Press Club Restaurant and Bar, The

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  2      Service  3      Value  1     

My husband and I took another couple to dinner last night as a thank you we chose the press club having eaten there several times before. I ask you George what have you let happen to your once lovely restaurant?

The degustation menu was obscenely overpriced, literally nine mouthfuls of food for $135 pr hd and at least three of those mouthfuls were very unpleasant. The service was comically pretentious, the wine prices were outrageously marked up.

All in all a very expensive $900 for four people but overwhelming a huge disappointment and none of the four of us, regular diners and restaurant patron, would never ever go to the Press Club again.

Apr 15, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

Service with a smile! Delicious food - particularly enjoyed the amuse bouche (trout) and the 'greek salad'. Obviously their little take on a classic.

Very reasonably priced for what you get. The current weighted rating of 6.9 is a joke. Compare it to other restaurants in its class.

Jan 10, 2012 

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  9      Service  6      Value  5     

We flew down from Sydney to eat here and Hellenic Republic which proved to be the better of the two. We thought it to be overpriced and the service not all it should be. Sommelier was a 3/10.

Dec 31, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  5     

I went to dinner at The Press Club with three girlfriend, we were seated immediately and served impeccably. The service cannot be faulted the wait staff remembering my wines every time I asked and they were absolutely immaculate and polite.

The food, however, was my main problem. I ordered the Barramundi with Lentils, it was bland in every aspect. It was poorly presented and just bland in flavour also. That was probably my only problem with the place, although the other women at my table were upset with how overpriced it was for their meals.

Would definitely return when in Melbourne but not sure if I would order the same dish.

Nov 02, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

We went to the press club for lunch on our first day of our Melbourne trip. I was told that on a Melbourne trip a fine dine & greek food is a must do item there! So there we arrived to the decision of The Press Club. We love the fact that it doesnt have to be booked few days or even month prior in order to get a table (maybe it is normal in Melbourne). We had the Kerasma 4 course sharing menu. We loved the food it has bags of flavour, especially Pork dish it was divine well balance sweet and crunchy goodness. However we didnt really enjoy the fact that the carrots was slightly hard (it tasted sweet and crunchy when it is eaten but it was hard to put ur fork in it, it just rolls & runs away since it was covered with olive oil).

Oct 22, 2011 

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  7     

Went to the Press Club in a group of 6. The service was very good. One of the group has a few food allergies and the staff went out of their way to make sure he was catered to accordingly. Whilst the food was nice, it wasn't what I'd call "memorable". We had the degustation menu.

I can't even remember the first course. The second was pork, which other than the dessert was the highlight of the night. The snapper was bland, the lamb was nice enough. Overall, there was nothing wrong with the place but I'd prefer to go to the sister restaurant in Brunswick.

Oct 22, 2011 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  3     

Visited Melbourne with cookery students from country Victoria, called in to the Press Club late in the evening for a drink and dessert. It took a little over 1 ½ hours for our experience, during this time we were only offered one drink! Several common drinks were unavailable. (who doesn’t have lemon squash?).

Desserts and cheese plate were disappointing and unimaginative, lacking presentation and flavour. The cheese actually looked like it had been thrown on the plate with the crackers almost falling off. No cheese knife, I used a fork.
I think we may have been looking for a little touch of a wow factor and for the price and reputation I expected much better. In fact it was an embarrassment for me to take students to such a poor establishment.

Oct 21, 2011 

5.3 Average

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  5      Value  1     

We went for dinner on Friday 30 September. The food was borderlined between good & great. But definitely way over priced. And very very limited choices. The waitresses were good. But the sommelier was rude. When he handed out the wine menu, we commented that we haven't got our food menu yet and preferred to see the food menu first. He replied by saying, "I'll take back the wine menu if you don't want it." My wife and I were totally shocked. If not for the good words put in by one of the waitresses and the rainy weather outside, we would have walked out. We will never go back again and will recommend all our friends not to try it.

Oct 09, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  7     

Press Club is Amazing! Had our first year anniversary here and had the degustation with matching wine (only 1 matching, other not). There's plenty of wine to go with the meal!

The ambience was awesome, had a window seat and we were able to converse and enjoy the food, wine and each other's company.

Food was also amazing, every dish had something we liked and also gave us something to talk about! Will be back for sure!

Jul 27, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  7     

I booked two months earlier as I wanted to dine here before a musical and for my bday celebration as well. The only available early seating was on the chef table where you sat looking into the kitchen. You were able to see the chefs at work which was very interesting and you were even looked after with bonus dishes sent from the chefs.

Our waiter was knowledgeable and so friendly, and we enjoyed our entree of crab, mains of the duck and venison both served beautifully and tasted amazing! Unfortunately, we were running out of time so we couldn't try the desserts.

At first, I was reluctant to go because of the whole masterchef hype and the lamb dish that I wanted to try was not on the menu, but everything we ordered was tasty and there are only four seats on the chefs table so we did feel special to be part of the night! Would highly recommend for a special night.

Jul 16, 2011