Melbourne is famous for it lane ways characterized by Vibrant Street art, secret shops and fashion boutiques and a plethora of eating joints. Hardware Lane, is one such lane I came across while wandering European sophistication and you would be forgiven for thinking that you’re sitting in a roadside café in Paris rather than Australi
i opted for the humbler Vons for an early dinner. A Italian Café with fresh pasta and sauce made every day, I chose the veg cannelloni and a glass of the house sparkling to accompany it. The view was fantastic and the service friendly. The pasta when it arrived looked good, though I found the sauce more like a thick soup and had to literally go fishing for my cannelloni
Had a Saturday dinner date at Vons. We were persuaded by the guy at the front, and regret nothing. We had an entree, main for 2 of us, dessert and a drink each for under $70. Meals we had came out quick and delicious. Highly recommended for people who likes Italian/ Australian cuisine.
Back on Hardware Lane again for breakfast this time and I decided to go to Von's. Was met by a nice, friendly, elderly gentlemen who offered me a good deal on breakfast. Of course on Hardware Lane people will put the 'hard word' on you as everyone there is competing for your business.
If you don't want someone to talk to you then try fast food where the only thing they say is 'want fries with that?' or 'wanna supersize that?' lol. But enough of that on to the meal. I had the Eggs Atlantic and the salmon was very nice indeed. Tasted delicious and very fresh as did the eggs and Hollandaise sauce. Hot chocolate was nice too. As I only had breakfast there I can't speak as to the mains on the menu but I was happy with what I had. Would recommend it.
If it hadn't been for a voucher offer, we probably wouldn't have make it as far, running the touting gauntlet of Hardware Lane. There are lots of interesting eateries to pass before finding Vons but we did enjoy our dinner. In particular, the salt and pepper calamari was perfect and the pasta dishes very tasty. We shared a creme brulee which was very good too. Nice place with friendly service :)
Good food, good service. definitely recommended, friendly staff, and very good value for money, one problem, my lamb ribs, got too much meat and I had to share... too full....
Walking to hardware lane to find a place to dine and came across this. Ended up being a good steak that I ordered. Happy with the mushroom sauce. Wasn't tooo salt and had a lot of flavour. Steak was cooked to perfection. Loads of other options to try so I'd love to come back. The service was great too!
Experiencejoysoflife
+3.5
This place is pretty good and friendly service.
I've been here a few times and it's pretty good. The pasta which is my favourite, is inconsistent on some days. Such as having undercooked pasta.
My favourite's are the Carbonara and Gnocchi. Least favourite was the artichoke pasta, as the sun-dried tomatoes tasted extremely funky.
The calamari entree dish is very nice. it is fresh. The chicken avocado paste is so so as it is not a strong creamy favor. The other main is good, especially for its sausage.
Amazing food and service! First time eating there and highly recommend this restaurant to anyone! They were very accommodating and I could not fault the service! Dexter, our waiter, was AMAZING! Definitely going back there!
I had a great meal here. Staff were great. I say ignore the low ratings and give it a go. Lucky I didn't look at ratings before choosing it. I had a great pasta and other meals looked good too .
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I'm honestly surprised as to why this place is rated so low. I wasn't going to eat at this place because the reviews were terrible, but I decided to give it a try.
When we arrived, my husband and I were greeted so lovely. Seated and assisted within minutes. Given a great amount of time to decide what we wanted. Customer service was on point. Very friendly, easy to talk too. Always made sure that we were enjoying ourselves and if we needed anything else. We had a 3 course meal. The entree was beautiful, I had chicken kebabs and my husband had the calamari. Both so delightful and cooked beautifully. Our main, we chose the Lobster Linguine, cooked to perfection, had no issues at all. And the dessert to share, we chose the Warm Chocolate Cake with Vanilla ice cream. It looked ordinary, but the taste was absolutley mouth watering. It melted in your mouth, heated at the right temp, so smooth and wasn't too sweet. Which made it so much more enjoyable to eat. We are definitely planning on going back 😄
Don't know why this place has such low ratings...the service, staff and food was AMAZING!!!!!! Lucky I didn't check Zomato first bc I probably would have kept walking 😏
So I had the Salmon dish with potato mash and salad and hubby had the surf & turf served with mash and steamed veggies which looked and tasted amazing! Both dishes were a decent size, oh and entree was salt and pepper calamari also 👌. To finish off we had coffee and dessert was thrown in for $7 each and also had a house wine on the house!! Thanks, will be back 👌👌
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"...WHY THE LOW SCORE...??? WE WERE VERY WELL FED AND VERY WELL LOOKED AFTER...WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT...!!!"
Early this week, we took advantage of a Groupon Deal and were treated to an enjoyable and yum 3 course Dinner at VON’S RESTAURANT & BAR in Hardware Lane, Melbourne CBD.
We had a table outside, and it was just perfect – lots of interesting people to watch, balmy warm evening...
Arthur our wait-staffer was fab – helpful, energetic, charismatic and doting... And they were BUSY..!!
THE FOOD
Entrees:
-Garlic Bread [baguette, made with garlic and parsley butter]
-Chunky Chips [big fat crisp chips, no yucky oil smell or aftertaste]
-Chicken Kebabs with Salad garnish and Sweet Sauce [grilled, well cooked, tender, yummy]
-Mozzarella Balls with salad garnish and Garlic Mayo [deep fried, crumbed, oozey melty cheese filling]
-Salt & Pepper Calamari with Salad garnish and Tartare Sauce [looked like the real thing, but wasn’t... I know my squid... still, it was very edible...]
Mains:
-Paella [lovely earthy saffron flavour with hint of heat from chorizo, but rice could have been a little more ‘al dente’...]
-Surf & Turf with Mash & Vegetables [a beautiful looking rendition of this classic fave]
-Black Angus Porterhouse with Mash & Vegetables [good big lump of beef, devoid of fat, tender and medium, as requested]
-Atlantic Salmon with Mash & Salad [beautiful crispy skinned chunk of fish but just a little overdone... I would have liked the olive oil decanter on the table...]
Desserts:
-Creme Brulee with Berry Compote [large serving, not too sweet, lovely tart berries, very ‘bloody’ delish]
Drinks:
-Room temp House Water [if only it had’v been iced or chilled... would have made such a difference...]
-Lemonade by the glass
-Cappuccino & English Breakfast Tea [good coffee, potted strong black tea]
I saw most, if not all, dishes going back NICE AND EMPTY – This tells you all you need to know...
Okay then:
4 entrees, 4 mains, 2 desserts, 4 lemonades cost $95 with Voucher...!!!
We spent another $40 on a few extras... and $12 for parking across the road [flat rate, weekdays after 6.00pm]
###Yet another great DINING EXPERIENCE for a very mediocre PRICE###
Visited on Tuesday 15 December 2015 for Dinner for Four.
Wife & I have used a voucher few months ago. No negative comments, even told the waiter who served us 'we will be back'. Indeed! Just bought another voucher - very much looking forward to the return trip! Booo to all other negative comments; what's good for us IS good for us!!!
I'm not sure why all the bad reviews. We dined last night using a voucher that my friend had purchased. The menu was extensive and to our delight we were allowed to order entree, main, a glass of wine each and a desert to share. We were not too limited in mains we could not order on that voucher and so as to not miss out we could pay an extra $5 for those e.g. steak, lobster and osso buco. The service was good. Arancini balls, cheese balls for entrée went down well. The eye fillet steak with mushroom sauce, vegies and mash was delicious and we loved our sticky date pudding. The house wine was also a nice drop. We will return.
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Plesantly surprised. Went with a voucher on a Monday night. Was a little unsure as it had a bare 51% rating.
Hardware Lane is a mini-Lygon Street with spruikers lining the Lane which I don't like. Restaurant is medium sized, towards the end of the Lane and was quite busy for a Monday night. We were given a table which wobbled but they fixed it with some cardboard.
Service was efficient and pleasant as most reviews have said..
It was a 3-course dinner voucher. For entrée I had the mozzarella balls and husband had calamari. I was tossing between the mozzarella balls or risotto balls. Opted for the mozzarella bec the cinnamon intrigued me. The three balls were a mixture of mozzarella and ricotta coated in cinnamon crumb with a spicy dipping sauce and small salad on the side. Balls were very plain with no hint of cinnamon. Dipping sauce helped to give the balls some form of flavor. Not an entree I would order again.
Husbands order of calamari was small but tasty and tender with a small salad on the side.
For mains I had the lobster linguine and husband had the pork belly. My linguine was more like fettucine but that didn't detract from the sauce which was light and creamy with a garlicy smoothness and big chunks of lobster. Quite enjoyed it and there was plenty of it.
Husbands pork belly was the smallest piece of square we have seen. lt had a chewy sticky skin rather than crispy crackling. Husband thoroughly enjoyed it the meat which was so tender and flavoursome. The skin on the other hand was hard to chew and eventually sticks to your teeth with no way of picking it out of your teeth except putting a finger into your mouth, which we did not do..
For dessert I had sticky date pudding and husband had cheesecake. The pudding was a slice rather than an individual pudding. It was moist and not too sweet but needed more butterscotch sauce. Cream on the side was from a can and ice cream is $1 extra.
Husbands berry cheesecake was light and he enjoyed it. Both desserts were presented simply - cake and squirt of cream on the side.
Overall we were pleasantly surprised given the negative reviews. It was excellent value with the voucher.
Amazing night out!!!!!. Very brilliant food and service. tried their special' lamb shank' with gravy which was heavenly delicious. my friend had their lobster linguine which was cooked perfectly as well. the spuiker out front was very friendly, was a great entertainment throughout the whole night. the service was also great very prompt. will definitely recommand to friends and will be back again
Beautiful night out to celebrate a friends birthday. The osso bucco was so delicious and tender, the cheese balls, finished them off in a minute. Excellent food, the service was really great especially when they're all good looking ;-). Love the Asian waiter.....
Beautiful night out.. Purchased a groupon voucher as an xmas present, and boy, was I pleasantly surprised. We ordered cheese balls and calamari for entrees. Both were very tasty and served piping hot. Mains, steak and the veal. The veal was superb. It was literally falling apart it was so tender and soft. Sauce accompanying veal was so tasty, as was the mash. Steamed veggies were a bit over-cooked. That was the only downfall of our meals.
Desserts on offer were sticky date pudding and creme caramel, they were both fantastic. My sticky date was served hot as was the sauce.
We had an amazing experience and walked out of vons very full and very content.
Thanks for a beautiful night Vons. We will be back!
Amazing night out!!!!!. Very brilliant food and service. tried their special' lamb shank' with gravy which was heavenly delicious. my friend had their lobster linguine which was cooked perfectly as well. the spuiker out front was very friendly, was a great entertainment throughout the whole night. the service was also great very prompt. will definitely recommand to friends and will be back again
-----22 Aug, 2014-----
Caught my eyes up with the $10express lunch.didn't want take the risk as I had really bad experience with Max also on hardware lane but the guy front door was friendly enough to get us in and we were in a rush to get back to the office. Everything was good overall food came fast than we expected the homemade gnocchi was a surprise and the food portion was generous we were all well fed and done in half an hour.Will go back again it's a new spot for lunch
Not too bad a place to eat. I was talked aggressively to eat but i walked away. I came back round not realizing I have wandered back to Hardware lane. So I decided to try. Nice salmon with crispy skin and a nice entree of calamari and a free house white. Not the best but reasonable.
Definitely will be back! All 3 courses were cooked to perfection, calamari for entree, shared rib eye and lamb rack for main- perfectly cooked to request, and cremè brûlée for desert. Thumbs up!!
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