Kickin'Inn Port Melbourne — Restaurant in Melbourne

Kickin' Inn: Overrated, Overpriced Disappointment and Portion Sizes Overshadow Good Food.

I recently had the opportunity to dine at Kickin' Inn, a restaurant that I had heard rave reviews about. However, my experience left me questioning the hype surrounding this establishment. Not only did I find it overrated, but I also discovered that the prices did not justify the overall dining experience.

First and foremost, the restaurant's reputation led me to expect exceptional quality and flavors that would justify the higher price point. Unfortunately, the reality fell far short of these inflated expectations. The food at Kickin' Inn was decent, but it certainly did not live up to the hype that had been built around it. The flavors were satisfactory, but they lacked the wow factor that one would expect from a restaurant that prides itself on its reputation.

Moreover, the pricing at Kickin' Inn was simply unjustifiable. The menu boasted exorbitant prices that did not align with the quality or the portion sizes. It felt as though the restaurant was capitalizing on its reputation to inflate prices, hoping that customers would blindly accept the cost without questioning the value for money. Sadly, this approach only resulted in a sense of being overcharged and underwhelmed.

Adding insult to injury, the portion sizes at Kickin' Inn were disappointingly small, especially considering the prices being charged. It seemed as though the restaurant had adopted a "less is more" philosophy, neglecting the fact that customers expect a fair quantity of food for the price they pay. The reduced portions left me feeling unsatisfied and compelled to spend more money on additional dishes to satiate my hunger.

Ultimately, Kickin' Inn's overrated status and overpriced menu left a sour taste in my mouth. It is disheartening to witness a restaurant that fails to live up to its reputation, both in terms of food quality and portion sizes. If you're looking for an exceptional dining experience that justifies the high prices, I would suggest exploring other options rather than succumbing to the allure of Kickin' Inn.

In conclusion, I cannot recommend Kickin' Inn as a worthwhile dining destination. Its overrated status and inflated prices are not justified by the mediocre flavors and disappointing portion sizes. Save your money and seek out other establishments that offer a better balance of quality, quantity, and...

On a positive note, the seafood was fairly fresh and cooked well - the lobster was sweet and the sauce tasty.

Areas for improvement: The service could be better though. We went in the early evening. The restaurant was quite empty with just a small handful of tables occupied. There was hardly any staff to service them and they seemed distracted. We tried to get their attention when we needed them. We weren't the only ones that had the same problem. We saw a family come in and be seated at a table and then left there to stew for quite some time. They also tried to get the attention of the wait staff until the man practically marched up to the counter and asked to be served. Magically, just as we were leaving the restaurant, some more wait staff came out of hiding from the back room/kitchen area. Not sure what was going on there.

Misleading advertising. We went on the Mother's Day weekend and ordered two sets of the "Mother’s Day Deal 2 (each set costing $99.00)". As advertised on the website, the deal included: "2 x Half Lobster, 10 x Peeled Prawns, 10 x Whole Fresh Prawns, 10 x Baby Octopus, 2 x Potatoes, 1 x Lindt Chocolate, 1 x Rose" and states: "Each Mother’s Day deal will come with a rose and chocolate." I was under the impression that since we ordered TWO sets of the "Mother’s Day Deal 2" that we should receive 2 x Lindt Chocolate and 2 x Roses. Sadly this was not the case for us and considering this was what was advertised on the website, we were disappointed to only receive one of each item. When we asked about this, the staff member said that only one per table was allowed. We didn't see there to be a shortage of these items because earlier we saw them bring out a whole bucket full of roses and there was a very large box full of the Lindt chocolates behind the counter. There seemed to be more than enough for this deal to be honoured fully. And we actually had to ask them about these items as we were leaving. They did not willingly offer them to us like they should have (as part...

I honestly wanted to wait till I was a lot calmer before posting this. So it is a day late

Friend had booked for a small group of us on Sunday eve. We placed a food and drink order at approx 6:30 - by 7pm nothing had shown up and we'd followed up on drinks twice. It honestly shouldn't take long to bring two bottled beers and I assume Postmix? ( since it wasnt served in a can) to the table.

At around 7 we flagged the waiter who had taken our order 30min before, and ONLY then were we told 1 of the 3 items we ordered was out of stock. I mean more notice would have been nice but the place was busy, so we decided to grab something else. By around 7:20 We finally got drinks and around 7:30 our food arrived. Except by around 8:20 we realized that only 2 of the 3 things we ordered had come out. Turns out it wasnt even put into the ordering system - at that point the bill got paid and we left.

The food:

Fried squid tentacles - A little overly salty and a little bit burnt. May be good if it wasn't

The Mix Bag - I sort of think it's value for money. It was relatively tasty and the shebang sauce was salty but I think it was an ok treat. I enjoyed the sauce and that's probably why my rating isn't a 1 star.

I will say this - If you are understaffed ( and you were. You were so so understaffed.) LIMIT the bookings you take.

Your staff was basically a skeleton crew and honestly it's not possible to handle a full house like that with what appeared to be 4 or 5 waitstaff. Unnecessary pressure was placed on them to deal with irate customers AND customers (like myself and others) were subjected to horrid service.

I won't ever recommend Kickin'Inn to others and even DURING dinner texted a friend who had planned to book for her birthday, telling her about our experience in real time. It's just not a venue I'd easily go back to at present and was honestly pretty...