sailors' rest

super busy with very friendly, efficient service. food was amazing and atmosphere was great.
we are not from the area but will bebackto make a day of it.

a decent variety on the menu, seats where you're able to get a view of the waterfront, what more can one ask for you may ask?
erm... better service?
but other than that, would consider comingbackto try more on the menu.

horrendous service. they couldnt take our order because they has to serve other tables when we arrived first. for 30 minutes there were no tap water on table nor our drinks. waitress had to put us at thebackof ordering queue if you did not decide to order food first, but she had more time explaining to us why she couldnt order than ordering itself. my coffee order also did not arrive after a long while. dissapointed when we queued at 10.45 am for a table.

lovely setting. glad i read the good reviews and chose to have our lunch here. we were after good seafood and were very pleased with the seafood risotto (gluten-free version of the spaghetti) and the calamari. definitely a high end pub food feel. will bebackwhen driving through geelong again on a summers day 🌞

underwhelming. decided to stop at sailors' rest for dinner on our waybackto melbourne, bad decision.

firstly, we were expected to fetch our own water.. which to me seemed strange for this type of place...

the restaurant is set out nicely, the menu looked good but pricey so we expected something nice.

as soon as my meal came out, i was dissapointed. serving was tiny and the meal was nothing special. we all agreed the food was lacking in flavour.

this place seems to be suffering an identity crisis.

enjoyed breakfast here this morning. beautiful spot justbackfrom the waterfront. service was brilliant considering the early morning rush with several waiters tag teaming our table. i had the full breakfast which was fantastic. their hash browns are like massive rosti's, probably the best has brown i've ever eaten.

came here for breakfast new years day... they were super busy and under the pump. all 4 breakfasts were brought out very promptly and we all cleared our plates. will definitely bebackfor another breakfast.

overpriced for the quality of the meals and service. i had a very disappointing seafood paella - it came out overly seasoned, and excessively buttery/oily, probably more suited to a risotto, as it resembles nothing like a paella other than the saffron.
drinks and cake/dessert perhaps, but anything else i'm not sure about. our experience was, in general, rather poor. we ate in the dark at 6.30pm where no additional lighting was provided. the menu, with its unchanged (assuming a few years considering the state) and dark background, therefore provided little assistance. in the end we resorted to the light provided by our mobile phones to be able to read and actually identify what it was we were eating. the waiter never camebackto ask about drinks or anything else either. in summary: overrated, overly expensive, low quality, staff/management lacking attention to detail and enthusiasm, atmosphere lacking character. it seems like the business is just 'going through the motions' - unfortunate...

bad form and management. while the food and wait staff were excellent, it was very disappointing when we paid the bill that an extra cost of $6 was added for ordering a number of breakfast sides rather than an advertised breakfast. the extra cost was not advised of in the menu or by staff and what i had ordered came to more than many of the breakfasts while adding the $6 meant it came to much more than even the big breakfast. the manager handled this very poorly, admitting that they did not advise of it and he arrogantly did not see the problem with it. he then took $5 from the tip jar and told me to take it, while waving it in my face. i advised i had issue with this as it was not the wait staff's fault but rather a poor business decision and when i asked it be reimbursed to our credit card he then told me not to haggle over a dollar. i felt affronted by his attitude and was offered no alternative but to take the money. having managed a cafe myself, i found his dealing with a customer and particularly his regard for his staff to be greatly lacking any integrity. i would not gobackjust because of the $6 but due to the managers disregard for his customers and particularly staff.

amazing service and food pretty good. made a trip down to geelong, lots of lovely looking places on the waterfront and this was one of them, unfortunately it was dark so we missed out on the view which would have been amazing, we still sat on the enclosed balcony on a very cold night and it was warm and comfortable, the staff were amazing, friendly, lovely and happy to please. we ordered 2 x burgers, 1 x calamari and a steak. the food was pretty good not amazing but still pretty good, our main complaint was the sauce on the steak (pepper) it was very bland and well below averages. this place also had an amazing range of cakes, the waitress said they do lots of cake and coffee business as well, would be keen to gobackand try as the cakes looked really good. overall was happy with night but would love to see the food of a bit higher standard.

dinner has gone downhill. we hadn't been here in a few years, and expecting the great food we were used to, we were very disappointed. very average menu with expensive prices. we both chose the seafood basket which stood out the most. unfortunately while it looked good, there was just too much greasy food, with no salad to refresh us. i struggled to get through half, such a waste of good seafood.
we won't return until the quality getsbackto the way it used to be.

this used to be my favourite place to eat in geelong. they had the best seafood, especially calamari - huge portions with lots of chips and salad, filling up the whole plate. about feb of this year it started going down hill so i stopped going. i returned a few months ago to find it had lifted it's game - but not for long! i am not sure if there is new management or management has just decided to take a different direction with this place but i won't be back. the food is now sub par, the portions have gotten a lot smaller and the food has changed and the menu now resembles dishes that could easily be found at any other cafe/restaurant in geelong. what a waste of a beautiful building and location. will not bebackuntil it starts improving again.

lovely place, nice ambiance. food is average but will bebackdue to the vibrant settings of the cafe

good spot on the esplanade. dropped in here twice during the recent school holidays. it, as was geelong, was very quiet. had a breakfast which was good, with a tasty sizeable homemade hash brown. coffees were nice and strong. also wentbackfor a dinner after a previous poor visit to nearby customs house. we had the salmon linguine and a few drinks, complemented with a take home dessert. staff were friendly and engaging. the manager is a nice chap. we often stop in here on the way to/from the coast and never had any issues. reasonably priced when compared with the immediate competitors.

enjoyable. great easy location with restaurants all round, very comfortable and kid friendly and the manageress is a real spunk and just lovely. staff very friendly and an authentic italian flavor. i'll bebackhere again.