Meelup Farmhouse — Restaurant in Naturaliste

Meelups is such a nice place to go for a summer or spring afternoon lunch/brunch with family. This restaurant & farm house has such charm and soul it’s incredible. It’s really hugely populate so I highly recommend to plan ahead and book early or risk missing this experience. There looks to be a ice cream station near the entry but it wasn’t open when we were there. They have live music music on the lawn and there are 3 seating options, inside/main dining, patio and picnic. Seems there are more spots for picnic or maybe it’s not as popular because we were able to book this one mo problem but lunch/brunch bookings were full 2 weeks beforehand! I will say the real disappointment here was the food, I would only give the food 3.5-4 stars at best. The kids spaghetti bolognese was a huge portion but tasted just like tomato sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly but under seasoned and the gnocchi was really not good. It was just potato with no flavor or texture and the red sauce was similar tasting as the bolognese. The 2 saving graces for the food was fried squid which was actually really really good and the sticky date pudding which was so amazing we nearly had 2! If I could give 4.5 stars I would because I could see other items on the menu tasting better than what we had so I don’t want it to seem like the food wasn’t good because it was good…just not 5 stars. Really great place and if you get a kids combo they get a small bag of feed for the chickens or the lamas (this is a nice perk). I will also say we had an issue with our reservation, I didn’t complete the booking but they still fit us in which was a class act! Thanks Meelups for a great post beach...

Our visit to Meelup Farmhouse was marred by our choice of one of the “Farmhouse Shares”—the rib-eye steak. Priced at $75 and ordered medium rare, it was significantly undercooked: blue, cold, tough, and laden with fat and gristle, which was a major letdown.

Despite our group’s initial excitement, the poorly prepared steak greatly dampened our experience. When we brought this issue to the waiter’s attention, the response was prompt yet disappointing. Rather than replacing the pre-cut steak, the kitchen attempted to re-cook the already cut-up steak strips. Unfortunately, this didn’t help, as the steak simply tasted bland and tough—basically, strips of steak seared on all four sides, not what you would expect for $75. When the waitress returned to ask how it was, we told her it really wasn’t up to scratch. She called the manager, who stated that there was nothing they could do about it—they would not replace the steak or provide us with a partial credit.

Having just finished reading a few other reviews, I realised that multiple other reviewers have had the same issue with the steak and manager. This seems to be the restaurant’s policy. If I were the only one with an issue, then perhaps it’s on me, but clearly, this is a recurrent theme. You would think they would reconsider how they cook the steak or their selection of steaks. We were just upset because it otherwise ruined a perfect lunch and experience at Meelup Farmhouse.

I wonder if a $35 credit on a $450 bill was really worth all the bad will this interaction brought. We really weren’t being picky or fishing for a free meal; the steak was substandard and their response was abysmal. Not a...

Delicious food. Unique dishes. Friendly staff who were very helpful. We came as a group of 6 and ordered from the Farmhouse Share menu. We made a reservation online beforehand. When we arrived, the restaurant was not crowded, but the flies were very annoying and distressing to my companions as we waited to be seated. We were given a bench table near the entrance under the shade, so it was slightly chilly in the wind. I asked if we could move table because someone was feeling cold, and the staff were happy to oblige. One of the staff also returned with a blanket, thank you. The time for the food to arrive was reasonable but the flies were very annoying while we waited.

It's because there were too many flies attacking us and our food that I rated the Atmosphere 3-stars out of 5. I've travelled to some of the remotest parts of Western Australia so I am used to flies. It is the summertime and we were on a farm, BUT i think more could be done to control the fly population around the restaurant dining area in particular, considering that the dining experience and menu are generally on the pricey upmarket side.

After the meal, we had a walk around and saw the ducks and chickens roaming around. The lawns look immaculate. And the farm buildings are nice to photograph.

Beware of the dirt road leading into the farm property from the main road. It is extremely bumpy and has not been well-maintained as a road. This is another reason why I gave 3 out of 5 for Atmosphere.

Even so, I will come back again. This is my 4th visit in 5 years. And I drove all the way,...