Payne's Rise Wines — Attraction in Melbourne

Short review:

Pros:

Lovely view Easy to find Lots of Parking, albeit a little sketchy.

Cons:

Food service Food quality Food Price

Long Review

I truly hope our experience was a one off rough day for the kitchen, and I fully imagine it was. It was such a lovely place, and though the staff seemed disinterested and tired, that's fair enough after a long day.

Having waited an hour after ordering for food, we asked politely in case our order had been lost; as we had been seated around 1:55 at the end of a rush. We were bluntly assured food was coming "soon". Luckily, that was the case. The first of 5 mains arrived almost exactly an hour after ordering at 2:56. Then another main 5min later, a third 15 min later, and the last two together at 3:24. Two of our group waited 89 minutes for lunch (with no warning from staff about timings nor apologies for the delay); and half an hour after the first meal arrived.

The salt in the wound however was good quality. The pizza bases were cardboardy, flavourless, doughy and dense. They genuinely had the flavour and texture of frozen pizzas from Coles. Toppings were sparce, the pumpkin was bland, the prosciutto was saltier than an anchovy. The balsamic glaze was dull. And the cheese on top was pregrated packet mix. At least the light handful of rocket on top was fresh.

I just wish we had had a better experience. $27 and 90 minutes for a pizza of that quality left more than one bad taste in our mouths.

Again, I cannot imagine this is the norm, but any communication from staff about the situation at the time would have been better than waiting 60min for us to ask if our order was lost, while watching tables seated after us leave. And then 2 people of our party having finished their small portions before lunch is served to the rest...

Two friends and I were undertaking the Lilydale to Warburton Rail Trail - and stopped off at Payne's Rise for lunch - which, once you get to the top of the very gruelling hill offers great views and an instant desire for a refreshing beverage and a scrumptious meal! We were not disappointed!

The wines were crisp and went down well. The pizzas - perfect and the dessert - delicious!

We loved the vibe of the restaurant - plenty of people celebrating various occasions and enjoying each others company - while sampling the wine and taking in the glorious view.

The only sour element to our visit was the rather unfriendly welcome we received (from a middle aged, female staff member with blonde hair) on arrival, there was no "hello or welcome" but a sharp, cold, hurried direction as to where to park our bikes and more or less made us (as bike riders) feel unwelcome and like we were inconvenient - yes we were in lycra and bright coloured clothes, but we all got changed into smart casual attire. Her attitude remained unpleasant when serving behind the bar a few moments later (thankfully she had a friendly co-worker who lightened the mood with her banter). I can only hope or assume that the staff member was having a bad day - and I get that, running a small business is tough and customers can be difficult.

That being said - our visit was great and the unsavoury start was put behind us and we loved the wine we drank and the food we were served! Recommend this winery to anyone travelling...

Very bad experience We brought my husband's parents (visiting from abroad) to the winery as we had heard good things about it. Sadly , the waitress was rude and talked down to us as if we were small children. Yes, we wanted a specific table because it had the best location and the best views. And no, no one stood on the table to put the umbrella up. That's misinformation. The waitress's comment was 'we are at the hour when we are putting the umbrellas down, not up'. It was 4pm and the winery's closing time was set to 5 pm. It felt that our arrival was of a huge inconvenience to the staff member and putting up an umbrella an hour before the closing time was too much of an extra work. The cheese platter was mediocre . It looked like some leftovers were thrown together and given to us. Definitely not worth $30. There were literally 6 crackers , 1 dried apricot, 3 pieces of cheese, fig jam and a few walnuts. Definitely not worth $30. Ah yes, they did give us 4 pcs of salami but it was not at 'no extra cost', they did not have pears for the cheeseboard so that was a substitute. It is also amusing that they claim they had served us food after the kitchen had closed as if anything on the cheeseboard had needed heavy duty cooking. Maybe instead of attacking customers in person and in reviews you actually trained your staff to provide better customer...