"Murray’s Brewery, Nelson Bay – Disappointing Service Despite Great Setting and Beers

We arrived at Murray’s Brewery for our booking, and the venue was already filling up with large busloads of foreign tourists. Unfortunately, our group was seated at a table in the hot sun without an umbrella. While I didn’t mind personally, we had kids and elderly family members with us, and most other tables had shade. When we asked if there were any umbrellas available, the staff were quite rude, saying they were too busy helping the bus groups to assist us.

After about 15 minutes, we moved ourselves to the grass under a tree to keep everyone cool. We had purchased some beers — which were excellent — and decided to order food from our table using the online system. However, the kitchen paused orders for about 30 minutes, leaving us unable to order during that time.

Once we finally placed our order, the pizzas arrived within 15 minutes, but our other dishes took around 45 minutes. There was noticeable confusion with orders being mixed up and sent to the wrong tables. I also noticed a pregnant woman and her partner struggling to find a shaded spot; staff initially refused to move them, only relenting after they said they were about to leave.

Overall, the focus seemed to be entirely on serving the busloads of tourists rather than local families and regular customers. The slow service, lack of organisation, and rudeness from some staff really let the place down.

It’s a shame, because Murray’s Brewery itself is a beautiful venue with great food and excellent beer. With more staff and better attention to all customers — not just large tour groups — it could have been a much better experience"

Sandy Beach

"Smoked Chicken salad and pizza where amazing, craft beer was delish, location perfect, attitude of the lady with glasses doing the wine tastings....absolute crap! She was only interested in the people coming in on the tour buses, could barely answer a question without it sounding like it was a hassle. We had planned on lunch and some wine tasting but left after lunch due to the dismissive attitude of the lady doing the tastings. No customer service skills at all. May want to put on your website that you have to book tastings and walk ins not welcome and you may sell more products at your cellar door. You missed out on a lot of sales this day as our group are BIG wine drinkers and we didn't get to try even a drop"

Nicole Stevens

"Went here for lunch and a few drinks. Ordered from the table using the QR code system which we were asked to use. Waited 1 hr for food to be ready. Went to the counter and asked staff if it was ready. Was told it would be 5 more minutes. Waited another 15 mins (gave them benefit of the doubt) and then went back again. Was told they could not find where we were sitting and that 1 of our dishes were ready. We took the one dish and was told the other dishes would come to the table. Some time later one of the two remaining dishes came out. We were told the last dish was coming however after waiting another 30mins it did not come. Went into the counter and joined the large amount of other disgruntled customers who had the same issue. Asked for a refund for the last dish and was told they would take down our name and number and they woulld call us to do the refund. Details were written down on a scrap piece of paper and put into the servers pocket. Still waiting for a call. Doubt we get one...... poor organisation of the kitchen. Seems orders were being given out to incorrect tables and the front of house staff were not able to manage and organise these orders...very dissapointed....great atmoshpere though..."

Ben Symington