Bar Rosella — Restaurant in Melbourne

Firstly, the restaurant cancelled our booking whilst we were on the way, tried to contact the restaurant without an answer at least 10 times, we arrived and they had our booking there but did not say anything about the cancellation, we thought there must've been an issue with the booking system despite the email stating 'the restaurant had cancelled the booking.' They seated us outside and then made a comment about how its tooooo busy. So then it made us wonder did they purposely cancel our reservation in hopes that we and others did not show up as they had overbooked it?

After being seated outside (asked for an inside table and didn’t mind waiting), it took almost 20 minutes to be given water, asking for still and receiving sparkling, not a massive deal but ok. Waited another 20 mins to receive still water.

We then ordered entrees and mains, along with everyone else around us, to which, I am 100% certain they didn’t process our order, after everyone around received entrees and mains, we were still waiting; noting that we did not order that many more dishes than others around us

I then asked to see how far our entrees are to which we were greeted by, 'you have only ordered 10 minutes ago', when it was actually 45 minutes.

We waited another 15 minutes for a piece of bread, before we decided this was ridiculous to wait over an hour for entree, so we decided to leave, on our way out the head chef was saying 'ohh your next your next' to which there was no truth to as he asked us what we ordered..

If you are looking for a place where you want to relax and enjoy good food, please reconsider as it feels like an uncoordinated circus in there.

I honestly wish, I took the sign of the cancelled reservation and avoided this place.

To the restaurant; please consider not overbooking your restaurant and then underdelivering, it does not create a good experience for your customers nor a good reputation...

WORST RESTAURANT IN MELBOURNE!! STAY AWAY

A Complete Disappointment If I could give zero stars, I would. We came to Bar Rosella for a special Mother’s Day lunch and had one of the worst dining experiences in Melbourne.

We were never informed upon booking that there would be a compulsory $100 per head set menu. No mention via phone, online, or confirmation — just sprung on us when we arrived. However, this is understandable if the quality of food is up to the price tag proposed.

After a mediocre entrée, we waited 45 minutes for our first dish: two tiny portions of “pasta all’assassina” for a table of six. Not only was the portion size ridiculous, but the dish was completely burnt and drowning in oil — nothing like the traditional recipe. We were already questioning things by this point.

It only got worse. We waited another hour for the mains, and when they finally arrived, the kitchen brought out two small fillets of fish to share between six people. Absolutely insulting.

To top it off, they had “run out” of the salad shown on the menu (which they never mentioned) and hoped we wouldn’t notice — not that it mattered, since their idea of salad was four uncut limp lettuce leaves without any dressing.

This place is a complete rip-off and a disgrace to Melbourne’s dining scene. Do yourself a favour — stay...

Needs work. Food was ok, service was very patchy. And in Melbourne, if you seat bookings outside, and they haven’t elected to sit outside, make sure you at least have heating. It was freezing! Food was pleasant enough, when we got it (our order was waylaid, it happens, but comping the drink we consumed while waiting the extra time would have been a suitable apology, as we then had to order more to drink with our meal). Falco bread, a decent salad, the carpaccio was good. Eggplant dish delicious. A little heavy on the agrodolce style dressings, the kitchen could ease up on the use of sweet dressings and sauces. But the dishes overall had integrity. The wine pour was less than standard. Please add a line to the glassware for transparency for staff (especially those with less experience) and punters alike. Added to this, the range of wine by the glass was very limited (only 5). This was even more surprising when we were told we couldn’t purchase a bottle of the wine we had ordered by the glass because they needed the stock for the glass pour. This seems odd, and not standard practice. A nice concept, some great style evident in the interior (linen napkins were gorgeous!), but overall the execution wasn’t there. Fledging days so will give it another go, and hopefully they’ll have...