The Kodiak Club

Where to begin?
Youre mad, if you are yet to attend a monday wing night with a side of poutine and cheese toasties.
There is always amazing tunes in this venue from live folk to 90’s classics.

This is not so much a review of The Kodiak Club but of their Bloody Mary (or actually, their Bloody Caesar.)
This was, without any sliver of a doubt, the greatest Bloody Mary that exists in Melbourne. I have spent months, nay, YEARS hunting for this mysterious golden egg. Constantly searching Unilocal,ordering to my heart’s content, only to be left disappointed with an average Bloody Maz that lacks punch.
The hunt is over. She has been found at Kodiak Club. This is a Bloody Caesar due to the exchange of traditional tomato juice with Clamato Juice (using clam extract). It sounds scary but believe me, it is life-​changing.
We ordered at 11pm on a Thursday night, dismissing the unspoken rules that a Bloody Maz is only for daytime hours. Without hesitation the efficient and skilled bartender got to work, perfectly measuring out each essential ingredient (juice, vodka, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, love, salt, celery) to create what will hereby be known as Melbourne’s best Mary.
Bless you, Kodiak Club. Bless you to bits.

After searching high and low for real buffalo wings in Australia — this place did not disappoint! The wings the perfect blend of spicy/​saucy /​crunchy and goes down amazing with their poutine and home made ginger beer. Plus the place has a great vibe. Definetly filled my buffalo wing home sickness.

I haven’t had Buffalo wings anywhere else in Melbourne (or Australia for that matter) but I reckon this is the closest I’ll ever get to good Buffalo wings being 10,000 miles from Buffalo. The wings are cooked well and the sauce, while it doesn’t have quite the amount of heat that you’d expect from a real Buffalo wing, has the right flavour.
What they’re passing as ‘poutine’ though is really just disco fries. (Real poutine uses cheese curds, which are pretty much impossible to get down here.) They’re not terrible although they don’t really use enough gravy and toppings, so it really only covers the fries on top. By the time you get to the bottom you’re just eating overly salty frozen fries, which is a bit of a disappointment.
The service was a bit brusque, but it was a somewhat busy Saturday so I don’t want to knock them back for this. There were four of us there so we decided to order four separate things of blue cheese sauce so we could each double-​dip in the sauce without feeling guilty about it. When the food came they brought one bowl of sauce. When we asked for the other three, the waiter said rather curtly that they had combined them in the one bowl. Um, we didn’t ask you to do that…
Anyway, I’ll probably be back — maybe I’ll be more specific about the sauce bowls next time!

Hands down the best buffalo wings that I’ve ever had in Melbourne! The Jalapeño bottlecops are also a sublime must have with the combination of honey and cheesy goodness.

Let me start by saying I really like this place. The atmosphere is amazing and there is definitely a reasons that when I went all of the tables save one were reserved. It is a great place to get together with friends for a drink or to celebrate.
Their Bourbon selection is also one of the best I have ever seen and I have no doubt that it is the best in town. That being said, the pours are pretty skimpy. I know it is basically liquid gold around here, but one deserves at least a finger. The cocktails also looked good but I would think it would almost always be more interesting to sample different Bourbons. The elusive and magical Pappy van Winkle is available as are other special editions and single barrel variations of favorites like Buffalo Trace and Four Roses.
The bottled beer selection is also good. You pay a hefty price which is par for the course in these parts but you at least have something to chose from at The Kodiak Club. I think the hipster irony of drinking PBR tallboys is totally absent when each can costs $ 10 though. Maybe it is a good shibboleth for finding out who is really willing to shell out premium coin to earn their ironic bona fides. The tap selection is limited and I found both options pretty unappetizing.
So this place is great for atmosphere and drinks, but let’s get to the important thing, how are the wings? According to everyone else, the wings are amazing. Especially after the build up, I found them pretty underwhelming. First there is the price. A dozen wings for $ 19 is amazingly expensive but if they are amazing wings, maybe the price is justified. They are not, unfortunately, amazing. They are not even good. First, they are breaded. This is a strange feature of all buffalo wings I have had in Melbourne and maybe it is because of the breading on the buffalo wing’s Korean cousin, but wings should not be breaded. Why? Breading soaks up grease and makes the end product soggy. It is also totally unnecessary. properly made wings should be fried and then baked. The final part of this process makes the skin crispy and amazing, the first part cooks the chicken while keeping it moist internally. Breading should never come into the process. Second, the sauce was boring. I am a person who loves the hottest possible sauce, but sauces do not need to be hot to be good. They do need to be something. in short I was very disappointed.
To be fair their other food looked pretty good, including the fries (you can turn it into a crazy poutine with some additions) and the burgers. Again, an amazing place overall, just not for wings.

This is my guilty pleasure! Buffalo wings are the best I’ve had in Melbourne, complimented well with poutine (cheese and gravy) chips.
It is also Melbourne’s only bourbon bar. Try the Kentucky yuppie — it’s my fav!
It’s a chilled out place with friendly staff and our go to with my girlfriends because we can’t get enough of the wings.

Undisputed best buffalo wings in Melbourne. Top it off with some jalapeño bottlecaps and poutine and you have yourselves a winner winner chicken dinner.

This place is alright, but there a lot better places on this strip. And for a whisky bar, they don’t have much variety of whisky. If you like bourbon then this might be a good place for you. But other then that there is nothing really going for this place.
I didn’t try to the food, just came here for a drink. Maybe the food is amazing, I have no idea. It did look like they served American sized portions — so this might be a draw card for you.
But let’s just say, I had my one drink and went to find another place.

As someone who wouldn’t have bourbon as my 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd or 9^th choice– I was very impressed with this great little spot.
They had a wide range of good looking and (from what I tried) tasty bourbon cocktails and a good selection of american beers. The food looked great and the atmosphere was super friendly.
Tell your friends

I came here once on a quiet Thursday afternoon for some American beers while my partner ate wings… he drank some delicious whiskey and we both found the experience pleasant.
However, after a return trip this weekend during a pub crawl on a Saturday night, I was extremely displeased with the service. I was not drinking on the night (designated driver), and yet was still met with irritation when I ordered a water. I was also manhandled out of the way by staff multiple times — my arm gripped and yanked, my body hip-​and-​shouldered as the same staff member kept walking past — and (through my sober eyes) managed to spot the staff leering up a woman’s skirt as she walked up the stairs.
I know it was a busy night, and that drunk people are annoying; I know that I sound a little whiny, but if you’ve read any of my other reviews, you’ll know I’m not usually one to complain — I’m not easily offended or a delicate flower, I can mosh with the best of them — but this was just bad service.

I’ve been coming to kodiak for a while now, back in my hospo days it was the fitzy alternative to Lily’s but instead of bitters it’s all about Bourbon. It’s always a fun and positive vibe, the staff are friendly and always up for a chat about drinks or just random nonsense.
The cocktails are a nice mix of Americana, classics and a few random inventions of their own. I’m a massive fan of their dark and stormy, what kicks up a notch is they use housemade ginger beer.
The music really adds to the atmosphere, they pump anything from the wedding singer soundtrack, Toto to hip hop and everyone’s always singing along and having a cheeky boogie.
Recently I’ve been coming back more and more for their god damn chicken wings! I’m somewhat addicted, they are just zingy, little spicy traditional buffalo wings that taste just like they do in the states. The burger also kicks major ass, basically a nicer version of a Big Mac with what I presume to be homemade pickles.
Speaking of pickles, ask the staff about a pickle back because nothing tastes better at 2 am then a shot of buffalo trace bourbon and a shot of pickle juice.
It’s also licensed till 3am on Fridays and Saturdays which is pretty fucking nice when you don’t want to be surrounded by drunken wankers on Brunswick st.
Oh and if Sam Cam is working behind the bar, make sure you ask him to do some flair (he claims he hates it, but secretly he loves it).
Disclosure: I worked with Sam at Virginia Plain, but had been drinking here long before that.

This place kicks ass. I’m from
San Diego and it feels like a warm whales vagina. But really it has great beer, better whiskey, delicious food and some of the best service I’ve had in fitzroy!

Thursday Night Trumpets and Tequila!
I admit I have entered the Kodiak Club more times than I care to remember and I remember leaving fewer times than I entered. This time it was to climb the rustic wooden staircase, burst through the saloon doors and down some tequila with a trumpet playing in the background!
What you notice first about Kodiak is their range, downstairs they specialize as a bourbon bar and anecdotally have the widest range of bourbons in Australia. If you wander up the stairs on a Friday or Saturday night you may teeter into tons of tequila, literally pages and pages of different tequilas are at hand and the bar staff know more than enough to match, mix and more!
Fortunately the food meets the expectations that are set from the surroundings with a mix of mexican food upstairs and traditional American bar food downstairs. Personally I found the menu moot as the moment I smelt the hot tang of Buffalo wings I was a slave to my own tastebuds.
Not the kind of place that I would take my grandmother for dinner but definitely a place I would go to on a late evening frolic :-)

My first visit to the Kodiak Club was on Saturday night, we came in fairly early and the bar was nearly empty. There was a nice selection of bourbons and amazing wings. We were spoilt for choice with a good selection of American food, including hush puppies, mozarella sticks and pork crackling.
The fact that you can sneak upstairs for a cheeky Tequila shot is also very appealing, Kodiak Club is an awesome bar and I am happy I was introduced to it by some close friends.
The biggest hurdle from earning five stars for me, was rude and pretentious staff. The ‘bartender’ seemed to have an issue with people in general, wearing a flat cap and looking like he hadn’t shaved for a week — he was hardly approachable.
He left me with the below quotes, which makes me wonder how great establishments hire such low quality staff.
«You know this is a bourbon bar right?»
*Pours Scotch, then walks away for 2 minutes*
«I was going to put some ice in that before you decided to just pick it up»
«Have you heard of the word please?»
When you add these kind of quotes with unfriendly glares, you feel like taking the person out and putting him in some kind of customer service rehab.

Hells yah, I’m a fan! Anywhere that looks like a ski lodge and serves wings and caesars is a place I will be frequenting. Went here for a friend’s birthday, it’s a bit crowded but definitely worth a visit.

Fourth of July madness!
It wasn’t my intention to deliberately go to Kodiak for fourth of July;
it’s just that I hadn’t been for so long. But it turned out to be a wise choice.
They had beers and food specials on; Gumbo, Hot dog w/​jalapenos, fries,
their burger and of course the ubiquitous wings. It was a great night to be in.
A Wednesday night, and it’s almost as busy as a Friday or Saturday. Rich foods
to go with whatever it is you may be drinking. An all round friendly atmosphere
makes it for the better.
The night was busy but progressed well; every one was in the mood and the
fourth of July was the perfect excuse for a celebration of independence, or a
trip down to Kodiak itself. Food was a wait, but worth it; it’s all about having
some drinks, and relaxing, the food while amazing is secondary. It’s a bar
not a fast food joint. Food comes out, but it’s done well. No doubt this place
isn’t going to disappear anytime soon, given the amount of press its had in
recent times.

I really don’t want to write this review. I want to say: HORRID BAR, STAY AWAY. I want to caution you that you’ll have a horrible time, the staff are disgusting, and the food revolting.
And I would say these things not out of some altruistic desire to save you pain and agony… but out of a selfish drive to KEEP IT ALL TO MYSELF.
But the secret is out. People know how great the Kodiak Club is, and as you’ve read from some of the other posts, the popularity tends to mean that you’ll have a tough time getting a place to sit (or, stand, if you visit on a Friday or Saturday evening).
So, truth be told, the Kodiak Club is a superb, fantabulous, wonderful little bar that has, and I’m not making this up, the best hamburger I’ve had in the southern hemisphere. (Not had the Wagyu burger at Rockpool yet, though)
The wings: OMYUM. Incredibly edible. Great dipping sauces. Fresh celery sticks. And a big bowl to put the remains in. A must have.
Last night we tried the onion rings, and jeez, they nailed those too!
The staff is incredibly friendly, very knowledgable and if you’ve seen some of my other reviews, you’ll be happy to hear that the staff here are also happy to work with their customers and invent new cocktails and drinks on the fly. We had several spins and twists on classics last night, and every one was a complete hit. «We want something like the Paper Plane, but not the Paper Plane. Remind us of it, but be new and creative.» — and they got it. It’s unnamed, and I won’t tell you what’s in it, because that really will be our secret for now.
Smokey bacon maple old fashioned? YES please!
And the selection of bourbons is astounding. Pages of them and whisk (e)y options, more than anywhere I’ve seen in Melbourne. They know their distilled drinks here, and they know them well.
Do be mindful of how packed it gets on Friday/​Saturday — if you’re coming with a group, you are best advised to reserve one of the few tables they have well in advance (but bookings are only for 4 or more).
Yum.

To quote any quintessential Englishmen, I just found that the Kodiak Club just wasn’t my «cup of tea». Having just been to the States, I’m no stranger to buffalo wings. But these ones were really sickly and just way too unhealthy. Their deliciousness came nowhere near to outweighing the unhealthy factor. And the onion rings we had were pretty good but had the batter to onion ratio tipped too much in the batter direction.
Despite my qualms, my friends raved about the food and the wings went down a storm.
But the Kodiak club is primarily a bar and not a restaurant as they make known on their menu. The bar specialises in bourbon and the offering is pretty comprehensive. The environment is pretty chilled and the staff are very friendly. For that reason I’m angling towards a 3 but I’d give the food a 2.

I think I’ve alluded to my nationality before in some reviews. Yes, I am American. Yes, I am Californian. And yes, I miss Mexican food. This isn’t a review about Mexican food for once. Rather it’s about the Kodiak Club, an American bourbon bar located in Fitzroy… wait for it… 5 minutes walking distance from my house! I couldn’t believe that an American bar existed in Melbourne let alone so close to me. They are so American that they have 7&7 on the drinks menu.
With over a hundred different American bourbons (they also offer Irish whiskey, Canadian whisky, and Scotch whisky) to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something that pleases your palate. I’m more of a Scotch person so I skipped the bourbon. I went straight for the cocktails instead. At $ 17, the cocktails are mostly bourbon and whiskey/​whisky base. I had the Barrel-​Aged Manhattan — Manhattan aged for five weeks in a 30-​year-​old Grange port barrel. It didn’t have the same bite as a normal Manhattan, but it was smoother and less bourbon in taste. This is good for those that don’t like the taste of bourbon.
My favourite part about the bar was the food — proper BUFFALO WINGS! When the buffalo wings came out, the sweet, sour, and spicy tang that coats the wings filled my nose. Served with a blue cheese dip, they were fantastically authentic (6 for $ 9 or 12 for $ 17). Other things on the menu — chilli con carne, ribs, grilled cheese sandwich, and onion rings ($ 4-​$ 23). They also had Hidden Valley Ranch. I was in American heaven.
When I’m feeling slightly homesick and in need of a good feed and drink, I know where I’ll be heading…