Speight's Ale House Invercargill — Restaurant in Invercargill City

Food was absolutely amazing cannot fault but the service was really poor and has fallen far from the level we usually get . I got seated with my 12month old son and waiting on Dad, was provided a high hair that was absolutely filthy covered in food had clearly not been cleaned in some time. Once my partner arrived we had to wait 15 minutes for drinks, waiters could be seen drinking their own drinks standing around the til upstairs, we then had to ask a waiter ourselves to order drinks and food. Myself and my partners meals come out and we waited 5 minutes then had to ask where our sons meal was, the waitress had taken our orders verbally not writing it down and had evidently forgotten our sons meal. She went to check on his meal we could see her ordering at the bar and came back to say that someone else had forgot to ring it up on the til. I get mistakes happen but if you can’t remember then write it down and we seen her put our order through the till, why lie ? We were out for tea for our son’s first birthday and this really ruined the night out, our sons meal come out in 10 minutes or so. Our original waiter never come back for the rest of the night, no one came to check on us or ask how our meals were. I had to go down to the bar to order a dessert for our son. Our son’s meal ended up being free but doesn’t make up for or excuse the poor service, something is lacking in training staff and a friendly smile. I have worked for the ILT and believe this level of service is extremely poor and does not align with the ILT mandates displayed on their website, I won’t be shy about letting people know our experience tonight and hope this level of services does not occur again for...

I have visited all but 2 Speights Alehouses in NZ and have loved every single one.

Today, I managed to tick off the second to last one - Invercargill.

I am saddened to say that the staff at the Invercargill premises have let the brand down. This is my first negative experience. There were 4 messy tables when we walked in, and 2 staff members were behind the bar fluffing around. We weren't greeted until we said hello to one of the barmen ourselves. We were dining in. After waiting for a good 10 minutes to try to get someone's attention, we managed to order. The young lady didn't write our order down as it was very simple and basic. Our meals came out reasonably fast, however mine was wrong and sent back. This meant that my partner ate his separately to me while I had to wait for mine to be cooked. The waiter did apologize for the error. I found this Alehouse to be lacking the warm, inviting and attentive touch. The staff just seemed a little bit too young and not interested in providing friendly service. Sorry for the stink review, but this is an honest one in hopes that some hospitality training is given.

The food was niceish. Burger patty was really nice. We had to try to grab someone's attention to ask for sauce for our fries on our plates, which was out of the norm to not have that kind of condiment on the...

So the last time I was here was 3 years ago and the service was exceptional...this time not so much...they get 3 stars for food and one for service and atmosphere...was the first one at counter when I got there but was second to be served after im assuming owner said to me won't be long...was duly seated at a leaner being a solo diner...menu was fast to come out and was told they would be back soon to take order...10 mins later I was seen...asked for the speights cabonara with extra sauce and prawns...server asked what sauce...i told her the sauce it came with...was told she would have to check if this could be done...she never came back...owner delivered meal with a measly bowl of sauce and 4 prawns...the extras cost me 13 dollars...4 dollars for about 100ml of sauce and 9 dollars for 4 prawns...after this there was no interaction with me to check if meal was good until I asked for a spoon...went to pay for meal and they had to ask me what I had...couldnt find my tab...they tried to charge me for drinks I didn't order...all in all i won't be back...service it the key here and sadly it was...