The Main — Restaurant in Melbourne

What a shocking experience! We went to The Main on 2nd January and yes, we expected it to be crowded as some restaurants were closed on that day. But what we didn´t expect was to have been treated with so much disrespect. When we arrived, we were seated without any warning that they were working beyond their capacity, and that it would be a long wait until we were going to be served. If they would have warned us about that, we would have moved on to another restaurant. After waiting for the waiter for a while, we ordered some drinks and after 20 minutes the waiter came back and took the remainder of the order. After another 45 minutes of waiting and as nobody came over to apologise for the delay, we went to the counter to ask when we were going to be served. A person, that looked like the owner/manager, came to our table to tell us that we were the second next table to be served. Half an hour later, and seeing that more tables had already been served but not ours, we returned to the counter to ask what they could do about it. Their response was simply: ¨Leave if you want¨ without any apology. At this stage we had been waiting for our meal for nearly 1.5 hrs, so we decide to wait 10 more minutes and to leave the premises if we were not served. Which we did! We respectfully went to the counter and let them know that we wanted to cancel the order and leave, expecting them at least to give us an apology, but they didn´t! And they still charged us for the drinks. We are never coming back to this restaurant, nor recommend it to any of our many local friends. There are many good places in Eltham to have lunch or dinner, but...

The Main - 30/10/2020

“Calamari Salad & Linguine Marinara”

I have been here a few times before a long time ago and it’s always put out very respectable meals compared to others offered in Eltham. Tonight’s experience was really hurt by the lack of Covid safety while there, some staff not wearing any mask at all including customer facing staff clearing tables, taking orders & even sanitizing without a face mask or permanently under their chin, I know the numbers are low but with the fear of going out for so many so strong you’re not helping your own cause! It really took away from the otherwise great experience. My calamari salad was great really big serving and couldn’t finish it. My partner had the seafood linguine & the bug was a decent size and prepared perfectly as was the pasta itself & the rest of the generous serving of seafood in the dish. We also had some wine and cocktails which were also good. Overall could have been perfect if not for the unease of the non Covid conformance. All the staff in the hardest working positions (chef etc) seemed to never drop their masks so I couldn’t completely smash the staff score.

Food - 9/10 Staff - 7/10 Environment - 8/10 Overall Combined - 4/5

“Calamari Salad” Flour Dusted Calamari with napa cabbage, red cabbage, mixed lettuce, fetta, spanish onion & carrot with lime & chilli gazpacho dressing

“Linguine Marinara” Black tiger prawns, scallops, calamari, Moreton Bay bugs, King Prawn & muscles sautéed with garlic schallots in olive oil & white wine with fresh...

Underwhelming food, slow meal service and poor attentiveness.

We sat outside, being a gorgeous day. Waitress came out twice over the whole duration. First to take our order, then to deliver the meals. That was it.

The Seafood Basket sounded really good. @$45 which said it included "grilled Morton Bay Bug" so we ordered it. Half a Bug... fine.. but even that was a tiny dry piece.. I mean less than 1.5cm by 1cm, inedibly dry. The rest was passable, but not at the price paid.. the $21 seafood basket at my local F&C shop puts these guys to shame. Add to that the meals took 48mins to come out. Nothing on that plate should have taken more tjjjj*han 10 minutes to cook, and the only thing on the plate that was cooked properly were the chips.. On the other hand, the garlic and herb pizza was top notch.. it was crispy on the outside and spongy inside.. beautiful..

We provided this feedback when paying our bill. Hopefully they'll address these so that the next person who wants to sit outside in the open and enjoy a fisherman's basket may not have to be similarly...