Review Castello's Cardinia Hotel - Pakenham

Meals great, havnt been here since the renovations so was a little lost. If u don't like ordering using your phone they still have walk up to order. Will go back.

Meals were great, staff was friendly and coffee amazing. Would like a bit more variety and maybe a few salads but otherwise great. My kids aged 6, 4 and 2 loved the playground.

Quick Service and great atmosphere! And Kid friendly.

Absolutely shocking tonight. We got 3 kids meals out of about 8 first they had well and truly finished before they bought out just 1 main meal out of 11 adults then got a couple extra adults meals. Most adult meals where cold when they got to the table, finally the last couple of kids meals came out. Was absolutely shocking!!!!!! All up took about 40 minutes to get all the meals to the table

Very pleased to see the changes with the renovations. I haven't been here for a long time. Different areas to suit the needs for all. Small sports/public bar, another sport's bar style area, a restaurant style bistro dining area with a large children's playground area and a Pokies Gaming area. Friendly and courteous staff with quick and friendly service. Ample parking areas with easy access from all parking areas. The meal was delicious and service was prompt with a friendly smile. I like the concept that you can either walk up and place your meal orders or utilise the bar code payment ordering service.

Food was great and service was excellent 👌

Great food. Excellent staff. Asked for my steak rare and it was perfect, chip are great and the salad dressing worked so well with the whole meal. Will keep coming back

What a disaster for my 60th Birthday meal. Booked for 10 people. 2 senior grilled fish sent back as cold, then came back like rubber and tasteless. The 4 steaks were cold and the porterhouse looked like Scotch fillet. The schnitzel and ribs were look warm but gravy stone cold. The only decent meal was the 2 scallopine . What a disappointment as we paid for all the meals. I know it wasn’t the first complaint of the night as 3 ladies next to us asked for manager before us. Sue the manager for the night was very apologetic and did not charge for the seniors meals. Will not be back nor our friends.

Great food and attentive service. Double stack burger was almost too big to eat, while chicken scallopine was wonderful. Atmosphere was warm and inviting. Great local pub

We have always has a really great meal here. Their calmiari was cooked perfectly. Lamb shanks were falling apart and full of flavour. Service is quick and attentive. Services are very generous and have always been very tasty. A great local pub.

Used Scoopon vouchers. Meals were served quickly. Porterhouse steak was tender and chargrilled to perfection. Will be returning to this bistro for more.

We used a scoopon voucher for dinner.Very quick service and food was great. Staff came over & checked on us regularly to make sure everything was up to scratch.

We puchased a Scoopon voucher and went out for dinner. Overall, we experienced great service, had beautiful food and were delighted by the friendly staff.   Highly recommend venue.

Disappointing. $35 steak was chewy and undercooked, vegetables raw, gravy like water. When I finally took my own plate over (they refused to collect our food) we were told they would pass feedback on to chef - no apology, appalling service.

Great lunch, peaceful surroundings and attentive/helpful staff.  Not too pricey. Would definitely recommend to others and very happy to book here in the future.

Went there for the first time last friday as we had guests from India. We loved the place. Mercury from the tap was fantastic and food came out quick. Would recommend to anyone.

Outrageously poor meals!<br/><br/>Went here on Saturday night. The heater was broken and it was cold so everyone wore their heavy jackets. Staff advised the system breaks down often due to its age. Oh well we said at least the food will be good ....<br/><br/>Medium rare Tbone was broiled and grey throughout. As a result it was tough and dry. No sauce. <br/><br/>Nadi goreng was a big bowl of fried rich with a fried egg appearing minutes later from the kitchen.<br/><br/>Pulled pork burger was fine but only ate half the chips as they tasted greasy. <br/><br/>I wasn't able to wash it down with furphy special as it sold out so settled on a Carlton draught. Sounded better than a VB<br/><br/>After that we didn't stick around for dessert<br/><br/>Advice - KFC next door will be less disappointing and it didn't cost you $22-$35 per plate<br/><br/>

Very friendly staff. Hubby had a Parma that he loved. I had a steak. It Was over cooked but ok. They have good specials and $5 schooners!!!!

Enjoyed a delicious lunch here with 6 friends on Sunday. We were fortunate enough to be seated in a lovely semi private alcoved area which made conversation much easier within our group.<br/>The staff were very helpful & informative when we presented our vouchers & explained exactly what to do. The meals, desserts & wines were all excellent value. <br/>My salmon dish was especially delicious. My friends had risotto & nasi goreng & one had the enormous seafood plate which several of us ended up sharing to finish it off!  This meal would have been enough for 2 people! Everyone said that they thoroughly enjoyed their meals apart from one elderly member of our group who was unhappy with her roast of the day which was pork (I believe it was either a rolled roast or pork belly which she found too fatty for her liking & was expecting a leg of pork with crackling). The staff were so lovely & kind to her & very helpful. They offered to replace her meal but she declined as she had eaten enough of it & was looking forward to her dessert. They wold not take no for an answer & insisted on offering our whole group free coffees as compensation for her meal as we had already ordered our desserts.<br/>Desserts were all delicious. 2 people shared the huge chocolate decadence brownie, 2 shared the berry crepes. The other 2 people had lemon meringue tart & apple & rhubarb crumble. These were all divine.<br/>My only complaint would be that the meals were too large so we all went home extremely full but satisfied. (Not really a complaint!) I would highly recommend this lovely venue for excellent customer service, lovely staff, great meals & ambience.

Went there for dinner the other night. The food came out real quick and the service was friendly, but this could have something to do with it being pretty empty for a Friday night.<br/><br/>I had salt and pepper squid, which was really tender and yummy. Wifey had the paella was nice but was missing the brown crunchy bits; it seemed more like a risotto. My mother had a seafood platter with looked huge when it came out, but take all the batter off and there wasn't really too much there.<br/><br/>All in all an ok experience, kinda what you would expect at a pub...

Had a lovely lunch with my sister, food was great, sat near the open fire, bit pricey but had a voucher which helped with that. Overall nice experience

Today we went here for lunch to celebrate a birthday. When we walked in the ambiance was lovely and the fireplace was beautiful to sit next to. The service was amazing. The waitresses were attentive and courteous and we hardly had to wait for our meals to be served. The dishes came out hot, fresh and delicious. My only fault is that the serving sizes are to big to get through and however I would highly recommend eating here as we will be back again. The chicken stir-fry was tender and tasty. The outback parma was delicious, chicken was cooked very well, very moist and tender. The fettuccine carbonara was very nice, the sauce had a great flavor and the pasta was cooked well. The vegetable risotto was beautiful. Surprisingly tasty. Thought would be bland but had a great flavour. Overall, highly recommend eating here.

Tried this place as they were offering a Parma for $6.95 with any drink purchase. The Parma was chewy and tough I have never had a Parma so terrible it tasted like it had come straight out the freezer and then fried. The garlic bread was dry with hardly any butter on top it was so dry it stuck in my throat and we didn't eat it. My partners meal of garlic prawns was very bland and basic I would not eat here again even if a meal is 6.95, need to put more live in the food.

Genuinely the worst dining experience I've ever had. <br/>We waited an hour for our meals and when I went on over to ask complain they were ready in the next five minutes – no apology. <br/>The food was awful. The pasta tasted like a dry packet mix, patties in the burgers were dry and flavourless – I suspect microwaved frozen parties. Even the chips were terrible – there really was no redeeming quality about this place.<br/>I had two kids with me too so they weren't too happy about the wait, if they had just told me it was going to be a long wait I would have left.

My grandkids enjoyed Fathers' day lunch for Daddy and Poppy. The service was prompt and friendly, the food was delicious and the environment kid friendly. Looking forward to other family celebration at Cardinia Hotel.

Baby Change Room!. Disgusted that there was nowhere for my son to change is baby's nappy! Not even the choice of using a disabled toilet as there was none. He had to get a female relative to change the baby! Not acceptable in this day and age. Next time we will change him in the dining room and hopefully not for just a wet nappy either - see how your patrons and staff like that! Other patrons were aware of what happened too and weren't impressed either! Not only that, the food wasn't great either.

The Pakenham Inn seems quite new, with ample parking, modern styling and plenty of things to keep the kids busy which is good as my partner has a seemingly endless number of cousins. The staff were really nice and the whole place had a good, warm feel to it which isn't always the case with newer venues. Being a bistro it didn't take me long before I'd walked up to the counter, paid my $22.90 and sat down for the wait.

Worst food in the pakenham area. It was like they got a pre packaged salad from Woolworths, did nothing to it then placed the driest Parma they could find next to it. The whole meal was utterly tasteless.<br/>Staff were kind but I won't be going back

Good service - ordinary food. My wife and I thought we would try the Pakenham Inn as we hadn't been to it for a couple of years. <br/>Greeted by friendly staff and shown to table and she explained specials. We looked at menu and mains is very limited. Half the meals are seafood and all meals are very expensive compared to standard pub meals. A parma is $24 while most places are $18 - $21. The seniors menu has more choice but as we are a few years away from pension age we miss out. <br/>I had the creamy chicken, potato and leek pie whilst my wife had a bowl of chips as everything else was not appealing or too costly. <br/>The meals came out quickly and I was surprised to see my meal on what looked like a wooden chopping board! No plate. I seriously question the hygiene of this as timber is porous and cross contamination of food can easily happen. <br/>My wife's bowl of chips was on a plate, with tomato sauce in a couple of those squeezy sachets that you get with a take away meat pie. A sauce bottle would not be too hard to have. <br/>My creamy chicken, potato and leek pie was ok, with a nice salad and chips. However, the gravy in a little bowl was very runny and the waitress had apologised for it spilling when she served it - no apology for it being so runny. <br/>Overall, a disappointing meal as menu is limited with too many seafood, and not enough other choices.

Excellent service. We haven't been to Pakenham inn for some time as previous management had no idea on how to attract customers or retaining them, customer service was very slow and staff where usually working on there own which made it hard to get served, my husband and his friends regularly visit the sports bar area and have done so for many years and have said how much better it is now Zagames have taken over, after hearing many more positive remarks from other people I decided to book a table for family and friends in the bistro the following Saturday night, lucky I did , the hotel was very busy in all areas, we got there early and had a drink in lounge area to wait on a few friends and was impressed straight away with staff greeting us and chatting with us , staff seemed very well trained constantly out clearing glasses and wiping tables. We then moved to the bistro were there was a lovely girl waiting there to greet us and show us to our table, she explained to us how to order and gave us a tip on the specials menu, we all ordered entrees and a main meal, as it was busy we expected some delay but there was no delay all entrees came out together , clever of them because we all ordered separately, plates cleared promptly and glasses regularly collected, the staff here are very well trained and all seem to have there own roles to play and as a bonus are friendly, the food has improved 100% , waitress comes back to table a while after you receive your meal to check if everything is okay and anything else they can get for you. The sticky date for dessert was awesome!!!, after dinner some of us went into the pokie area while the men went to the sports bar, a friendly young girl was walking around offering customers lattes and snacks complimentary in the pokie area , apparently they do this many times through the day, our friends are all members and rave about there members rewards program which gives them discounts and vouchers through the year to use. overall a great night and great customer service, well done Zagames maybe other pubs and restaurants in the area should come and take notes on customer service :) <br/><br/>As I wanted to complement the hotel and never have felt the need to write a review before as I have never been this impressed by any of the many hotels I've been at ,I noticed two reviews ranting about the managers , although it sounds to me more like disgruntled ex staff members the manager I observed through the night ( a youngish dark haired lady) displayed herself as nothing but professional , a big improvement from the last manager, and worked along side her staff throughout the night in many areas of the hotel , from what I observed and what my husband has told me she is very well respected by customers and staff and is far from being short, old and abusive to staff , maybe "Anuddagoal and Queenserpentine " should review on food and service , not on stupid reviews , staff that are getting treated badly don't look as happy as this and don't work as well as they do , keep up the good work

AWFUL!. I thought I would give zagames a try as I had heard good things about it namely from other venues. For starters, the lack lustre entrance, the surly managers who obviously treat their staff like crap. There was a particulary nasty short old manager whom I seen mistreating at least two staff members on a few occasions. The drinks tasted like the lines were never ever cleaned. The security was lovely as was one member of the gaming staff, sweet smile and a lovely young man. He was even kind enough to make me a complimentary coffee (which was a big thing considering it was quite late when I left) The food in the bistro was even worse than the manager, I ordered just a plain steak with chips and salad, the price was exorbitant to say in the least, the bistro staff looked lost as to what to do. The steak which I ordered medium rare came back, well over done. The chips were ok...Not worth the money I spent. I will never ever eat or gamble at zagames again as I found the attitude of the managers to be completely off putting. What a waste of time and money.

Fawlty towers(pakenham inn). The uneducated management are so engulfed in their own incompetence that they have to verbally abuse younger staff with foul language in front of patrons to make it look like their doing something.Surely these so called managers have been employed under the jobs for the boys scheme.DONT BOTHER

Should have gone to the Pakenham Hotel down the road! Schnitzel and Chips were Luke warm, the chicen was dry, and the crumbed coating was greasy.<br/>Garlic Bread was soggy.<br/>Save your money

Overall, good, but food is overpriced and not great quality.. The whole experience is not bad - it's a pub, not a gourmet establishment, but that's part of the problem - the prices are "gourmet", whilst the food is a bit more like...."soup kitchen". <br/>Ok, it's not that bad, but the ribs for example, were old and reheated. I understand you can't slow cook ribs on the spot, it would take too long - but they definitely weren't cooked the same day, and if they weren't removed from somebody elses plate that they didn't finish, I'd be surprised. <br/><br/>Staff are friendly, service is good, bar service is fine. Lots of space, kid friendly, etc, they just need to do one of two things - drop their prices or improve their food.

Serving slop with little care. We read the reviews and thought we'd try as we have 3 young kids and the inn boasted an indoor/outdoor kids play area. It was raining and the kids indoor area is just $2 a go game machines and candy dispensers. <br/>Anything deep fried they seemed to manage, the kids chips were nice as was the garlic bread. My daughters bolognaise was bitter and she refused it. I tasted it and understood why. So we told the waiter who said he'd tell the chef. The waiter never cleared our plates, just pushed them to the side when the girls desserts arrived, so the bolognaise was never returned to the kitchen. No feedback or refund offered. My husbands beef korma looked just like the bolognaise! Sloppy and mostly gravy served with yellow (not saffron) rice and red cabbage!! I ordered the spaghetti pescitore which had half a blue swimmer crab on top, served with a soup spoon and no other utensils to eat the crab with. The spaghetti was cooked well but the sauce was at least half a cup of undercooked large chunks of onion mixed with a chopped fresh tomato. All the desserts on offer are bought in cheesecakes and a packet mix chocolate mousse. Looking about most people were eating steak and chips which looked popular. Extremely average food and service, we are not in the city anymore but surely for $100 the standard can be better than this.

A nice place to meet. I live in Melbourne and my friend lives in Warragul. We find this a nice place to meet in the middle for dinner. It has a large dining area and we can always find a quiet table where we can talk and are not bumper to bumper with other people.<br/>The meals are consistently slightly above average. <br/>The salt and pepper calamari is a favourite and I had a lovely pasta special last week. The pizzas unfortunately tend to be oily so I avoid these.<br/>There is a lot of the standard fried food served that looks ok, but when other meals do come out of the kitchen they always look a good size and are freshly cooked on the hotplate behind the orders counter.<br/>Drinks are not expensive and the staff are really friendly and helpful.<br/>Unfortunately it is hard to get a coffee after dinner as the machine in the restauarant is cleaned and tucked away early.I had to go to the gaming room to get one at the last visit.<br/>We will continue to meet here whilst the standard remains adequate.