Hunter & Barrel Ringwood — Restaurant in Melbourne

On the 11th of may at 8:13pm I arrived at Hunter & Barrel for dinner, we were greeted with a friendly smile by the maitre d' and seated down in the front corner of the restaurant, as soon as we sat down another waiter came up and greeted us with menus and offered us sparkling or still water. Within ten minutes another waiter took our drinks order, had the drinks on our table and took our food order at a quick yet breathable rate of service.

We ordered the feast for two which was reasonably priced for the items on the dish, the mains were the longest wait time and they only took twenty five minutes from order to table. On the board we had the wagyu rump steak which was cooked to the correct temp we asked and the steak itself had incredible grill marks however the steak was abit under seasoned, next was the Rotisserie Portuguese chicken and to be honest was my favourite on the board juicy chicken, perfectly cooked, nice seasoning and abit of heat to finish it off, if I had two go back and only eat one thing it would be the chicken, the half rack of pork ribs was the next the seasoning was nice, not overly sauced, I liked the quick char marks on the ribs from the grill, maybe I just got a bad set of ribs, maybe the wholesaler gave you some bad ribs, but the ribs had no meat on it and I don’t wasn’t to sound fussy but the rib membrane was still on and chewing on that just taste like rubber, the sesame seeds and green onions didn’t really add much to the ribs kinda seemed better to just leave it off the ribs however overall the ribs still had a nice flavour, last for the main board was the traditional boerewors I like how it’s a smaller version of a boerewors and the flavour of it was nice yet not so overpowering however in my case it seemed abit overcooked nothing to major that I had to say something just kinda felt quite rubbery.

When we finished our mains another waiter was quickly there to take our plates, another round of drinks order and give us the menus back to order desserts. I went with the coconut panna cotta and boy oh boy was it a stand out, all the flavours worked together I’m not a crazy fan of coconut but it worked so well in the dish, I always question the use of basil in desserts however it worked so well in the dish I could not complain even if I tried.

The service 10/10- Friendly, quick, efficient and they all seemed happy to be there working, if I could take the foh team and use them in my own restaurant I would any day of the week.

The Food 7•5/10- I’m always going to be more harsh on the boh being a chef myself, but the food was good it was actually tasty, the menu is clean, simple and straight to the point and that’s all you need. Their were some little issues but we can all...

Visited here recently with friends, as had heard good things about the restaurant. The venue itself is lovely, interesting layout with lots of little private areas. We were seated at the top level overlooking the entry area so it felt quiet and private. We had the Hunter Tasting Board as a shared entrée. The garlic bread rolls were overcooked - very tough on the bottom. The calamari was ok - although the bit I got seemed a bit undercooked when I cut into it, so only ate a little. The wagyu roast beef was tasty, although same as the rolls, the sourdough bread underneath was really tough. Wings were good. Mains: the 3 skewers (chicken, pork belly and the kangaroo special) were delicious - meat was really tender and tasty on all 3 of them. The rump steak was ok - the guest found it a bit chewy, and the peppercorn sauce didn't have any peppercorns in it - just ground pepper - so didn't quite have the taste they were expecting. The chips were nothing special - just thick cut frozen (assumed) chips which was a bit disappointing as we expected something a bit more from this place. We didn't try desserts so can't comment on those. Service: initially it was good - friendly and attentive, but then it seemed to go downhill from there. The waitress came to clear away some plates and said she would be back for the rest (quite a few left) - we expected a few minutes, however it was 20 minutes before a different waitress came over, at which point we were just about to get up and leave as we were fed up waiting. During that time we watched the original waitress set up empty tables and generally just walk around the place - as we were at the far end of the upper floor, it was really difficult to get anyone's attention, and she never came across that direction. There was multiple waiting staff on the upper floor, and not many seated guests so it wasn't as if they were rushed off their feet. Our water glasses lay empty for at least 30 minutes with no one approaching us to offer us water or to check if we needed more drinks in general. As we were paying, we noticed the original waitress leave the restaurant, so she clearly had to get the new tables set up before she left, but that meant neglecting paying guests. I know things are tough in hospitality at the moment, but there was enough staff and not too many guests that it should have been manageable - perhaps more training is needed if the staff are new? I'm not sure. All in all, it was ok - the main meats were good but not enough to make us want to come back...

I went with the groomsmen of the bridal party for my friends wedding, including the groom's father and father in law.

As we went in a friend vaped on the way in (our mistake yes) we got told not to do it again and we followed instructions.

The service we got was BEYOND poor. Multiple instances made this very unsatisfiable

Both waitresses said we had to wait 15 minutes between drinks "according to RSA". Personally for someone that has done his RSA i did not learn this.

The manager explained we couldn't double park, and we said that's fine our first round of drinks were finished.

Politely we told the waiter that if we were going to be too loud or a deterrence to other guests feel free to close the door. She instantly closed it. The manager then opened it saying we cant keep it closed. Again we were just looking out for the rest of the guests incase we got too loud and had the other guests interest at heart.

3.When we spoke to the manager (Who was fully understanding and regretful of his staffs mistakes), mentioned one of us were being impolite to the wait staff and they had complained that we made them uncomfortable.

Firstly, All of us said our please and thank you's numerous times. Whenever we got served anything, napkins, water drinks etc etc we were nothing short of polite.

Adding onto this, I mentioned to the manager, we were with the grooms father and father-in-law. If we were to be the slightest bit disrespectful and rude they would have been the first to tell us off.

We ordered starters, and didn't bother ordering mains because of the treatment and service. Being ethnic's this was the both the grooms father and father in laws first experience in a private room and at a different type of restaurant then they are used to and they themselves left with a sour taste.

Mind you we had spent close 2 $500.00 with just 2 rounds of drinks and starters for 8 of us within 30 minutes of being there. We were there to celebrate the groom and we were so excited and ready to eat lunch and keep drinking and we would have spent a good amount of money.

The manager was apologetic and was going to have a word with his staff, however I would not go back there. The starters again were delicious. It's a shame we didn't get to eat...