Shingle Inn City Hall - BRISBANE CITY

I thought I would treat some visiting colleagues to morning tea but the experience was far from a treat. The service was quite gruff and very slow (there was only 1 elderly lady serving by herself!). Scones were delivered by someone who obviously wasn't a waitress because there was no cutlery delivered and a coffee didn't arrive at all - we had to ask for it as we were leaving after 45mins and it was given to us at no charge. Don't bother eating at this venue - it's only good for take out cakes.

As residents of Brisbane we just love trying different food spots around town. l must admit this one needs help ! From the staff 'meet and greet' point to when you leave, seems a shambles. High tea for the price you pay is not worth it. Staff seem like they have no direction when dealing with clientel. We were served by three/four different staff members through out the high tea which left the experience confusing by all. Management need to step 'in and up' and guide his staff. The staff seem lovely but not very informative about the high tea experience, or the heritage of City Hall or the restaurant.

I hadn't read any reviews prior to visiting but rather remembered reading about it as an historical tea house from the 1930's. So we decided to pop in for a Devonshire Tea given its historical heritage, in respect to staff, some were more, shall i say enthusiastic than others, and detected a note of the 'Seven Dwarfs' syndrome (no guesses which one!), although the place was not full the service was slow and staff appeared uncoordinated for some reason, anyhow the Darjeeling and English Breakfast teas arrived followed (not closely mind) by the hot scones, jam and cream - these were nice and so was the tea. My son got his Quesadilla after we had finished but he did enjoy them. Overall, the setting is quaint, the 1930's uniform nice touch, food we had was fine, i would suggest two things to assist with providing customers with an improved experience 1) light background 1930's music 2) Team building exercises, smiling practice and use of 'manners' always - adopt the motto "if a job is worth doing, do it well" - would visit again if all the staff (not some) were more customer focused, as dining out is a 'whole of experience'.

Visiting from interstate, remembered the restaurant from earlier times. Ambience good, waitress pleasant, seated quickly and order taken in good time. Ordered scones, jam and cream, with tea. The scones were inedible - undercooked, sent back. Quite a long wait for the server to return from the kitchen to tell us that they had been sent back to the bakers. Of course we weren't charged for the scones, but would have been nice if the very young waitress had not been left to deal with it. Manager or senior staffer maybe?We left hungry.

We chose the Shingle Inn for a light lunch because of its long association with Brisbane and its reputation for good, if staid, food. My partner ordered scrambled eggs from the 'All Day' breakfast menu in a very specific way to avoid bacon, mushrooms and garlic. I ordered the turkey sandwich. We ordered capuccinos 'in cups'.The coffee arrived having been spilt into the saucers (the barista was blamed). My partner's food arrived with bacon, mushrooms and garlic (my partner was blamed for the 'error' because scrambled eggs in the 'all day' menu come with bacon, mushrooms and garlic). The replacement scrambled eggs looked and tasted as if they had been micro-waved, or had been re-cycled. My sourdough toasted sandwich with a small fresh salad was what I wanted. After complaining about the quality of the coffee both were replaced, to no avail. Warm milk flavoured by the chocolate sprinkle on the capuccino does not a capuccino make! Either the coffee beans are sub-standard or the coffee maker lacks the requisite skills to present a 'coffee' that tastes like coffee, or both.The main issue for this restaurant is that, for such an establishment in the heart of the tourist strip, the staff are clearly untrained. The waiter service is ordinary (why argue with a paying customer?), the food is amateurishly presented and the coffee is abysmal. To top it off, the bill (more than $40) included the ridiculous 15% surcharge for a weekend holiday that restaurant patrons have to endure. We left feeling ripped off, irritated that we paid so much for such unsatisfactory rubbish, and that someone in the business thinks that this is an appropriate standard for the Brisbane clientele. We do not recommend this place for either coffee or food.