Ascot Food + Wine — Restaurant in Melbourne

Went to Ascot Food and Wine on Saturday 12 Feb for a 6pm booking. Starts off bad when they send you a text message at 1:31pm saying they reserve the right to cancel our booking if we don't call to confirm the booking that we made online. Fine - we called to confirm, but a bit off-putting. Can't they call us?? We arrived at 6pm and were shown to our table. We asked for still water on being seated and it didn't come. We also weren't given a drinks menu. 10 minutes later and we still didn't have a drinks menu or our water, we summoned a waiter and asked again for still water and a drinks menu. After promptly being given a drinks menu, we ordered an Espresso Martini and Pale Ale, which took about 20 minutes to arrive and we had to remind a waiter again about them in the meantime. At 6:30pm we ordered our Chicken Kiev and Fillet Mignon steak, which took 30 minutes to arrive. The steak was cooked rare as ordered, but it was literally steak on a plate with sauce in a cup. That's it. And for rare steak, it took forever! You don't get much for $46! The Chicken Kiev was dry, overcooked and no oozing garlic butter. And that's what you get for $37! To cap it off, the couple next to us knew a waiter, so they kept receiving dishes 'on the house' while we were still waiting for food we had to pay for! It really rubbed a poor experience in. To even further cap it off, once we'd eaten our overrated and overcooked food, we had to leave as soon as we could because the vinyl seating was so hot and sticky that we couldn't stand it anymore. As if for the whole experience we didn't feel like second class citizens here, our Good Food voucher was rejected at the register, despite this restaurant being listed on the Good Food guide. No apology received, just a 'yeah those normally don't go through - not sure why we're listed as taking it'. I don't know - maybe you should get yourself removed from the guide to prevent making customers irate? Also if you plan on going, note the 10% weekend surcharge that is not disclosed until you're at the register. This restaurant has NO redeeming features and is grossly overrated. I don't get the appeal - maybe they all knew the waiters and...

This restaurant has been on my list for quite some time and I was so glad I finally visited!

Ascot food and wine is an intimate bistro style restaurant with a menu designed with such taste! The restaurant itself features gorgeous dark walls, booths and screams cozy (perfect for a cold wintery Melbourne night). It is definitely a perfect spot to dine with family and friends but also oozes romance for a special date night!

The food we had was sooo delicious!

🫶🏼 Foccacia with Stracciatella and Mortadella 💖 Frutti Di Mare 👏🏼 Gippsland Grass Fed Fillet Mignon with peppercorn sauce 🤌🏼 Sides: Burnt Carrots with smoked Eggplant and Honey Vinegar, Broccolini with fermented chilli, green garlic and blanched almonds and fries of course! 🤍 Desserts: Tiramisu and Salted Caramel Viennetta

My favourite of the night was the frutti di mare which was seriously the bestttt seafood pasta I have ever eaten- I will go back just to eat this all over again 😍. The stracciatella paired with the fresh focaccia was beautiful! The burnt carrots are a must as well as the broccolini! The tiramisu was also an 11/10 🤌🏼

The service we received was so warm and welcoming, we had ample time to enjoy our meal and a good gap between entree and main. The only downside was it was difficult to get the attention of wait staff after we had finished our mains in order to order dessert but that can absolutely be forgiven!

I cannot wait to revisit this gem and I’m so happy it is so close to home for...

Ascot Food Store has been around for years, it was one of the first brunch spots I ever visited. However I still think it’s abit of hidden gem that many haven’t yet visited. Open from brunch right through to dinner, they offer a truely unique bistro experience, it has really grown from a cafe into a more sophisticated neighbourhood wine bar.

The menu I would probably describe as modern European, a small menu with few classics reimagined and executed impeccably. Everything is on the more expensive side but you absolutely are getting top quality and a generous serve.

The dish I didn’t think twice about ordering was the Ricotta Tortellini with King Prawns. I saw it on their Instagram and just had to have it. Let me tell you I think this was probably dish of the year for me. I’ve been thinking about it for weeks since I had it, I pray it never leaves the menu! It was so flavourful with the fermented chilli butter sauce and the pasta cooked Al Dente.

Every dish was perfection! The Steak was massive, perfectly cooked and rendered. I loved the broccoli so much with the chilli and peanuts I would’ve enjoyed it as a main, as were the carrots with the dip. Don’t skip dessert, they have a few delicious options.

The drinks were great and the service was so kind and attentive. I can’t wait to come back and try more dishes, I would say this is now one of my favourite restaurants....