Rose Diner and Bar

Great lunchtime service, the burger on the specials list looked great and didn’t disappoint. Also tried the steak sandwich, the horseradish mayo could’ve been stronger but otherwise cooked perfectly.
Good tap beer selection, I left feeling very fat and satisfied.

Thursday night is roast chicken night, just like at your mum’s house… for $ 36 you will get a small bird with greens and bread sauce. I like to add my own seasoning as it’s a tad bland for my liking.
Menu is retro which really suits the feel of the place. The fried olives are AHMAZING.
These guys must be doing something right as I seem to keep coming back for more.
Perfectly prepared cocktails which is a treat these days and not to mention a beautiful wine list.
x

Ring a ring a rosey
Pocket full of…
Delicious drinks
Original retro inspired dinner menu.
Super sweet, delicately dressed staff.
With such a well thought out décor and snazzy staff there isn’t much else to say about the Rose Diner and Bar. Except put on your dancing shoes and get down there for some roast chicken.

We hit this place on a Saturday afternoon in January between lunch and dinner service. It was quiet. This was good. The food too was good, the service ok for that time of day, we enjoyed ourselves, need I say more?

I love that this pub is near my house. I can go for a drink and be surrounded by peeps of all ages. I can eat extremely well here, go upstairs and listen to music or go around the back to Little Rose for coffee, cake, a milkshake and a jaffle.
It’s cool but at the same time unpretentious. It has a good vibe, really personable floor staff who give a damn and a powerhouse kitchen crew. Clearly the owners have a great attitude because the staff have stuck around. Rare in these days of high staff turnover.
There’s an honesty to it. A very good reflection of the North Port locals. We’re not foo-​fu-​fa-​fa like the Albert Park crew and we’re a bit quieter than the beachside cashed-​up bogans.
The twenties Moderne style building has had a light bright facelift that features jaunty black and white striped brollies and awnings and potted plants. Clever décor created by the owners themselves, without being a slave to fashion and finally, it feels like a happy place after being neglected for so long.
So about the food. It’s not fine dining, but it’s not pub ‘pistro’. And forget gastropub — isn’t that a wretched word?
Rose Diner Bar is a place you can take four generations of your family and please everyone. Which is not to say that it’s not sophisticated. It’s all that but details including special dishes for the kids, great milkshakes and high chairs seal the deal for gatherings too.
Chef Stephen Drake cooks super fresh, sustainable and seasonal. There’s local rare breed and heirloom produce. It’s not industrialised agribiz food, so it’s a bit more expensive than the average pub. And there’s a vaguely noshtalgic British spin to it — like Coronation Chicken vol-​au-​vents for example — which are fun, tasty and comforting.
For a simple lunch you can duck in for a soup and posh sandwich or if you can try the completely awesome burger with scrummy skin-​on hand cut chips.
Chef takes the small plate-​big plate approach here. Which is good because most people fancy a bit of this and that from the menu.
The big plates are a generous size, unlike some venues, but the wait staff are good at guaging how much you’ll need to order. And there are the nice touches alongside like his old fashioned home made pickles and relishes. Again, it’s in the details peeps.
The pie is a stayer on the menu and changes seasonally. French in style — what they’d call a pithivier — lighter than a Brit-​pub pie. The Tuesday roast chook to share has been on the menu since day one. The seasonal Sunday special is a winner for regulars and the Vahlrona chocolate stuffed doughnuts are not for the faint hearted.
The Rose also have some great value events like their game meat dinner and pork and cider lunch — worth keeping your eyes peeled for. And on those ‘special event days ‘when most pubs force you into having a set menu — they still do a la carte, thank you very much!
A good selection of local wines are on offer, and I like that you can go down the carafe path. Yes, they have good cocktails and in Winter the mulled wine takes the edge off the wind blowing down Bay Street.
For me, well, I like to have a post prandial barrel aged tequila before rolling out the door.
Come on down, You’ll wish it was your local too.

I used to come here when it was the old Rose pub to drink while the boys watched sport. It was dingy and quiet, except for the occasional regular glued permanently to the bar.
The refurb is awesome. It’s clean, fresh but not without charm. I am yet to dine here but the Cherry Rose bar up at the back is fun and a far superior local (in my eyes) than its predecessor.
Edit update: Had lunch here today. Sat by the window, open wide to let in the lovely breeze. The menu had so many good meaty lunch roast options on there, it was very hard to decide what to have. I let the sunshine decide and had the snapper with a crisp glass of white from their great wine selection. I brought my Dad here for lunch and think I’ll need to come back again with Mum. It’s a great option to bring the parents that is not at all daggy (so a win for me) but not so overly trendy that they feel uncomfortable. The parentals don’t like it when I subject them to trendy cafes with lengthy queues.

Ever write a review and feel like you were in a different place to everyone else?
Not only did our food arrive way too quickly. It was well below average. Lukewarm mulligatawny soup that tasted like it came from a can. And broccoli salad that was preprepared. Really not good enough for a venue with $ 28+ mains on the menu.
After great cocktail experiences at The Rose bar and tasty dining experiences at Little Rose, I guess my expectations were just too high.
Definitely won’t be eating here again.

New owners, a new fitout, and the Rose is back! Little Creatures on tap, jazz upstairs on Friday and Saturday nights, and an ever changing menu based on the seasons. Port Melbourne has been crying out for a venue like this. Tuesday nights you can get a whole roast chook stuffed with sage and pork sausage!
I took the family in for dinner on a Saturday night and it was a really pleasant experience. Good food, excellent service, and a nice atmosphere. The menu is kept deliberately short so the cooks can focus on delivering high quality meals. Excellent value for money as well — nothing was over $ 30 and most dishes were well below that.

From the moment we walked into the Rose we knew it would be a good night.
A friendly hostess greeted us as we walked in and offered to take our umbrella. We were then seated, provided water, a fabulous drinks menu and advised our waiter would be with us shortly.
The paper dinner menus were already on the table and we made quick work of selecting what we wanted; ½ carafe of house white, steak tartare, scallops, leek quiche and lamb. We were not disappointed. The quality of the food was excellent as was the presentation and of course the taste.
Our waiter was friendly, attentive and informative throughout. We even got to have a sticky beak upstairs to see the cocktail bar which is open on Friday and Saturday night. A very cool space with a slim balcony and an area for the live jazz band. There is also a café out the back which is open from 7am.
The waiters here feel like they are part of a team, perhaps they are even the owners. There was a high level of interest in interacting with their customers and a real sense of pride in the venue and the food.
The renovation is beautiful as is the clientele frequenting this great diner. We finished our night with the very moreish doughnuts with valhrona chocolate.
We look forward to trying the Tuesday roast chicken dinner for $ 32 for 2 people. Based on the amount of people already catching onto the Rose Diner I expect it necessary to make a reservation for dinner next time.

The worst part about finding Rose’s now, is that I did not get to see the before/​after make over. The eclectic nature of the renovation adds so much to the environment, and I love it. Its not sterile, and does not boast it’s ‘coolness’ which is exactly why it is cool. Well, that and the live jazz. The home-​style menu instantly takes you back to what a ‘home cooked meal’ feels like, and thanks to the layout, draws the kitchen out a a focal point during your dining experience.

It’s only thie first week — but I am a little Rose Diner crazy. Prawn Cocktail, Steak Diane, and Mum’s Trifle — the menu reads like Dad’s bday tea requests from back in the day — but my mum’s cooking wasn’t like this. The prawns were fresh and juicy, the steak was one of the best I have had in a while — tender, melt-​in-​the-​mouth and full of flavour from a sauce of bygone days. The trifle hid banana, white peaches and a touch of booze to deliver a dessert a little posher than my mum’s — but much better (Sorry mum!) We couldn’t stop there so opted for chips — exactly how I want mine to be, fresh cooked with the skin on, and we even had a Vol au vent — Coronation chicken was our choice, which was a little light on the curry powder for me personally, but something I will be ordering again, even if it’s just to inject a little nostalgia in my day and remember to call my Gran.
Can’t wait to go back.

I had the pleasure of attending the launch of the refurbed and now beautiful Rose this week. And wowee if this is a taste of things to come, then I’m seriously considering a move back to Port Melbourne.
With Little Creatures taking care of the on-​tap options, a fantastic «back bar» where live music is slated to take centre stage on a regular basis, an open kitchen that is producing classic dishes but done with an air of good taste (think classy vol-​au-​vents and corned beef sandwhiches with pickles) and staff that are both nice to look at and eager to please, I’m pretty certain that The Rose is going to be one of the hottest things in this seaside village.
I’m planning a very hot date there soon. With their roast chicken.