they didn't have time to find the reservation book, poor excuse for customer service there. Then when we arrived for our lunch, I was helping my elderly grandmother in through the door to her seat, she has trouble walking and needs to sit down, we were then yelled at by a woman behind the bar that we would need to show our vaccine certificates. I understand this is a requirement of entry, however I'm sure I could have sat my grandmother down and then shown them. There was also no greeting, hello or welcome. Another poor excuse for customer service. Then my aunty ordered a drink with no ice, when her drink arrived with ice she asked for a new one with no ice like she had ordered and the girl behind the bar proceeded to scoop out the ice from the drink and then top the original glass up and give it back to her. Absolutely disgraceful. The final straw was my lamb ragu which was so watery (see photo) and had absolutely no flavour. I didn't even bother to complain or ask for a new dish as I'm sure that I would have received the same dismissive, rude treatment we had for the rest of our time here. We will need to see some drastic improvements to this establishment before we would even consider returning. Very very...

Honestly the worst pub dining experience that I’ve ever had. The most awful parma / parmi I have ever had the disappointment to have been served. Soft doughy crumbs, barely melted cheese. I chose to have it with veggies which when arrived looked like they had spent a week in a bain-marie. The better half had a nasi goreng, which tasted overwhelmingly of pepper with no hint of kecap manis or chilli. The veggies in this one looked and tasted like they had been boiled prior to being added to the sad rice dish. The service was awful- long queues at an under staffed bar to place my order and a surcharge for using a card. The ‘restaurant’ or as it should be called ‘food room’ is decorated like a 90s suburban lounge room. Go elsewhere. —— December 2024 edit: I went back, and while the food is slightly better, it’s still not great. Also quite expensive for what it is. And the rose was $5 more per glass than the other local pub. Still can’t...