Westernport Hotel Hastings — Restaurant in Melbourne

So we were heading out to our favourite local pub tonight for a last dinner before my friend boards a plane for the UK for the next several months, unfortunately they are closed on a Tuesday.

So we head here, order the bruscetta and 2 specials of the day which was flathead and chips.

The bruscetta comes out, a little slow for a quiet night and restaurant. It's served in ok bread, maybe a little dry and with really quite strong onion (we like onion, but it's a bit much), on the upside the vinegarette dressing was nice and light.

Now the flat had mains - they were something else, the worst I've had anywhere. These were so oily I chose not to eat my dinner and whilst my friend insisted she would eat the $33 dish she also gave up. As your knife touched them oil poured out which was made worse by the fact they were luke warm, mushy (cheap frozen fish I would guess), and not salted at all, lucky they have these awful 2 in 1 salt and pepper shakers that cover your food in pepper when all you want is salt.

The chips were white, soggy and unsalted, why does your chef not understand how to submerge food in hot oil? It's the easiest form of cooking, although nothing would help the cheap mushy fish.

We were trying to raise someones attention to let them know how terrible it was but were ignored by everyone.

Decor is fine, light, bright like an average pokies venue. Bar service, staff that ignore you and filthy men's toilet on the bistro side with stains on both seats - you know what I'm getting at right?

So the moral of the story is we spent $90 for 3 tiny pieces of bread covered in onion and went home where we are munching on servo food.

Seriously unimpressed your food and service is this poor whilst your prices are the same as the best...

This 5-star review may start by sounding like a 1-star when I say that our first two visits weren't ideal... But as a previous restaurant manager, I must say the way the wait staff handled these two unusual situations (that were out of their control) was impeccable. First visit was the busiest night in history (so there was an hour long delay on our meals), but when the meals came out they were delicious and generous. The staff were incredibly professional and on the ball in terms of keeping us in the loop and also generously comped us drinks to apologise for the wait (without having to be prompted by any complaint by us). They were polite, friendly and very professional. The second night we visited was on a busy public holiday, and whilst we were greeted with notably outstanding customer service, sadly my vegetarian salad was of very poor quality (portion and freshness of produce)... certainly not to the same excellent standard as last time we visited. I gave my feedback to the floor manager, who agreed and took the time to explain the challenges of the 4th public holiday in a row (hell - can anyone keep salad fresh on day 4?) and how the venue prides itself on a very high quality of food and service. I wholeheartedly believe the manager when he says he takes a great deal of care hiring staff, as I really have been blown away by the high level of customer service in all wait staff and bussies we have encountered each and every time. My partner's meal was impeccable. I very much look forward to our 3rd visit, for some of the best customer service and professional hospitality wait staff I have experienced at any Melbourne pub in a very...

GOOD MAINS, STALE DESERTS AND NO VEGAN OPTIONS.

Our group of 4 dined at Westernport Hotel in Hastings last night (7/7/25) and our experience was a bit of a mixed bag. Whilst we were quite happy with the quality of the main meals selected, the deserts unfortunately were terrible! Perhaps the most dissapointing aspect however was the lack of Vegan options. For one member of our group, the only choice avaliable was a mushroom risotto, which she did not want. In today's dining landscape, it's truly surprising and unacceptable that a mainstream Hotel resturant offer such a limited singular Vegan option from the entire menu. It suggests a significant oversight in catering for such diverse dietary needs these days. On the main courses themselves the eye fillet was cooked to perfection, but the accompanying vegetable portion felt a bit meager, especially given the steaks modest size. The surf and turf was disappointing in terms of value; it only came with 2 prawns and 1 scallop. Another letdown of the evening was the deserts. Each of us chose something different from the cabinet. My partner found the passionfruit cheesecake ok, but the black forrest cake and the sticky date pudding were both dry and stale and there was definately not enough Ice cream to help with dryness. My lemon meringue pie was the worst, it too was stale with a thin layer of lemon curd that had shrunk within it's hard thick biscuit base, and a meringue, so crunchy and sugary it had an unpleasant crystalized texture. Thankfully the dinner ended on a high note with coffee. My skinny latte was a stand out, rich and full of flavour it was a...