Nick and Nora's Melbourne — Restaurant in Melbourne

Visitors to Melbourne, 1x avid Champagne fan and 1x ambivalent Champagne drinker but also one who is keen to learn more about the world of Martinis before diving into radical riffs on the already varied versions of the traditional .

So when we Googled "Champagne Bar near me" and were presented with " Step inside to experience the true Nick & Nora Charles hospitality and let our world class bartenders create the perfect libation.

The magnificent food menu compliments the extensive range of champagne and cocktails "

We duly lined up on a Saturday arvo... only to be turned away due to no booking. Fair enough, lesson learned.. it must be popular/good?

So we decided to book in online for the following Sunday arvo.

Turned up 10 mins early and (eventually) we were shown to a small dark table down the back somewhere , not to our liking, so we asked if it was OK to sit at the bar. No problem. Great, looking forward to engaging with Bar Staff and learning more about Champagne and Cocktails ..

But then, when we got there, we had to chase down another member of the staff to ask for a Wine/Champagne menu because we only had the "Bespoke" Character Cocktail menu and line bartender was busy making trays if exotic drinks with what (looked like) mostly ice, food colouring, and fruit?

Once we got the Wine/Champagne list there was only two "Premier" Champagnes by the glass... when we asked for a glass of one of the two on offer (@ $50/110ml pour or $350/bottle)...we were told " Sorry we've sold out of that yesterday and only have it by the Magnum...." our initial thought was OK... open the Magnum and Coravin it? ... Nup. Bad luck.

Ok, so on to the cocktails. Me and Bartender Me: "Can I just get a traditional Martini if I am not motivated by any of your "individual takes" on them? Him: "Welllllll... yeah... but we'd really like you to try one of our versions. Me: So, when you say that, does it mean "Yes I am happy to make whatever you want ...or... Yes, I will make one but I'm not keen to and I would prefer you to try the ones on the menu "? Him: "Well... yeah.... I'll make you whatever you want ..." ( but his facial expression, body language etc was in complete contradiction to what he was saying.)

So, rather than argue the point, we chose to leave without drinking anything or be given an obscure version of a cocktail and/or opt for a hugely more expensive Champagne by the glass.

Fortunately, we found another, local, bar within a few 100m that excelled in providing a wide range of Champagnes by glass as well as an exceptional range of Grower and mainstream retail brands by the bottle along with a range of house made Cocktails (both traditional and unique) that we, individually, thoroughly enjoyed.

To be clear, the difference in customer service, care and engagement between these two establishments was "chalk and cheese" and as such I, as an independent, non paid, Level 8 Google Guide could not, in all good faith, endorse this bar to any Google users and hope that they take on board the many similar 1* reviews to improve the overall experience rather than resting on...

This place should have everything to make it positively stand out as an outstanding bar - yet it fails at its lacklustre staff (at least when we visited).

First off: truly beautifully decorated, entry through a stairway with tasteful artworks and atmospheric lightning. Very nice!

The well designed host area was not staffed so we entered the bar proper on our own. A beautiful seated area to the left was occupied with good looking people. We were told we’d be seated at the bar once a spot was available and were sat at an empty communal rectangular table in the interim.

The bar is beautifully designed and the lightning is moody and tasteful - that much we could see. The place wasn’t empty but it certainly wasn’t pumping busy either. Enough time for staff to chat to each other, it appeared.

We ordered three dishes, one of which never came and we had to check after waiting for a long time. Each of us had a cocktail. Cocktails were nice. Not quite at the level of past Everleigh glory or current Byrdi standards. They were good - but you would not come back here for those cocktails.

The two dishes we had were also fine. Again nothing I’d order again but no doubt ok. They were certainly prepared fresh. We know because we could see the kitchen. It took quite a while to get them ready despite our orders being the only ones at the time. Ok, not every kitchen is efficient - this one very obviously didn’t seem to be.

This is where the staff comes in - or rather didn’t:

Spots at the bar (where we had been promised seats) quickly opened but weren’t cleared for well over 15 minutes despite staff being available. We were never offered the promised spot at the bar. Nor were our empty plates ever cleared. Given the very upmarket prices ($20 for two small betel leaves with salad filling) I don’t think any of this would be tolerable even if it had been a busy night. But it wasn’t. It’s just that none of the staff seemed to care. I wonder whether the manager had the night off - because this is very much what it felt like.

There was one female bar tender who displayed a lot of energy and was clearly into her stuff - refreshing to see. Sadly, she was the sole exception to a crowd who seemed to be under the impression that they were there because they got paid one way or the other and sadly chose the unbothered path.

Why you would waste such a beautiful place by offering such sub-par customer service is beyond me. This experience was certainly not worth our time...

We went there on Friday night. Had booked a table. Place looks beautiful but it's dark and noisy, especially where we were propped up on bar stools in the middle of the room. Waiter introduced himself. I ordered a martini and a plate of mixed canapes. We also said we'd both like a glass of champagne from the chapagne tower once it was poured. My friend was indecisive about her cocktail so the waiter said he would come back. We never saw him again. We watched the tower poured, watched the glasses disappearing and wondered were we supposed to go get them ourself? My friend got up and asked a waiter how we got the champagne and was told we had to ask our designated waiter so she had to sit back down. Our waiter never reappeared. Thankfully the waiter my friend had spoken to noticed we were still sitting empty handed and got us the glasses of champagne just before they were all gone. I never received my martini. Another waiter delivered the canapes, didn't explain what they were which is unusual for what was essentially a chef's selection. I think when you pay $35 for 6 bites of food, those bites need to be delicious. We got a pastry cup with black paste that was bland bordering on unpleasant, a cracker with something that looked and tasted like refried beans, and a prawn and pineapple on a cracker that was tasty but messy and left me with sauce all over my fingers. After that we just sat there watching other people get interesting cocktails and food while we were completely ignored. As my friend had been slightly told off when she had approached another waiter we felt like we were only allowed to speak to our designated waiter but we only ever saw him too far away to attract his attention. It was like we were invisible and made us both miserable. We are women of the invisible age so perhaps the restaurant didn't want us there? Worst hospitality experience of my life. We didn't even spend all of the gift voucher I had, couldn't have anyway as we had no way to order anything without a waiter. Made both of us miserable. We just got up and left. On the way out we passed out waiter and I told he'd abandoned us and he said he'd been designated to another area, he tried to get us to sit back down but it was far too...