The Grovedale Hotel — Restaurant in Victoria

Extremely poor and shameful behaviour

We attended the Grovedale Hotel for lunch to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. She is an elderly lady who needs to use a walking frame to stand and walk comfortably. On our arrival and being shown to our table my wife requested a change of tables noticing a very large party seated on the next table. With her mum's poor hearing my wife was concerned that her mother would not hear or be part of our conversation and her celebration. Well the way the staff handled this request was utterly disgusting. They left my wife's mother standing for a long time having to use her walking frame to try and stay comfortable while the hotel staff tried to work out which change of tables would incur the least effect on the number of customers being able to be seated for lunch. As the staff's revolting and shameful behaviour continued on with no solution being found we asked to see the manager. From there the whole situation continued to get a lot worse and more unpleasant. This lady came out who we believe was the manager as she summed up the staff and again took heaps of time going around trying to work out what table arrangement would ensure the hotel did not miss out on a few extra customers and a few extra dollars. This whole time not once did this lady who we believe was the manager introduce herself, acknowledge our party or even mention she would help fix our concern. Which was very strange behavior and extremely rude. It now became very clear why the hotel staff showed little care and conducted themselves in such a poor manner after witnessing the manager's conduct. It's been a long time since I have seen people treat an elderly person so badly, clearly these people forgot they were in the service industry and the managers' extremely poor conduct and leadership showed through the staff. It was appalling and extremely disappointing to see and witness such poor behavior and little care in this...

What a disappointment the Grovey was on Saturday just gone. I had rung early last week trying to book a table for 4 in the sports bar, so we'd be assured of a seat to watch the big game Cats vs. Freo. But was told on the phone they only take bookings for groups of 10 or more. So I turned up half an hour before the game was due to start. The sports bar was pretty packed already, there were no smaller tables left, but there was a long high table vacant so I sat on a chair at the end of this table waiting for my friends to arrive. Then, lo and behold, 5 minutes before the footy was due to start a female staff member told me to move off the long table as there was a party of 10 arriving soon who had pre-booked. At the very least, why wasn't there a 'Reserved for 4:30pm' sign on this table? By this time there were no seats left in the sports bar, so I headed out to the Juke Bar & found a seat facing the smaller TV there. After a while, the same female staff member as before walked past and I asked if the sound could be turned up to hear the footy coverage. I was then told because this was the "music bar", the volume is always off on the TV in case someone wants to play music on the juke box. Silly thing was, for the entire duration of the footy, not one person came forward to play music, and all the patrons sitting in the Juke Bar were totally invested in the footy game!

Ridiculous the Grovey doesn't take bookings for less than 10 people. Equally ridiculous, considering the crowd in the Juke Bar were all cheering on the footy, that the volume couldn't be turned up on the TV! We won't be...

I was unlucky enough to dine here on two occasions yesterday. I am visiting friends in Geelong and two separate groups of friends arranged to meet here for lunch and dinner. The food is utter rubbish. It's obvious that this establishment attracts a crowd based on location, moderate atmosphere and convenience. It was very busy for a Tuesday night, but this is just a money grabbing venue. Dinner: I have never in my life had a parma as small. It was a horrible, pre-fab chicken schnitzel - that weird gross fake tasting kind. Toppings were basic. Chips - nothing to rave about. But the "salad" - what the heck? Since when is a pile of roughly chopped cabbage - JUST CABBAGE - sprinkled with parsley and dressing called a salad. The amount of this tight-arse salad wouldn't even fill the palm of my small hand. The food is a joke. For lunch: Duke Share plate. Nothing nice to say here either. Food was all basic, poorly prepared, under seasoned or tasted of dirty oil. Also the worst tasting Bruschetta I have ever had. If I wanted tomato on toast I would stay home. How can one eat a slice of bread topped with huge chunks of quarter tomatoes? Don't chefs learn to dice anymore? Don't eat here. Just don't.

Also - All my friends received very over cooked steaks. Chef cannot...