The Maribyrnong Boathouse Reviews

The service was good, as was the food. Disappointing to be charged a service fee for using a credit without being informed.

Beautiful private wedding at the boathouse. Amazing! Such a perfect place for a function.

Had a lunch with friends on a cold Saturday. Nice and warm, especially as we were next to the open fire. Pizzas were good, cheesecake was very different (deconstructed?) But really delicious. Service was excellent; friendly, attentive and helpful. Aiden, (manager?) Came over found out our names and chatted for a couple minutes, which is a really nice touch. Overall a very positive experience for us.

Gary Mehigan's Boathouse, if in Melbourne an absolute must visit. Try burgers, starters and drinks

Went to the boathouse on Sunday the room we ordered was not ready and that was for about 25 people we had to stand around while everyone else was eating. Five of us ordered the $38 steak which everyone ordered differently and they all came out rare and were paper thin definitely not scotch fillet. Will not go back again.

Nice ambience, enjoyable entrees and friendly staff.

Basic menu options and incompetent, bordering on rude staff. Unless it's some sort of hospitality training venue in which case good on them for trying.

Love this place and have lunch there often. Great food and lovely staff.

Hi Guys,

I have been a customer of The Boat House for many years, I love the service and your staff but I was a little disappointed when today you did not do anything to acknowledge at 11.00am on the 11/11/2020 one minutes silence.
As I said the service and the food is always exceptional and I know in these unusual times it is hard to please everyone.
So maybe next year please request a one minutes silence at 11.00am.
Thank you so much for your service and exceptional staff, namely Gjersy and Adam.
We will return soon.

Cheers Russ, Yvonne and Leo.

The experience on the first visit here was not good - waited 1 hour for our food and my son's popcorn chicken was still teas inside! Today I decided to give it another chance. Food was not better although there was a wee wait for it. Popcorn chicken was dry (at least it's cooked), seafood risotto had very tiny prawns and fish overcooked but a couple of squid were undercooked. Pizza was nice. Not sure if I'll come back again.

.... " Your River Of Love Flows Through My Endless Soul".
Table 77.

Nice view. We can have coffee at the balcony which is just next to Maribyrnong river.

The boathouse really need to put some effort into training their staff and refurbishing the outdoor area. There appeared to be no gluten free/allergy friendly options.

We were told to fend for ourself as far as seating was concerned, then forgotten about once seated. We were continually flagging down harried looking wait-staff who forgot water (we asked 3 times, never received it) but bided our time watching people sit down, then leave the restaurant after not being acknowledged. On top of that the outdoor area is very weathered looking and we were seated next to stacks of chained up wicker chairs (no one was sitting on these chairs, why are they stored there?!).
The food is usually good, though a bit on the expensive side, however my encounter with a rotten potato really capped off a miserable dining experience, as did the attitude of the manager we spoke to after. We were given a discount but no apology was forthcoming.... needless to say we won't be back.

Used to be way way better with the old management. Food and atmosphere left when the previous owner left. Not going back

Perfect place for all ages. Yummy food & coffee. Friendly, attentive staff.

Love this place - still one of my Fav Melbourne places to go - Kids love the massive playground too

We just had coffee and desserts. The quality was great and the serving sizes were better than lots of places. Service was great, and the food came out quite quickly. I was a bit surprised at a card surcharge for a transaction over $50 though.

Absolutely ridiculous service. 1hr later still waiting for a steak and calamari. Never coming here again

I had a run near the river and was starving so I ordered a Budda Bowl and added chicken. It was wholesome and healthy and really good. I was full halfway through, so their serving size is decent too.

The staff here are extremely lovely, and the fingerfood was delicious! It's the first function that I've been to where a) I've had to continue turning down fingerfood because I was so full (rather than having to follow them), and b) the bartenders find you and ask if you want anything to drink. I'd highly recommend this place!

We used to come here regularly in the past, but the service seems to have gone down drastically! The food (avocado & eggs) was good, but the service was poor, if not absent. That you have to pay at the bar is one thing, but there was no structure in it and the queue went right through the restaurant, causing people to having to pass through the line all the time. None of the staff members directed the queue into a more orderly line and along the bar.

The food took ages to arrive and when it did, we were told to get our own cutlery at the bar. Mind you, the prices don't reflect this 'self-service' type restaurant. My partner wasn't finished eating yet, when they already wanted to take his plate. Not long after we told them he was still eating, another staff member came and took away his plate, tipping the plate full of breadcrumbs into his lap, said a short oh sorry and walked off, leaving us in disbelief of what just happened.

To end this positively: great setting and food was good to okay.

Cosy place to go for a date with great ambience, beautiful river view, outdoor seating, friendly staff and delicious food.

The staff were friendly; location great for area however I had the crab burger with a minute amount of crab mostly batter offered a type of prawn crackers
Instead of chips go for the chips.

When I go again it will be for coffee not lunch.
Location excellent for that part of Melbourne thats what gets the stars however the food is disappointed.

Decor It Events had their xmas breakfast party.Nothing was a problem.
I asked for HP sauce and got it on both tables. Service was great.

Wat a lovely place and food..loved the cheesecake ..

Ok food, the menus are different in the deck and inside, so don't expect the website menu to be accurate if you eat outside. Which is a little confusing.

Went to The Boat House, last night and I must say I was disappointed, the staff were nice but I would have liked to have been offered another glass of wine. Once the meal arrived about 50 mins after we ordered, I was surprised to find my 300g scotch fillet to be flat and probably no more than 100g if that, the chips on my plate (4) tasted like they were frozen and then defrosted and recooked.
Maybe I expected more for a restaurant owned by a chef. No one came to our table once we had finished and asked us if we were happy with our meal. I understand if the restaurant was busy but this was a Monday night and there were not that many people in the restaurant.
Unfortunately I will not be returning

Honestly one of the most disappointing meals I've ever had. For $25 I expect more than:
5 pieces of overcooked salmon that were the size of a 10c coin
2 pieces of overcooked to heck Prawn
2 pieces of Squid (I think?)

Then, you smother that in a tonne of chilli and Parmesan so that whatever flavour was left in those sad little pieces of seafood were completely drowned out. Oh, and having to stop off and grab a sandwich on the way home because I was starving.

I can get a better seafood pasta at my local pizza joint for half the price. and get 3 times as much. Will never return.

Good value ... Good food was served fast ...FYI Public holiday surcharge of 15%

I went in for my first dining experience since they we closed down. I waited for 20 minutes and no one came to get my order. I am so angry at the fact I was ignored like this when people that obviously came in after me were being served as I left. Unbelievable

Eggplant chips were a crispy delight.
Service exceptional, even though our waiter said it was his first day (we all know it wasn't, but the friendly banter was just what was needed).
A quick lunch with a glass of wine turned into a long lunch with a bottle. Will return again.

Great food, fresh and delicious, the view is amazing but the service was not okay During my two visits I was sitting outside and asked me to go in inside to give my orders while they took the requests from the rest of the tables in their places!!

The food was ok however the serving size was way too small for the price. The service was terrible after spending $56 for breakfast for myself and my partner I was accused of trying to get a drink I apparently hadn't paid for, I was forced to log in to my commbank app and prove that I had ordered and infact paid for a coffee and juice that I had waited over half an hour for.

Another feather in their cap: When they have their private events, as today, they don't bother picking up the phone for people calling to check if they have tables available. You only find out after turning up that the whole venue is closed and that it is cz of some event happening. A small recording on their machine can avoid this huge inconvenience.

Very nice fish and chips and the tartar sauce was quite different. Lovely atmosphere yet a bit noisy. Nice staff too.

Went there for brunch with a some friends and I'm really liking the place. Nice decor, good food with ample portions. I had the River Run breakfast and it's everything was great except that I'm a little disappointed with the hashbrown. It seemed like it was store bought and not made fresh. A friend tried one of their brekky pizzas and went for the "Smashed Avo" one where it had smoke salmon, haloumi, cherry tomatoes and avocado. A little exotic for my brekky taste but still looked good. And oh, Gary wasn't there. #sadface

This is our first visit. Our booking was at 6.30 for a table of 2, they got the booking name wrong even after I spelt. Then when we got there it took them 15 min to even come up and ask if we wanted any drinks whilst other tables that had arrived after us were ordering their mains. Then the drinks took 10 to 15mins to even get to us, we ordered our meals and our entree took 40minutes and our mains took 50min so 10mins after our entrees!!! This is all happening while other tables are getting their meals or leaving before we get our mains. The food and wine were nice but some of the staffs manners we less then desirable. The decor was nice and cosy but the lights dimming and brightening every 5min for no apparent reason ruined the cosy setting. Will not be coming back here again any time soon.

The only reason for 2 star rating is location. Disinterested and inattentive staff. Over priced pretentious menu which dod not deliver on any level, entree cauliflower/cheese aranchini inedible (sauce unbalanced and unpleasant), lamb salad to salty, calamari very uninspiring. Lot s of UN s got this one and so wished it could be ONs as in onpoint, ontime and on budget as truely great location for regular catch ups alas will be moving ON .

Good location. But the calamari we order today is still quite raw. And it takes an hour to wait for all the food to come. Not impressive.

Ok... This place has some positives and some negatives.
Positives:
A) food was great. The pizza was delicious and so was the burger. The chips with the burger remained crunchy even when our meal was done!
B) ambience was great. Beautiful views of the Marybyrnong River from the alfresco area.
C) the Manager / supervisor was very friendly and provided excellent customer service.

Negatives:
A) After booking a table online, we wanted to make a change but no matter how many times i called the restaurant or left voice mails, no one answered the phone or called me back.
B) therer were only three options for the kids menu. No pasta for kids. I requested for an (adult's) pasta to be made as a kid's meal and I was told "we don't have the ingredients for that" and later, "it can't be done". We ended up ordering a $25 pasta dish for our toddler, who ate only a quarter of the portion.
C) the high chair that we were given was dirty. I had to use a serviette and soaked with sanitiser to clean the chair, which showed how dirty it was. This is especially important in the days of covid.

We enjoyed the evening, none the less.

exceptional value...for the express lunch menu....gourmet food at pub pricing.

Hard to beat as a pleasant spot for a glass of wine and light snack on a sunny Sunday afternoon

Good but very expensive, for relatively ordinary food.

Went there for father's day. The food was tasty. I had the wood fire pizza and enjoyed the apple crumble for dessert.
Everybody who came enjoyed their meals as well.
The location is within walking distance to a playground, which is perfect for an after father's meal!
The staff was very lovely. The only issue was that we felt a little rushed. The staff wanted to make sure we didn't wait for anything (and it worked!) So they came quite often. It's a fine balance between coming too often or not enough, so too much attention is definitely better than none.
All in all it was a good experience and we would very gladly go back.

Lunch was tasty and the staff were responsive. Lovely day and a pleasant view.

Poor food choices! Waitess was rude! Just want toasted cheese sandwich! She it only for kids, management atricred about the age limit so uou are too old! So, I had a cold larre instead! Not happy!

Very disappointed. We went for Christmas lunch. Staff were wonderful. The meal itself left a lot to be desired. Entree: The prawns had not been deveined (Masterchef would not approve) and received 1 overcooked prawn per person. The lettuce was browning and tasted unwashed. The smoked mussels had been mushed up and put into a dip. Bread was not homemade. Dips were not very interesting. Mains: Beef cooked nicely, asparagus overcooked, salad boring, salmon overcooked. Deserts: Just ok. I should have gone to the pub.

$$ Good location with a playground next to tbe restaurant. Decent food but quality can be mixed -undercooked pizza topping/base once Good staff though. Nice views of river and open deck in good weather. Wood fire in winter.

Still a busy place which is great to see coming out of lockdown. Menu is diverse and tasty starters. New gelato cart has some great flavours and hits the spot on a hot day. Staff are helpful and friendly.

Took my mum for her birthday there and after spending about $300 they wanted to charge a "cakage" fee of $4 per head. Pretty low ball I reckon

perfect place to spend the sunny day! Good food near the river and sun. Big play area for the kids. Would love to visit again n again. :)

Wagyu burger and Cajun chicken burgers were both no good. Stale brioche, overcooked meat and watery aioli. The chips were good, but the garden salad was just greens with corn, beetroot and beans all from a can. Staff were very attentive.

Average service, was directed to a table and then forgotten about. Very ordinary coffee.

Poor service but food and location are good, not great.

Food is amazing and worth the price. Staff are friendly and welcoming!

Great venue to sit by the river, we only had coffee but they were good and there is history to see as per my picture

Great location, good views and convenient with kids.
Pizzas are the nicest thing on the menu, ice coffe is also nice. Overall bit pricey for the quality of food. Everything is a bit too salty.

Pigeons poop if you sit outside but worth the pain ...

Many years ago the food was of much higher quality.

Been here several times and the food has always been good but not great... But tonight's visit was the last straw. No, I didn't event get to eat but I'll get to that.. Get a load of this for a service experience. We walk in and wait 5 mins to be acknowledged and then ask to be seated. We are seated at a table that needed to be wiped down which is fine but 15 mins later, a young lady comes round and drops off the menus and wipes the table. They were clearly short staffed which was obvious and I'm very understanding as this happens from time to time but this is where the story starts..... We get up to order a further 5-10 mins later only to be told, sorry you can't order anything because the system went down. ????? So take my order down with a pen and pass it on to the kitchen I thought. 35 mins in and we walked out. No acknowledgement and no interest from the staff managing the register/bar.

This place is lacking leadership and service experience. Can't comment on the food because I didn't get any but won't be returning. Ended up going to an alternate trusted venue that never lets us down. This place needs urgent help before it suffers poorly from competitors.

Worst place. Worst service and not worth the wait ! Seriously the only thing going for the place is the location otherwise it would not survive

They have some new vegan options which are quite good and very reasonably priced. Would definitely recommend

Customer service was great, food came our very fast and was delicious.

Thank you to Aiden and his ever so attentive staff for a wonderful experience at The Boathouse, 7 The Boulevard, Moonee Ponds, on the Maribynong River, on behalf of all the Mothers and Grandmothers and their families. Mostly I thank Aiden & the Staff for their excellent service and therefore helping me shine a little extra sunshine on Mother s Day for my Mum. The Mother s Day menu was simply divine, from entree to desert we were trying to eat every last bite. It was so delicious but was more than enough from the entree sharing mezze platter where there were Oysters with caviar, Calamari, bocconcini wrapped in prosciutto, arancini just to name a few....and thats just the entree!
From the amazing food to the glorious view and backdrop but mostly the humble and gracious smile from the greeting from the moment we walked through the door and unpretentious atmosphere of the staff at the Boathouse which could rightfully do but is ever more appreciated for not being so in every way. It is warm, friendly, homely, inviting yet provides all the 5star qualities without the huff & fluff!! So I thank you all for a lovely day that was made perfect by you all.
Thank you Pam from Dr Paul Burns Orthopaedic Surgeon, for your recommendation. YOU where right!

You can tell how good the food is at any restaurant by testing their fish and chips. It was pretty good ! Ambient was great too and staff were really warm and nice. Perfect for dates or gatherings.

Have been coming here on a semi regular basis for years. Last four times have been terrible. The food can be great (but it is hit and miss)- but that is if you actually get it. We have had meals never come- and that is after we have told staff it hadn't arrived, multiple drink order mix ups and cases of 'find the ingredient' on a pizza. Yesterday was the limit for me. Mix up with tables, an hour wait for food and nearly an hour and 10 min for a bowl of chips we had been told would come out quickly to keep the kids occupied. Needs management overhaul.

$5 for a coffee SIZED milkshake. And no, there wasn't any bourbon in it . Because parenting and bourbon.

Great views of the river and next to a very fun playground for the kids

Good coffee. Didn't eat but menu looks good and place looks cosy.

Mediocre food and non-existant service. Staff are very rude. Nice view though, and the playground is good for the kids.

Awesome ambience by the Maribyrnong river. Said their meats were from halal suppliers although bacon and wine were also served. Staff were kind to mention that fish were beer battered when we wanted to order it. Kids loved the playground right beside it.

Went there on Melbourne cupday for breakfast with two other friends and our kids. Pancakes were terrible, my daughter even made a comment saying are these really pancakes?! They couldn t even bother to toast the bread which was served with smash avocado and poached egg! On top of all these we were charged an extra 15% surcharge because it was a public holiday. Bad experience after all and don t think we will be back! We ended up with a bill of $162 for 4 adults and 3 kids for breakfast.

Gorgeous place, perfect for brunches, coffee catch ups, and more! Love the view of the river from here! :)

Recently had our wedding Reception at the boathouse. This restaurant owned by one of the Master Chef celebrities. The service was disgraceful. The manager Aydin was rude and disrespectful. He had food on the tables going cold before our guests were even ready to go into the restaurant
He had the nerve to come out to us and say "hurry up, the food is ready." We had to rush our photos to get inside, meaning we missed a lot of photos we wanted to take.
Most of our guests complained that the food was cold.
The setting of the tables we a disaster. Our bridesmaids had to rush a complete resetting, as half the bridal party were set with their backs facing the guests. While the bridesmaids were trying to rearrange the tables, Aydin was moving stuff back. The bridal table had to be rearranged 5 times because of this stupidity.
Our guests commented on how pushy Aydin was. When we complained to Aydin, he put it back on us like it was our fault.
If this is the best manager a Master Chef can find I think his investment is in deep trouble.
We will never go there again.

If you need to have a delicious dinner then you must come to this place