Grenache Wine Bar — Restaurant in Victoria

Unfortunately we had a really terrible experience at Grenache tonight as a group of 9. I don’t like to leave negative reviews due to the potential impact on a local business, but the lack of accountability and acknowledgement from the staff/owner of our poor experience left a really bad taste.

We waited for our food for close to 2 hours and it was cooked after we flagged three times that we’d been waiting. As someone who used to work in hospitality, it was obvious that the order has been lost or forgotten at some point, and was only being cooked after the 90 minute mark.

Close to the two hour mark, we just wanted to leave and pay for the entrees and drinks - and we kept being told it’s a couple minutes away, to continue waiting longer. When the food finally came out progressively, two of the meals were cold and the fish dish (going to a pregnant woman) was raw in the centre. We asked for the cold dishes to be reheated and the pregnant woman didn’t bother sending the fish back as we just wanted to leave at that point. We also had to ask for cutlery and the dirty glasses/dishes to be cleared.

The owner tried to brush the whole thing off as a busy night, which just wasn’t the case. Multiple tables sat down after us, ate and left all before we got our food + staff standing around chatting doesn’t indicate busy beyond control.

Taking accountability that something went wrong, and asking us if we still wanted the food should’ve been the approach. I’ve worked in hospitality, these things happen - but playing it off as being busy and acting as if we’re the problem was just not cool.

On top of this, the service was really poor throughout the night - constantly asking for water top ups, us stacking plates to remove from the entree that stayed there for 30+ minutes, couldn’t order for 20-30 minutes cause the staff kept ignoring us etc. The owner gave us $80 off, but for a table of 9 spending a big amount and being charged a weekend surcharge as well - this really wasn’t enough for our terrible experience.

Won’t be back in the future...

Utterly dissappointed with this place. My friend and I were in Cowes for the weekend and we wanted to dine here. We didn't have a reservation so we just walked in. We could see over 5 tables empty and the waiter was seating a couple who was in front of us and we heard them ask for a table without a reservation. This got our hopes up. We then asked for a table for two and were told 'let me check', the waiter walked off, talked to a lady behind the bar, who looked up at us, gave us a strange, unwelcoming look. Then the waiter came back and said 'we have capacity limits due to COVID-19'. This is NOT the case since capacity limits were removed for hospitality settings a few days prior to when we went. He then said "I'll ask" which didn't make sense because he technically had already gone to 'ask'. He came back and said 'no we cannot take any more people in tonight because of capacity limits'. We were dissappointed but understood because we didn't have a reservation so we walked out but decided to hover for a bit. Low and behold, a group of 4 people, who were standing behind us asked him for a table for 4 WITHOUT a reservation and he let them in. We were polite and well dressed so it did not make sense why we would be refused a table. Needless to say, all these positive reviews and beautiful photos of their food had us super keen to try this wine bar but the poor, selective service of the place was an absolute disgrace. I'm disgusted and beyond offended by the way we were treated for NO apparent reason. There are plenty of small businesses to give your money to, so save your time and go elsewhere if you don't want to take your chances and try your luck for a table based off their waiter's mood and one second...

We had a delicious dinner at Grenache Wine Bar in Cowes on Phillip Island. The food was outstanding. It was one of the best restaurant meals we have had this year and we have been to some big name Melbourne restaurants.

I chose it because of the small share plates - I love the tapas idea and they do it really well. Top dish for me was the chicken & black bean tacos. Super tasty and with a generous filling - 2 per serve. Nothing was disappointing. Additionally we had a fried eggplant served with goats cheese & sweet potato chips - very good. Give it a go even if you don’t think you like eggplant. Also the pork ribs - yum, an heirloom tomato salad which freshened the palate and chips. Now the chips were good, but the least interesting dish we chose. 5 dishes & a bottle of white wine for less than $130 for 2. Great value.

Go to the Penguin Parade & then come here....