Mission District — Restaurant in Melbourne

Last night, we dined here, opting for their $69 per person banquet menu. With the most expensive item on their menu priced at around $22, we expected a premium dining experience. I chose the vegan banquet, while my partner selected the non-vegan option. Unfortunately, what we got was closer to a scene from Kitchen Nightmares.

Starters included esquites and a sampler platter—one of each, not doubled for two people. For the mains, we were served quesabirria, heart of palm ceviche, and a deconstructed fajita. Despite my partner ordering the non-vegan option, the meal was entirely shared, with only one meat dish—the beef quesabirria—making it to the table. The staff vaguely explained that adjustments were made because one of us is vegan, but they failed to clarify that it essentially meant cutting his options. When I offered to ditch the banquet and order à la carte if it was too difficult, the waitress assured us, "Don’t worry, we’ve got this!" Spoiler alert: They did not.

The dishes were uninspired at best, with one standing out for all the wrong reasons: the vegetable fajita. It was a disaster—deconstructed fajitas with tortillas and a sloppy stew of red-braised onions, with the occasional appearance of mushrooms and green peppers. To make matters worse, there was a large chunk of mushroom stem, dirt still attached, right in the mix. When we brought this to the staff’s attention, their response was a casual, “Would you like something else instead?” By then, we had completely lost our appetite.

To add insult to injury, they forgot an entire dish—the crispy cauliflower—which I only realized after we left. At checkout, we were charged the full amount without apology. When we raised the issues, they begrudgingly knocked off $5 for dessert—a laughable gesture considering we were billed $150 for rice, beans, and tortillas recycled over six courses.

This was, without a doubt, one of the worst dining experiences we’ve ever had. If negative stars were an option, Mission District would deserve them. Save your time, your money, and your taste buds—steer clear...

Terrible! The place was freezing and they kept the door open at all times. The food was anything but fresh. Everything had been obviously made ahead of time and all meals from our table were barely warm, when not cold. One of the mains was forgotten and brought to the table almost at the end of our meal. Food was very poor, the nachos loaded qith cheese had no cheese, the extra meat requested was laughable as it was just a couple of shreds of overcooked old meat (would not fill a tablespoon full), the burrito was soggy and cold, the bowls were super small and the bulk was rice and beans – again the meat was scarce. The only item we asked that was good and fresh were the chips. Customer service was poor also, staff was difficult to reach and they keep forgetting our orders, even for drinks. The lemon lime and bitters had a strange taste. In summary, we felt cold all night and had to keep our jackets on; the food portions were for kids, cold and overpriced; the drinks, when you could get them, were more or less ok. It seems the place closes at 9.30pm so around 9 pm our table was cleared and we were asked to proceed to the counter, pay our bill and leave  Lovely! And as the cherry on the top, they do not split the bill, only between two people, no more than that. Awesome! I most definitely do...

🌮 Birria Tacos 🌽 Esquites 🌶️ Crispy Sesame Cauliflower, Chipotle Mayo 🐟 Fish Taco 🍗 Crispy Chicken Taco 🍫 Churros

Mission District is a California-inspired Mexican restaurant located on Glen Eira Road, Ripponlea. It is owned by a husband and wife duo and who wanted to bring the cuisine to the neighbourhood. Almost everything is made in house!

There is a great selection of cocktails, especially if you love a Margarita like me. Both the Pineapple and Lychee Margs were delicious, I’ll definitely be trying more of their flavours next visit!🍍

To start we had the Esquites, off the cob and in a bowl with cheese and sauce - tasty but small in portion. The Sesame Cauliflower was surprisingly good and very crispy. The Birria Tacos were delicious although a little different to usual. They had a lot more meat (with some fatty bits), no onion and no herbs. It came with more of a sauce than a consommé. Both the Fish and Chicken tacos were great. The churros were too doughy for my liking. 🌮

A pretty quiet vibe, music could be better and tables are pretty close together. If you’re dining on a Tuesday, you can take advantage of their Taco Tuesday Special which includes any 3 tacos, a drink (selected options) and a dessert for $30. It got quite busy around 6pm on a Tuesday so a booking is...