Shingle Inn

Stopped for a coffee and ended up having brunch. Lovely recreated atmosphere of the original café. Fast and friendly service, nice food, the salad sandwich was freshly made. As a bonus, a quiet sanctuary from the busy city.

The shingle inn brings to mind thoughts of maritime England, if that’s the case this place is a sinking ship. I never leave reviews but wow just went to the Shingle inn city hall today and the service was terrible… it was borderline lunch and a show. We arrived at 12pm… it took nearly an hour for the staff to notice our orders hadn’t been taken. During this time there were multiple occasions where the servers completely disappeared from sight and all I could see were other customers looking around for some type of service. One lady actually left her seat and waited outside the kitchen because no one had come to her despite her best efforts. The atmosphere was extremely tense as it was very easy to overhear how annoyed the manager was at the young waitress obviously stuffing up multiple orders. After finally getting the waiters attention we ordered and the food arrived. Once we finished the meal our dirty plates sat in front of us for a good 30 minutes before the manager I presume asked “do you want anything else?” given the chaos that was happening around us I almost wanted to say no and just leave but my party wanted tea so we asked for the menu. The manager disappeared then reappeared with 1 menu there was 3 of us and he threw it down on the table… he was too busy and stressed out of his mind to place it down like a normal person I guess. We had now been at Shingle inn for over 2 hours and our dirty plates had STILL not been cleaned off the table so I decided to get up and do it myself. I cleaned up my own table then put the dirty plates on the empty one next to me. I was in plain sight of the servers but I guess they assumed I was a new hire. The tea and cakes we ordered were still no where to be seen. Finally the manager came back and asked what we had ordered… obviously the girl that took our order lost it in the 5 meters between our table and the counter. We spent over 3 hours seated on those horribly uncomfortable wooden planks and all we ordered was a meal and tea.

Went there today for lunch with a group of six friends. This is the third time we have been. The lady serving us was amazing - very thorough, hard working, and polite. Unfortunately, i can't recall her name, but she was on the lunch shift at midday on Saturday. She was also running the floor and cashier on her own. I had the beef burger with cheese and it was excellent. Thank you, we will be back.

Made an online booking for our high tea two weeks prior to our visit including dietary requirements for our party. We arrived on time but the table was not set for 5, only 3. We asked for another two glasses but were only given one. After an hour's wait we finally got our food which contained nuts, dairy and chocolate When we asked the young server what was happening, all he did was agree we got food we were unable to eat. When we spoke to the manager, he offered a ham and cheese sandwich - yeah not for $44pp! At this point we were very hungry so decided to just eat what we could. When I went to pay at the counter the manager told me I need to state dietary requirements so they can accommodate them, I pointed out our booking on the counter with the dietary requirements printed. The Manager then told me I need to call a day prior to my visit to remind them! - I'm not calling to remind them to actually do their job. This place used to be great for a high tea but unfortunately we will not be returning.

Stopped for coffees and cheesecake. As we were on a deadline to catch a City Hall tour, and they looked busy, we asked if we would be able to order and leave within 30 mins. Said they would try their best. We ordered two coffees and a New York cheesecake. We specifically asked for the coffees to be very hot. The coffees/cake arrived in time but we were disappointed to find both were barely lukewarm. Would have sent them back if we had the time. Very disappointed considering it cost almost $20 for the privilege.

Went for a special occasion for high tea Expecting high quality food and service, however this was not provided. Arrived at 10.30am to have a pre-booked High tea. On several occasions asked the staff how long it would be and was told that it was just being put together. 45 minutes later we finally received the food. Can't see why a pre-booked high tea wouldn't be ready at 10.30. Then much to our disappointment the food was certainly not to the standard to warrant the $44.00 per person cost. Service was terribly slow and even during our long wait we noticed at least 4 other groups come in and leave either because they had not had their order taken within 15 minutes or simply got tired of waiting for coffee or food or acknowledgement. There only appeared to be three junior staff working to manage a full restaurant and they were doing their best but could not cope. Not sure where any management or senior staff were to assist or provide support but it was definitely the blind leading the blind. Needless to say we won't be going back. Shingle Inn you need to support your staff, manage your business and get your act together.

Great iconic surroundings. However, the young lady taking our coffee order got it wrong after asking us twice and forgot the sweet that went with it. We were offered a booth directly across from the kitchen even though there were plenty of seating available. A very ordinary experience this time.

I love a good cafe that serves tea. My favourite pastime. Stumbled on this place when visiting the MoB, and got excited to check it out. Service was slow but I can accept that, maybe new staff, maybe short staffed. I asked for a pot of tea to share with my partner - is that an option? Yes, you can have a pot to share. Great. Well maybe she should have said, it’s only a one cup pot, served with two large mugs. So we get half a cup each. No milk or tea spoons provided? I had to go and ask for those. Sigh. Such a simple thing to get wrong. So no I won’t go back, I’ll have my strong tea at home and I won’t be disappointed with a lack of care.

What on earth has happened to the Shingle Inn?!! A once quaint and nostalgic experience has given way to a disastrous and frustrating joke. Being told on arrival that the wait for tea and lunch would be an hour isn’t great. But an hour later - having been served tea and no food - being advised to leave by the staff members was absolutely tragic. Don’t bother. Hopefully the city council terminates their lease and allows a proper cafe to open. It’s an embarrassment for Brisbane to have that farce in city hall. Dreadful.

Definitely not coming back and wouldn't recommend to anyone. It's extremely small and can't accommodate people with walkers. We thought we would take our clients to get a coffee and snack before we had our clock tower tour at 11:15. We were there an 1 hr before our tour. We ended up missing our tour because they didn't end up cooking our chips until 5mins prior to the tour. We ended up going home as the tour was booked out for another 2hrs Not enough staff, there was 1 person seating at least 8 ppl while serving at least another 5 ppl trading to pay.