Hobson's Bay Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

I recently had my birthday at the Hobson’s Bay hotel ‘rooftop’ where I was advised at the time when booking the venue that we would have the entire rooftop from 12-4, minus the corner part located around the other side of the rooftop. The general public would then come up afterwards and have free range. We were told that the place would be having a mini renovation so would look somewhat different on the day, but in a good way. On the day of my birthday we were told that we had a quarter of the rooftop and that the general public would have access to the rooftop. I had approx 55 guests coming. Obviously a little surprised by the last minute changes. The venue looked exactly the same too, I didn’t mind it already but was expecting something else considering what was told. Cobwebs/ dead dragonfly’s and spiders stuck in the window ceils and tables. We cleaned this ourselves as the bar staff that were starting had other jobs to do. By the end of the day, the birthday boy.. me, was refused service due to having one too many drinks already. I was surprised to hear this as I had not drank a lot and past myself during the day given that the spotlight was on me and I had family and friends present. My guests were then refused alcohol too before being told to leave and move on. I must admit maybe one or two people were somewhat merry, but not off their head drunk. Was a little surprised considering the amount of money we had dropped on this venue throughout the day on the food, bar tab and hiring the venue. My partner and I re-attended the next morning to pay for the tab. The morning/ afternoon Supervisor told us that it had been fixed up last night and that we had a generous family/ friend who sorted it out. As surprised as we were to hear this we then begun to investigate contacting family and friends to see who this generous person was. On Monday morning my partner was contacted by Hobson’s Bay hotel management stating that you need to pay for the tab and that this should have been sorted out on the night, before letting slide, that they went over the tab by $131. My partner paid this of course before explaining what happened and that we did attend the next day to pay for it. This was brushed over, received the payment before saying bye.

Luckily they called my partner and not I, as the conversation would have gone somewhat different, plus I wouldn’t have paid the $131.00.

Hobson’s Bay hotel is a stunning venue, with spectacular views, the food was delicious that the wait staff brought around. However this is probably where it stops. I haven’t been back since and unfortunately won’t be...

We'd been eyeing their IG stories for weeks now; a crackling fire here, sweeping views of it's namesake bay there and now on this crisp winters Sunday morning the Hobson Bay Hotel posted an almost gratuitous IG video of a chef slicing into a beef brisket. We had to go to Williamstown to see what this was all about.

We stepped into a venue that has that newly renovated pub feel. Renovations on this scale are typically funded by corporate backers and the resulting pubs can sometimes feel formulaic and quite often, dare we say it; soulless. We didn't get that vibe here. We were greeted enthusiastically by front of house bar staff eager to know how we'd heard about their Roasts (you should know by now Roasty Friends that we roast anonymously and always pay our way) "on the 'gram" we replied to a clearly proud Barman who encouraged us to check out each of the three levels of this pub. We settled in the public bar with a view of the footy where an upset was brewing between the last years premiers and the team that has been bottom of the ladder for the past three years. Game on

The Roast. Enough with the waffling, we need to talk about this roast. We are yet to encounter a Brisket on our roasty journey, perhaps because this prized piece of beef is not only expensive but is notoriously difficult to cook correctly. The team here had no such problems and our first bite into the meat caused us to drop our forks and stare at one another in a brief state of disbelief. Brilliant, beefy with that satisfying mouth feel you want from the brisket. A+. The meal wasn't a one trick pony though and each component on our plates was put there with purpose. The carrots; spicy. The zucchini ribbons; garlicky. The potatoes and yorky on par with your traditional roast and the gravy, the gravy! Just wow. Put together, this bold roast had it's own distinct character and we are here for it. God it was a really good meal, especially for $25.

Maybe we got lucky? Reviewing a weekly rotating special we're bound to get both highlights and lowlights of what a pubs kitchen produces on a whole. To this end we need to go back and see if their roasts are as consistently good as the one that we ate, because this was an absolute belter.

How good is the roast? Asked our enthusiastic barman rhetoricaly collecting our now clean plates. Would you mind leaving us a review online he asks sincerely.

No dramas mate, our absolute...

On our arrival we were surprised by the atmosphere. Really enticing. We wandered why it was empty on a Saturday afternoon but over time experienced the reason why this place would not pull a crowd.

The staff etiquette was absolutely appalling from service to delivery.

We sat at the rooftop and ordered via the QR code. We waited 24 minutes and no drinks were delivered. We went up the bar and the bar attendant said: “that won’t work for drinks.” And just proceeded to give us the drinks. No apology. We also enjoyed a bowl of chips. They were fresh and yummy. (Important detail)

About 20 minutes later we were told the roof top was closed. I further asked if it was usually closed on a Saturday night and she said they had a function.

We moved to the balcony where we sat to eat. Ordered drinks through the QR and went to the bar to confirm they had our order and ask for water (because we couldn’t order any). All 3 bar staff were extremely underwhelming. No one greeted us. Just looked at us. We had to ask if that was our order and when we requested water she rolled her eyes and said she needed to get glasses and ginger beer from downstairs. She returned moments later plunked the ginger beer down without saying anything and then when we asked for the water and she said “I only have two hands” while continuing around the bar to pour a glass of sparkling water.

About 45 minutes later once our food arrived (ordered through QR) they food was placed on the table, no eye contact, no greeting, nothing nice about the service. It was uncomfortable for everyone. And one by one our dishes came out. All the chips were old. Cold. Gross. And the meals were all really underwhelming. We ordered ribeye, Parma, kingfish (soaked in sweet chili sauce - we didn’t eat it). We also had no cutlery, we had to get it ourselves and the salt and pepper shakers were empty. Although we knew it was a pub meal, we have never had a worse pub meal with such bad service.

Our recommendation would be to have a buzzer, people can get their own food, with cutlery… and not to be made uncomfortable for staff who are obviously overwhelmed doing other things. (Running to get glasses for the bar because they don’t have any, or something else that’s more important then making people...