The Mess Hall

This is my favorite breakfast joint in town. The granola with yogurt and rhubarb is to die for. Great service. I compliment my
Meal with a cup of black coffee and fresh squeezed orange juice!

Loved the ambiance, the coffee and the breakfast. We loved the homemade granola with poached rhubarb and the smoked turkey Bagel. Delicious and charming.

This place is unassuming from the outside but it is a great find. We went for breakfast and I was impressed by the selection of dishes. I went for the scrambled eggs even though my heart really wanted the hot cakes! The eggs were perfectly cooked and I enjoyed the coffee. Service was great and very friendly.

Landed in Melbourne early that Sunday morning and I was feeling peckish. Walking along Bourke Street, this was the only café that was opened for Breakfast. Stepped in and was welcome warmly by the staff.
Looking around, it feels like a quiet little café that one may overlook because its so unassuming. Had a chai seed with yogurt breakkie, something that one will never find in any cafes in Singapore. Healthy and fresh, it was nice to have some quiet time chilling while enjoying my breakfast.

Great location with friendly staff.
In a city of great coffee competition is strong, but the coffee is good and manages to hold its own amongst some coffee heavyweights in the area!
The food is fresh, tasty and wants you to come back tomorrow to keep working your way through the menu!
Nice place!

with a name mes hall you do expect this place to have a millarty bearing sstiff upper lip shoulders bck shoes polished to high gleam and so on mercifully its quite the opposite wit its soothing timber tones easyontheeye wall art and a commubak table strew with newspaper coffee romcaffe

Eating solo at the bar was a pleasant experience despite being the only person doing this.
Ordered a glass of wine, salmon starter and duck pasta main.
All three disappointingly arrived at the same time. Place wasn’t at capacity, so I don’t think it was a rush factor, just a mistake. It was offered to keep the main under a heat lamp, but that’s a shocking suggestion — leaving my cooked meal just sitting there. So opted to keep it and just picked at the two meals.
Luckily the food was good.
Tried a hot chocolate drink afterwards and it arrived in a tall glass with no saucer, yet a tall spoon and straw. Yes a straw. Weird!

Nice small place in Melbourne where you can eat HANDMADE pastas!
As we are both from Belgium we were looking for a good place where to est a delicious pastas meal. We heard it was difficult to find a good italian restaurant. Actually, it was pretty easy to find it. If you have never been there I suggest it to you!
The plats weren’t too big, delicatly prepared, fresh products and attractive suggestions and well dressed. The personnal is friendly and performante! And THEY SPEAK FRENCH (little push for the waitress which was lovely w/​us !
The decoration is pretty simple but you definitly feel confident in it: a mix between an italian wine bar and an oz place.
Second discovery, second heartcrush!

Cute and quirky place to stop and have a coffee/​tea and watch the world go by. I like the inside benches facing the street and the street seating too :) the staff are really friendly and it isn’t too busy so you can hear yourself think!

The Mess Hall has a lot of charm and even in the busy weekday lunch period, a fairly calm spot to come and dine with friends. I don’t know if it’s like this all the time, but I’ve also come here for dessert in the evening and found it to be quite peaceful.
The food is Italian, with dishes like rich gnocchi, pastas and thick cut polenta chips dominating the menu. A good option for the winter months or when you’re after something warm and comforting. That didn’t really appeal to me for lunch, so I opted for the semolina calamari. Not very exciting but that was my choice!
Haven’t had anything here that was outstanding but also never had any complaints about the place either. Probably wouldn’t go for the coffee, but again, that’s me.

The food here is very nice. Especially loved the home made baked beans for breakfast.
The atmosphere is pleasant.
Only downside for me is the decaf coffee is DREADFUL. Totally undrinkable. I imagine the regular coffee is ok, but hard to tell based on my experience.

You know you’re been working in the burbs too long when you see the minimalistic lines of The Mess Hall and your eyes water with anticipation.
A simple, New York style café that serves decent coffee and simple food with an Italian twist. I like grabbing a coffee and watching the world go by outside. If you work on the Paris end of the city, The Mess Hall is also good at night with its ambient lighting, wine list and home style comfort food.

I’m quite surprised about the 2 bad reviews, the breakfast was amazing along with the coffee and cool tunes. Yes please bring me back next time we’re in Melbourne.

One of my favourite places to take friends for brunch. The menu is simple and, if you get there are the right time, the service is usually OK. the noise levels give you privacy to have comfortable conversation.
If you are there during busy periods the service does degrade rapidly. And can someone please educate the staff member who, on not having heard my order correctly, said «Huh?» rather than a polite «I’m sorry» or «Excuse me I didn’t quite catch that.»
The food has an Italian bent with the lunch/​dinner menu including pizza with very minimal toppings the way they are served in Italy. Also, check out the slice and biscuits they have at the counter which are not on the menu an you only seem to notice when paying the bill.
There is a an area up stairs that can be booked for events and large groups but make sure all those attending can climb a steep stair case to get up there.
Finally, as others have mentioned, the polenta chips are great and always a treat!

Two words: Food Poisoning! Yes, my friend got food poisoning when we were there 2 days ago. And the crazy thing is, it was likely from the veggie sandwich. Bad cheese or dodgy preparation I guess.
I will not return.

This is a nice place to catchup with people and is relatively central and overlooked (meaning that you often won’t have to wait for a table).
The service can be a little bit (below) average sometimes but the good and variety generally makes up for it.
Also, the polenta chips are amazing. So so so so so so so good. That alone is a five star thing.

The staff at this place are dead set hopeless. We came here for breakfast at about 11 am and took a seat near the counter. No one came to serve us so I walked to the counter to ask if we were supposed to order there. The man who was standing there grunted at me, ‘Yeah, just take a seat. I’ll get to you as soon as I can.’ We waited for ten minutes and no one came to serve us. I walked to the counter again and asked another man if we should order at the counter, since they seemed to be too busy to serve us. (There were a fair few people lining up for takeaway coffees and the staff were obviously preoccupied with this.) The man said he would come and serve us shortly, so I went and sat down again. Another ten minutes passed and still no one came, so we got up and left.
If you can’t be bothered serving your customers, why waste overheads running an eat-​in café? Run a hole-​in-​the-​wall coffee joint instead and watch your profits soar.

Definitely a fine spot for a casual catch up with friends and also a place you can feel comfortable in when you’re dressed up for a big night out.
The window seats are particularly fun with a friend, watching Melbourne’s city folk walk by over a delicious pasta and a good drop of red, or a small snack with a gin and tonic before more drinks and nightlife.
In fact, Mess Hall is one of those eateries that’s fine for anytime at all and with anyone at all, as long as all involved are happy to eat good food and drink happily.
Yay — the top end of Bourke Street rules.

In a city with its eyes on the next new restaurant/​bar/​café, it’s easy to overlook the best of the stalwarts like The Mess Hall. Like the rock band that took its name, it’s an unassumingly cool prospect, minimal in décor and with a straight-​up, Northern Italian menu based around pizza and pasta and unfussed service.
And it’s precisely this unpretentious approach that has made it a consistently great place to meet friends for brekkie, lunch or dinner, or even have a nightcap (this place never seems to close). The beer and wine list is as you’d expect of a Melbourne-​Italian joint: St Arnou and Castello as the primary Itlaian bottled beers and Italian wines at around $ 40-​$ 50 a bottle.
The pizzas are top notch — crisp and hearty. Try the Bianca, with pumpkin, potato, sage and taleggio.

A great venue for a function or just a nice space to relax and catch up with friends, The Mess Hall is a worthy stop on your way along Bourke St.
Split into two levels (the top floor can be reserved for functions) The Mess Hall has a very friendly and intimate atmosphere.
On cold wintery nights the restaurant seems to gleam with the welcome glow and the sound of chatter and laughter. On warmer days and evenings the seating outside is a great option. Have a pizza and gaze down Bourke Street towards the hive of activity down on the Mall.
Coffee is so-​so, not outstanding but worth taking a seat if your catching up with friends.
The food is very good and authentic Italian classics like gnocchi with ragu, freshly fried calamari, and pizzas are made with care and go down a treat with a glass of wine.
The Mess Hall is a great place to have a function. The last time I went there was a nice sitting area and a long table down the middle of the room. The upstairs is the perfect space for larger dinners and drinks and the view down the road is a beautiful on a clear night.