Herd — Restaurant in Melbourne

We booked a dinner for 6 at Herd Bar & Grill in Healsville for my husband’s birthday (17 June 2025) while we were staying in the town for a few days. I must say this is the most incompetent restaurant I have ever been - at the level of both support staff and the chef. When we first arrived, the staff couldn’t find our booking, instead of confirming more details with us and trying to sort this out, they read out all other people’s bookings on the list and said to us:”that’s it”. After we repeated our booking, they went through the list again and found it eventually. That was a very bizarre experience. After we sat down, the staff boasted the chef of the day being someone who had a restaurant in the city for 7 years, yet when it came to both eye fillet dishes we ordered in medium (and it cost $49 each), it was cooked in less than rare, with fresh blood seeping out of the meat. We can’t help but question whether this impressive chef was really capable of determining the doneness of a piece of steak. The menu has limited selection compared to other Italian restaurants, maybe that was intentional. The burgers we ordered were mediocre. Having said that, the staff were generally very friendly and the place was quiet and cosy. So if you want a nice place to chat with friends over some wine but don’t mind eating overpriced food (or raw beef) or having things mixed up, then it will be a good choice.

Addressing the owner's response on 18 June 2025:

Thank you for your response to my review. It's truly shocking to see instead of taking customer feedback on board and investigating, the Herd team has not spent a second looking into themselves, and instead accusing us travelling all the way to Healsville and booking a family birthday dinner with Herd just so we could turn up and look for trouble. This is truly upsetting. My review recognised the positive experience we had with the atmosphere and friendliness of staff who served our food and gave a 4-star for those aspects. However, your response doesn't show the "commitment" you advertised - customer experience there is one thing, your attack and accusation on your diners is quite another. You mentioned another guest who dined at the same night gave a glowing 5-star review and thought the steak was cooked perfectly - that is not relevant to our experience. As far as I can see, the restaurant is not run on a voting system with its diners. If I didn't clearly communicate my name for our booking at first (which is not an offence itself), I would expect to be asked "sorry what was the name of the booking again?". But I didn't hear this question, none of our group members have heard this question being asked. This was the most unhelpful and unprofessional and we felt just that. Instead of apologizing for not being able to locate our booking, here I was accused of being rude and arrogant, unnecessarily. Your statement skipped the details of how the staff unprofessionally handled the situation when the booking wasn't initially found. We were not asked on "multiple occations" whether we were happy with our meals, except for one of our group members who had a burger dish No other members were asked at the table or when settling the bill. So your statement is not fact checked. My reference to the restaurant being Italian or not and my lack of attention to the venue I was reviewing are not relevant. My attention as a diner at any type of restaurant is solely on the food itself. The standard of how steak should be cooked at each level remains the same, regardless of what type of cuisine. The price of the steak: to clarify, I believe $49 for the eye fillet dish was in fact a bargain, but only if it was cooked to perfection as medium per our order. On the other hand I wouldn't pay $1 for a piece of nearly raw steak when it was supposed to be in medium. As such it was an overpriced meal. Attempt to discredit head chef: I don't pay attention to the titles/qualification/awards of the chef on paper, the food speaks itself. We ordered 2 eye fillets dishes and they...

Thank to the young gentleman who was so accomodating for my toddler twins, we had a massive day and came in ravenous thinking it was a upmarket “meaty” GRILL…. That went out the door with “Thai fusion”….

I though blow it we’ve walked 12 plus kms we are hungry we are here… meal cost $350 for 2 adults 2 kids.

Singapore sling was missing its citrusy/bitter kick but instead was like drinking sugar water. I had 1/4 before noting it to our waiter. It was not taken away or comp’ed and in the end I ordered a expression martini to go with the mains…. The meal dribbled out. Thank you for ensuring the children had their meal as quickly as possible… the beef paddy had a lovely charred flavour for the kids cheese burger however there was no sauce and as a burger it was dead dry. Though the are children a salad would be nice option with the chips so their meal isn’t beige.

I wanted to taste as much as possible but found the beatle leaf and ma hor with a very similar flavour profile. The salmon and olives grazers would have benefited from a pinch of flaked salt. The salt from the roe (salmon) and white anchovy just not enough.

And this is where my meal went down hill. The crab salad main upon first bite was pleasant until the chilli 🌶️ hit and it wasn’t a warmth, it wasn’t even hot it was aggravating. I’ve had my ex remove the chilies only to find it buried through out the entire meal making that inedible. I love a good heat but if I’m coughing/choking on a meal ITS TOO MUCH. Again mention it to the waiter, mention it to the second waiter… nothing it taken away… I leave the dish after the first 2 bites. I start at the twice cooked duck … and I’m still having issues with the heat in my mouth intensifying, I say to my ex I’m not enjoying it and I’m having to drink my children’s milkshakes… again waiter comes past again I say “look the chilli is also the ENTIRE BOTTOM OF THE DUCK BOWL” …. His response is “Thais like it hot” I say we came for MEAT/stake/surf and turf not a Thai menu… on top of that this chills is verging on inedible and there no warning on the menu” Again nothing was taken away no compensation.

My ex ate as much as he could to not waste a $350 plus dollar meal.

While I sucked on half a litre of milkshake and have left asking for a takeaway coffee cup of ice and a sore stomach. I started off smiling as I came into the restaurant I am now unable to drive...

Underwhelming based on the positioning this restaurant had given itself on the internet as really upmarket. By the fitout, the bar, the pricing, the minimalist menu. I heard that they do an amazing duck dish and the undertone was beautiful Thai cuisine. You look at the decor and it’s trying to be Australian bush but you can’t look at the back mural without wondering why there is an air conditioning unit in the middle of the bush? Where is the Thai influence in all of that. The closest on the menu was Yellow Thai Chicken Curry, which I could make at home. Advertised opening time set as 4pm, we went in at 4:15pm. Once we got into the bar area we were told that they didn’t start cooking until 5pm and all they could offer was olives or cashews while you wait 45 minutes. A side-plate of slightly warmed good Sicilian olives with a pit bowl for $10? No olive oil, no sourdough, no other options. Then at 4:50pm the waiter decides to get ahead and take our order, given that there was only another family and us in the restaurant! Not really reading the room. We order the steak, which he knew when we walked in at 4:15pm, only to say that they would then take the steak out of the fridge to come to room temperature. The charcoal coming to temperature was going to take slightly longer than the steak but that wasn’t a consideration from the start? Disappointing that they wouldn’t know that if I did. Lucky for them we ordered blue and medium rare but it still didn’t get to our table until 5:30pm. It came out without any seasoning. No salt or pepper on the table. We had to ask for the salt! The fries were quite blond. Portion sizing was good. We were all eaten, paid and walking out the door by 6pm. The steak was good quality and cooked just a touch further but the wait and the decor killed it. The bar had a bigger offering. I don’t get what they are trying to tell the consumer? I was confused if it’s a swanky bar or a good restaurant? Their menu, decor or especially both Front-of-House and Back-of-House service did not ingratiate themselves on me to ever want to come back! I really wanted to talk them up because the main meal was good (not great). Such a pity. $156 with no...