Joey Smalls — Restaurant in Melbourne

I had a 50th birthday celebration at Joey's for around 80-100 people and it was amazing. The decor is incredible with a futuristic almost 70's Star Wars type vibe in bar. The booths are slick and roomy - the vibe cool and welcoming. There is a spacious DJ booth area out back which is sort of half inside/half outisde and works perfectly for entertaining with a top notch sound system throughout. There is plenty of space out the back courtyard area - our guests had plenty of room to move and relax. The place holds up to 180 and with its mix of different zones makes for a really dynamic party. The lighting was just right and there were outdoor heaters to help make us comfortable. They also set up another serving area for ease of access to drinks. We organised our own catering but they were happy to organise that for us if need be. Steve and the crew were some of the most polite and accommodating hospitality staff I have ever met - always checking in to see if there was anyhting we needed throughout the night - always smiling and just super helpful all round. They let us put up our own decorations and were happy to help out in that department too. I'll will definitely have another event here and would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Thanks guys....

One of the few places in Sydney Road that closes on weekends at 3am however, at 1:30am when me and four friends approached we were asked by the bouncer if we’d been anywhere previously and whether we’d had anything to drink?!? Obviously we had, however none of us were intoxicated or unruly, but either he just didn’t like the look of us, or we didn’t give him the answer he wanted to hear and he denied us entry! Apparently we weren’t the only people he’d turned away that night because there were only about five people inside. I hope for this establishments sake they get new door staff or they’re not going be in business very long. I definitely won’t...

Post-covid, sadly, it feels like this must have changed hands? Food isn't what it used to be. Nor is the music. And when the chips came out they were like crinkle cut frozen McCain's, when they used to be fantastic (and gluten free; perhaps they still are but I didn't see that indicated). Still a cute garden out back to drink in, and the burgers and fried chicken we got were ok but nothing to write home about. Service was ok too, but not overly helpful. I feel like there's a couple of guys who've taken this over and are riding on its coat-tails. What they might want to do is pick up their game and MJGA (Make Joey's...