The Grapes Hotel — Restaurant in Victoria

The Grapes Hotel Ballarat, VIC First opening their doors to weary gold miners back in 1858. An estimated 6000 diggers arrived each week seeking their fortune - & many turned up each night in-search lodging & a clean draught to ease their sorrows. With glorious polished timber & sandblasted brick front bar. It's surrounded by leadlight windows with small timber tables which serves a homely pub fair 7 nights a week. The bar specials are hard to go by while enjoying the delightful chatter of fellow patrons. I must say the steak sandwich is a must for anyone with some true blue grit that wears the same colour as their flannie! The dining room has a warm old school feel. Its walls are adorned with local prints of horse & carriage with sturdy pub carpet under foot, weathered by many years of good times turned into fond memories. No pokies onsite, which opens the door to a labyrinth of stories from the numerous grey beards in hi-vis perched at the bar. So come on in & let the bubbles of Ballarat's finest brew easy away the stress of long day - a pub hard to go by once you're visited. 7.5/10...

There’s a fine line between rustic and cheap and nasty. We had a steak and chicken parmigiana. Food quality poor. Service slow and unfriendly. Cantankerous staff member at the bar. Not sure how this place survived 3 generations. Let’s start with the steak. Doubtful it was actually a scotch fillet - it was thin and tough. It certainly shouldn’t be $36! It was absolutely smothered in a glutinous congealed peppercorn sauce that covered ALL of the veggies and ALL of the mashed potato. I haven’t seen that much sauce on a steak since 1995. Parmigiana was average. No ham. Cheese was barely melted on top. Salad was mediocre at best. Waited a long time for drinks. Waiting staff barely came around. Needed to get our own water. Tried to let the manager know about these issues and was met with rudeness and contempt. Got defensive, raised his voice and mocked us. Won’t be going back, ever! Plenty of pubs in Ballarat, don’t waste your time...

31st March 2025 we thoroughly enjoyed our lunch here. I ordered Special of the Day, Baked Lamb on Couscous base.Surrounded by spinach, baked sweet potato chunks, capsicum & slice of lemon. The dressing on the spinach was very tasty. The lamb was tender & fell apart.The entire serving was substantial and I struggled to finish it. My partner had Thai Vegetable Curry with Chicken on a bed of Couscous with slices of carrot, spinach, sprouts, cauliflower and coriander. Once again a very substantial serving that he thoroughly enjoyed. The staff were wonderful and the Dining Room was spacious. We both highly recommend this...