Core Cider — Restaurant in Western Australia

My husband and I were gifted a 3-course lunch here so rocked up a few Sunday's ago and luckily they managed to find us a table in the Orchard Restaurant. I had only been to Core Cider once before, several years ago, and remember finding it underwhelming but was assured that the food was great.

Despite the torrential rain, the restaurant was warm and had a pleasant atmosphere (and beautiful surroundings of course).

When the waitperson arrived, I presented the gift voucher and they didn't even read it, just told me that I needed to give that in at the end. I was hoping that by showing it to them, they would be able to explain how it all works and organise our tasting paddles which were included in the voucher.

The waitperson sort of stood waiting without indicating exactly what they wanted us to tell her, so we chose our courses by reading out what we each wanted for starter, main and dessert. Only after us doing that did they say we needed to tell her one person at a time (as in go through each course) rather than starter-starter, main-main etc. We found this is a little awkward, unsure if it was a lack of experience on the waitpersons part or our fault for not giving our orders correctly.

We also ordered the tasting paddles (1 each), which were included in the voucher.

We waited approx. 30 mins for our tasting paddle to appear and it was half spilled when it did eventually arrive. We were confused why we only had 1 paddle, as we were sure the voucher permitted us to 2 (1 each). We called over another waitperson who actually took the time to listen and read the voucher but for some reason the original waitperson was sent over, who needed to see the voucher again and only then decided that yes, we were entitled to 2 paddles.

We waited another 20 mins for the 2nd paddle to be brought out by which time my husband had mostly finished the first one. Despite not being a cider drinker, I was looking forward to trying the 5 on offer. Unfortunately, the first one tasted terrible to me (Hard Core I think it was) and the only one I enjoyed was the raspberry flavoured drink.

The food came out at a more reasonable rate and started off well with the first course - both were tasty and well balanced (goats cheese and prosciutto starters).

When the main came out, a different waitperson spilled my main over my leg as they went to place it, causing a big gravy patch on my pants. I felt bad for them really, as they were very apologetic and brought me a cloth and I wiped it up (it did leave a stain).

These things happen I know and I wasn't angry, but by this point I think we were fed up with the wait and confusion surrounding our drinks that this felt like the icing on the cake kind of thing.

Both of our mains were large in size and very tender (I had beef and husband had pork belly) but completely bland and tasteless. Belly fat was just inedible.

The desserts were ok (I had gelato which was tasty but husbands cherry choc tart was rubbish - it tasted like a cheap supermarket buy with no cherry flavour).

When we left, we had to wait a while before we were able to pay and there was no mention of the drinks mix up or the food spill.

We were too bemused to bring it up ourselves and felt like the restaurant should have taken it upon themselves to do that. But like they say, no use crying over spilled gravy.

Won't bother driving out to go here again unfortunately. It was a big miss for us and I feel bad for the friends that spent $162 on our...

Very disappointed, won’t go back there again.

I’ve been going to this place since 6/7 year ago, and I always bring visitors to this place because of past good experience so I thought I’ll bring my family for my mum’s 60th birthday for lunch.

Since I made the booking online, I received 2 other “confirmation request” from them via email as well as phone, after I have called them to confirm it myself.

When we arrived, we were given a table to sit down but the table looks like it’s a bit too big for 9 people so we checked with them again to make sure it’s the right table. The waitress hesitated a little bit and then reassured us that it’s okay we can sit at that table.

As the food started to arrive, the very same waitress came to us and rudely told us that’s not our table. She then moved us to a small table while we had to carry our food ourselves.

While we’re trying to re-settle to the new table, they continue to bring out dishes that are not the right order, the pork chop came out undercook; it was just chaotic.

After lunch, I went to the counter and informed one of the male staff at the counter I’ll pay for the table with my credit card and requested them to make sure no one else pay the bill. I was told that everything is organised so I don’t need to worry about it.

When we finally checked the bill, I then was told the bill was paid but not with my credit card. I requested to talk to the manager and turns out it was the manager that processed the bill without checking with his staff about the arrangement I have made with them.

The manager was blaming they have a new computer system so they are still trying to manage it.

I understand that, working with a new system does take time for everyone to get used to. However, it does not give you the excuse to provide bad customer service and to make a mistake but not admit that you stuffed it up and you’re sorry. Everyone makes mistake, the important thing is that you try to make things right – but I did not see that from the waitress who gave us the wrong table, nor the manager himself.

From the booking process and the billing system, you can clearly see there’s just no communication or whatsoever between staff. Everything were just so badly managed.

With the price I’m paying, I can get a lot better...

I am writing to express my disappointment following a recent visit to your venue for lunch with my wife. While the meal was delicious and your waitstaff were warm and welcoming, the experience was unfortunately overshadowed by how we were treated when it came time to pay the bill.

At the counter, the EFTPOS machine was not functioning correctly, despite multiple reboot attempts by your staff member. I kindly offered to transfer the payment directly to your bank account using my banking app, but was told a manager would need to assist. When the manager arrived, he too struggled to resolve the issue. I again offered to pay via direct bank transfer, but was told bank details could not be provided.

As more time passed, I asked the manager how much longer the issue would take to resolve, but he was unable to give an answer. I then suggested taking a photo of my driver’s licence so I could settle the amount later once the issue was resolved. Shockingly, I was then accused of attempting to steal if I left the premises—this was deeply offensive and entirely unwarranted, given my consistent efforts to pay.

Eventually, the machine was made operational and I paid the $162 owed. However, the entire experience left us feeling embarrassed and upset. What should have been an enjoyable outing turned into a regrettable and stressful afternoon.

Having previously owned and operated restaurants myself, I was particularly taken aback by the way I was spoken to. No customer should be made to feel like a criminal for trying to resolve a payment issue in good faith.

I hope you will take this feedback seriously and use it as an opportunity to better train your staff in handling technical issues and customer service with professionalism...