Bank Street Wood Fired Pizza & Garden — Restaurant in Victoria

2.5 stars * We came here as a large group a few weeks back. The pizza was delicious and the outdoor vibe was great - funky lights and live band. Although, a couple of thing lead to this not being a 5 star experience: ⁃ as we were in a large group of 20 people, we weren’t able to purchase our individual pizzas as we got there, we had to participate in an “all you can eat” experience for $40 each (which we had to pre-order 5 varieties of pizza the day before) For this experience you expect quick service and enough pizza to make you full - especially because we arrived at 5.30pm on the dot when the restaurant opened and pre-ordered our pizza flavours. But after 3 hours of slow service waiting for pizza at 8.30pm we were still hungry and decided to leave. The staff stated you can stay all night “no rush” so would not recommend coming here in a large group if you aren’t ready to stay all night waiting for pizza ⁃ After 2.5 hours of waiting/being hungry we expressed our views to the manager who wouldn’t fully listen/understand our experience hadn’t been entirely fabulous. Her argument was “we aren’t like Pizza Hut” and thus, the pizzas aren’t able to be churned out, which we didn’t appreciate considering that’s what the business model of $40 “all you can eat” entails. Also she wouldn’t accept/believe we were all still hungry, listing off how many pizzas they had provided.

If the Manager had taken onboard our feedback, and not rebutted our experience (not fought back saying we have been delivered enough pizzas to be satisfied etc. when that is not what we believed) the experience wouldn’t have been so negative although; the discussion with the Manager really added an extra dampener...

I was on my way home from the high country down the Hume freeway when I got a call from a friend who suggested I stop into a town called Avenel. I get about rural Victoria a fair bit and was surprised I'd never heard of such a place. He recommended Bank St Pizza. So I pulled over, looked it up and figured I'd make it just in time for lunch.

I'd driven past the entrance many many times but as this beautiful little town, like many these days has been slightly bypassed by the highway I hadn't ever seen it. I had filled my ute at the outdated servo and only thought it had horrible truck stop food and a dangerous intersection.

How wrong I was! This little was absolutely lovely. Filled with quality old well restored houses, a gorgeous old pub and the best wood fired pizza restaurant in rural Vic.

The place was busy and I only managed to get a small table inside which was great but the garden setting outside was fantastic but filled to brimming over with booked out long tables. I sat and placed my order, drank a beer, read my book in peace and soon enough was delivered the best mushroom pizza I'd had in a very long time.

I'd worked in hospitality in Melbourne for a decade. I know good service and great food and this little gem of a place ticked all the boxes.

I'll definitely be back, I'll definitely book a table outside if the sun's out and I'll definitely recommend you stop in off the Hume to give this place a try. You won't be disappointed. Good food, lovely staff, good selection of beer and wine in a gorgeous...

This is a little gem of a place - open only for a few days per week it’s always booked out so make sure you plan ahead

The pizza is good and the menu very basic but I love the fact they are great at keeping it simple and making it great

You can sit outside or inside ….outside is a lovely garden area. Really lovely on a warm day sitting outside enjoying the fresh country air. On a cooler day or night they do have heaters to keep you warm but I would suggest eating inside where it’s toasty warm and a great atmosphere in the old bank building

As the name suggests it’s an old bank in Avenel (about 5 mins off the Hume Hwy) and inside is warm and cosy on a cool night or cold day

Food is excellent - had the home made pate which was fabulous but you will need to like pizza to visit as that is its main offering

Not an expensive place to eat but very good value for money

Just make sure you book early as it’s often booked out...