WoodsYard — Restaurant in Melbourne

woods yard is a neighbourhood wine bar tucked in the quiet streets of south melb parallel to albert park. owners kris and aaron woods have created a relaxed, casual wine and pizza bar, with a strong focus on organic, natural wines and a seasonal menu that is constantly changing (yay!). it has the classic wine bar dim interior, shelves stacked with wine bottles of different shapes and sizes, long curtains down the floor-to-ceiling windows that stay open as the breeze comes through.

their wine list is a double sided A4! their chilled orange was oh so crisp. starting with snacks, the comte mushroom croquette had the perfect gooey, more-ish inside and crunchy exterior. my anchovy toast was a delicious, salty bite though i think a milder cheese like ricotta may pair well rather than a goats curd with anchovy which was a little pungent.

getting into the good stuff - their burrata with homemade focaccia was generous and delightful. we gobbled this right up. peaches were ripe too! out of stock of snapper, they subbed blue mackerel for their crudo. this was immaculate - smoky and melt-in-the-mouth. probably my fav melb crudo in terms of flavour. but in terms of size oh boy we were underwhelmed. we understood their were stock issues so maybe we got the last slithers of the mackerel they had left?

we moved on to their steak frites and HELLO this was tender, juicy and the peppercorn sauce was finger-licking good, truly. cooked perfectly medium, and those fries were addictive. the zesty vinegarette on their house salad paired flawlessly.

we couldn’t say no to their basque cheesecake. not dense/gooey but rather airy, fluffy and light. we adored it. we were treated to a SECOND complimentary slice when staff noticed we didn’t receive the strawberry compote with our initial plate. we were very thankful they and staff were very apologetic, their compote added that tart freshness which really elevated the dish.

when a wine bar has a rotating menu i am destined to return. while i do feel that prices were too steep for portions, its not really surprising in melb’s dining scene these days!

overall, many dishes at woodsyard impressed me, vibes were 11/10 immaculate on a summers night, staff were fantastic and i’d recommended this...

Great coffee and staffs are nice but very rude and arrogant owner. Have been trying to support local businesses since COVID although the coffees are more expensive than everywhere else, I still purchase from there twice per day! I can go to bottle shop but still buy wines from there! Well I left my parcel there one day when I wasn’t home with the consent from friendly staff but I got demand for tips right on the spot from the owner when I picked my parcel up! Where was the kindness of helping out in the neighbourhood just how I tried to support your business? and how rude just to assume I wasn’t planned to do something to say thank you ( I wasn’t even aware who was the one nicely helped)!

Just to response to your comments: Firstly, the coffee was good quality and I was happy to pay the higher price. No need to justify coz no one is complaining about the price. Second, You were very rude to demand tips right on my face in front of your staff. I can feel the embarrassment from them too. It’s ok to say we don’t want to keep your parcel and my staff weren’t employed for keeping parcels. But not ok to hand my parcel in one hand and ask for tips on your other hand. Literally! Last! I was ordering a coffee at the time so you were rude to your regular customer. The way you handled the situation has no customer services at all! Neither I can feel what you described as “accommodating”! I don’t feel comfortable ever back again simply because poor customer...

We had a lovely experience here last night. To start, the tables are well spaced out so you don't feel on top of the people next to you. The lighting was nice and moody but still lit enough to see your food. We found the staff hit and miss, once or twice things we requested were forgotten and the service was a bit slow, however the lady who kindly helped us choose a red was very knowledgeable and friendly. The food was very good and exceptionally good value for money. Two of us dined here and spent $196 which included around 7 glasses of wine, two starters, a pizza and a side. the guanciale pizza was delicious but I would have loved a bit more honey to balance out the saltiness of the guanciale. I had a look at the wine list prior to attending and many of the pet nats that were advertised online were not on the menu in-house. Not the end of the world though as there were many other options for us to choose from. Overall, the restaurant wasn't a huge stand out to me which I had expected because of the hype on urban list, open table etc however it is definitely worth visiting and is very good value for money, with great food options and a very...