Edinburgh Castle Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

You might think you are on a good thing when the menu advises, ‘Scan the QR code and the menu will pop up; if you don’t know how to scan the QR code just stare at it and hope for the best or come to the bar’; when there’s a brass plaque on the wall about the “1965 3KZ Xmas Appeal for sick kiddies and blind babies”; when there’s a dog’s bowl in the sunny beer garden. You are pretty sure you are on a good thing when the Specials board has cauliflower, quinoa and cucumber salad topped with fried carrot as a try-out for a future main menu; when two ladies are talking at a furious pace in Auslan and, when their pizza arrives, a dog pops up between them politely suggesting they share. You are certain you are on a good thing when the fluffy lamb koftas come with a salad that includes pomegranate and new season’s match-sticked apple with the green skin on, all full of tang and taste and vitamins; when the eggplant parma arrives coated with a serious crunch of well-browned crumbs balanced precariously on a pile proper chips, triple cooked to a golden crunch of hot, fluffy, resistant-carbohydrate potato. You are certain you are on a good thing because all of this suggests a head cook (aka The Chef) who can think. Edinburgh Castle has little time for frivolities such as lifting carpet that proudly shows its rubber backing, replacing steel-frame chairs snapped up in a Kennet-era school closure – now an in-vogue rust colour – or repainting the original 1854 beer garden timber much admired by diggers on their way to Central Victorian to pick up a bit of gold. It has lots of time for comestibles with style and flair and service with...

Our favourite pub in Brunsie. Very friendly staff, great kitchen, excellent tap selections (although a tad pricey), very efficient service and fantastic doggo friendly beer garden. And, they’re a music pub (good on youse, keep music live!). Plus, a mention of one Saturday evening we (two of us) dropped in there for dinner and a few drinks, when they had just re-opened after a lockdown a few months ago. They were absolutely full and extremely busy, when their computer crashed, losing orders for both the bar and kitchen (so not their fault, and a venue’s worst nightmare). After waiting a while and their usual very prompt service did not appear, we (along with half the patrons in the pub) enquired as to what the hold up was. The staff, whilst being hammered from all directions, were very calm and understanding, and the manager (bless her) got our drinks for us and arranged a refund for our whole order whilst having the kitchen quickly rustle up our dinner (which was delicious as well as complementary!). (Thankfully, computer glitches have not occurred in all the other occasions we have been there and service is...

So whoever’s at the Front of the bar today MONDAY 30/09/2025. (small dark haired slim build) who looked at me in shock and awe as I entered. I don’t know why you were so interested in grabbing my id then running off on your phone. You even came out to clean a cleaned and cleared table next to me which I thought was very odd. You stood for a good 3-5 minutes with deer in headlights and continued to apologise to my partner (whom didn’t get ID’d). I don’t know what 18 year olds you hang out with who have tattoos on there face of blades and tear drops but this has left me and my partner unsettled and currently trying to work out who you are and why I was “unsettling”. Even though there was a drug effected couple yelling. Please change your behaviour towards humans (even if there is a bias). Even when coming for more drinks you ran away to your phone after seeing me. Thanks felt really non welcoming !!! As a trans person this felt really really creepy I’m not sure what’s up? I thought this was a chill spot (been going for 10 years) but that was creepy as hell and...