Just arrived Melbourne, had my first western food at the Doncaster Hotel Bar . A very popular restaurant for the local people. Very nice menu for seniors and kids . Good service and good food. Will come back again.

This hotel has a smallish offroad parking area, and it gets busy on weekends. There is a dedicated playing area for children, which can be seen from the tables so parents can keep watch over their kids. Seating at the tables is quite comfortable, and their menu offers a reasonable amount of choices. Food is typical pub quality, with good-sized portions. Because this is a popular pub, it can get a bit noisy inside.

We had a family birthday gathering. The meals were delicious and my steak was amazing. Have been coming here for nearly 10 years and have never had a bad meal. Keep it up “Donny” !!

I ordered our meals and drinks and half way through the meal I had to rush out to the car to get my 4 year old something. I let the wait staff know that I was just ducking out for a second to get something from the car, and to please leave our food. As I was walking out to the front door, I let the woman at the front counter know the same, and asked that our meals not be taken as we were still eating. I was back in under 2 minutes and to my disappointment our table was completely cleared. The woman from the front counter said that she asked one of the staff members to not clear the table, but she was too busy to tell everyone. She was very combative… Sour… Goodbye dinner…. Such a disappointing experience. Don’t dare go to the toilet during your meal or walk up to the counter to get something or your table will be cleared when you get back. Could they replace the meal? Probably…. But the wait time for another meal to come out would be ridiculous….

We've been a few times over the last couple of months. Staff were friendly and helpful. Our meals were tasty and freshly cooked. Then we came in looking forward to another great meal, so why would you serve roast of the day with roast vegetables that is certainly not fresh and also reheated, so sadly, we are disappointed. Such unpleasant meals, we would rather have been told you were sold out.

Ordered 3 starters to share, and 5 mains, and 5 drinks. Front of house was lovely, as well as our waitress that was so kind, however waiting an hour for everything to come out, and this was only because we required about the whereabouts of our food and drinks. No apologies, just “what did you order? I will get the chef right on it.” Only then did our drinks come out, other tables arriving after us received their orders before we did. We are also not a group to usually complain, but honestly if you’re going to use a QR code system yo order and pay, then make sure it’s done right. Food wise, pork belly was massive, tough, and overpoweringly sauced. The book Chou was cooked to the point that it had lost all integrity, mush, kind of blended in with the mash. Korean sticky ribs, also overpowering sauce, it was fall off the bone but no good if the cook is perfect but the taste isn’t. Burger was fine, a little dry, bacon was difficult to bite into, otherwise unremarkable. The chicken wings were perfectly crisp and juicy, just the sauces felt a little like they were out of a can. Lamb Koftas came out cold and gamey… honestly for $50 a head, this is terribly disappointing for Melbourne standards

Went there for a meeting and was very impressed. Food was good size, decent value and delicious. The staff were really considerate and looked after us every step of the way. I had the garlic prawns, perfectly cooked. Great place for families and intimate gatherings. Will def be back

Took 40 mins for the order. When I ask from the lady in the cashier the respond was “ we are busy today “ . As a customer am not happy about your response . It would be much appreciated if you tell us about a long waiting time before I place the order . Your “ Tap , order & pay “ system is great that will earn a 1 star. Consider to improve in customer service please since it matters 😉

Meal with around 15 people. Meal was quickly ordered off the QR code on the table and served at the table. prices reasonable and the food was good pub quality.

The Doncaster hotel is a local family pub style bistro restaurant. It caters for everyone - families, young and old. There are plenty of tables indoors and people seem to order and dine quickly. Large groups can be catered for easily. Meal choices are the common steaks, crumbed chicken schnitzels, fish and chips, pork ribs and pizza options. There are a few non standard items such as seafood paella. The meals are decent though don't expect anything gourmet and fancy. The kids menu includes nuggets and frog in the pond (chocolate frog in jelly). There is an ice cream display freezer that holds a selection of ice cream flavours from Peter's ice cream. Drinks are ordered at the bar. The usual wine, beer and soft drink options are there. There is ample parking at the rear of the building with the car park entrance from Victoria Street.

2 part review: We had lunch here on 29th December 2022. As I made the booking I was emailed a request for a review afterwards. I decided to email the hotel directly (sadly with no acknowledgement at all) and this is what I wrote: Hi Team, Rather than post a less than favourable review publicly, I thought I'd let you know how I found our visit. Parts of our experience were good, other parts were quite disappointing. The size of the meals were generous, both adult and kids meals.  My partners side salad was delivered without dressing. Maybe that's how you serve them but it looked as though it had started to dry out a little.  The kitchen staff did well getting our meals out at roughly the same time even though there were several orders from our table at the same time. The toilets were clean. What was disappointing was that at least 3 water glasses that we helped ourselves to weren't clean. I had to go back and ask for clean glasses as the rack hadn't been topped up. The house Sauv Blanc was not as cold as it could've been. I did go back to the bar and asked for a glass of ice. I was disappointed that the bar staff on several occasions were less than attentive when I was at the bar for service. I realise that some staff were assisting other customers and one staff member was making coffees, but the staff members who clearly weren't assisting anyone seemed oblivious to me standing waiting to be served (this happened more than once), to the point that one staff member who was making a drink for another customer was using her eyes/head to try to indicate to a fellow staff member that I was waiting to be served. No empty glasses were cleared from our table in the whole time we were seated. Once we had all finished our meals our plates remained on the table for close to an hour. There were very few customers left in the dining room during this time.  Even when the children collected their ice creams they had to move their plates to have their dessert. This was the first time I'd been to your venue. It was recommended by my cousin as it is family friendly with the  children able to enjoy the play centre. Further staff training would improve the whole experience. ****Dinner on 29th December 2023**** We had a group of 9 adults and 3 children and several people in our group ordered separately. Our main courses were delivered to our table reasonably quickly, but at no time during our visit were glasses, the wine bottle or plates removed by the wait staff. After about an hour of finishing our main courses we moved empty glasses, plates and cutlery to the empty table next to us. The bistro was not what I'd call busy, with about half the tables vacant. Wait staff delivered food to the table but went back to the kitchen empty handed. This same pattern was repeated for all customers that I could see. We ordered dessert and after some time my partner went to check on our order. He was advised the desserts would only be a few more minutes. The desserts served warm had been heated on the same plates that they were served on, so the ice cream was either half melted or partly melted and very soft when it was delivered to the table. This was really disappointing as the sticky date and chocolate brownie (to replace the creme brulee that was ordered, that we found was unavailable as the desserts were delivered to our table) could easily have been heated on a separate plate then placed on to a chilled or room temperature plate with the ice cream. It is really disappointing that the service has not improved in 12 months. Not sure if we'll be back.

Wonderful experience for lunch from moment we were greeted to the lovely food that was served so promptly even though it was a busy Saturday Thanks heaps

Great meal, large portions, clean restaurant, nice and helpful staff, cool layout and lively bustling restaurant. I had the Eggplant Parmigiama with my choice of Vegetables and Salad. It was very well done and I enjoyed the meal.

Decided to go there as a group if 7 for after work dinner and some drinks. The staff were friendly and the food was fantastic. I ordered the full rack of ribs and they were cooked perfectly. The meat just fell off the bone and was so tender. The sauce was great and was just the right amount. The chips were crunchy and fresh and the overall atmosphere of the place was nice.

Attended the Doncaster Hotel tonight after ringing up at 7:30pm and reserving a table over the phone. We arrived and waited to be seated and were told that there was no booking under our name. The man who ‘greeted’ was a dark skinned male, with frizzy hair. Unfortunately I missed reading his name tag. But his customer service was terrible. He told us that there was 1. No booking under our name in a rude tone, 2. We must have called the wrong place, which we did not. 3. Told us that he couldn’t accept us to sit as there was many hungry/angry people and the kitchen was behind on making meals. The kitchen doesn’t close until 9pm and there was seats, so I feel like refusing us service was really unfair. I will not be dining in or attending this venue in the future as after tonight, I feel quite unwelcome and uncomfortable after being greeted in such a rude manner. Please give your staff a lesson in customer service. 😕

Poor service and bad food. Cannot even cook a steak properly. When complained about the rawness of the steak, it was taken back in the kitchen and microwaved . Stay away if you can.

Wonderful service from Deb, she was very pleasant and helpful. Made the visit very enjoyable. Meals were very nice except for one steak as it was very grisly and uneatable. We will definitely come back

Good tasting bar food in a typical bar setting. Lots of television sets available to watch various sports. However they only have a few cable (foxtel) boxes so there’s only so many different channels they can put on. The menu and ordering isn’t very systematic and quite confusing as we were seated by a server but had to order at the counter which we weren’t told. Furthermore we were only provided with 1 menu when there were actually 2 with completely different items. Overall it’s nothing to rave about, just your regular bar.

Very good pub meals. Not cheap, but good sized meals

When eating at the bistro. They had a function that was advertised and then they didn’t have the function running when it was still advertised. They also didn’t let us use the discount that we have when it wasn’t a public holiday and no other discounts were being used. Customer service was not up to standard and we were put on a small table. When requesting a refund before the food had come out it wasn’t granted.

We just decided to not go there anymore, as the treatment wasn’t the best and also 3 families from 7 needed halal food, but they don’t serve it. I don’t understand, what are they are going to lose if serve halal chicken and beef? Extra people would be able to eat, they will have more customers, consequently they will exceed their profit 🤷🏻‍♀️. I just don’t get it 😁

My lady friend and I had lunch here today and absolutely loved it. We both asked for grilled fish with vegetables and could not have been more pleased. It was hot and inviting and we loved it. As seniors we don't want that much but as seniors we prefer our veges to salad and chips. Good work to all the pleasant and helpful staff involved. Thank you. Coming back soon for more

Very bad customer service. First of all, we booked a table for 5 and they put us next to the toilet when the place was empty... So we asked if they could move our table to somewhere else and did so begrudgingly. At the end of our food we asked for takeaway the rest of a meal and they never mentioned that they don’t do takeaway! What kind of restaurant is this? Who doesn’t do take away?! The Staff was rude when we asked about where our takeaway food was and replied with a horrible attitude. Never going back again. Not recommending 👎

Bobs burger was great and filling; introduced to me by staff David who was cheerful and very attentive to my questions.

Ordered a chicken parma - worst I've ever had. I had one mouthful and didn't eat anymore. Chicken was pink, outside "crumbs" were soggy. Chips and salad very ordinary. Worst part was - bistro was really busy and COVID rules were non-existent. Not a mask to be seen on any staff and social-distancing - ha! It was very busy - a group of 50 senior citizens amongst other large groups - people queueing up to order meals on top of one another and standing right on top of everyone seated trying to eat. No adhesion to the Covid rules at all here today. Very disappointing and I certainly wont be coming back.

Thanks to the excellent customer service girls of Hannah and Aiya who went above and beyond for a first time customer. They made me feel really welcome. All staff are highly trained in customer service. Grilled fish was amazing and fresh 🙂

Great place for a family meal. Great night. Friendly staff, excellent service. Bonus pool table. What a hit!

1st visit, weekday night, during Melbourne blackout. not busy. Good pub grub. Salad with beef, chicken schnitzel Parma, porterhouse,scotch fillet good. Eye fillet could be bigger for it's 200g. No more desserts except brownie type variants at the counter, they were ok.

Food was really good and the service was great. No issues helping us with the birthday cake for our daughter and packing it back up afterwards

It’s always great when you walk into a place and you see friendly, welcoming faces like Jenna, Sandra, John and the other staff. We are always made to feel welcome; the service is great in the bistro, Bobs and the gaming room. The food is awesome. Jenna has been fantastic to us, reserving tables and looking after us. We always look forward to visiting being the regulars that we are. Highly recommended the Donny Inn any day of the week!

I have no complaints at all its nice, clean quiet and friendly helpful staff. Ive just stayed in five star hotels so I was confused about the star rating system. I also answered the questions and would bring my children here if we were in the area. Tell you what ill give you an extra star for being on the ball but if you want 5 im going to need a spa bath in the room and on call masseuse 😁👍

Food was amazing !! Scotch Fillet Medium Rare cooked to perfection. Lovely family atmosphere and professional service - would definitely recommend this place for a great dining experience!!

Great place for a feed and the kids to play. Service was great, place was clean food was great, steak was even perfectly cooked 👌 the play gound was clean and kids loved it. Toilets were cleaned. I have no complaints other then it's too far from my home to be my local ☺️

It was a 40 minute wait for the food, which was lengthier than expected. The pork in the bao buns was dry and hard, presumably reheated. Other than that the meals were generously proportioned, fresh and enjoyable. The staff were friendly and helpful.

Very nice meal. Clean tidy restaurant. Bit of a learning curve ordering from the table by app but then found out you can still order the old fashioned way up at the counter.

I wish to thank the Doncaster Hotel for their wonderful food and service today. Our group had diverse needs (2 elderly people and someone with a garlic allergy) and Mark and Will could not have been more helpful, friendly and courteous. Outstanding service and great food. Thank you.

Fantastic experience. Excellent food, excellent staff. They just made our day with their fun attitude. The place was really busy. Service was amazing. Thank you for a great day

Wonderful service especially from Deb. Lovely meal, and a great atmosphere. Highly recommended for an easy dinner with family and young kids. Great kids playground and meals. Mark on the ice cream was amazing with the kids and scooped like a champion.

Caesar salad and Beef cheeks, Doncaster hotel recently changed their menu nd it certainly doesn't disappoint! Would love to come back and try some other menu options that's new.

It’s a great place to have dinner with the kids. Mark is definitely the host with the most! No matter how many kids my friends and I bring in, he always greets us with a smile on his face. So welcoming and very patient which is the reason why we keep coming back! Good staff like that are rare…so thank you! 😀

Just had the porterhouse, gravy, chips salad. The steak was simply the very best l have had for a long time, medium, was just perfect. Also the gravy was really tasty, chips good, only down side one piece of tomato. Back same time but two weeks later, average steak, so sad.

One of the best local venues I've been too. The manager (friendly and professional bald man) was extremely courteous and food (chicken burger) was one if the best ive had! Kids area was clean and thinking to have our office Christmas in July party here! Must visit in my view!

We couldn't get into our regular pub so thought we would try the Donnie. Steaks were amazing. Definitely go again.

My friend Bee and I regularly eat at the Doncaster Hotel. We really love the atmosphere, the meals are sensational and the staff are always cheerful and obligingly attend to our requests.

Good cold beer. Can order from QR codes at tables for drinks and food. Parma meat lovers is good and large serving.

Clean fresh pub food. And play ground for the kids. The burger is value, chips decent, lemon like bitters are what you expect. Good experiences. Dine regularly.

So after reserving a table in an allocated time, the having 3 phone calls to say we had been moved to a different time (which was the same time all 3 times 🤔) finally got there and wow what a disappointment. Went to the bar to order a drink, asked for a bottle of sparkling. Girl brought a bottle of sav (?) explained what sparkling was and then she brought it over and tried to unscrew it 🤦🏻‍♀️ Had to show her how to open it, and then she gave wine glasses. Adults meals came slowly but before kids and then kids desert was a disaster with all the flavors on display but only to be told two were available. Absolute disaster. Do not recommend.

Wow what a disappointment. The first time at this hotel for a family meal and we were left very dissatisfied. I ordered the fisherman's basket. It was so small it looked like a kids meal. The seafood was not fresh, looking like it was from a frozen packet. It didn't even have a lemon wedge on the side. My partner had the Chicken Risotto which was also below average with little flavour. Needless to say they will not be getting our hard earnt money again.

Good

We had drinks after our mums funeral so that our family could catch up & staff were wonderful very caring & helpful which made it pleasant all of us.

Good food Nice atmosphere

Great place can never fault it. Staff always lovely, the crowd is not full of trouble always respectful people and gaming staff are always going above and beyond for their gusts A+++

Owner contacted me after our terrible meal and review. He said he was going to send me a voucher however still waiting for the email. Shame on You

Slow service, average meals.

Decent meals at reasonable prices. Friendly service. Enjoyed it

Bad service in gaming room and meal way below average. Should have asked for my money back...

Worst chicken parmigiana I've ever eaten! Staff pour beer a mile short. Can only suggest you come here to watch sport. Expensive food that tastes terrible

Great meals, they are large. The atmosphere is lovely. We often come here for family birthdays, etc. Some staff (waiters) need to get another job, it's like they DON'T want to be there.

Good Pub

A friend and I took our children to dinner on a Sunday Evening. It was very busy but still a nice atmosphere. The kids were happy playing in the kids room. The food was nice but not fantastic, adults and kids servings were generally smaller than comparable venues and chips were not great at all. Garlic & cheese bread was top notch as was the ice cream. So many flavours to choose from!! The staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful, which was so nice. Kids meals arrived very very quickly and the option of poptop juice for a drink is a great idea. Ice cream served in paper cup or cone and served with a small disposable wooden spoon, while this is better than plastic, I'm not sure why we couldn't have regular crockery and spoon. Overall, I would go back to give it another try, but if its the same I would not choose to return.

Family friendly. Fast service. Large selection of foods. The burgers can now be ordered in the bistro! Horray!

Not as great as pre- Covid, bistro menu has shrunk.

First time there and the experience was first class. We ordered the Seafood Paella, to be honest, it was smashing. The rice was cooked perfectly. The chorizo had a beautiful bite to it. The seafood selection in it was excellent and cooked just right and the choice of seafood wasn't small in any manner. One tip, best be hungry when you order. Because it isn't a small dish. Far from it. Presentation was something else. Nearly too good to eat. So nice. Oh, and of course the service was warm and friendly. Selection of indoor and outdoor eating areas was a nice touch as well. All round great place to visit. Definitely coming back.

Food great but children running everywhere and screaming for over one hour. And, yes, im a mum too!

Great food, reasonably priced and well staffed. We'll definitly be back.

I took from the specials menu, the steak sandwich. The meat was dry and hard to cut, the sandwich was jus too messy and large to eat using your hands, and they didnt put a toothpick in it to hold it together.

great value meal and good service.

The food was awful. Just awful. 24 dollars for a seafood basket that was absolutely dismal. The chips had old oil smell. The salad was dry and i mean as in the cucumber had been sitting out getting a tan lind of dry. Parma had a metallic taste, like it was borderline going off. Very unsatisfactory. Staff who served us looked like they didn't want to be there.

Great service, friendly staff and very nice food. The ambience topped of a perfet night with my spunky girlfriend!! 😂 👍

$25 challenge burger is amazing value

Nice place for a beer and the food quality and price is reasonable.

I tried new fried chicken however it was a small wing.. if I didn't drive off i would of taken it back for exchange.

Had dinner tonight. 2 adults, 3 kids. Kids meals came out very quickly which was great, adult meals took much longer. If you have young children, particularly toddlers, they will eat their food and want to move. If the adult meals haven’t arrived by then it’s a problem. I had the seafood basket which I thought was delicious. Other meals were enjoyed also. Staff did not return to clear our table for an hour. I eventually cleared it myself and dumped the plates on another table so we had room for our desert. Brownies are on the menu but not available. I actually booked this bistro as it advertises an indoor playground. We were very disappointed it was closed. I understand this is probably due to COVID restrictions which is out of your hands, but a note on your website informing patrons of this would have been appreciated. Overall a nice meal but I feel the staff let you down.

Great place to eat and catch up with friends. Staff are always so friendly and accommodating

Great place to watch late night sports with mates, with several World cups, Champion's league finals, and Asian cups.

This place is great to hang out with friends. I really liked Bob´s Bar, the Tv is huge, the staff is great and the food is nice. Loved the ribs!

Wonderful food ,wonderful staff wonderful prices .Also very clean

Great food, good service

My friend was dry reaching eating the frozen calamari and salad was 2-3 days old. Sliders were distasteful and hard to eat. Will not be coming back in a hurry.

The food was not the very best

Went to the sports bar to meet with some friends for a beer and a Parma. Sounds simple enough. Unfortunately, I was met with zero service - “Sorry, we’re closing here”. It was 7.45pm... God forbid the staff work to the end of their shift. Even if the shift finished at 8, why close the bar then? She wouldn’t even pour us drinks despite others in the bar clearly drinking. “You have to walk over and order at the Bob’s Diner”. So we get to the Bob’s Diner, “Sorry, you have to order at the bistro, Parma’s are not on the menu here”. We get to the bistro - “Sorry, our eftpos machine is down”. I just wanted a bloody Parma at pub, why does it have to be so hard, staff need to communicate with each other or at least be more friendly and helpful. Just take my money. I had to get a Burger in the end because they could not facilitate a simple monetary transaction for a staple pub meal. The burger was average at best for $18.50 and more effort than required to order the thing.

Good place to take mum out for a meal - she enjoys it

Food was great

Tried Bob cafe. Tasty. Nice atmosphere

Overpriced bland and average food. Wouldn't return.

Stopped for Beer after a Friend Wedding Party

Quick service. Extensive menu

Good for a pub, but a bit dated

Big venue, great food and service staff.

Good spot when it’s open.

I drove far to enjoy watching the Matildas take on France in the World Cup with my two young daughters. Unfortunately, we did not book and the lady apologised and said we had to leave as there was no room. As I was thinking where else to go. It started to rain hard. As we left the doors of the Doncaster Hotel, Jai (seems like the Manager of the pub), ran out and told me and my two daughters can stay and that he managed to create a spare table for us to eat on. Kids had the playground while I enjoyed a Parma and watched the big game. Kids certainly enjoyed their kids meals. Great food. THANK YOU JAi !!!!, YOU MADE OUR NIGHT!

We have ordered The Dinnie Mix. Pork ribs, buffalo wings, calamari, and arancini are all very delicious. Friendly service and comfortable environment. Definite will visit again.

We were in the function room and served by Estelle and Emily. They were very professional and friendly. We with a group of 70 year old people and the ladies were fantastic. The food was great as well. Thank you Doncaster Inn