Grace Darling Hotel

Posted by: lizzied3 | 13 February 2011, 8.23pm

Had dinner here on Saturday night and was very impressed- the place was busy & you can see why, not only is it pretty with candles, plants everywhere & some beautiful looking wallpaper, it seems cool while not at all self-conscious.
The menu reads really well- Wild Boar Burger, Crab, Quail- whoa!- I ended up having Gnocchi and my boyfriend had a go of the Burger. Great food- really tasty & the helpings are generous.
The staff were lovely and efficient & seem to enjoy the bustling vibe of the place overall, really good service and some great menu options here.
We'll definitely be back..

Food:			Visit: Sat 12 February 2011 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: nicola85 | 27 August 2010, 11.18pm

Wow, Tough crowd. I 'm a Collingwood local and I have to say I love The Grace- I've been there many times, it has decent if not super above average food & i love their staff, cool-and despite what the other folk are saying they are not too wanky or up themselves and can I just say they work really hard for what I can see .Drinks are pretty good, love their wallpaper & style..My only grievance is that sometimes it's hard to get a table & it's a bit bustling but i reckon it's cos they're so busy, which is annoying for us guys that live in the neighbourhood. You could say the same thing about Gigi Baba. I think these guys are definately on the right track if not kicking Fitzroy pubs ass big time.....maybe you guys just have sour grapes. Restaurant reviews in my opinion seem to be a forum for bagging rather than pointing out good things about places. Also noticed Good Food Finalists faced the same deal...

Food:			Visit: Fri 27 August 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: delbee | 26 August 2010, 8.58pm

I decided to ignore the bad reviews on the site and booked a table for 12 for a recent celebration. The table was booked well in advance, however the table reserved for us was suitable for seating no more than 8 people- only 11 arrived for dinner, but we still had people seated on the corners of the table, crawling over each other to get in and out, and so cramped we had trouble eating our meals without constantly elbowing each other. The meals were quite nice, but this didnt make up for the cramped conditions.
I really wouldnt recommend- there are plenty of places to get a meal just as good as this without the poor service.

Food:			Visit: Sat 7 August 2010 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: munchie | 12 October 2009, 11.20am

After reading all the terrible reviews on this site, we were not going to bother trying Grace Darling Hotel, but we were walking past and were convinced by the gorgeous atmosphere, awesome music and romantic candlelight! So glad we tried it for ourselves, because it was a wonderful evening. We had the most delicious and generous vegetarian antipasto - i thought it was great value for $15 and it was full or delicious things like pickled veggies, dips, olives etc - it was a fantastic start to the meal. This was served very promptly but we then waited probably about 45 mins for our mains - which we didnt mind at all coz we were full from the antipasto! The mains were also delicious! Only complaint - they should increase the vegetarian options!! Only one vego main course on the specials board - vegetarians are not uncommon and not difficult to cater for so no excuses not to have a few more veg options! However the Porcini mushroom lasagne i had was delicious!! The waitresses were a bit vague but other than that it was all good! Highly recommended!!

Food:			Visit: Sat 10 October 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: condiment | 23 July 2009, 10.03pm

We chose the Grace Darling Hotel for a catch up dinner following the positive reviews in The Age and unlike the reviewers before me, we will definitely return.

Seven of us arrived at 7pm on Wednesday evening without a booking and were seated immediately. Five people ordered the chicken parmigiana which arrived in a small terracotta pot accompanied by a huge serve of fries and a salad as did the burger that was ordered. My order of fish of the day consisted of two beautifully cooked and crispy skinned kingfish fillets with a lovely spiced chickpea and tomato salad and potato.

For dessert we ordered the chocolate torte and the apple & pear crumble to share. The slice of torte was half moist and half dry but but this was somewhat rectified by the lashing of caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream on the side. The biggest disappointment for me, however, was the crumble. One of my favourite desserts, I often make apple & pear crumble at home. Unfortunately, this was nowhere near as nice as the one I make at home. In fact, the crumble was so scarce that you could barely see it on the plate at all and thus it was more like a ramekin of stewed fruit.

In terms of service, we didn't have any difficulty. Once we were all seated, the waitress promptly came and took our drink and food order and our meals arrived in a timely fashion. It is the atmosphere that completes the package though. The open fire places, stained glass windows and pleasant surrounds make it a lovely, relaxing place to spend an evening.

I will definitely return, whether it be for a meal or a quiet drink by the fire on a cold Sunday afternoon. I look forward to it.

Food:			Visit: Wed 22 July 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: gracedarling | 21 July 2009, 5.09pm

We appreciate your feedback and are endeavoring to improve our service and attention to detail. Our
patronage has grown exponentially, exceeding all our expectations. 9 out
of 10 people have been exceptionally positive.

We have had glowing reviews in The Age M magazine and The Melbourne Magazine. We realize there are standards that need to be met and between the 5 partners we have had many years of experience and are confident we can get the balance right.

We are extremely conscious of the need for constant improvement and with
the right team we will achieve this.

Please understand that any new
business is faced with some initial problems and we hope to iron these out
as quickly as possible. Thank you for your honesty and we hope we will see
you back at the Grace soon.

x

Grace Darling Hotel

Food:			Visit: Tue 21 July 2009
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Posted by: ricband | 10 July 2009, 9.03am

In principle the new Grace, has all requirements to make it a great local, inner city pub. However the service is very bad, and the general atmosphere causes by this takes away from the food, which is quite good.
We had booked a table for 7:30 and were seated, then were told to move 10 minutes later, then another waiter asked us kind of aggressively why we had moved. The apparent coolness factor of the wait staff, a combination of being laid back and disinterested is a real turn off. You dont expect much from a pub, but friendliness and sincerity are a must.
We waited for quite a while to order, and throughout the meal, to order and receive drinks. But the true low point came when our bill was brought out to us, without request, from the 'meek' waitress, who from instruction from the srcuffy waiter was told to start clearing out table. She said 'take your time' as she gave us she put the bill down...
I would not recommend the Grace, I think there are far better similarly priced places in Melbourne, which in both service and food exceed the level of the Grace.

Food:			Visit: Tue 7 July 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: casey79 | 5 July 2009, 8.47pm

As locals, we thought we would give the revamped Grace Darling a whirl. Its previous incarnation was a real fencesitter - never breathtaking, but always satisfying.

We arrived for an early dinner (arpund 6pm) on a Sunday, hoping to avoid the early rush. The place was packed.

I should have trusted my gut instincts when we waited almost 5 minutes at the host station to be seated - we should have walked then. The kitchen staff just ignored us as we waited, shuffling our feet - hoping to get some attention.

Eventually we were greeted, and sat hurredly. The dishevelled waiter rushed through the specials.

About 10 minutes later, he came back to take an order. We ordered. Our entree came about 10 minutes later. We were still waiting for our wine. As our entree was put down I enquired about our wine, and, with no apology he rushed off to get it.

Our antipasto was OK. Filled with good quality chorizo and proscuitto, everything else on the plate was so-so to below par (esp the pickled mushrooms, which were so tart, we had to gulp our wine to get rid of the taste).

7pm rolled on, and the sole scruffy waiter ended up getting some help (obviously the 7pm shift arrived) and the service went from bad to worse.

Our antipasto was not cleared until we asked. Our mains took a further 40 mins to come out. My exotic oxtail with figs didnt mention the figs werent dried under some Israeli sun back in 2006, nor that the four measley bones Oxtail (of which they couldnt have paid more than $3.99/kg wholesale for) that cost $19, was blander than a spoonful of dry Deb. My dining partner ordered the mussels of which there were no more than a dozen for $20.

Feeling ripped-off and generally pissed off, we ate and tried in vain for at least 12 minutes to get someone's attention to pay.

I have never been as close as I was to leaving without paying as I was at that moment. I eventually went to the bar, my exasperation fairly obvious, wanting to settle the bill - to no avail. The bar man directed us back into the cess-pit of hell.

Eventually I grabbed our meek waitress, another unfortunate table's food entow, and made it quite obvious I wanted to pay.

As we were paying, the scruffy waiter approached us and asked if everything was OK. I was at the point of no return now, and just wanted to leave, but my partner piped up and said the "service was just terrible" and he had the gall to confront us about it.

Nevertheless, we will not be returning. At least the old Grace Darling provided value for money

Food:			Visit: Sun 5 July 2009 Mealtime: dinner
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Posted by: Scal | 12 June 2009, 3.29pm

I really wanted to love it, but I was so disapointed with the new Grace Darling.

It looked amazing. Awesome design and decor. Nice looking staff. Terrific sounding menu. Great music.

But the food and the service were pretty terrible. I had the eggplant moussaka which was basically tough, bitter slices of eggplant on an undercooked piece of potato and some chunks of zucchini. It was topped with a great bechamel sauce but overall it was thin, bitter and watery. My co-diners didn't fair much better, although the pasta looked good.

Worst of all, four of the dishes on our table were supposed to come with sides, but they turned up without. When we asked where the salads and chips were, the waiter acted as if we were being difficult.

My mousakka and a glass of house white came to $24 and I was still hungry. This part of Smith Street is full of great, cheap restaurants ... I don't know whether I'll bother trying it out again :(

Food:			Visit: Fri 12 June 2009 Mealtime: lunch
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