Arnold's — Restaurant in Melbourne

My partner and I visited Arnold’s for the second time last night and were highly disappointed.

Our first visit was on their opening night, which took place at Manze’s in North Melbourne. The service was poor, and the menu felt disjointed with lots of different cuisines. We had the set menu, which ended with a flan that tasted like fish and was presented like cat food. We left hungry and ended up getting kebabs after. However, since it was their first night—and given the last-minute change in location—we decided not to leave a bad review and instead give them another chance. With all the glowing reviews since, plus their feature on Broadsheet and consistently busy appearance, we assumed our experience was a one-off.

Unfortunately, last night was another massive letdown.

The restaurant’s new space is beautiful, and we were seated in the courtyard, which was very pretty. However, upon arrival, we were told there was an issue with our table and that we’d need to be moved shortly. From there, we were forgotten about for over 30 minutes, struggling to get staffs attention to order food and drinks. When we were finally moved, we then placed our first drink orders. The new table had uncomfortable garden furniture with no cushions, and frustratingly, the better and bigger table we’d been moved from seated 2 people when we were a group of 4.

Over the course of two hours, we were served only five small plates—not by choice but due to the service. One dish never arrived because the waitress forgot, and one of our drinks also never showed up. Our glasses were empty for most of the night, again not by choice but due to inattentive staff. The portions were tiny, despite the waitress assuring us we had ordered enough. We paid $44 for six bite-sized pieces of lamb, and all the food was cold when it arrived.

What made it worse was that the restaurant wasn’t even particularly busy—staff were standing around chatting in the kitchen when we decided the leave because the waitress never returned. We might have ordered more drinks or dessert, but the service was so frustrating that we gave up. The final bill was shockingly high for what we received, and even then, it was incorrect.

We also went and got pizza after this meal as we left still hungry again. After two disappointing visits, I don’t think I’ll be returning which is such a pity because we were so excited when they moved into...

ORDERED: 🌯 Lamb Birria spring roll ($7.50pp) 🐟 Flathead crudo, avocado salsa, green almond ($28.00)

🐠 Roasted kingfish 'Al Pastor' ($32.00) 🐷 Otway pork loin, 'Ajo Blanco', xni-pic salsa ($36.00) 🥔 Kipfler potatoes & jalapeno dip ($12.00)

🥧 Chocolate & Passila tart ($16.00)

It was $43.44pp here, which included 1 drink!

REVIEW: Arnolds Kensington is worth visiting. ✔ Interesting ingredients. We met a cucumber-tomato love child in the Flathead crudo dish, which was so fun! ✔ The kipfler potatoes were incredibly crispy. Worth ordering. ✔ Kingfish had an amazing consistency which, if you didn't tell me - I would've guessed it was chicken to my novice tastebuds. It held together so well. ✔ Chocolate & Passila tart was amazing. Not overly sweet and the perfect way to finish our meal!

I question whether the pork loin was meant to be served at room temperature (instead of hot). I personally would've preferred hot, but unsure if the temp was the kitchen's intention! 🤔

Service was great. We had a solid explanation of the dishes as it came to our table, a quick run down of what to expect when we tasted certain ingredients which really upped our understanding (and our appreciation). 🔝⬆

Although it's in a quiet suburb of Kensington, there were still a healthy stream of people coming in on Sunday lunch. We booked anyway - as...

Really wanted to like this place and have a new neighbourhood spot but I was very disappointed during our first visit this week. We sat in the outside area in the back which was nice, but the tables aren't the right fit. If you're sitting on the bench you can't fit your legs under the table.

Food was ok, didn't leave a lasting impact and was a bit overpriced. It was the service that let it down the most. Once seated, no one came for food or drinks orders for 20 mins. Throughout the evening service was very slow so people were sitting with empty glasses for a long time and at least one drink order was completely forgotten. The time between courses was incredibly long. We noticed that a small plate hadn't come out at all once we got to the end of the meal and the server went to check about this - she never came back to confirm, acknowledge or apologise.

Insult to injury was when we walked inside to pay up and the staff were chatting away (so why had we been getting no service?). And then the bill was incorrect.

The space has potential but I wouldn't risk trying Arnold's again considering Kensington and Flemington have plenty of...