Apollo Bay Hotel — Restaurant in Victoria

Can’t fault the service or the location. The prices are on the expensive side, but you expect that in a nice location, however, you also expect the quality of the food should justify the price also. Unfortunately for us, it did not. It is not often I would pay more than $30 for a chicken schnitzel, but the Apollo Bay Hotel charges $31. Let’s start with the positives… the chips and the gravy were amazing… but the star of the dish the schnitzel was extremely poor. For $31, I expect a crumbed chicken breast… what I got was an undersized schnitzel that only had a thin bit of chicken in it with thick breadcrumbs that were so oily, the oil was oozing out of the crumbing onto my plate. There was so little chicken, I can only guess that they get about 4 schnitzels out of one chicken breast. For $31, that is a disgrace. A very disappointing meal last night at a nice location, but never again for me. I tried the nearby Great Ocean Road Brewhouse for lunch today and thought I would try a schnitzel there and it was amazing, and only $27.50! I would suggest the management and chef of the Apollo Bay Hotel take a stroll down the street and try one out! You have a lovely restaurant and location, and your staff are great… it’s just disappointing the food I was served did not live up to expectations…...

The food was good and the staff friendly. However this is not the place to go if you are looking for anything more than a quick meal. We were taken to our seats and advised to order from the QR code fixed to the table or alternatively to order from an area set aside at the bar. Unfortunately no one was attending this counter and a queue formed. We grabbed a couple of menus from a nearby table and noted none of those little extras like water or specials. Plenty of staff moving about so not a case of understaffing, but missing direction from management. No excuses for customers searching for staff to take an order from a place designated for that very purpose. No side plates for sharing entrees, I used my napkin. We saw one patron order beer from the meal queue. For what it’s worth, I would return to the original meals counter, dress it up and showcase deserts, manned permanently, old style tip jar. QR ordering still available. At this time of year the place should have been packed, but it wasn’t even close. Management or their families need to road test the place to experience the uninspiring dining experience for themselves and make changes. They have good staff who need direction from management with vision and...

We came here for dinner. The place was packed, but they were able to accommodate us as walk-ins.

You have to order at the counter, then go to the bar if you want to order drinks, so prepare to stand in a queue to set your orders.

We ordered Fish & Chips (Beer battered barramundi fillet served with tartare sauce, lemon wedges, chips, and fresh garden salad), and Chicken Parmigiana (Crumbed chicken breast topped with ham, Napoli sauce, and cheese, served with mashed potato and garden salad).

I expected the food to be fresh, but I was disappointed by how "fishy" the Fish & Chips was. The fish felt like it came straight from the frozen section. The same thing for Chicken Parma. Our only saving grace was the bottle of wine we ordered.

When you get the impression that this place is fancy and has high reviews, you'd expect better food and a better way to order for the price we paid (close to $30 for each dish + bottle of wine). Despite this, the way you have to order, the queue, the price, and the lack of freshness of the food were all major disappointments.

I really wanted to like this place and hope there will be an improvement if I ever come back...