Bhoj Docklands
54 New Quay Promenade
Docklands VIC 3008
Phone (03) 9600 0884
Fax (03) 9600 0865

As you can see, food is my primary source of well being. I love food, especially Indian and Italian which make up all of my restaurant reviews thus far. I promise I will venture outside these realms more often in the future.

I organized a wedding lunch at Bhoj Docklands and found the whole experience quite shocking for a restaurant situated in a prestigious location. It looks pretty good from the outside though, which is deceptive to the level of the customer service you receive.

The pre-service
I visited the place a couple of weeks before the day to suss it out. I noticed them a few times during my visit to the Melbourne Docklands, so decided to give them a try. I went with the $38.50 p/p banquet deal. The guy who explained the whole deal to me, didn’t make sense from the outset. I avoided this warning sign, and decided to go ahead with the booking. Silly me!

The service
What is it with Indian restaurants and not offering drinks when asked! The water and soft drinks came only after repeatedly asking for it. We were pretty much the only people in the restaurant at the time, and despite this - service times were very slow. I was quite disappointed with the whole experience. The waiter was disinterested during the entire lunch, and placed the dishes without explaining what they were. Somehow the minimum number of people for the banquet was changed on the day, so I ended up paying extra money (this is always bad news!). I just gave up trying to explain what deal he offered me a couple of weeks ago, and paid my sum and got out of there.

The food
To be fair, the food was not that bad. It was eatable, and well presented. So I have to give positive feedback for the food. It was plentiful, and enough for all of us. The deserts were a bit odd, gulab jamun with icecream - who has that! He wouldn’t serve gulab jamun by itself, despite it being two separate items. So what is the harm of not putting the icecream on top of the gulab jamun.

The restaurant
It is neatly maintained, and furniture is quite nice. The outlook of it all is great, fitting in with the other restaurants in Docklands. This is what attracts people. I saw the reviews on their website, and I notice the most recent has been in 2005. That says something about management of the restaurant recently. Too bad I missed those days of Bhoj “rejecting the cliches” according to one review.

Inside tips
* Ask them about validating your parking vouchers. If you park in selected areas, there is a discount. I missed out unfortunately.

Suggestions
* The main lacking point is the customer service. I am sure they employ students, who couldn’t care less about maintaining customer service. Educate your staff guys, and perhaps then there will be a more recent review which is positive.

Rating - 4/10 (being generous here)
When you pay several hundred dollars for a banquet, and get the level of service I got that day, in a supposedly famous Melbourne restaurant - something is terribly wrong. I see that others on Eatability.com.au agree with this. I guess I won’t be visiting the Templestowe restaurant in a hurry judging from the Docklands experience.