Altona Sports Club — Restaurant in Melbourne

Usually leave here very happy but tonight was a very different experience compared to last visits. They've changed to table service which is fine but we were not told when we came in so when we went up to order we were brushed away and rudely told to go back to our table, but then waited another 20 minutes for someone to take our order AFTER one of us got up and asked someone to come, we did ask a waitress if someone could take our order as they walked past but she didn't respond so when we asked again (not rudely or loudly, we weren't upset of anything. We just felt left out because we weren't being served) the waitress snapped back "I heard you! And served another table and never came back 🥺 The scotch steak was cooked perfectly but the cut was super chewy and I would classify as a thick porterhouse and not a scotch fillet (I am a chef by trade so yes I know the difference incase the cooks read this and think I'm just a MasterChef watching Yobo), the paella was chock full of peas and was not heated well through or at temp so we didn't didn't eat it. The Christmas roast had super thin slices of Turkey which ended up being more dry than Turkey can be and was a small serving in general, and the game was more like bacon (the textures gave a real weird feel to the dish and felt nothing like a roast). The Toblerone dessert is amazing! Try it if you're there 🥰. The Stuckey date pudding was a great portion size but was less sticky and more Cakey and a super light drizzle of butterscotch sauce which is super disappointing. They may think it enough in volume but the cake absorbs it like a sponge so it destroys the dish. Again, we usually love coming here but for $35 scotch that was no where near worth it, a cold Paella (with seafood), rude staff with bad communication which takes away from the experience and then a staple dessert that fails to deliver, tonights birthday celebration for us was pretty disappointing. I hope this is only a once off and if they made changes to their usual to produce the above, I hope they reverse them. We'll visit again in hopes for a better experience but hopefully this isn't a sign of the future of the Altona Sports Club. Oh but 5 stars to the lady behind the bar (who also brings round the raffle tickets) she's always amazing and the front desk staff and herself are always polite, funny and courteous with a quick one liner every...

I'm being generous with my rating. I've been coming here since I was 5 years old for events and general socialising, my family are loyal members and I'm spoiled by tonight's service. A young waiter had been accusing our table of taking "missing meals" which we hadn't even heard of. My uncle had waited over an hour and a half for a steak and many of our own meals had gone missing too. We had pulled the young waiter aside to inform him of an insanely over salted meal, not asking for it to be re-made but just making it sure the chefs would be made aware - the man then rudely accused us of salting the meal ourselves and said if we had an issue to take it up with management... Which didn't make sense as messages for a chef should be given to a waiter. My uncle said "you haven't done anything wrong, if the chef or someone makes accusations I'll back you. " but the man heard "bash you" and started shouting at our tables, telling us that we were being rude and needed to leave - we tried to make sense of the situation, asking him to calm down but he continued to rudely interrupted us and tell my family members they were stealing and ruining the meals. We spoke to the restaurant manager and the man was sent home as he was troubled by the events but sadly we still had to wait for our missing meals which were delivered to us half an hour later - not a great 50th anniversary event. Won't be coming back myself, never had any issues with the past restaurant...

In short, don’t book the bistro if you have a large group and intend to decorate. Do book if you want excellent service, and a simple lunch for an intimate group by the water! 🥰

My Mum booked here for her 70th birthday celebration, for 30 guests. The staff were wonderful, with a special shout out to the bistro manager for the day, Angela, and one of the service staff, Rose, who were both amazing (also Stacey via phone!)! 🤩

The food was good, and the staff were incredibly helpful. However, it’s important to note that they don’t encourage or want people to decorate the space.

Angela did accomodate for some of the things we brought, and so we were able to create a special space for Mum to celebrate the milestone, albeit not what we had envisioned.

You need to remain seated in the bistro, as the service staff can’t deliver meals and other guests get crowded if you stand! This made it hard to mingle and catch up with others in the group (we were over 3 tables), which was disappointing.

They gave us everything we needed to cut and serve the cake, and stored the cake in the fridge until we were ready to light the candles. 💖 Service was quick, and the tables always had water on them.

All in all, the lunch went really well, and the friendly staff made up for the disappointment with decorating....