The Brigham Restaurant & Cafe — Restaurant in Upper Harbour

I have never written a bad review in my life, however feel I must this time to save others from wasting their time and money.

I booked online for High tea for 3, the website allows you to do this. This was a surprise for a lady very dear to me who loves high tea. I let the waitress know we had booked a high tea. She informed us that you can't book high tea for less than 4 people. I asked if I could pay for 4 people then please. We were informed that this wasn't possible. (Which would have made you more money)

We showed the staff their own website and how it was possible to select High tea for 3! This waitress was lovely and went to check for us, she also apologised even though its not her fault at all. I am not writing to complain about her customer service.

We were then met by a different waitress. She asked if we had 'decided if' we were eating. In the most condisending tone. Her customer service skills are certainly lacking, I could understand if we had been rude but I don't think we were unreasonable.

The table was dirty (comforting in a covid era). The decor is dated and the room was cold. The food was relatively nice and well presented to be fair, chips with fish and chips aren't fresh they'll be oven chips. We were then told they were closing in 15 minutes, basically can you leave. The table wasn't cleared at the end of the meal.

We were polite despite being very disappointed and rudely treated. Just some constructive feedback to try and prevent you from loosing...

Unfortunately there was a surprise hidden $30 'Cake plate fee' that was sprung upon me this morning apon arrival for my birthday party.

I have booked here for my birthdays in the past, but due to this mornings experience with the hosts I most likely will not be booking an event at the Brigham anytime soon.

I had booked 2 weeks in advanced for my birthday party with a clear note stating that I would need a cake to be refrigerated, I also followed this up with a phone call to confirm the attendance seats needed as well as a reminder for the cake request.

In neither of these written and verbal forms of communication was I informed of the $30 surcharge for bringing a cake. This information was only given to me upon arrival and left a disappointed atmosphere on my special day.

I understand that in some circumstances there may be a need to cover the expenses for cleaning and providing utensils for guests who bring their own food (similar to a corkage fee), however the fact that all 13 guests each ordered a meal and a drink or two should be more than enough to cover these expenses.

In future, I highly recommend informing guests of your policies beforehand to ensure that they understand what to expect and there are no hidden costs apon arrival.

I have also looked online but can't see any notes about this 'cake fee' on their website...

Food was okay, mushrooms are very flavourful! Good presentation. Lots of bacon in the eggs beni and very generous portions! Some poached eggs were a little overdone, fried haloumi underdone and would have preferred a pottle of relish to just plain tomato sauce on the breakfast platters. Mango and berry smoothies were actually milkshakes with flavoured syrup rather than real fruit smoothies.

Service was lacking, clearing our used dishes was slow despite only about 4-5 occupied tables and at least 3 wait staff. Wait staff didn't ask if we wanted anything else when clearing, and after our initial meal we sat for almost an hour with no one checking on us. We had to approach the bar to ask if we could order more drinks and deserts.

Beautiful outdoor area to take a stroll and plenty of places to sit and enjoy the greenery. Plenty of different areas to eat inside and out, in the sun or shade. However some of the cutlery had food still stuck on it so we had to request replacements. There was also dust in the toilets, and black rings around the base of the taps indicate a lack of proper cleaning in there.

With a few adjustments to service and cleanliness, this would have been a much more...