Arbory Bar & Eatery — Restaurant in Melbourne

This is by far, the best idea in Melbourne I have seen in a little while. What’s better than trying to catch up with a couple of people for a drink or a bite just before you all head home from the city’s most central location? Absolutely nothing.

Location

On the banks of the Yarra River and literally outside Flinders Street station, Arbory will soon become synonymous amongst the working crowd of Melbourne as the place to visit. The brilliant open air venue makes it a wonderful addition to the city and mixes an outdoor rooftop venue with a good bar vibe. During summer, this place is always packed either with office folk, tourists or Christmas parties. Winter, it’s a little quiet though the weeknights light up with their warm outdoor heaters and a great selection of bites.

Besides, this is now, quintessential Melbourne and was definitely a stop over for The Domestic Traveller Tours! Food

Look, I’ll be honest – there is only one meal that is worth coming to check out over here. And it has to be the Southern Fried Chicken Burger. Your challenge is to eat it whilst it is still warm before you finish taking all the photos.

The brioche bun is delicious and exactly coated in the right amount of butter. But the chicken. Oh Lawdy Lawd. That chicken. The crunch, the whole mouthed feeling. I tell you one thing, it’s over too soon. Too damn soon. Why are you so good?

The other thing I can recommend from here (and purely for the novelty) is to get the Espresso Martini which is on tap. It’s not the best Espresso Martini (more on where the best one is located soon) but for the pure novelty of seeing an espresso martini being poured from a tap… it’s worth it.

1.75/2.0

Cost

The burger came in at a wonderful $16. The espresso martini at $20. For the review, I’m going to include both rather than just the meal.

0.75/1.0

Ambiance

Having a DJ pumping tunes on a Friday night, or some slow music during the week – this place is great. Besides, there is nothing like sitting and watching the world go by on a stool whilst enjoying a meal, a drink and a good conversation or two. The only challenge is ordering drinks when the bar is packed. You got to just be patient, and let the people that have been waiting there the longest go in.

0.75/1.0

Service

The service as you’d expect, fluctuates when there are more customers but not in the direction you are thinking. The more customers they have, the faster and more efficient they become. Don’t ask me why or how, but I think it works on a business perspective. During the slow times, you want the perception of slow so you can enjoy yourself but during the rush, you want the meals to be...

The website doesn’t do this place justice, the way it is laid out is excellent and the atmosphere with the Yarra river right there is amazing. The staff are on another level simply because they are attentive and seem happy doing their job, a special mention to James at the bar and Michelle on the floor. And that’s where the good vibes stop, the service and atmosphere are worth more than 5 stars, the food dished up warrants -5 stars. 6 people in our group and all of us were disappointed, the prices are what we expected considering the location…paying for a good meal is never an issue, unfortunately it’s an issue today. We started with 4 shared entrees on the table, they were quite ok but nothing special. I ordered the double cheeseburger which arrived with 2 beef patties that were less than half the size of the bun they were deposited in..with cheese and whatever else, though tasty I was eating more bread than anything else. I had also ordered a lobster roll with a view to cutting it up and sharing, this blatant rip off is what has prompted this review….it was a toasted roll with the equivalent of about half the contents of the smallest can of tuna available(for volume reference)of supposedly lobster drowned in mayonnaise spooned along the top of the roll. When I opened the roll it was empty, nothing other than butter….the amount of seafood was at best a tablespoon in volume for the price of $35.00! I would have felt less insulted had the chef simply came out and lifted my wallet, I have looked at images of their lobster rolls on the website…what was served up today was nothing even remotely close to the various photos. It gave me the irrits enough to advise the cooking staff they should remove the lobster roll from their menu because it’s non existent and they should be ashamed of themselves for trying it on. As a disclaimer, I have no problem paying for anything and if they were asking $50.00 for a real lobster roll I would pay provided I got what I paid for….what was passed off today as a lobster roll was worth $5.00 at the most and that’s only to cover the roll and the mayo…. and it tasted exactly like that, a mayo buttered roll…. It’s either a blatant rip off or clueless cooking staff, either way the atmosphere, great bar and floor staff aren’t enough to ever get more...

I am writing to lodge a formal complaint and demanding FULL REFUND about the absolutely disgraceful experience I had during my recent booking at Arbory Afloat for my birthday. What should have been a happy, memorable evening was instead ruined entirely due to your staff’s sheer incompetence, appalling service, and total lack of basic hospitality standards.

From the moment we sat down, it was clear that no one cared about our booking or our experience. The simplest task — pouring three glasses of wine — turned into a humiliating ordeal where I had to go and ask not once, not twice, but five separate times before they were finally served. That is beyond unacceptable.

Then came the embarrassment of requesting just one extra chair. My guest was left standing for half an hour before it was finally brought over, as though we were asking for something unreasonable rather than the bare minimum of seating for a booked table.

The delays with food were even worse. Orders took so long to arrive that guests began leaving. Eventually, I had to cancel my last order altogether because by that point, half of my guests had already walked out due to the shocking lack of service.

To make matters worse, we never even received half of the food we ordered, yet I have been charged an outrageous amount as if everything was served in full. I cannot understand how this could possibly be justified.

You single-handedly ruined my birthday. Your staff’s inattention, the endless delays, and the complete disregard for our comfort and enjoyment made the entire evening a disaster.

I am demanding a full refund for this booking. I will not accept anything less, given the appalling treatment we received, the fact that what I paid for was never delivered, and the additional insult of being overcharged for food that never arrived.

I expect a prompt response to the email I sent and confirmation that my refund is being processed...