The Quarter

This was the most disappointing restaurant visit in Australia. I was expecting much better based on the 4 star Unilocal review. It’s a shame because it’s located on a picturesque café-​lined street. I dined here for a late lunch. I ordered calamari for an appetizer and the spiced lamb salad for my entrée. The calamari was ok, just sort of blah. The sauce was mostly mayonnaise. Our waitress recommended the spiced lamb salad as one of her favorites on the menu. The «salad» consisted of lots and lots of warm, bland lamb. The cook on the lamb was nice… slow cooked and tender but it had absolutely zero flavor. There was some spinach and tiny pieces of green bean and asparagus mixed in, but the veggies and «salad» got lost. It didn’t feel like a salad at all. I had to add lots of salt, pepper, and even sriracha, but the flavor was still lacking. One thing that should have been a giveaway as to how the food would be… the menus were very worn and tattered. If management doesn’t care about the appearance of the restaurant menus, chances are they don’t take pride in the quality and presentation of their food either. This would be a one star review if not for the friendly and attentive service of our waitress.

Good food at a very nice place.
The restaurant is based on a narrow street and the environment makes it fun and cozy. Great place to hang out after work and chill for a cold beer and good food.
If ever visiting Melbourne, stop by and spend an hour there relaxing before the next tour.

Stopped for a quick bite and glass of wine. Service was friendly and Bruschetta arrived swiftly. Nice location to watch the world go by

I enjoyed our visit here and there was a wide selection of options to choose from. Plenty of outside seating that is completely shaded and there are heaters in case it gets chilly (as you would expect in Melbourne).
Service was friendly and dishes were well priced. The slow cooked lamb salad was great and I really enjoyed the squid as it was lovely and tender, not chewy at all! Worth a look of you find yourself on Degraves St.

Degraves Street is a necessary tourist experience whilst visiting the beautiful city that is Melbourne and, considering I was with four tourists from the USA, I figured I should bite the bullet and take them for a wander.
Being desperately hungry I stopped in at The Quarter in the hopes of some delicious smashed avo or something similar but I’d missed their breakfast menu! Disappointed but not beaten I instead went for their Grilled Barramundi fillet with Asparagus and potatoes. Beautifully presented and mouthwateringly delicious this was definitely just as good as I’d hoped.
My coffee was also smooth and gloriously strong!
This place is expensive but definitely worth a stop in.

We had a hunger for dessert and randomly walked by and the cakes caught our eyes. Sat down and wolfed down cheese and carrot cake. The portions was massive! One piece is big enough for 2! Very delicious and fresh. Would come here a lot if i lived in melbourne. Thanks guys!

Came to this restaurant for desserts, and was blown away. Had the cheese cake with ice cream and it was amazing! The vibe and atmosphere was great, nice hidden gem.

Had lunch here today, based on previous reviews.
Easy to walk up and get a table outside.
I had the pulled pork baguette which was a decent size filled with lots of pork, but almost tasteless.
It had a. token garnish at the bottom of the baguette but essentially a mound of pulled pork.
My wife had the bruschetta but it was mixed with so much cheese and olives t (not as advertised) that it destroyed the dish as a bruschetta.
We had a bowl of thick cut chips which was a decent size but very bland and the aoli was also very runny without flavour.
All round awful and very disappointing. Give it a miss.
Neither of us could stomach enough to finish even half of our dishes.

Yummy food in a warm inviting atmosphere. Reasonable prices and friendly staff. You may need to wait for a table during peek times

It’s always a good thing when you can get a table for a Degraves St brunch. We were pretty happy when we managed to secure a booth/​table.
I had the French toast while my companions had egg based dishes. I was impressed with the quality of my brioche, but was surprised by the consistency of the smashed avocado that came with the egg dishes on our table– almost looking like a dip/​mayonnaise. The dishes were also smaller than we expected, but that isn’t so much of a bad thing.
Coffees were good, they came out a bit haphazardly to the table around us but it happens.
What was disappointing was to have the bill delivered to us after having ordered more coffees which hadn’t yet arrived. There’s something very false about being told there isn’t a rush for you to leave, when you’ve been instructed how to pay on your way out the door. We asked for our coffees to go and hovered until we got them.

Having been visting The quarter aka Doc Martins for over 15 years, great to see it is still a great venue for a pre dinner drink, or morning coffee. Service is great, wine list adequate and the atmosphere is reflective of its ‘Paris End’ of Collins Street. A must see if visiting the city, tram stop at the door to explore our city and you never leave this place without a smile.

Pretty good atmosphere, and we got a booth! Love a good booth. Took a little while for the food to come out, and they had run out of beer on tap! Duck breast was okay, a little flavourless but the other stuff on the plate was great. Chicken and quinoa salad was okay, nice flavour but too much leafy filler in the salad. They also serve beers in «pots» which is weird, but I shouldn’t mark them down for something apparently common in Victoria?

We have friends in Melbourne so when we were visiting they made sure we stopped by Degraves for coffee. The Quarter was a great place to stop for a late dinner and some people watching. We got a seat outside in the lane and excellent service.
The husband had the burger which was really great and I had the veg pizza which was impressive with the haloumi cheese as I was having some really subpar pizza on this trip. It’s crowded, noisy and perfect for people watching. Had the sticky date pudding for dessert and it was just okay (I have high standards) but we still managed to inhale it.

Bustling inner city laneway Degraves Street is home to a number of cafes interweaved with various boutiques and other stores. Regarded by locals as a tourist trap of sorts, it is almost the café equivalent of Hardware Lane.
The Quarter is one of many in the narrow and sometimes quite crowded lane. Given its location, it is probably easy to write off as just another café but venture inside to its cosy interior and you may be surprised. Adorned with books, framed photographs, hanging birdcages and rustic light fixtures, it has a certain vintage feel. Setting itself apart from the neighbouring cafes is that it also offers dinner service.
The food menu is an impressive and nearly overwhelming mix of breakfast, lunch and dinner options. There’s the usual suspects like smashed avocado and ricotta hot cakes. There’s burgers. There’s grain salads. There’s pizza. There’s pasta. There’s risotto. There’s the classic chicken parma. There’s a cocktail list. It’s almost too much choice. Without multiple visits it is difficult to comment on the quality of each of these different classes of dishes, but passing glances at other dishes being served out look promising.
There are daily specials from each of the categories and on this visit I had the burger special — marinated chicken breast, grilled bacon, Swiss cheese, spiced avocado, tomato relish, mixed lettuce and lime mayonnaise on a Turkish bun with a side of chips.
The presentation was simple with the burger and neatly stacked chips sitting unassumingly on a plate. Places that serve packed burgers with skewer instantly get brownie points, no one like the contents spilling out into the plate. The flavours was intriguing with the sweetness of the relish combined with the rich cheese and avocado, a nice combination.
Location aside, The Quarter is a nice inner city hangout spot, amongst the hustle and bustle with a wide range of food and drink choices.

Wandering down the bustling degraves street, we were in desperate need of food and coffee. Initially we sat outside but decided it was too noisy and squashy so we went inside. Service was quick, but the waiters had little knowledge of coffee and tried to tell me a latte and flat white were the same thing! I proceeded to educate him don’t u worry, but he had a smarmy attitude and rolled his eyes… Seriously!!! It was a little disappointing that they didn’t have the full breakfast option after 12 on a Saturday, but was able to get a lesser menu for brekkie! I got the vege lovers which was good, wasn’t too keen on the avo as it was too smooth and creamy for me– like avo paste, I prefer fresh avo! The coffee was good too but just downs on the attitude of the service! Food came quickly which was great as we were starving!

Met a friend from Perth here yesterday for brunch. Wrong choice.
She had the smash which was supposedly one of the signature breakfast dishes. It looked like a 12 year old made it.
The avocado looked like runny dip that had been scooped out of a Coles container, 2 smallest pieces of toast I’d ever seen and the chef needs to go back and learn how to poach eggs! — runny, watery and gross!
After seeing this, and other small portion sizes around me, i decided to get a muffin, i mean you cabr go wrong with a café muffin right? WRONG. After asking 3 staff what muffins there were, i asked for one and it tasted like a cake mix muffin that i would make when I was in grade 7.
Not happy at all and do jot get me started on the toilet.
In a place such as Degraves Street with such an amazing space, i was really let down.
Will not be returning.

Went for breakfast– atmosphere was lovely. Food was average although maybe that was just an order fail on
My part?

This is my second visit to The Quarter and I loved it as much as I did the first time. Tucked away on the famed Degraves Street, Melbourne, The Quarter is a little slice of Europe just a stones throw from Flinders Street Station.
I devoured French Toast with Berry Compote with a side of crispy bacon. The meal did not dissappoint. The coffee was spot on and my request for a mix of guava and cranberry juice was delivered without a problem.
The staff were friendly and food service swift. Worth seeking out on your next trip to Melbourne… I know I will be back.

I had the kangaroo, sweet potatoes, with a honey glaze. Everything about it was quite tasty. I will definitely be coming here again.

There was nothing particularly wrong about this place, and I think if it were anywhere else but Degraves St it would be totally fine. But given the sheer number and variety of cafes in Degraves St/​Centre Pl, I really want things to be pretty awesome.
The place was busy, but being a Sunday morning that’s pretty unavoidable regardless of where you go, so totally forgivable. However, it felt a little like they were trying to squash too many people in. Where we were seated, there was a kind of bar-​style bench next to us that was almost impossible to access when people were in it, and it all felt a bit claustrophobic.
The food itself, although the portion was a little small, sadly. I ordered a side of hash browns and without that I would have still been hungry.
All up, nothing particularly to complain about, really… just hoped for better.