max's at red hill estate

53 shoreham road red hill south, vic 3937 ph: 5989 2838 website: www.redhillestate.com.au this post is part of my mornington peninsula weekend courtesy of mornington peninsula tourism and q strategies . check out the other posts here: - heronswood gardens after my first stop at the beautiful heronswood gardens, it waslunchtime.lunchwas to be eaten at the famed max's restaurant, the first winery restaurant in the area, as well as winner of the best tourism restaurant in the 2010 qantas national tourism awards. i met michele for lunch, and you can read about her views on ourlunchexperience . red hill estate is set in a prime location, with views of the bay inter-mixing with the rolling hills and grape vines. it's such a beautiful location that there are a whopping 40 weddings held on the premises a year. i can definitely see why people would want a wedding there. you can have the ceremony and then go straight to wine tasting andlunchor dinner. as well as just looking beautiful, t

max's is definitely in my top 5. i love everything about this place. the food and service is consistently excellent and the setting looking over the vines to philip island is beautiful. the wine is sensational too. on last visit started with a stunning trio of seared scallops that were cooked perfectly and came with tiny roast parsnips and celeriac purée which was all such a classic combo done perfectly. the tuscan pork main seems to be a mainstay on the menu and was full of flavor. tender pork with crispy crackling, sitting on kipflers that soaked up all the flavour. the chocolate fondant pudding to finish was faultless. gooey in the middle to perfection! a perfectly structured 3 courselunchexecuted with skill and some of the best service you will find. max's is a massive hit for me.

this was an overall extremely disappointing experience. we had come for a lovelylunchat a winery and the minute we sat down we were underwhelmed. no tap water. over priced food. the menu itself was disappointing- they are trying to be fancy and have not hit the mark. the duck was over cooked and with a price of $40 a pop, it’s unacceptable. will not be coming back.

lovely winery with fantastic views over the ocean. we arrived late on a busy day forlunchwith no booking and was no trouble.

started with the kingfish sashimi which was pretty tasty, then for main was the fish which was soft and well cooked, but that and the mash was very salty.. and also the pork which was pretty nice with a nice sauce. desert was very nice as well.

there is some very good competition on the peninsula now with some brilliant restaurants. this might not be in the very top echelon but the service was absolutely fantastic and this place is well worth a visit as the food is good and the view is great!

the service was lovely and the food was amazing. i can't fault the experience, food or people. the views would be better during alunchor when there is some daylight. definitely going back again.

had a great 3 courselunchhere today and the food was beautiful. great taste and presentation was just as good. the scenery is superb overlooking the mornington peninsula and a great place to come for a drive. the service was very good as well.

we had a 3-courselunchafter stopping by the red hill cellar door. overall, food was underwhelming for a $100 pp meal. started off with the mussels and mushroom entrées, which lacked brightness and texture. for main, i had the patagonia tooth fish, which was nicely cooked but didn't quite understand the combination of the sides it came with particularly the sauerkraut which overwhelmed the delicate fish. beef was also not very memorable. found it ironic that the best part of our meal was the cheese course at the end, which most of it was sourced offsite. the chutney was delicious! service was also lacking with not particularly tentative or personable servers. but the manager gary made up some of the downfalls at the end. he was super friendly, helpful and listened to our feedback well. we would come back for a second try just because of him, but maybe after a new menu change.

sundaylunch$80 set menu was great. heat the muscle entree which was very good, and thumbs up for the beef main. my partner had the pulled pork main which he was happy with. we did some wine tasting too, there's a decent selection of wines so worth a visit if you're in the area.

max's at red hill is a beautiful location. it's the only winery in the area which has views of the water. food is delicious and their pinot noir is a must. i have been here forluncha few times and it's good to see the menu changes regularly. the staff and service is great too.

terrible food and terrible service!!! give it a miss!. went there forlunchrecently and whilst the view was incredible the food was terrible! very bland! lucky there was bread served otherwise we would have home hungry! service was nothing to note either!!
i would give it a miss - there are so many better options in the area!

terrible service and alunchso very bland !. the owner and the waiters were very rude. i am shocked an owner like that runs an establishment.
the entree a jelly substance with slithers of crab was really below par . the pork and beef were also bland and ordinary. the deserts were also tasteless .
trying to be fine dining but they have really missed the mark. if it wasn't for the view they would be out of business . the people i was with also felt the same way.
there are so many fantastic restaurants in the area i highly recommend you give this one a miss.

good coffee good wine shame about the food. just finishedlunchhad high expectations well 5 fails oyt of 5 courses would not waste my money again great views but i came for the food good service but i came for the food what else to say .... get a cook w u o can deliver tough scallops tasteless duck crab with no style or flavour chocoalate plate with no chocolate jusr poor poor poor

my third time to maxs and won't be the last! the food just keeps getting better! i loved the pork and my partner had the venison, he loved his as well, fantastic out look over looking the bay, we will be back soon


-----25 dec, 2013-----

thanks again to the team at maxs for making or christmas day one to remember


-----20 oct, 2013-----

this is where we love to come and enjoy a glass of wine and fab food, 3 courses for $80 including a glass of wine has to be the best value in town, not to mention the staff and the view!! we will be back


-----30 mar, 2013-----

what a way to spend easter. my family and i went down to the mornington peninsula for easter and hadlunchat max's! the staff here are so friendly and the food was amazing, we had the three courts option for $80, what value for money. can't wait to go back again. well done.


-----14 jan, 2013-----

this restaurant just keeps getting better, well done. we will be back, please don't take the pork of the menu


-----17 nov, 2011-----

i had dinner at max's last night, once again the food was fantastic, and the service excellent, max him self was there and announced that he just won victotiain tourism restaurant of the year!! viva max. well done

headed to red hill forlunchand have to admit i am still undecided as to wether i like it or not. the location is beautiful, staff are lovely and attentitive. but the food to me, wasn't good enough. the raviolo was hard around the edges, though the bug was quite nice. the fish was just okay. desert was the best part.

i don't think i'd give it another try, nothing really grabbed me apart from the view. perhaps it was just an off day? given the price i'm not sure it lives up to expectation.

entirely disappointing - except for the view.. i made a booking forlunchon saturday to celebrate my partner's promotion with his family. i thought i would be onto a winner - just looking at the and my mouth was watering... but what a disappointment!
most tables around us, where diners were seated after us, were served before us - and we noticed that their mains all came out before ours. once they finally came out, understood why - they had clearly been sitting (and drying out/singing) under heat lamps to keep "warm"... not that anything was warm... cold, burnt, dried out food is hardly award winning!
it is disappointing to have poor quality food at what is meant to be a quality establishment. it is even more disappointing when you look around at other diners and notice that their meals are steaming, not burnt and waiters are milling aroun them constantly to make sure that everything is okay.
we won't be coming back and we most definitely will be telling all our friends on the peninsula not to bother either.
shame really - we thought it would make a nice wedding venue...
2/10 - and only just for the view.