St Andrews Hotel — Restaurant in Melbourne

Had a very disappointing yet surprising visit to St Andrews Pub on Sunday 12th Nov 2023. Was looking forward to it as the weather was perfect and have heard such good things about the place.

My sons have nut allergies and pubs are usually quite safe to eat at (as a family we avoid Indian/Asian inspired places as it's just too risky).

The menu contained one item of concern; satay chicken skewers and the standard note to advise of any allergies. In my experience, most places are pretty well educated and if I'm not sure about baked goods, sauces, salads etc, I will mention the allergies. In this case I did not as the menu appeared quite safe; typical pub food.

In hindsight I should have mentioned it however what followed really took me by surprise given it's 2023 and allergies are at the forefront now more than ever. It seemed to be a case of "if you don't mention allergies, nuts will be included in your meal"....

We ordered chicken wings to share at the beginning and when they arrived, they had a garnish of peanuts and coconut. It was not mentioned in the menu and when I returned them to the counter even the young girl was surprised at it was not a usual occurrence.

Another young girl, Maddie, then came to assist us and seeing that one of my son's had ordered ribs and wings, suggested we change the order just in case. Unfortunately, the chef was unable to guarantee that any of the meals would be safe and at this point I was nervous about everything on the menu given the use of nuts was so lax.

We decided not to eat there at all and asked if we could get our money refunded. Another woman (dark hair and olive skin) approached to help us but was more concerned that the adult meals were ready and would be wasted.

We agreed to get our meals to go and a refund for the kids meals. When my salad arrived the chicken "add on" was actually a satay skewer; again this was not mentioned on the menu. Allergies aside, there are people out there who just don't like satay.

Maddie was great through this whole experience and should be commended for her efforts and understanding. She agreed that the menu needed tweaking and it was already on her to-do list prior to our visit.

I am just really surprised that St Andrews pub have gone this long without a serious incident. It's a country pub, yes, but it's not 20 years ago and management really need to take notice or the next customer might not...

My partner and I could not be more disappointed with what has become of this hotel! St Andrews was once our go to place for a nice, relaxing, friendly and enjoyable dinner for when we would go out for a little date night, but unfortunately after our most recent visit and experience we will not be returning. Upon arrival we were not greeted like usual, when we approached the bar we were told there was no beer available on tap as they had run out (we later found out after reading other reviews that perhaps this is broken), we were then told by the bar lady that there was no white wine available either except for one which she informed us “tastes gross so don’t buy it unless that’s what your into”. So with lemonade now in hand we then proceeded to the food counter to order dinner and our order was taken by a lady that acted as though she had better things to be doing with her time, we than sat ourselves at a table in almost darkness due to being surrounded by down lights not working with the wires now hanging out of the roof. Which usually we would have placed ourselves next to the fire which is usually lit on a cooler day such as the one we attended on, however it wasn’t lit this night until the bar lady had to quickly burn some extra cardboard boxes to get rid of some rubbish. Our meals were then brought out to our table and we could not have been more thoroughly disappointed, the nachos we ordered as a main meal were not even edible! You would think this would be a fairly straight forward meal, that generally most people’s children could correctly cook for themselves...but apparently not! These came out with the cheese so far baked that they could not be pulled apart or eaten, only a few chips on the outer edges were able to be separated from the now rock solid cheese and clcorn chip biscuit in the plate. So we then sat talking as we would over dinner, with only having been able to pick at the edges of our dinner with the staff then starting to turn further lights off around the venue (not far past 8pm) and indicating “no rush” to us. So very disappointing, we will...

This rustic quintessential old Aussie country pub is a rare gem. I went for an afternoon cruise today Tuesday, to bed in the new brakes of my old American Ford, pulled up right out front of St Andrews Pub, probably the same spot where early settlers tied their horses to dart in for an Ale or two.

A quite afternoon, not many punters about, the publican sat at the outdoor tresstle table full of great Aussie characters sipping their beer and enjoying a chin wag. We had a chat about my old Fairlane over a cold beer, and reminisced about the many classic cars we all thrashed and trashed back in the 60s and 70s. What a wonderful trip down memory lane, this historic old pub is an absolute must visit, the old colonial structure represents a time warp, one can almost hear the clipity clop of settlers horses arriving to settle for the night, its a nostalgic journey back to a bygone era of narrow dirt tracks, horse and cart, tough logging crews, and true blue Australian grit.

If you have an afternoon to spare, and fancy a great pub meal, a cold beer, in a setting that transports you back to 1880s country Australia, call into St Andrews Pub, order a cold beer, join the great Australians seated at the outdoor table uphill of the front door, and soak up true blue Aussie banter with the beautiful locals.

Tell them that the chap with the Tank Fairlane Retractable sent you, and remember to post your own impressions of this...