Spitfire Restaurant & Grill — Restaurant in Melbourne

I would love to say that we thoroughly enjoyed our experience at the Spitfire… alas we didn’t.

Family of 4 - no alcohol $170 breakfast Weekend surcharge add 8% or 15% on public holidays

We specifically ordered the children’s meals 10 minutes in advance. 4 tables occupied (includes us), 3 coffee-only orders.

The first waitress was new with limited English. Our order then had to be reconfirmed few minutes later by the barista. We specifically ordered 2 children’s meals and drinks ahead of our own by more than 10 minutes with no one returning to take our order. I then stood up and went inside to order our meals. 10minutes later the waitress brought out one item at a time as in one item in hand at a time…. The children’s meal we NOT brought out as a whole but instead the chips came out and onion rings….we then realised the burgers were not coming. Before the kids burgers came out was enough time that the chips and onion rings were almost finished along with the milk shakes. The children were too full to actually eat the meal they should have. I questioned the lady as to where the rest of the meal for the boys was and was told the order had been put through all together. So therefore not explaining why it hadn’t come out all together. I watched other tables … their itemised meals coming within a few minutes of each plate.

Then the fun started, we received the buffalo wings which were not a wing but a nibblet and dry. We were not given any cutlery, plates, salt or pepper.

Now at this point a third lady came out acting like a manager with a big huff and very defensive stance. I simply said to her we ordered “a meal” meaning it comes out together not an “entrée or side of chips” which indicates it could come out separately from a burger… her demeanour was so unpalatable that it really put a dampener on the meal which we still hadn’t received. I was told that “this in not McDonald’s where things come together” I was so flabbergasted. I ordered a meal … a meal is a whole!!! Not parts of!!!! Your rudeness, defensiveness and body language fouled the rest of our meal. The burgers finally came and my children didn’t touch them! The blue sauce was bland… no zing!

Now my appreciation for the “Top Gunner “ patty, with Vietnamese spiced hints was succulent… there was no way of actually eating the burger within a single mouthful so no way of enjoying all the flavour profiles together. (Burger cost no sides!!! $38). I will give you that the onions rings were good, really good!

We had several check ins by other staff… by then the young gentleman owner had popped out and in a cheerful manner tried to rectify the displeasure of the initial debacle but non of us had any appetite left…. It was all up a really uncomfortable experience….

We took more than half home.

We had to use the bathroom only to walk in to find BLOOD SPLATTER, my partner having to ask to have it cleaned up!

We had planned our trip of a long time as my little ones LOVE aviation and had just been to the aviation museum. We did just under a 180km round trip to come to Spitfire!!!! They didn’t even want to go inside and look at all the memorabilia. I didn’t even take photos of the food.

I have an understanding of how a kitchen works, we understand seasonal staff… but staff behaviour, organisation and manners can make or ruin a meal. When you talk down to a customer instead of apologising and belittle them all I wanted to do at that point was to ask for our money back in...

FIrstly, the atmosphere here is incredible, we were there for maybe nearly an hour and i couldnt help but spot something different and new every time i looked up and around. This place has such a vibe to it. Staff are super friendly as well, we felt welcomed and heard and they were very accomodating.

The coffee i had here was one of my favourite coffes ive had in MP, the speed i downed that mug was record worthy.

Be warned, this is not a place you should go to and expect to eat cleanly. sauce will go everywhere, the bun just falls apart and it turned into more of a deconstruction style of eating rather then a full burger per bite.

The bugers i think are a bit overhyped. Although the portion sizes are what looks gigantic, i think its pretty misleading when literally half the burger is filled with rocket - which isnt on the description of their burgers. I believe this is their 'Lettuce'. I was pretty disappointed because i generally think Rocket is a pretty boring food item, i think just some lettuce instead of a gardens worth of Rocket would have done these burgers more justice. If you take away a burgers worth of rocket you do notice the individual components such as the burger patties, you can tell they are home made because the longer you eat it the more it tastes like a rissole. This isnt a negative thing, its just what came to mind while eating it.

Kranksy & Onion RIngs are QUALITY as well.

One last thing is i think the prices are a bit steep for what you get. Again, half the burger being rocket i dont know if that quantifies the prices jumping so significantly, and even the sides like the chips being $10 for what really seemed like a hand full, if you go with 2 other people its easily over $100 for a burger and chips each, but in this economy i guess anything goes.

Overall, this might not be a place i can see myself going to frequently BUT despite what it might look like i honestly do recommend trying it to everyone because it generally was a fun experience - just be careful taking the knife out of your burger, its also in...

Service was friendly but not well organised - it could have just been a one off from someone new to the team. One of us was served a burger, told that perhaps it was for another table and to hang on, then about a minute later the staff member came back and said yes, you can have that one. She also asked the table next to us if perhaps it was their burger? But given they had only just sat down and had menus on their hands, it also just confused them as well. The ret of us at the table didn’t received anything until after the first person had finished eating. At the time of ordering we asked if the ‘no alterations’ policy meant no substitutions or not even a removal (eg: no onions). Apparently normally you can’t even subtract something, but we were asked ‘do you have an allergy?’ Which suggests exceptions for allergies might be ok. The actual burgers were tasty and huge - quite messy to eat though. In fact, for us the impossibility of eating them without making a mess also detracted from the experience. I wished the patties them selves were flatter and broader in shape so they covered more of the bread and made it easier to eat. We wanted to like it more, and the burgers were tasty, but the experience overall fell short on this occasion. Plus not being able to avoid onions for one of us is problematic for all of us - and makes them feel unlikely to return just because they happen to...