robert burns hotel

a winner for the thursday lunch special. i visited the robert burns with family members last month after being applied a budget of up to $15 per head. for this reason i chose the robert burns on a thursday.

a piece of well-cooked steak, some french fries, a light salad and a drink were all served within this budget and (happily) were of excellent quality. though the quantity was not enormous it was more than suffiecient to fill our bellies without succumbing to excess or gluttony.

gluten free bread was also on offer (always a bonus) and the experience was mostly seemless, excluding some minor communication issues with the staff.

winner.

robbie burns. great to be back after bad experience from previous owners some years ago. food and service were both excellent. we would highly recommend this place to anyone who enjoys spanish food..


-----07 oct, 2014-----

robbie burns. great to be back after bad experience from previous owners some years ago. food and service were both excellent. we would highly recommend this place to anyone who enjoys spanish food..


-----07 oct, 2014-----

robbie burns. great to be back after bad experience from previous owners some years ago. food and service were both excellent. we would highly recommend this place to anyone who enjoys spanish food..

burnt dry paella. what a disappointment this place was. i'd heard all about the paella being the best. it was just awful. the entrée didn't serve much better. the service was fine but i found you didn't have much space between tables. it felt like i could join in with other people's conversations. we ended up moving to the bar area and found that so much better.

ok, but disappointing paella. i used to frequent this place regularly a few years ago and always remembered how amazing the paella was. unfortunately last friday they didn't deliver. the seafood paella we ordered was so over-seasoned with stock/salt and was just really disappointing. the croquettes on the other hand were delicious but we left feeling hungry because we barely ate the paella. in hindsight we probably should've let the staff know as they were quite friendly so probably would've taken it back.

we had a work dinner here with the office crew and had a great night. the staff were friendly and attentive and helped us organise a menu that suited us well - a chef's selection of dishes at a fixed price per head. everything was delicious, and stand outs were the arroz negro and lamb ribs. we would definitely come back here and i thoroughly recommend it. looking forward to coming with my partner to try other dishes.


-----16 aug, 2012-----

brilliant!. so glad to have discovered this little gem of spanish cuisine and ambience here in melbourne. the food is delicious, the wine list cared for, the music and design great and the staff always friendly, courteous and knowledgable. will definitely be coming back for the delicious paella, croquetas and jamon, all worthy of crossing the city for. olé!

we ate a respectable meal there with wine in the bar area and when it came to paying i got more hassle from the bartender for not having my "tab card" than actually paying the bill. honestly, if your'e not used to bar tab card culture like i am (i'm not australian and new here) don't give your customers grief about "there's nothing you can do because i don't have your card", flash me my own credit card i left there anyways and then present me with the bill seconds after. this experience soured me of this place and after a $170 tab, i would not come back just because of that attitude. i've worked in the bar restaurant industry for years and this was a joke. the bartender made more of a point to look in his book of laminated "tab cards" instead of actually giving a care for the customers. melbourne is an amazing city with endless places to eat and drink and my money will go elsewhere to those that care about their product they are selling and less on their "tab card" process.

wood not. the place was empty with hardly any body seated at the tables, and the staff refused to give us a table and made us sit at the bar. they were also understaffed with 1 person serving at the bar and having to wait 10 minutes to order a drink.

the food took around 25 minutes to come out. the paella was decent, but the rice was burnt on the bottom, still enjoyable but a similar quality to the $12 paella you can get at the night markets, much better value and taste as good.

ridiculously small serving size for the price, spent $59 on food for 2 people not including drinks and left hungry looking for a burger, never again.

not quite right. expected more from this place after reading the reviews online, however we loved the atmosphere with it's open fire and tables spread all over. we attended on a house full night and still room to move. service very very slow. waitress informed us that we had probably ordered too much food however when the food came out because portion size was so small it didn't fill our empty stomachs. took a while to get someone to come over so that would could place another order for more food. food overpriced. portion size small, best item on menu was the croquettes. paella's came in 3 different flavours. hardly any seafood in it at all and very overcooked..nothing special for what you pay. left feeling disappointed expected more. wouldn't go back. there were 6 of us and we all felt the same.

very disappointing. for a restaurant specialising in spanish food one would hope they'd be good at it. not so: paella was seriously overcooked, meat in the scarce mussels and clams was reduced to small, dehydrated pellets about the size of a shelled pistachio. we went with another couple who both ordered seafood stew for their main. strangely their identical orders were served about 10 minutes apart.
our entrees were also served indivually with long gaps in between so the other three in our group were finished before mine arrived. not worthy of a second chance from me.

for me, the highlight was definitely the paella. the food, coupled with a great vibe and atmosphere, made robert burns hotel the perfect place to wind down at on a friday night.

hit and miss. went on a busy sunday night for 7 pm dinner service without a booking and the back area where the kitchen and restaurant was at was full. there were no seats available so we sat at the bar.

service was patchy from the start. our table still had remnants of the previous patron’s paella on it despite asking the waitress to have it wiped down. it was self-service from then on. we got our own serviettes, cutlery, drinks and chairs. our cheese parfait with berries (lovely dessert but the hazelnut praline seemed to be missing) was served before our paella and on a heated plate nonetheless so we had to eat that first.

food was a decent 6.5/10 but i felt that the kitchen was scrimping on the ingredients or they didn’t want to serve it to us as we had a voucher discount. most of the things we ordered were ‘not available’.. namely anything with jamon or slightly pricey.

we had the following:

1) duck croquettes (5 unevenly sized pieces) – crisp on the outside but had no taste of duck inside and the insides were very mushy and wet. this was originally meant to be jamon but it was ‘not available’.
2) calamari with aioli – passable
3) beetroot (could have been the canned variety), candied walnuts, crumbed goats cheese balls (nice) served with baby spinach – presentation was very rushed but it was an enjoyable salad
4) fish stew - the fish and prawns were definitely overcooked and very powdery. two mussels that were small and of the frozen kind. squid rings were thin and most likely of the frozen sort too. the broth was flavourful though and it came with potatoes. originally wanted a different fish and lamb main but both were ‘not available’.
5) button mushrooms – nicely seasoned. good bar snack
6) our desserts magically appeared at this point. we ate the cheese parfait with berries first as it was melting at an alarming rate. loved the berries sauce very much. there wasn’t any cheese taste in the parfait but it wasn’t sweet either.
7) yoghurt and orange mousse with rhubarb compote almond crumble – very light mousse with nice citrus tang, rhubarb compote was very sweet and almost too acidic for some reason, the almond crumble was missing the almonds. tasted like a normal butter – sugar crumble.
8) squid ink paella with cuttlefish (2 thin rings) and scallops (4 unevenly sized scallops) and aioli sauce (not needed as the paella was rich and greasy enough on its own) – nicest dish of the night despite the lack of generosity in the seafood and it was quite salty.

the atmosphere of the back dining room is nice and food is not bad but i wouldn’t return given that there are other spanish places in melbourne.

service was very good. croquettes amazing, octopus and paella ok. loved the churros and the spicy choc sce

the paella was truly amazing. it was a busy sunday night but staff were still friendly and service was prompt. the chicken and rabbit paella was truly delicious and we can not wait to come back with friends.

ignored by 4 staff while waiting at the door last friday including a guy that looked like the manager we decided to take our money elsewhere pity this never happened when the original owner was here.

love. eaten here many times and love it! the garlic prawns and croquettes rock. the staff are always friendly too.