heronswood restaurant

entrance fee!. this restaurant now charges $10 for entrance! the front desk staff guards the front door and demands money, saying the garden is included, even if you only want some coffee at the cafe.

it's true that the $10 entry fee is a surprise downer to kick things off, but the service is efficient and the food shows capable cooking with the fabulous ingredients they have access to. cosy surroundings and worth a diversion for sure.

not much but i like the place and food. worth coming

some call this cafe restaurant at the heronswood estate, heronswood restaurant. others call it fork to fork. the latter name comes from the concept here. organic veggies from very nearby on the estate itself. garden fork to table fork and zero food miles.

this is a seriously stunning location half way up arthur’s seat with a great view of the bay. on a gorgeous warm, still sunny day like today, it was close to paradise. if you’re astute enough and you score the right weather, there’s a couple of tables here with magnificent views. they can be reserved.

after a wander through the excellent nursery and a visit to the shop, we found ourselves at the restaurant for lunch. there’s a good short menu here with ample to choose from. we shared the grazing plate and the pumpkin, leek and blue cheese tart and salad. the grazing plate features chicken roulade, goat cheese, carrot with aged cheddar, heronswood egg, house relish, salad and bread. both dishes were generously sized and very tasty. this is rustic, wholesome and really good food which we enjoyed thoroughly. the coffee to finish was very good too.

this was a very pleasant lunch. service was lovely, polite and efficient throughout. heronswood is such a lovely place. we will return soon.

we dined a number of times at the old restaurant premises and loved it, so were looking forward to lunch in the new premises - the historic house (finally having the time after a few years). we arrived 5 mins early for our booking at 1o’clock, and pretty quickly ordered the bread and olive plate followed by two chicken pot pies. we got a chai latte and some water, but 1/2 hour later, no bread, and a nearby table where the people arrived at least 15 mins after us got their bread! i asked for the bread, then about 5-10 mins later the pies arrive. they are luke warm and not edible for me since i am in first trimester of pregnancy. i went and complained, we didn’t have to pay (we decided to just leave), but the excuse given, that they were very busy, doesn’t cut it. they weren’t too busy to give someone else their bread, and if you can’t give a customer bread in half an hour there is something more seriously wrong than being busy. i am very disappointed as we are diggers members and love the house, but i don’t think i can return.

i just love this place!
something always tastes better when you know the food has either been grown on the grounds or sourced locally.
an ever changing menu that matches the season and a lot of attention and love goes into the food they produce.
i visit this place 4-5 times a year and have never been disappointed!

totally embassing to bring an overseas guest and then be charged $10 a head before we even get to the place! service was so slow we nearly left but we had already paid $30 between us. won't see me there again.

the food was very nice but we're still here over 30 minutes later waiting for 2 desserts and it's quiet enough. very disappointing. service is very slack.

the menu features heirloom vegetables and fruits grown organically on site at heronswood. i chose the ‘pumpkin, carrot, kale and semolina tart, served with garden greens ($24.00)’.

bit of a bummer that you have to pay entry on top of meal prices. having said that, it was an amazing meal, and the gardens are beautiful. the food all contains heirloom veggies and produce from the gardens, and wow. delicious. i had a risotto, and my partner had a salad, both were delicious and beautifully presented. service was laid back and lovely, and we had a gorgeous view of the gardens and port phillip bay while we ate. 100% recommend.

what a delight! we sat outside on a warm tuesday afternoon enjoying the garden view and listening to the kookaburra. the lunch menu had several tempting dishes but i settled for the vegetable plate ($24) and my wife chose the goats cheese tart ($23). both were great choices. my plate was covered in wonderful seasonal vegetables beautifully prepared and presented. the flavours were rich and perfectly balanced. with the diggers club garden on site it was completely natural to enjoy the bountiful harvest. the coffee also comes from a local roaster - little rebel - it was among the best i have had outside the melbourne cbd. service was friendly but a little casual - it really is a country location and focused towards diggers club members. i had the chance to have a brief chat with the chef and can't wait to try more from the garden on another visit.

brilliant setting but...needs improvement. we chose the restaurant and a day out at heronswood for a special occasion birthday. with many plant-lovers in the family and several young kids, it seemed like a good outing for all. our experience with the gardens was lovely and to be recommended. the restaurant, however, needs some work.

first things first, what we liked:
* we had good food that we enjoyed.
* the house in which the restaurant was housed was gorgeous and offered fabulous views.
* the service and wait-staff were friendly.

that said, these were the 2 key aspects that bugged us most:
* for the price of the food, one would expect professional and higher-level service. as mentioned, it was friendly enough, but felt a bit like they didn't really know the food or menu very well, or how to service a table (e.g. fill water glasses, offer dessert menus after main meal).
* we found the menu extremely limited for children so felt the "kid-friendly" aspect of the restaurant remained a bit of a mystery. when asked whether they had a children's menu, there was a straight-out 'no', then confusion, then the offer of a silverbeet mini-tart (?!), then the grudging offer of a ham, cheese and tomato roll (on a mini-roll). it's fine if a restaurant doesn't have a kids' menu but we were unsure why it felt it was 'kid-friendly' - the menu was definitely not priced or portioned for kids.

serving size really stingy. the view was divine and the food delicious, but the serving of my tart was unbelievably small. it was $23 and if we hadn't ordered the bread as starters i would have left starving. my husbands prawn dish size was more substantial. i mentioned my dissatisfaction to the waitress who seemed completely uninterested. such a shame as with bigger serving sizes i would definitely recommend it.

got in before 4pm, maybe 20 to or so only to be ignored by staff walking in and out delivering other patrons their teas/scones etc.... my partner had to go up and ask if we had to order at the counter. anyway, he ordered our coffees and scones and was asked to pay then and there as they were closing up the till, there was no problem with that. our chai and coffees arrived promptly however 30 mins later there was no sign of our scones...
after my partner questioned the waitress about our forgotten scones they arrived without apology for being late and well after we'd polished off our drinks.... if they were gna stop serving customers before closing they should not have taken our order to begin with.

lovely garden, pathetic staff, good chai.

i would have to agree with all the negative comments!!! unbelievably tiny portions to the point of being embarrassing...i almost laughed out loud thinking it was a joke!! its a blatant rip off and they dont care..staff knew we weren't happy and would be writing a bad review..still charged us full price though although food was completely unacceptable..such a shame as otherwise it has the making fabulous intimate restaurant...we were planning a family get together there.. but not now! i was waiting for the staff to ask how we enjoyed our meal..question never came, i wonder why?? i think they know the answer..