Bells Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

After a recent disappointing local parma experience I revisited the parma experts to restore my faith in this delicious dish. It has never failed to deliver here and I’m happy to report today was no exception. That cheese to sauce and chicken ratio is just perfection and the chips are utterly delightful, thoroughly recommend

Most recent Working in the area for five years has meant that despite the fact we are now working from home a lot of my life is now geared around this suburb (hairdresser, acupuncturist, facialist etc) so I continue to spend a bit of time in the area and lucky enough most of my favourite dining haunts are still open.

Naturally I stuck with the parma for lunch today (why mess with a winning formula), you can see several photos of different occasions and it’s consistently huge, so definitely good value for money and incredibly filling

Latest We were at Bells last week for a Christmas lunch and experienced one extremely helpful and one quite rude waiter who behaved as though serving us was a huge inconvenience to him. We had the lunch specials today which essentially meant the same huge parma I always order at an even cheaper price. This was amazing value (I assume they don’t do it Friday’s, this was a Thursday) and we had a great leisurely lunch in the sun

Recent We went to the Bell’s for a farewell lunch week and it remains as delicious as ever. We were sitting inside and as such received table service for the first time and they still allowed us to pay at the bar after which was easier with such a big group. Unfortunately our booking had been misplaced but there was no issue with seating us. I honestly think it’s the yummiest Parma in Melbourne and it’s so damn sizeable I even shared it one time (when I was attempting to diet) and it’s more than sufficient

Further update 18 months since my last review and while I’ve been eating there regularly outside or downstairs today I was in the upstairs bar which has had a whopping renovation and is now modern and trendy AF. I am pretty freaking impressed that I can now eat the best parma ever in a nice environment. Very well done!

Update I actually love food more than people. So when my colleagues suggest lunch at BH I'm always in. Working nearby the Bells it's a fairly regular port of call as it's got a decent rooftop, a lovely courtyard and everyone's pub favourite the humble parma.

Original review I've literally never ordered anything other than the Parma here (never goes out of style) but If you don't want your classic Melbournian dish you can go to Greece with saganaki, China with steamed dumplings or Japan with ponzu gyouza (talk about a versatile menu). It's no gastro pub and you will find a sports bar section with some pokies thrown in for good measure but you can avoid these areas and have a pretty...

Revisited after 11 months: Improved! Now 4 star instead of 3. A quiet Tuesday for dinner. Had a really good traditional style Parma, tender, moist and a great crunchy crumb and a tasty Tomato and grilled cheese topping. Excellent Chips and a nice little salad accompanying. Only negative, it could have had a little more of the Tomato topping under the cheese. Our group of 10 had steaks, grilled Barramundi, Lamb salad and Bangers. Everything was tasty and fresh with generous serves. A couple of the steaks were not cooked as requested. One was way overdone, one way under. Toilets this time were clean and fresh with everything working. Ambience was OK although the background music was a bit loud making conversation difficult.

Original 3 star review: Used to be a regular at Bells 30 years ago when I worked around the corner. It was an elegant stylish pub with great food. First time back in many years and it's a bit of a let down. Food, a Porterhouse was OK, ordered as Medium and was Medium/Well done. Chips and Salad with it were great, although a bit stingy. People who had Parmas said they were also OK, but not great. Service was OK if a bit slow on a quiet Monday for our group of 12 or so. Toilets were a real let down. The men's stank of stsle urine, was fairly grotty and the washroom looked like someone had attacked the walls with a sledgehammer. Either that or the place is under renovation, although I didn't see the customary signs explaining that. All in all I was quite disappointed as Bells used to be a really nice place...

Apart from the pub's money grab, this day was a complete failure!

To pay a $50 entry fee for AFL GF Day with 1x meal and 3x beers included you would at least expect your beer to be poured in a glass, not plastic. I am also following up further action in relation to my ticket, the conditions and what I allege is misleading. #poorform

What pub serves beer in plastic?? 👎

However, if you buy a glass or wine or bottled beer then it will be in glass, makes sense. 😆

Understandable on NYE, but not one of Australia's biggest sporting event days and a chance to showcase your venue.

Bar 20 people deep, 1 person serving. Seriously, who is this Publican?! #noidea 🤔

I ended up buying Pure Blonde bottles, it had a rusty taste, these had clearly sat out in the sun for a prolonged period of time or are out of date. This is what the beer tastes like on Christmas Island when they sit on the ship for a month during transport. #expublican

I ordered 2 meals together. The lukewarm parma with dry chips & mushy salad (see picture, pictures don't lie)(sitting under the heat) came out within 3 minutes of ordering, burger came out 25 minutes later. #notfresh

👑 the worst pub to watch an AFL GF at in Melbourne due to average service, poor food quality, beers in plastic and running out of beers on tap.

I could not be more critical of a venue.

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