Barkly's Kitchen — Restaurant in Melbourne

Strolling down Sydney Road and feeling peckish? The Barkley Kitchen is the spot where your taste buds go on holiday and don’t want to come back. From the get-go, the staff were on a mission – to make us feel like royalty, or at least well-fed peasants. They went above and beyond with smiles that could probably fix global warming.

The menu? Wild. It’s like they let a food-loving mad scientist loose, and I mean that in the best way possible. We ordered two pasta-filled cob loaves (because if carbs in carbs isn’t a life choice, it should be) and a spicy Parma, because "spicy Parma" is my love language. Oh, and cocktails! Non-alcoholic for the kid and two fiery ones for me and the missus – because what’s better than pasta? Pasta with a buzz.

While waiting, we got to watch other people’s food parade past us, and trust me, the food looked so good we considered pretending it was ours. Then our feast arrived, and it was like being punched in the face by flavor – homely, hearty, and the kind of filling that makes you question whether you're hungry or just being greedy. Spoiler: we were greedy.

And then, the bell. Yes, there’s a bell on the door as you leave, and when you ring it, it’s basically telling the kitchen, “You’re a legend, and we love you.” Everyone was ringing it like it was a dinner bell at Hogwarts. Naturally, we rang it too – multiple times, because once wasn’t enough to express our joy. Long story short: come hungry, leave happy, and definitely ring the bell. It’s...

Horrible service experience. Don’t bother booking, they will give your table away and make you feel like it’s your fault. We (party of 2) had been looking forward to trying out this place for quite some time and had travelled over an hour, we had a booking for 8pm but parking was impossible to find (all parking in the area is only 30mins expect a few spots if you’re lucky to get one of those). It got to 8.05 when we called the restaurant to say we were still coming for our booking, apologised but was unable to find parking, they said yeah that’s ok see you soon. We arrived at about 8.10 to find our table had been given away. There were three empty tables that could have accommodated their giving our table away. We were then told to wait outside in the cold because it would “be good for us”, we declined and waited inside, to then have the who I assume was the manager say “we will give you this other table so you can order and start then once the people who are sitting on your table have finished we will move you to that table”. I clarified that he was saying they would move us from our table in the middle of our dinner to another identical table, he said yes. I acknowledge we were running a few minutes late but we did everything we could to be respectful of the restaurant to let them know and was less than 15mins late, to then be treated like this was really disappointing, I have never walked out of a restaurant because of bad service before but this was...

I went there today on my own without a booking. The lady taking orders pointed me to the counter where the guy behind the counter told me the last table was taken and all the tables inside and out were booked and he can only help with take aways.

I chose takeaway and I was asked by the lady at the front to wait outside. The tone was insulting and the manner was rude. The next couple that came right after me who also did NOT have a booking were immediately given one of the tables outside.

I was surprised and did not understand why I was not given a table, is it racism, or is it just plain meanness?

There was still another table outside, but I had to wait standing for twenty minutes for the food.

Anyway I told the guy behind the counter that it was not cool that I was not given a table. And he straight away said they had a booking. I was then like, I heard them very clearly that they did not have a booking. And he quickly changed his answer to there was a cancellation. I did not want to continue the argument and left saying I would write a review.

When I got home, I had gotten the wrong order. When I called, he agreed to replace the order and deliver it. And he quickly tried to make me come there and get it but I refused.

The food was good but I have never been treated like this before in Australia. This place has the rudest waiting lady and the guy behind the counter was diplomatically mean . Overall I feel very insulted and the visit...