The Sands Tavern - Frankston

There was about a dozen of us meeting to farewell a friend from work. We all had a good time, the meals were nice and a similar variety to the RSL. I have to say it was like reading the RSL menu. For visitors to Australia the RSL is the Returned serviceman League, (great venues, I might add) The Sands was also like walking back in time. It was old and devoid of colour. The furniture was old and the carpet was outdated. The venue needs a complete refurbishment unfortunately. I saw a child come from the playground and the male who helped him seemed totally disinterested as if the child was taking up his precious time. They did make a mistake on our order, a serving for 2 of garlic bread turned into 2 serves, possibly our fault though. It's not an exciting place but the meals are nice.

I first came here 12 months ago while house sitting for my daughter. The older lady in charge of seating and taking food orders was unfriendly then. Fast forward 12 months to today. Took my son for lunch, same staff, just as unfriendly as last year. Wouldn't smile, very curt, just downright unfriendly. Young barmaid with blond hair also just as unfriendly. I bought a bottle of Diet Coke. She wouldn't even offer me a glass to pour it in. The only redeeming feature was the slow cooked pork belly I ordered, though small at $24.00 it was tender. My son had salt and pepper squid and said that was not bad. I work in hospitality so am very aware of how important friendliness is. I smiled at these two ladies today, was courteous with please and thank you, but to no avail. Maybe a large hotel like this doesn't care about my comments, but I don't like being treated like this. Was it because I am not a regular and they know this? Who knows.

My hubby brought me here for my birthday dinner and he sure regretted it. The food was truly bad (very overcooked and bland). The buffalo wings were simply bland chicken wings with Barbecue sauce ! The kids menu looked amazing for our 1 year old boy menu but it was simply bland food equally as bad as the adult food. The only thing that was Amazon here was the friendly customer service other than that will not be returning.

What more can be said. I had the Chicken Wellington and it was served with a warm dough which had to be peeled away. Stringy Beans and overcooked veg. Completely tasteless as well. Mum had a steak served cold and thinner than 1cm. Absolute rubbish.

Sands is offering half-price lunch menu items to Seniors card holders throughout October. Our meals were great value and tasted great. OK it's a pub, but the servers are really friendly, nothing too much trouble, and a great atmosphere.