Kent Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

We went to Kent Hotel hoping to get a table for dinner as walk ins. Upon arrival, we asked if there was a table available and one of the waitresses advised us that we will need to go and stand by the front door and wait to be seen by someone if we’re after a table. As per her instructions, we waited outside the front door on the corner for approximately 20 minutes. There were also other people waiting in front of us, one being a big group of 8 people who were waiting before us and were taken inside and given a table. We continued to wait until the restaurant manager came out and started speaking to another lady who had arrived after us, and I advised the restaurant manager that we had been waiting before that lady and when I asked if there was a table for 2 available, he asked if we had a reservation, and I said no we don’t have a reservation. He told us that he didn’t have a table available for us as we didn’t have a reservation. At this point, I asked him if that was the case, then why would the waitress not tell us that from the beginning so that we don’t waste 20 minutes of time waiting outside the restaurant, assuming you would accept walk-ins? His response to me was: “She told you to wait here to speak to the restaurant manager, and I am the restaurant manager and as I told you we don’t have any tables if you don’t have a reservation”.

I can easily say that this was one of the most unpleasant and shocking experiences we have ever had in a hospitality venue. We are local residents and have been coming to Kent hotel regularly for over 9 years. The restaurant manager was extremely disrespectful and his language, tone and attitude were absolutely appalling. He made us feel embarrassed and belittled in front of the outdoor dining customers, and I am sad to say that we will be sharing our negative experience with our neighbourhood community as well, so that no other patron goes through such an unpleasant and horrific experience like we did.

It is sad for us to boycott and never again step foot in one of our favourite venues which is less than a 100 metres from our home, but unfortunately we have no other choice.

I wish you all the very best and can only hope that you will provide this feedback on to your restaurant manager and educate your staff, especially your managers, on delivering quality and respectful...

Decided to come to the Kent hotel with my partner this was a very bad decision, the staff who waited our table were lovely, however the food was terrible, as I write this review I can’t believe smack bang in the heart of Carlton this restaurant is serving such food. I came from a background of food/Italian culture and I must say this mussels linguine was very bad. The mussels were either from a can or frozen, sauce tasted like something from a really bad can and the chef added fresh tomatoes cut up in cubes to show some form of fresh seafood pasta. The pasta was loaded with chilli and was flavourless. Anyone that knows how to make this meal would know that they cook the mussels with the shell into the sauce and the base to this meal is oil and garlic, the mussels carry salt from the sea therefore the flavour is all in the shell.

My partner’s gnocchi was covered in butter. They were no jokes swimming in it. No words to describe this further.

I understand most of the clientele likes the wine and cocktails list and that’s great for business but the FOOD you really need to know how to cook if you are serving it to people and charging decent prices.

We will never return to this restaurant. I hope you can take the feedback on and reevaluate how you’re chefs are cooking in you’re...

The Kent Hotel offers amazing Modern Australian pub fare with a sophisticated touch, so not your regular kind! They are also a sister restaurant to the Plough Hotel in Footscray. The place was buzzing on a Sunday night with every table booked out, I see this as a sign of good food. The service is attentive and thoughtful, the specials were read out to us and our courses arranged and timed perfectly. The pasta had so much flavour and was easily mopped up with some complimentary bread. The pizza was sensational, a 10/10 in terms of dough and flavour. The steak was perfectly cooked and paired with a delicious serve of seasonal greens. I was especially impressed by the eggplant chips which are usually hard to nail, but they did - crispy, light and not at all soggy! Not to mention the generous portion size. They have an extensive drinks list, with many local and international options. I enjoyed a great Italian Pinot Grigio. This dining experience was a gifted invite, however they agreed to having me come in without advising them of when, so every part of my experience was authentic. I wouldn’t hesitate twice recommending this...