kingston hotel

two divine evenings!. tonight was my second venture to this quaint but charismatic neighbourhood pub. and boy am i impressed. while tonight's bustling steak night was dramatically different to our quiet sunday night dinner, they were equally as impressive. it is not often these days you find the winning combination of exceptionalfoodand service. i thoroughly enjoyed the lighthearted, flirtatious banter between the girls... and a few of the young men. we shared the snapper and rabbit mains, and it is safe to say that i have never had a bunny that tastes so good, nor a fish for that matter!

sadly we were let down by our mothers day meal here. very average food. they would have been better doing their normal pubfoodmenu, but we were locked into their set menu. the beer garden is probably good for friday night drinks but wouldnt recommend for special occasion.

poor value andfoodin set price menu. set price menu for mothers' day - $45 a head was very poor value. just two courses and coffee was extra. first there was no bread offered. several on our table had the fillet steak, with asparagus wrapped in undercooked bacon. some others had the pumpkin agnolotti which came in such a small serve that we thought it was an entrée. it was served with sage and pine nuts in a butter sauce, but was under seasoned and undercooked. i don’t ever add salt to a dish but this needed it.
dessert chosen was apple and rhubarb crumble – very ordinary crumble topping. the fruit needed sugar. it was not enough to rely on the icecream on top.
all in all, most disappointing, and poor value for $45.

dissapointed. have been looking forward to dining at the kingston for many years, having heard of its reputation as a foodie pub. finally an opportunity arose on a saturday night with friends. unfortunately our expectations were not met. i would only give thefoodabout 6.5 out of ten, the service only 3.

for drinks the offering was ok, but a little limited - no white rabbit beer (current fave), but a good selection of wines including by-the-glass, and reasonable prices.

decided to go straight for a bottle of red - brothers in arms shiraz from mclaren vale was a great choice.

unfortunately - pet hate number 1 - menus handed across the table, when there is plenty of room to go around. shows the wait staff are a bit slack. then the bread came out with lovely little bowls of pepper and salt, but no oil or butter. must have been a night for fry rations!

my wife started with the mussels, which were well presented but pretty ordinary. i had the soup which was fine, and our friend shared the antipasto which was conventional. pub food.

two large adjacent tables made for plenty of noise, and less than attentive waiters, so a bit of a struggle to get their attention.

mains sounded interesting enough, but the italian sausage/mash/potato combo although beautifully flavoured was cold. my lamb was casserole-style served in a bowl with breadcrumb coating. good flavour but dry, and our friends' calamari was like a bar snack.

it did make it difficult at first that the waitress had forgotten to provide cutlery, then disappeared.

all over just a little under-whelming. reasonable food, showing signs quality but let down in the detail. service poor for a restaurant with a reputation to uphold. atmosphere ok but very noisy - definitely not the place for an intimate dinner.

we won't be going back any time soon, given the variety of choice in the area, and much better options on offer.

try the grand hotel in burnley street (if you can get in) or the boozy rouge instead.

kingston hotel is a great place to sit down and have a coffee or delicious dinner. the manager al is very friendly and accommodating to his patrons. my friends and i now come every wednesday for the greatfoodand staff. we would definitely recommend kingston hotel to others.

perfectly fine for a beer. when it comes to thefoodit can be good sometimes and not so great others. with the relatively high prices just needs to be more consistent.

everything was awful. the service was slow and terrible. 4 blokes got served 3 beers each in 2 hours. they got all the meals wrong and tried to overcharge us for things that we didn’t order. the prices they charge are ridiculous. $39 for lamb rump that i can make better at home and i burn toast. actually laughable. the only good thing about this place was a forever memory with my friends about how awful this night was. and then they said they were understaffed! with 6 people (obviously not waiters) aimlessly walking around and asking if we had received ourfood- which obviously we hadn’t seeing as they hadn’t given ourfoodor cleaned our cutlery. avoid at all costs. seriously, just get macca’s.

good portions and the manager here is so friendly! he should give hospitality lessons to ask k the other waitstaff out there on what real service looks like. thefoodis tasty pub fair and the area of the back looks newly refurbished and is very elegant with clean lines.

the calamari entree was pretty standard but the crab angel hair pasta was really delicious ave generous portion. i also enjoyed the zucchini stands tossed in their for an extra dose of my daily veg :)

warm friendly atmosphere, will return

greatfoodand great service at a very reasonable price.
we had delicious battered prawns for a starter which were incredible. i had steak, and the others had spaghetti and salmon which i was very envious of haha.
we ended with a mouth watering fondant which i would come back for even if the rest hadn't been as great as it was!
the waiter also really knew his wine which was awesome!

we bought a groupon for this hotel and decided to try this fancy place out. the 4 of us were greeted by the hustling environment and the complexity of the place. on first arrival, we were directed to the back of the hotel, where the nice dining area was set up (the front part of the hotel is the pub area). we were the first to arrive, however, by the end of the night, the area was filled with local families and other groups who were meeting up over dinner.

i ordered the calamari for entrée. the calamari was cooked to the perfect crispiness and i was sad the serving size wasn’t bigger- i could have eaten many more calamari as my main! the gluten free roasted duck breast caught my eye as a main and i also tried the t-bone. the serving size wasn’t very big, however, thefoodwas delicious. the duck breast was cooked extremely well and the topping was thin and crispy, a great addition. the sauce accompanied the duck breast perfectly. i was really happy with my choice of main.

whilst i forgot the names of the 2 desserts we ordered, the pear, cream and crumble in one of them was amazing. i was so tempted to order another one, it was just that good. for me, that dessert was a 11/10. delicious! the other dessert (the one in a cup in the below photo) was average to me. it consisted of meringue with some berries- strawberries and raspberries- a 6/10.

the only let down was the waiting time and perhaps the serving sizes could have been bigger as i left feeling as if i could still eat more.

overall, having the groupon meant the meal was great value for money. however, i wouldn’t pay normal prices for the dishes at this place.

we sat down for all three courses for 3 and a bit hours. service time is very very slow.foodwas good. make sure you know your order before the menu is even set down. waited for the menu for 15 min then an extra 20 to take down our order. nice looking restaurant

we came on a mid week date night , nice local pub feel that opens up onto a large bistro/ outside dining area. the deal we came on was good value , $44 two mains and 2 entrees or desserts and beer or wine.
started with the beetroot carpaccio and salted beef salad , moved on to eye fillet and the burger. well priced , well presented , good service and goodfood...give it a go.

top notch! we came on a cudo voucher..... man o man it didn't feel like it. the best gastro dining experience we have had in a while!
it was easter sunday and the kitchen was a little pressed... but thefoodand lovely staff- especially a young female french girl....ohmazing!
calamari....yum (could have done with a wee bit of aioli- which we asked for and got no troubles)... beetrrot carpaccio...yummo.... eye fillet- exceptional and lamb cutlet- delish... all washed down with a beatiful pinot grigio!

been to the kingston many times over the last 15 years and today i was reintroduced to this place through mutual acquaintances who wanted to meet in this venue.

a discreet pub that looks rather non-descript from the outside and not outstanding from the front, the place is a piece of history in richmond. running on a long block with a wonderful outdoor area, formal dining room and nice front bar, i was very pleased to be re-acquainted with this place.

an old building build in the 1900's, the decor does hold some historical value (which was noticed by my father who is in his roaring 80's).

food as follows:  

1. calamari for entree was tender and well worth eating. would have been positively accompanied by a tangy dipping sauce (if it was on offer) but the quality was very positive. cost approx 15!
2. beef salad (entree) - great mix of food, flavours and combinations. a classy dish.  cost approx 15!
3. t-bone steak was as good as you can for mid thirties...but ask for the jus or mustard as this requires prompting.  limited sauces come with the great quality steak however worth noting from the venue ... a bit of pepper sauce, jus, mustard or bernaise would have been an added bonus.  cost approx 35!
4. duck fillet - quite sizeable and a nice taste but did not have any punch.  needs something on the side to give it a kick but a great dish. cost approx 32!
5. lamb chops - good hearty dish that filled the spot.  meat was tender and came with a nice pile of peas.   

wine - a great selection and reasonable on the pour.  fine dining was in a lovely environment with table cloths and the usual but no bread rolls accompanied the food.

overall, not inexpensive butfoodis good.   there are also pub deals when the footy is on which appear to be reasonable value.

not a bad place....will return for the specials.

had dinner here for father's day. i would have to say the service from alex was amazing! he made us all laugh and we really enjoyed being served by him, thanks alex you really made the dinner amazing. thefoodwas really good too, in particular the mash yum!!!