Malt Shovel Taphouse — Restaurant in Victoria

If you’re in your 20’s and looking for a place to celebrate your birthday this isn’t a good option. They completely age discriminated the group I was in. Particularly an older man with a thick accent. We called up and booked and said we were going to be ordering drinks and the guy on the phone was incredibly happy bubbly and good vibes and said no worries at all you’re welcome to and added if we do want food we will need to call up beforehand and pre-order because when we arrive the kitchen will be about to close. At the first place we went to I didn’t eat much and I pre-ordered a seafood linguine because I wanted to eat at malt shovel. The guy with the accent on the phone sounded pissed off and questioned as if I was ordering one bowl of pasta for a group of 19 so I hurried back inside and asked everyone if they wanted me to order them something and we decided on 2 bowls of chips for the group. So I ordered 2 bowls of chips and a pasta and the man scoffed and said was that all? As if he wanted me to order more when we had already let the venue know we were mainly going there for drinks and that was fine. I blew it off thinking it was more of a joke. When we arrived we sat down and me and my friend were heading off to the bathroom and we walked past a guy yelling in our faces holding the seafood linguine (the one with the thick accent) saying “and who’s paying for this!?” It wasn’t nice it wasn’t a good feeling, no hello nothing. I was wearing heels and had to scurry after him to show him where to place it and I said I’ll be paying for it I ordered it and he ignored me and stormed off. When I sat down I was thinking maybe I was being sensitive and didn’t think much until the girl next to me who was seated the whole time asked me what was going on and why the guy was yelling at me. Then I knew it wasn’t all in my head. I complained to the bartender and he said he will say something, I also paid for my food. Maybe half an hour later the guy with the accent approached me again in an aggressive manner pointing me towards the till to go pay and I said I already have paid for it…. And he left me alone for the rest of the night. I felt as though I was disrespected and treated poorly because I look young however I am 23 and no one should be treated the way I was there regardless of age. Maybe someone who’s 30+ won’t have the same experience. I didn’t feel good the whole time I was there and I felt uncomfortable I highly do not recommend this place, it makes me feel really sad thinking back on it since it was supposed to be such a...

• root veg bowl • Korean BBQ popcorn chicken • rotisserie board for 2 • steakhouse chips • deconstructed pear tart • crème brûlée

If you find happiness in craft beer, you’ll find happiness at Malt Shovel Tap House. With multiple dining areas, both inside and out, there is a spot for everyone and every occasion. We opted for a more intimate setting and chose one of the booths in the dining room.

The veggies were cooked nicely, not much seasoning but a great pair to the rotisserie board, which was beautiful. The meats were juicy and full of rich flavour.

The Korean BBQ chicken was sweet and sticky. It was nice but I didn’t eat much. However I can’t help but feel that was due to being stuffed after the rotisserie board.

I didn’t enjoy either of the desserts. The pear was rock hard and the rest of the components were tasteless. The crème brûlée was a standard crème brûlée.

Maltshovel Tap House specialises in rotisserie meats and I sure did enjoy mine. They also offer classic pub meals, sharing plates and a decent list of burgers.

I’ve visited Maltshovel a few times and every time has been a different experience. What made my experience on this occasion, was the service. I didn’t get our waiters name but he was great. You’ll know exactly who I’m talking about if you’ve been before or visit after reading this - he’s bald. He had a great sense of humour and we had a good laugh with him. Service can either make or break an experience for me and he definitely made it.

🍽 DISH OF THE DAY: The rotisserie board. My partner could’ve eaten the whole thing himself so whether you feeling like sharing or not, I’d recommend...

Want to venue yesterday. Made a booking for 1pm, arrived on time. Waiter offered drinks about 1.15 and them took our meal orders engaging us with the invitation of food! trying to make himself heard over the excessive noise in the venue.

Orders made, waited to 2.30 pm before asking about service. First person said they would followup and get back to us, never saw them again. Contact made again about 2.40 pm advised that our meals were next up. Waited another 10 minutes and watched tables receiving meals that arrived after us. Again approached staff and were told that we were next up. We decided to leave, my son went to pay for drinks that we had and was told there would be no charge providing we dd not post negative feedback. I said we could be giving feedback and left. As a note this was a family event for us, we had a son leaving for QLD and a 12 month old child. It was particularly disappointing, afternoon wasted, fish and chips at 3.45 pm, no celebration.

My son posted negative feedback on the site that he had made the booking on. Soon after he received a phone call from a person identifying himself as the owner explaining that the day had been difficult for the venue (who were imposing a 15 percent surcharge because the day we attended was a penalty day for staff, we had agreed to pay this charge by attending the venue). This person offered a $ 150.00 in house voucher provided he removed the negative feedback from the reservation site. I overheard the conversation and the "owners" persistence to convince my son to change the feedback seemed...