On the evening of 13th September, having asked the owner of Buck's Bakery Café to cater for our…read moredinner dance, I was surprised when entering the venue at the Church Hall in Camperdown to note that the caterer was not present in the venue, not a sign of cooking any where. Tables unset. By 6.00 pm I was contemplating a call to the local fast food places as well as Colac to try and cover the possibility that we would be waiting a long time for the food to be cooked, believe me when I say I wished I had followed that inclination.
When the food finally arrived pre cooked, it took some time to get the first course on the tables, the soup was cool, and not "cool man" nearly cold. The next course lamb, beef or chicken, lamb was grisly, chicken almost cold and the beef extremely tough, served with sweet potato mostly uncooked, and frozen vegetables mixed with cabbage, almost palatable. The dessert was cakes served with custard.
During the course of the evening the specialty dish of haggis was supposed to be heated through by the catering staff, as I have said the caterer was not present at the venue when I arrived at 6.00pm, the haggis was still in the fridge, not on the stove as you would suppose at this time, taking a minimum of 1.5 hours to heat through, I had to place this on to heat, and the caterer's reaction to my comment that the "haggis had not been placed on the stove till I got there" - "What do you want me to do about it" - the potato and turnips were served with the haggis and by the time it got to the table mostly cold and uneaten.
For the most part the patrons were totally unimpressed by the service, the food coming out two or three plates at a time, and complaints still ringing in my ears the request from the staff that we provide a cheque on the completion o f the evening, when this was given, the caterer and staff disappeared, leaving the ovens still on, gravy all over the floor, and in the cooking appliances, tables uncleared and glasses, cups and cooking utensils unwashed.
The Uniting Church has a large more than adequate kitchen with modern appliances, it was clean, prior to the caterer arriving, not the case after his departure.
Present on the night were members of the local council, local and out of town volunteer organisations, as well as out of town patrons, my point is these people paid for a service did they get this.........NO!
