robert burns hotel

once again the best experience with an outstanding great service from jose, the manager who gets out of his way to makes you have the best time, with no doubt the best spanish restaurant in melbourne! every time i go i feel like goingbackto my childhood eating real spanish food , and what's best: my 9 y/o daughter enjoys the food so much which makes the experience even better.definitely the change since last management took over, is huge, real spanish food and good plates sizes! worth the money! we definitely continue to go.


-----02 feb, 2013-----

excellent!. the best spanish restaurant in melbourne since the new management took over.
i have spanish background and eating there reminds me of my childhood.
i usually go with my fussy 7 y/o daughter who finds everything delicious, so it's great feeling to see her enjoy the food too!
the staff is very friendly,the managers( cote and jose) are all the time checking everything is ok with the clients.
the girls that serve the tables are very nice too always with a smile.
i've been to lots of spanish restaurants in melbourne and always dissapointed cos the chefs are never spanish, whereas here, they are ,and you can definitely tell the difference
5 star food and staff

never again. i have heard so many great things about this place over the years so i thought i'd organise a night out with friends to give it a go. it was by far the worst experience i have ever had. the staff was extremely rude, the seafood was frozen and tastless. we were a large group of 15 and we all had entrees and mains and at no point did the wait staff clear the table after we had finished our meals.....we were trying to have dessert whilst the dirty plates from entree & mains were still on the table. when we asked the staff to clear the table they refused. i will never gobackagain.

a pleasant surprise. after reading a few reviews, some of which were negative, i thought i'd give this place a go. i love spanish food and i have eaten at movida numerous times as well as anada. having read the chef is spanish and some of the positve reviews, i was confident that the food would be authentic. this is 'gastro pub' and the decor reminded me of a restaurant i ate at in toledo in spain. it's casual with a modern take on 70's decor. it also has a great beer garden out back.

as for the service, it was good and not intrusive. most of the waiters seemed to be spanish. the wine list is extensive so i was spoilt for choice. i recommend the spanish cider (sidra) - it's excellent!

as for the food, i couldn't fault it. both the racion's and the mains were as good as if not better than what i had at movida aqui. the croquetta's were crunchy on the outside and creamy on the inside without being oily. the eye fillet with the chimichurri dipping sauce melted in my mouth. the churro's were exactly how i remember the ones i had chocolatería san ginés in madrid, spain - not oily. the serving size for all that we ordered we perfect and not too big. the prices were reasonable and not as expensive as movida.

for those who have given negative feedback, i recommend you give it another go. today, the place was packed full of diners including some spaniards which says something.

not only do i recommend this place, but i will be comingback- hopefully soon!

dined here last night and was pleasantly surprised by the flavours of my meal. ordered the spatchcock, swordfish and cauliflower salad to share. all were delicious and would happily have them again. everything was well seasoned and portion size was good. will definitely bebackto try more of the menu!

over my past four years in melbourne, i’ve noticed something. australians and melburnians in particular exhibit a dichotomy of at once loving the new and the novel but also taking immense comfort in familiarity. meaning that a lot of the people checking out the hottest new fusion spot are just as happy to sink beers and kickbackwith a parma at the local pub.

new management, lovely new menu but still ironing some things out with execution and overall lack of generosity- we went home still a bit hungry, which you don’t expect from a pub meal. the steak was excellent- perfectly cooked but the serve of fries was really stingy, especially in an empty pub! if you want people comingbackthough the doors don’t skimp there, especially with such an inexpensive ingredient.

the seafood pasta was a bit disappointing- i ordered it because of the bottarga listed on the dish description, but when the dish came it was nowhere to be seen! it was also a quite small serve with very little seafood in it- 3-4 small shelled/tailed prawns, 2 microscopic bits of calamari, and 3 chunks of octopus. i make a similar but more generous version with the (dirt cheap) marinara mix from the supermarket. though it had a nice flavour, when eating out i expect a little more, especially when a whole ingredient is missing!
the lemon lime bitters only had a couple of drops of bitters in it, and the green tomato salad was also on the small side. a little generosity, especially when trying to get locals coming back, would go a long way.

looking for a place for dinner today my partner and called into this place. this pub is unusual. it didn’t feel welcoming to me, maybe it was the heavy brickwork or just the layout of the place?

i’m not sure what it was but i decided to only stay for 1 drink and then move on. the service was fine, but the bartender made a lot of noise and banging just to let us know that he was there i guess lol

i had a colonial brewing company draught beer which was good. and my partner had a softie.

apparently the spanish food is good there so i might gobackand try that sometime.

went to the robert burns hotel for dinner last night with the family, i’d heard about about this place so the expectations were high. we had a number of shared plates between our group rather than individual meals. i was expecting a myriad of flavours with the selection of dishes given this is place with a spanish theme, but unfortunately everything i got to try was on the bland side. i not normally a person that likes food overly spicy so i was a bit confused about what i’d experienced. my daughter said the same, the food was decent and couldn’t be faulted other than it lacked a bit of flavour. between us we tried at least 7 different dishes, everything was ok but nothing was memorable. the place was nice and the service was very good but overall the experience wouldn’t draw mebackin a hurry.

such potential, but so devastatingly bland!! it’s like your kitchen staff are scared of flavour!

we tried so hard to like you and there were some things you did really well - the drinks and your homemade chorizo were delicious!

but the jamon croquettas, the fish of the day with mussels, and the octopus had some great foundations but just lacked punch - the octopus was actually the most disappointing as it was cooked perfectly but lacked the zing needed to add some balance out the char and smokiness. some more salt, lemon, and herbs would have taken you from a 2 to a solid 4.

i’d love to comebackand see you guys do amazing things. here’s hoping it happens.

great service. lovely courtyard.  we started with jamon croquetas which needed seasoning and although they were recommended as a crowd favourite i wouldn't gobackto them, the white sauce was wet and lacked flavour.  we waited a bit too long for our mains but it was worth the wait.  for our main we chose the 500gm rump cap.  it was charred to perfection, pink, juicy, tender and well rested (the wait!).  we had the beans with olive and goats cheese for an accompaniment, which i would also highly recommend.  one of the tastiest steaks i've eaten.  my partner and i loved it.

food was so disappointing
the spare ribs were terrible
prawns strange flavour
fish insufficient lime
not value for money
food not tasty
will not consbackhere

happy hour was quite a rush at robert burns hotel on friday despite all of melbourne freaking out over a little bit of rain. fortunately it was welcoming inside and the drinks were still flowing.

i tried both the $10 happy hour cocktails... the pisco sour & the espresso martini. they were both well made and tasty. i love the raw egg white foam and tanginess of the pisco sour and this was my favourite of the two.

i also tried the otherside cocktail which was a wonderful blend hendricks gin, cucumber and citrus.

the from bar area offered spanish tapas while the dining area outbackoffered more substantial but still largely spanish fare. the interior is quaint classically presented.

this was the first time and the last time as i sent the paellabackundercooked, no crust and wet. the chorizo was tasteless with no spice or salt. i am told they do good paella but will never find out first hand...

i always comebackfor the seafood paella, one of the best in melbourne. overall the menu are quite pricey and it is not your standard pub. it can get really busy on the weekend. service was on par. great atmosphere and ambience.

croquettes were sublime.
pork belly (with calamari) and leek sauce was an amazing melt in the mouth experience.
valencian paella (chicken, rabbit and vegetables) was straight forward - meat was over-cooked, the rice was a little crunchy and the flavour was masked by too much oil. having said this, i will gobackagain to check for consistency.

waitresses were attentive, friendly and only came to the table when needed. the atmosphere was a nice buzz for a tuesday night, with locals just enjoying the venue.