Stokehouse Pasta & Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

This is a pretty well known place if you're from Melbourne, and if you live here you also know that anything next to a beach is not going to be cheap to visit. However, I was not happy with one thing when paying the bill and thought that it would be useful to let other people know. More on that after the actual food/service review.

Food: Good - I would say slightly above average but at these prices you should be judged at a higher standard. We had the Fish and Chips that almost cost 40 dollars: very bare bones, just came with fish, tartare sauce, lemon wedge and chips. Chips were not my favourite. The fish batter I thought was a bit dark HOWEVER the fish inside was actually perfectly cooked. The tartare sauce was great. Definitely not worth 40 bucks IMO. Entree sized pastas: We had the gnocchi (cacio e pepe) and spaghetti (seafood based). They were good, no complaints. Very tasty sauces. They cost around 25 dollars (basically what a main used to cost about 2 years ago :D) Veal Schintzel - had a side serving of salad with it. Tasted good but again, over 30 bucks for a very bare bones plate of food. This one was maybe not as overpriced as the Fish and Chips though.

Value for Money: Not that great, as hinted above. However as I also said, if you're gonna walk into a place that faces the beach it St Kilda, you should be prepared to pay a premium. You're not going to get your money's worth and you have to be OK with that because everyone else is, and the market sets the price as they say. There is also a weekend Surcharge of 5% on Saturday, as seems to be the norm in Melbourne these days. I'm fighting a losing battle as it is getting increasingly difficult to find a place that doesn't do this (what I feel is deceptive) practice these days. They'll tell you its all because of the staff weekend rates etc, but I'm not really convinced. Anyway, seems I'm in the minority.

Service: Nothing to complain about, but nothing to write home about either. Pleasant server, wait times were longer than usual but understandable as they were having a very busy lunch service.

Now to talk about the issue I had with this place. When I paid, I was given the EFTPOS/Credit Card machine at the table. You're asked to go through the bill then click (touch?) through the prompts. Now USUALLY, you're explicitly asked if you want to leave a tip. I usually don't (as this is Aus, not US) unless the service has been above and beyond. I clicked through the default prompts and paid my bill but in my head I thought "wait, that seemed a bit high, might be the surcharge". When I got the printed receipt I saw that I had tipped them 10%. Let me be clear, my experience is that they have a DEFAULT TIP OF 10% SET UP ON THEIR PAYMENT SYSTEM. If this matters to you, BEWARE...if not, carry on. It sure mattered to me as I did not intend to leave a tip but at the same time I had inadvertently agreed to it, leaving me...kinda swearing off the place. This is the first time I've seen this sort of practice here.

To summarise: Food is decent. Not going to get your money's worth. Beware of 10% default tip set up in...

So disappointed!!! Went to Pontoon last night for dinner and left feeling massively ripped off.

My partner ordered the 'Special' lamb dish, costing $35, whilst I ordered a few of the smaller snack items, to make up a main meal. Snack items are priced well (around $12 each) and tasted good, however... my food came out 20 minutes before my partners (even though I had asked if we could try and have them around the same time, knowing the lamb would take longer), meaning I had almost finished by the time my partner's dish arrived. Given the price of the 'lamb special' ($35), I think it would be a fair assumption to think this would be a MEAL rather than a small meat dish (especially when comparing against the price and size of the snack dishes). Unfortunately not. The special arrived, and consisted of 4 (thin) slices of lamb and a crumbed broccoli floret over the top. THAT. WAS. IT. No sides, no veg.... nothing. If I had gone to a fine dining restaurant I would have expected this, but not when I had just eaten a number of well-priced, good sized 'snack' dishes.

Further to that disappointment, we actually spoke to a manager about the dish, the size etc. where he actually agreed with us re the size and said it was a 'special', so it was the first time it had been on the menu. Regardless of our feedback and disappointment, no money was taken off our bill, no free sides suggested... nothing. When paying the bill, the girl who processed it for us said she also agreed and "wouldn't eat here" - further insult to injury!

To give an excuse that "it was the best quality lamb and the price reflects that" - is just not acceptable. In fact, it's actually ridiculous. I could go to a premium butcher and get a decent leg or shoulder of lamb for the same amount.

Poor customer service and...

I found our experience at this restaurant unusual and while not unpleasant, deeply disappointing. We were a party of 8 adults and four children. To make the booking, I had to agree to have the fixed menu at $75 a head for the adults. The restaurant accepted the booking and then seated us on two separate tables. We ordered for the kids and the food turned up promptly. All good so far. Then we had to wait over an hour for our starters. They were very tasty and the chef had accommodated the three members of the party who couldn't tolerate onion by replacing the arancini with brushetta made with pesto and cherry tomatoes. We then had to wait more than an hour again for our mains. This time we faced an avalanche of food. We got four plates each of two different pastas, three plates of pasta with meat sauce, three plates of pasta for the onion in tolarant members of our party, four plates piled high with cabbage, pesto and pine nuts and six salads. What was surprising about the food was that it include two dishes made with pesto - the cabbage and a pesto lasagne. Chef had delivered the onion intolerant among us the dishes made with pesto. Even the most enthusiastic pesto lovers felt a little jaded by the end. After another wait for the desert, we finally left the restaurant more than three hours later at 4.30. I do understand that restaurants do need to protect their kitchens from being slammed by large parties, this felt a situation where we, the customers, got slammed. The bill was close to $900. The venue is beautiful with a view across the bay. The food was ok and seemed to be trying to make up for a lack of sophistication by...