Jayden Ong Winery & Cellar Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

We were completely wowed by today’s visit to Jayden Ong’s Winery & Cellar Bar, which happened to coincide with their 2nd Birthday celebrations.

We were personally greeted by Jayden Ong, who welcomed us with open arms and took the time to explain the venue, share his passion behind the project and what we could expect from their birthday menu.

Jayden discussed indoor and outdoor seating preferences and upon choosing, personally escorted us to our table (inside the venue, among the wine barrels). He returned shortly afterwards with a box to place my bag, so it wasn’t left on the concrete floor and introduced us to our waitress. It’s personal touches like this that set this experience apart from other venues.

From here, menu options were explained and welcome drinks/cocktails offered for our consideration, which were delicious.

Jayden’s team were knowledgable, attentive and friendly. It’s clear hospitality is front of mind and clearly reflects in their one hat award.

The experience of dining among the wine barrels was incredible. The venue is a large, open working space inside a factory warehouse which could easily feel cold, clinical and uninviting, but somehow didn’t. They have clearly put a lot of care and attention into creating an intimate, welcoming space, complimented by stunning floral arrangements, an eight metre limestone bar, striking light installations and a Bose sound system. There was a DJ on site today, playing unobtrusive lounge funk background music, which added to the ambience.

The wines were sensational and the food was mouth-wateringly delicious. We especially enjoyed the succulent wood-grilled flank steak, grilled spring onions and Cafe de Paris butter (I would love to know their secret as it was absolutely delicious, especially considering both of us wouldn’t typically order steak). Quality ingredients, executed perfectly.

There was no doubting this venue deserves its five star rating on service alone. The food deserves another five stars!

Don’t let the unassuming entrance fool you - step (or run) inside before letting first impressions make...

The concept was fun and injected some much needed life into the industrial side of Healesville which I really appreciate, The hospitality and engagement was lacking a little on our visit but I am sure that these are things that can be built upon over time. The warehouse style venue was attractively fitted out and I loved sitting amongst the casks and wine. The wine tasting cost $20 per person, which is a bit steep but you do get almost a glass and a half of wine. I don't mind paying for a wine tasting (especially a generous one) but it was unfortunate that our waitress seemed inexperienced and didn't know much about the wine we were trying. We would have appreciated a little more sommelier expertise as this would have provided us with more of an 'experience'. We did purchase a couple more glasses and a bottle with dinner but we were not reimbursed for any of our tastings. The food was delicious, cooked over an open flame and really tasty & different, but also quite expensive - we did the chef's tasting menu which were told had dessert, only to be later told (after ordering) that it actually didn't. During the colder months I would recommend wrapping up and definitely take a coat. It is cold (which is understandable considering they are making wine on the premises) but if you can, ask to sit near a heater towards the outside area :) Thank you to Jayden, who contacted me personally, and was really open to feedback and opportunities/areas to improve, I was pleasantly surprised to hear from him and really appreciate being able to share my thoughts openly and honestly and have them received in such a welcoming and thoughtful manner. Would love to go back to...

• update since response from Jayden Ong team - all well and good that you adjusted my typos - but the service, the forgetting the mains, and the slow service (to then be charged for it) - none of that can really be justified. Even with a response fixing some typos in my review! * Probably not the way to response team, clapping back on a customer's poor experience doesn't make said customer want to return.

Great food but they seemed to have a problem with not enough staff and too many tables. Some things that grated: arrived and indicated we had a booking, checked and confirmed and then the fellow just walked away.... to serve people waiting at the bench ordered the $88 ph feed me style menu (now remembered as $68 and its called "Chefs Menu" not feed me), served entrees and then given cheese and dessert menu. When they came back to check if we wanted something sweet I had to remind them that we hadn't seen the main course yet ordered bottle of wine that said it was $68 on menu. Arrived with 2 glasses. Again had to ask for bottle and it became clear that they'd given us glasses only. At the end they hadn't charged us for the glasses but the wine was $88 suddenly charged a $40 service fee. As far as Im concerned the service was terrible, but didn't notice that until Id left

Costly afternoon. Better...