Melba Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Now that I’m no longer pregnant I can hit up the cheese station with a vengeance once again. I know most people pay the fairly hefty prices for the unlimited seafood but I implore you don’t miss out on the delicious cheese! Loved the red velvet cake tonight too

Latest I can’t go past the Indian station where you can order a fresh naan with your choice of inclusions. The cheese garlic naan coming hot out of the tandoor oven is a sight (and smell) for sore eyes. Dipped in the delicious ratia I am one happy girl. They even do dessert naans with m&ms but by the time I get to dessert, 7 or so plates later, my stomach sadly isn’t up for more bread

Newest Whilst I don’t usually want to fill myself with pasta at a buffet tonight they were doing a creamy prawn pasta made to order and it was such utter perfection I went back for a second bowl. One of my absolute favourite restaurants for getting my glutton on

Newer The noodle dishes available at the wok station tonight were super yummy. The smell of frying garlic was tantalising and the way the sweet soy caramelised in the wok was deliciousness unlike anything I can ever replicate at home. Mmmm

New Usually my favourite is the live sushi/sashimi station but todays highlight was the grill as they were doing steak made to order with the yummiest bernaise. Whilst the live cooking stations don’t change they do mix up the dishes so you enjoy even more variety every time

Recent Came to Melba’s for a work lunch which was lovely given you are paying between $85-95 per person depending on the day you dine. Due to the price point it’s probably more of a special occasion place but it's definitely worth it. On this visit I was obsessed with the chocolate pudding and raspberry chocolate mousse slice. It’s always a delicious time

Latest We visited Melba’s last week for my dads birthday and I have a feeling the chefs have changed as we were really impressed on this occasion. The freshness of the sashimi and the deliciousness of the chocolate passionfruit cheesecake. The other desserts failed to delight which was disappointing for the price point and fell a little short relative to its previous gold standard but overall we were pretty happy

Further update I have been coming to Melba’s regularly for over ten years. Our visit for my sisters birthday last week however was one of the more disappointing trips. Being around the Christmas period it was completely packed and they attempted to seat us at on a couch style set up.

Given its a buffet two three seaters either side of a table is not exactly conducive to constantly getting up and down to replenish your plate. In my family this would mean the poor middle person would be climbing over people are ten minutes. They eventually put some other tables together and found as an alternate which was good.

What was not so good was the food. The prawn dumplings were so super stuck together that when I tried to seperate them as I served myself they all fell apart. All of us agreed the food variety wasn’t as impressive as usual

Update My dining experience on Wednesday night proved the one critique I had last time has been rectified. In the past the desserts have been visually stunning but lacking in taste. This week we had an exceptionally delicious chocolate and passionfruit eclair and mini lemon meringue pies just to name a few which were super yummy. Well done all for lifting the already superlative standards

Original review I've probably been here 20 plus times in the last ten or so years. It's pretty much the scene of every family birthday and it never disappoints. It's fairly standard to feel physically unwell for several hours afterward if you chose to dine buffet and have minimal self control like me. Not sure why anyone would actually go here and prefer a la carte as the variety is ridiculous.

My only criticism is the desserts leave a little to be desired. This is the one area I have seen deteriorate over the years but they do have a Cadbury chocolate fountain and...

I had a 6 night stay at the Langham hotel, which is where this restaurant is located. I would rate the breakfast buffet that was packaged with my hotel stay about 4.5 stars. The food was decent and the service was acceptable for the price. I ate here every morning. This negative review is primarily for their overall dinner buffet experience.

The dinner experience here was appalling for this type of establishment. At about AU$100 per person at a "5-star" hotel, service was horrendous. I would rate their service as 2 stars (0 for table service, 4 for the food staff) out of 5 stars. Our server never checked up on us a single time for the hour and 20 minutes we were seated. She would come by to pick up our used plates at the beginning of our stay while we were away from our table, but completely stopped after 2 passes. For at least 20 minutes, we had 3 plates and 1 bowl at our small table. I had to stack my wife's used plates onto mines so she can have dessert. Our server would walk slowly to two tables that were next to us, but would never check up on us or another nearby table. All diners would need to grab her attention for service. I hope that all staff was training appropriately and our server will need to be retrained so other diners would not have to be as upset as I was.

The on-duty supervisor and highest ranking staff member on the night of service offered a 20% discount off our bill. I declined as my complaint was about the horrible service and not the food. It would be unfair that I ate my fair share and not pay the appropriate amount. I would instead liked to have heard that they will be retraining our server.

As for the food, it was good. They had an above-average selection of sushi items such as abalone, uni, salmon, tuna, etc. The hot buffet area was clean and serving area staff was very attentive in refilling the food and assisting patrons when needed. There was also a full-serve Asian stir fry and pasta line that also served sirloin steak. The quality of their desserts were below average. Overall food quality was decent at about 3.5 stars when factoring in the price.

Please be aware that I am trying to be as objective as possible. I typically only write positive reviews as many people only write reviews when treated unfairly or had a bad experience. I will be one of those negative reviewers for this post as I felt this experience was unacceptable. This is my first negative review ever.

Do not dine here for a 5-star table service experience, but embrace the view...

I cannot express my disappointment enough, for $100 a head buffet I am shocked and saddened.

My birthday dinner was ruined by lukewarm vegetables and meat from the carvery, which was also tough and stringy, plus grey from edge to edge.

An hour later trying again proved this would be the norm through the evening, but this time two pieces of mostly fat and gristle from serving staff who had to ask someone else how to carve meat.

The floor wait staff are great, cleaning the plates after you eat (i stuck to praens 12 to be exact), filling my cup with ice cold water, providing clean dishes.

But this place isn't worth the money, Crown Conservatory is just a few hundred meters away and every food there is perfect (I had it for the previous birthday).

I have never complained about food to the actual restaurant before, but I voiced my concerns and was met with "I can go get you some more, or I'll check the induction warmers are on" I am 37 years old, I can tell when food isn't hot. And if it's the same meat, more isn't a solution.

I didn't want to pay. That's how bad the food was here. Maybe one time in the past this place could of been amazing, maybe I just went on a bad night. But I will never go again. We paid full price, I'm not the kind of person to try get a free meal even when it's this terrible, I was hoping they would offer something but the manager just told the cashier not to charge the credit surcharge... Pathetic.

Utterly, Utterly Disappointed.

We were sitting, against a corner window, where the window met a wall was covered in some stains from what looked like dripping foods. The serving and cooking staff were few and it was difficult to get someone to come help you with the food. The deserts here are not the same as the pictures of people holding amazing pancakes with ice cream.

If you are making a choice between this place and Crown, go Crown, the Conservatory didn't disappoint me one little bit last year, next birthday I will be returning there.

I went to Melba on a Wednesday night, Crown on a Tuesday night if this helps anyone.

I wish I took photos so people believe me and save themselves the disappointment, but I am not that brave to walk around...