The Whalers Hotel — Restaurant in Warrnambool

Called an hour ahead for our booking of 11 and upon arrival it appeared there was no record of the booking and we were then questioned about when we made the booking and whether we called the right place.

The QR ordering system did not work.

A pint of Watery Pepsi and a pint of Canadian Club and Dry cost $30, and two Chicken Parmas and a seniors roast cost $97 supposedly due to a public holiday surcharge of 15%.

The Seniors meal showed up by itself 40 minutes after ordering, with no other food from either of the 3 orders on our table. Another 25 minutes go past with no food and diners from our table approach staff about the wait and we were told they would check. We were waiting for our food and staff to return with a response.

Another 10 minutes go past and the same scenario played out again with several staff members to which no answer was given besides “we’re understaffed”. We began to question why our meals cost an extra 15% if there was such a severe lack of staff despite the near empty dining room.

Finally 40 minutes after the first dish arrived (80 minutes after ordering) we received our COLD Chicken Parmas accompanied by a COLD “children’s portion of chips”, a quarter of a Miniature cob lettuce, one Cherry Tomato cut in two and 3 slithers of Cucumber.

Slowly some of the other meals began to appear until they stopped showing up completely. 4 Diners of our table now waiting close to an hour and 40 minutes were then made aware of a “ticketing issue” and asked what they had ordered and what they were still waiting for. With their meals still not having begun to be prepared, at this point it was enough for them and they requested their refund.

The collective experience was that you over wait, over pay, are underwhelmed and leave The Whalers wailing away with a far from satisfactory experience.

Fair to say none of us...

We arrived in the evening. Have ordered the meal and a bottle of wine for 3 persons. After 20 minutes the food was served, but no wine. Ok, I have asked a staff. The waitress has checked my order, apologied and.... Disappeared. After ten minutes we asked for the wine again but nothing has changed. Finally the manager checked my order again (they do not have the order system?! Why this people never know, what you have ordered, even in case you have done it online?! Is it ok?!) and they brought us opened bottle of wine. At this moment, the meal was mainly finished. I do not understand, why it is so difficult to bring one bottle of wine when the restaurant is almost empty. Ok. We tried the vine, finished the meal as the meal was 30 minutes earlier the beverage and decided to go to hotel. But as the bottle was already opened, I have asked for the cap. But the manager was very aggressive and told that it is prohibited. I just wanted to clarify, why and what exactly is prohibited (because it look like it was just a overreacting of the staff) and received a brilliant answer "google it". And you, know I have googled but have found nothing. As far as I have googled, that restaurants are allowed to sell take away alcohol. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ So we had to finish the wine. Ok. But I really do not understand, why it was so rude. Why manager was not able to explain? They do not know, what laws they should obey? Finally because of our questions they asked us to leave. Ok. No regrets. Highly not recommended. Unprofessional and...

Enjoyed a quiet Wednesday night here until an elderly / possibly middle aged blonde female management staff member lost her cool at myself, colleagues and employees over a simple nothing matter. Upon agreement for us to leave the venue the blonde elderly / possibly middle aged manger proceeded to encourage us to binge drink the remainder of our alcohol and acted without encouragement as a child to which point the elderly / possibly middle aged blonde Manager was informed they were acting like a child and as responsible adults we found at that point in time it would be a good idea for us to avoid the tantrum. As a quick summery of events the night started well 5/5 but as we met and become familiar with the elderly night manager it quickly became a 1/5 would not recommend and as an individual and as a company / community as a whole, we will not be returning. Nor would we recommend any friends or future partners to attend this venue.

Very unsatisfactory

In closing, I hope that the elderly / middle aged blonde night manager in question can get the help she needs and this venue can flourish as the untainted atmosphere is...