Lady Of St Kilda — Restaurant in Melbourne

Lady of St Kilda Birthday Dinner – You Ruined My Birthday I chose this venue for my birthday dinner based on a recommendation from friends of friends. I should have read the customer reviews first. From the moment we arrived, the experience was disappointing. Our group of eight adults was crammed around two tiny tables that barely accommodated six people. When we tried to pull over an unused table from the corner to create some space, a waitress immediately rushed over and told us to return it, claiming the venue was fully booked and the table would be needed in 30 minutes. That was simply untrue—the table wasn’t occupied until 2.5 hours later, just as we were leaving. Frustrated by this unwelcoming start, I approached the waitress to place our order directly rather than using the QR code system, which prompted for tips in advance. I prefer to tip at the end, based on the service received. That seemed to trigger what I can only describe as passive-aggressive behavior from the staff. Having worked in the hospitality industry for decades, my family and I know exactly how staff can express their displeasure without saying a word. We ordered a bottle of wine and asked for three glasses—we were only given two. Despite multiple requests, the third glass never arrived. The staff began ignoring us, turning their backs whenever we tried to get their attention. When we asked for water—just water!—the waitress rolled her eyes and slammed a jug on the table. Some meals arrived relatively promptly for my guests, but they weren’t even given plates for another 15 minutes. As for my meal? It arrived an hour and a half later—after everyone else had finished eating. Keep in mind, it was a simple dish of dips and pita, not something that takes 90 minutes to prepare. To make matters worse, as soon as my food finally arrived, the waitress began hovering around our table, asking every five minutes if we were finished, and trying to clear plates—including ones we hadn’t even started. Given the restaurant enforces a strict two-hour seating limit, I barely had time to eat. There was no birthday greeting from staff (which is a small but common courtesy in nearly every Australian restaurant), no chance for dessert or coffee, and certainly no sense of hospitality. We left and found a nearby café, where we were finally treated like welcome guests. Before anyone suggests otherwise—no, the venue was not understaffed that night. I’m not a demanding customer. I understand the pressure of working in hospitality and always treat staff with respect. Even when service isn’t ideal, I’ve never left a negative review—this is the first one in my life. But this was, without exaggeration, the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. And yes, it absolutely ruined my...

Did you know that St.Kilda was named after a sailing ship in 1842 by Governor La Trobe?

Whoa what a night! This place is awesome. The service from Tom was exceptional, he was extremely attentive and so welcoming. This is Mediterranean inspired restuarant in the heart of St Kilda.

My partner and I had a number of dishes, completely vegetarian/vegan except for my porterhouse steak dish, which was exceptional btw.

We started with a cocktail each, being The Captain's Delight, a Margarita and a Malaga Sunset over dinner. The 3 cocktails were absolutel delicious, not overly sweet and soo moorish lol.

We started with the multi seed Pita bread with Tahini, Tazatziki, Green Herb Spicy Sauce (skhug) and home-made pickles. OMGosh this was pita bread at another level.

All of the food is made in house, including the pita, and I must say the hot pita was easily the best I've ever eaten. It was exceptional, and the dips and pickles were really fresh and soo tasty.

The Lady's Bouquet was fried cauliflower w tahini and parsley. Such a simple sounding dish that blew my socks off, well almost haha! Yum.

The Captain's Hummus with ex Mushrooms (vegan) made with Lima Beans, tahini, parsley, tomatoes and pita bread. This was another winning dish, the hummus was fantastic, and now I'm a lima bean convert lol. Everything was soo fresh.

The Stracceti Porterhouse was juicy thin slices of steak, w parsley, garlic balsamic etc. Oh wow, the meat was so tender that it just melted in my mouth. This was an outstanding dish.

Our Crazy Capreza salad was full of heirloom tomatoes bursting with flavour. These tomatoes tasted home grown they were that good. And the rest of the salad was super fresh.

We shared a Sambousek. This is a pastry served with a cheese and vegetable filling, served with a garden salad. We tried The Empire which had mixed cheese, pesto and mushrooms. This dish was incredible, the pastry was fantastic, golden brown, soft and the filling just perfect.

The Kunafe (Lebanese Dessert) was a winning dessert. It was served hot w vanilla ice cream and it wasn't sickly sweet. This is the best kunafe I've ever had. Full stop.

Yes it was a night of big calls, but the service, cocktails and food was at another level.

This place is a must visit, and definitely worth...

ONLY IF I COULD GIVE 0 STARS!!

The service and behavior of the manager and staff were absolutely unacceptable and appalling. Their actions came across as BLATANTLY RACIST. Despite placing our order, we were ignored for 40-45 minutes, while other tables—some seated after us—were promptly served, including dishes we had ordered. When we inquired, we were told they were "too busy," yet this didn’t seem to apply to other tables. The lack of diversity further underscores my suspicion.

After waiting for 40 minutes, we had to call the restaurant staff from within the restaurant itself, as the servers ignored our table and refused to engage. When we approached them directly, they curtly said, “5 minutes,” which turned into an even longer wait. Frustrated, my brother approached the manager, who was EXTREMELY RUDE. Shockingly, the manager justified his irritation by claiming that we exaggerated the wait time, saying, “It has only been 42 minutes, not 1 hour.” (Really?)

The restaurant clearly prioritized other customers while dismissing us. Although we eventually received a refund, it came after an immense waste of our time and energy.

I have lived in Australia for years and, while I’ve heard stories of such behavior, I had never personally experienced it. Unfortunately, this incident left my visiting family with an incredibly...