Neptune — Restaurant in Melbourne

A friend was visiting from Singapore and I found Neptune online — the thought of unlimited oysters was very attractive, as I know how much my friend loves oysters.

The restaurant refers to the deal as Unlimited Shells and, when I had looked at their menu, under “Shells”, they list Oysters, Scallops, and Pippies. I wrongfully assumed that all three are in the unlimited offer. Upon sitting down, we were advised that these rotate and today was unlimited scallops. Although I love scallops, I was slightly disappointed. Ultimately, the misunderstanding was my fault, however, it would be good, if they made it clear on their website. On the website, the menu simply says “shells”. Once you’re in the restaurant, the menu says, “Shell du jour”.

The scallops were good, however, after 2 rounds of 2 each (we were three people, so they were bringing us 6 at a time), we were brought a round of 1 each, and then we had to ask for another round, which was, again, only 1 each. In total, we had 6 scallops each, which is hardly unlimited.

The Potato Focaccia was toasted, not fresh, which meant that its crust was very crunchy, and there was very title soft bread on the inside.

The Salmon Tataki was nice and it had a bit of row on top, which added a pleasant saltiness.

The Fries and the Leaf Salad were excellent — crunchy fries, and crisp, fresh salad with a delicious light dressing.

The Spaghetti Spanner Crab was the best dish — it was a reasonable portion for the three of us; the pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente, and it had more than enough crab meat in it. It was seasoned perfectly and, overall, very delicious.

The drinks — only two of us opted for the endless drinks, as my partner doesn’t drink. We opted initially for the L. Gasparini Asolo Prosecco, which was crisp and dry — we really enjoyed it. Glasses were getting refilled promptly, and, at the same time, both staff were coming frequently to refill our glasses with sparkling water.

We then switched to Aperol Spritz for my friend, and Campari Spritz for myself. Again, these drinks were delicious and we had three rounds, before the two-hour window was over.

Overall, we had a good time at Neptune, but I felt their unlimited offer wasn’t really such. The food was good, but nothing spectacular. The drinks package was good value and the drinks were nice. Staff were attentive.

I’d be happy to try something different next time and experience...

Probably the worst experience I have ever had in a restaurant. Firstly, upon arriving, the venue is gorgeous, very dim lighting and I was very exciting upon arrival. The oysters were amazing but other than that the food was not great. There was 4 of us and we all ordered different dishes but for what we ordered it was very expensive. The cocktails are not that great, and we ended up paying just under $500 for the bill for food we did not enjoy. What made this experience very bad for us is that the staff were quite rude. From the start the guy that was our waiter never had a smile on his face and continued to get frustrated if he had to wait for us to decide on a cocktail or food. He was not helpful when we asked questions about the drinks or food and our main dishes ended up taking 1 hour and 10 minutes to come out. We ended up having a very uncomfortable encounter at the end of the dinner which made everyone very upset and annoyed. My auntie had gone up to the waiter earlier in the night to advise she would like to pay for the bill and to not let anyone else on the table pay for it. When it came to the end of the night, the waiter came over with the machine and my partner who was the only male at dinner said please do not let them pay they are here on holidays, and he put his hand over the machine so my auntie could not tap her card. we were all laughing and trying to all pay for the bill, but the waiter then said to my partner ' Remove your hands from the machine in a very angry way' and then said I had discussed this with her, and she will be paying. The way he said this made my partner feel as if he was being aggressive and we were very upset by this. In our family and friendship groups we always fight overpaying the bill and never ever encountered an experience like this. Even my auntie who paid the bill had mentioned that made her feel very uncomfortable by the way the waiter spoke to my partner and we all immediately got up and left. I have shared this story with many friends and family over the last few days and everyone has been absolutely shocked by our experience and I hope no one ever goes to this restaurant. I don't care if the bill is $500 and the food is average, but i do not agree that it is ok to pay a lot of money for food and then be treated with horrible service. Neptune reevaluate the...

After two very happy visits, I’d call this a stellar bar. It has absolutely everything you’d want in a good bar. It’s nicely set out and appointed. The premises are long and there’s plenty of seating throughout for all, including a cute area at the front where you can sit on the street. As you’d expect the drink options are plentiful and all quality. The food is seriously excellent. Like, exceptional. We had three dishes today and they were outstanding. A steak tartare, a cauliflower dish (possibly a keto special) and cured salmon. We loved each of them. Couldn’t fault them. One last plaudit for the staff. They attended to us efficiently, politely and happily as our session went on here from early to late afternoon. We were quiet to start with and a bit rowdy at the end after a few bottles of wine but the level of service was excellent throughout.

Highly recommended.

February 25, 2018

We really liked this place. The current 2.9 rating is plainly absurd. One of those unexplainable Zomato statistical anomalies, no doubt. The rating should be much higher. I’m not sure what else you need to offer to make a good food and wine place other than what they offer here. It’s a nice space. Well designed and easy on the eye. Best of all it’s not cramped as there’s decent space all through and there’s ample room to move. There’s a good wine selection on offer. The food was good. The staff were on the ball and pleasant. We spent a happy three hours here. This is an easy 4 in my view. It could easily go...