Left Bank

There is literally one giant chain of restos along the south bank. They all seem to be busy so let’s hope they’re all good!
We tried the Left Bank because it looked nice, hip, had patio seating, and was busy not to mention the proximity to the Eureka Tower as we were hoping to catch Australia Day fireworks from the sky deck. The people watching made for entertaining dining.
We were seated promptly but it took awhile to get the server to come over. She was friendly and quick once she took our order. My SO ordered the porter house steak which came with a duck fat roasted fondant potato. I didn’t make that up, seriously. Someone was exercising their culinary literary talent when writing the menu. Where are we? The Bocuse D’or!!! I had the roasted beet pumpkin salad.
The steak came cooked exactly to order with a nice sauce on it. The much awaited fondant potato was a single rectangular hunk of roasted starch. It wasn’t a cylinder and I don’t think It met the technical definition of a fondant potato if you really care. Salad was a generous bowl of greens with goat cheese and beets and pumpkin and hazelnuts and other stuff I couldn’t see because it was too dark on the patio. Food was great.
It was entertaining watching the street scam artist demonstrate how to ride his bike and then convince people to pay to ride it and if they could do it he would give them his bike. Let’s just say some overly confident folks lost their money…
Overall price and quality of food is value for what you pay in this area. We heard Meat and Wine Co was good as well so maybe next time we will give that a try!

I went to Left Bank for a function, where a vendor I have done some work with had the place pretty-​much booked out.
This wasn’t the first time I’ve been to Left Bank, but I’ve got to say that under the pressure they were experiencing with a place so pumping, it will not be the last.
The food was fantastic; a selection of h’orderves were being floated around, including some wonderfully-​grilled meats, scallops served on-​shell with a light savoury chutney, and a wonderful assortment of other nibbly-​bits.
The wine — be it only house-​selection — was also above expectations.
I can really see the appeal of Left Bank especially at this time of year. Sitting out looking over the Yarra on a wonderfully sunny summer day, taking in the scene with glass of wine in hand.
Check them out!

For a quiet afternoon two hostesses at entrance chatting away was shown to dirty table where hostess said she would get someone to wipe it! Goodness is that not in her job description so we waited and waited and after 5 minutes had to interrupt their chatter again to order! Drinks came and again as we wanted more we waited and after 5 minutes again waved one of the talkative hostesses over and ordered! Again no one was paying attention went to leave tried to give us table next to us bill, no eftpos forced to use high fee in house ATM! Never again too much competition at Southbank for this service and we were looking at venues for mates 380 pax xmas party!

I absolutely adored this place. The service was really nice and I liked to see that most of the waitresses were American. If you were to eat here I definitely recommend the pork belly. It was my favourite meal here yet. The kids pasta is massive. I might get the kids of you want pasta because I would hate to see the full sized one. The salads and sliders are nice to. They have great specials throughout the day. The view from the restaurant is also great. As long as you sit outside. All in all, make sure you get to eat here. This place deserves more than 3 stars and I feel bad for the people who had such a bad experience at such a great place

I had a nice steak here, it wasn’t amazing but it was prety good. I would try to give this 4 stars but it wasn’t quite up to that standard. We had fries which were big but a bit cold. The place was pretty trendy and for the most part it was a nice place, just not more than A-​Ok.

My favourite bar along the river. Great views, friendly table service, good music (including live). Also a great venue to arrange to meet friends, and reserve s section at the side if you are having an occasion.

Popped in for drinks on this fairly slow Tuesday and the waitress treated us like she was doing us a favour by even paying us attention. True, we weren’t ordering food, but we would have ordered many more cocktails if the service had been prompt. We were practically begging for attention and found this extremely frustrating.
We’ll happily go elsewhere along Southbank next time, where the cocktails are just as good and the staff are happy to serve us.

Quite nice. Food was great as was the service but the eating area in ration to the bar is not great. Loud pumping music with drunk people is not the best for a romantic night out. Pity as the rest was very nice. There should be a glass wall between the 2 which could opened when the food closes.
Not too expensive though which is good and good selection for drinks too.

GREAT atmosphere. The patio with a view to the water is nice. Been here a couple of times and never disappointed. The sliders and the black angus porterhouse steak was really fantastic! Friendly staff and outstanding beverage selection. I’ll be back!

Amazing location on Yarra Riv w great view of fireworks. Good drinks reasonably priced. Pretentious crowd/​patrons. Great DJ but little/​no dancing so went to Merrywell.

It was a very windy night and we were a group of 10, having booked our table 2 weeks in advance. When we realised they had seated us outside in the freezing cold we had no option but to ask them to re-​seat us. To be fair, the lady who made a number of excuse, did eventually find a large empty table inside (that nobody had booked) and seated us there.
There were $ 14 cocktail deals until 7pm but by the time we were moved and got to our new table it was 7.15 so they would not give us our discounted cocktails, instead we had to pay $ 23. Where is the compromise?
Not a big fan of large carb loaded dinners whilst wearing a tight dress I ordered the tuna and octopus salad thinking that I would be served some fresh seared tuna and octopus and a bed of greens, beans, beetroot and a variety of other tidbits (it was $ 28). what I got was tinned tuna mixed into a salad with 2 pieces of octopus and lots and lots of green filler. It wasn’t worth $ 28 and to be honest it wasn’t even tasty.
Food envy ensued as it seemed the rest of party had decent sized servings with lots of ingredients (hence the 3^rd star, otherwise it would just be a 2).
I would not rush back here.

One of the better positions on the riverwalk, the furniture is looking a little sad but hard to notice on a sunny day. Snapper curry was delicious, unfortunately the sliders were a little undercooked and soggy. Overall good service.

Despite it’s almost separation from the crown precinct, you still have a lot of trouble taking the crown out of Leftbank. You also have a lot of trouble being able to walk properly. Seriously, that floor in front on the main bar is so sticky, it may as well be a new superglue factory. Forget gym work-​outs, just try taking a few steps at the bar and
the sheer amount of physical effort required to lift your feet of the ground is exhausting. If you were to repeat this exercise of trying to to walk onthe super glued floors, your legs would be so muscular, that they would make some of those extreme bodybuilders’ legs’ look like matchsticks.
Very much a backpacker/​suits/​bogans/​who-​ever crowd. Beers are alright and beverages mostly filler, but this is located in the tourist mecca, so it’s always going to be a bit hard to shake. There’s food which I have not tried yet, but the pizza’s do look tempting. Gold medal international award for stickiest bar floor ever. I thought I was going to come out of my shoes with them permanently attached to the floor several times. That stuff must be eating away the floorboards though. Massive clean up operation at the end of the night.

I’ve been here twice. The first night was for my birthday and my hubby and I ordered a pumpkin and spinach pizza to share as an entrée and then I ordered pasta and he got a salad. I remember being really happy and thinking the food and service was excellent!
I just went back while on a work trip to Melbourne and sat out on the patio for lunch. The service was still really pleasant and polite and my pizza was good but just a tad too oily and salty for my liking. I think it was just the pesto so no real way to control that I suppose.
It has a great vibe at night and one of the more reasonable places on the water. I remember it having some decent cocktail specials when we went for my birthday. I’d definitely go back and try a few other things off of their large menu but I’d probably try a few new places first.

I’ve been here for business for the last month and this has been one of my least favorite experiences. The outdoor dining is nice, however, food, service, and prices could improve. The Caesar salad had little dressing and was bland. I paid extra for chicken but found very little. My wife and I both had risottos but were not impressed. For the high dollar and many nearby options, this place wasn’t the best. For a little more dollar, the Meat and Wine restaurant was a much better experience.

I have been drawn into Left Bank at Southbank, near the border of Freshwater Place multiple times now. Sometimes as a matter of convenience knowing that the food will not disappoint (and it never has) and once because I heard live music on a Sunday. What is better than live music, relaxing conversation, food, beverage, a river view and service whilst the sun shines?
After choosing a high chair at a high table outside, we were quickly greeted by a friendly server. She took the drink orders, explained the menu, shared a joke and was generally very affable. A gentleman was inside playing popular covers and nobody seemed to be stressed. Some people were reading the newspaper. Others were enjoying a cigarette and catching up on gossip. Some like my party enjoyed our politically charged conversation over the food and beverage that was promptly delivered. As the minutes turned into hours, we retired inside to the lounge where it was warmer. The lounge is a good hideout from the hustle and bustle of the Southbank promenade and it is a good place to drink and have a yarn.
Left Bank has since changed their menu around a bit since the relaxing Sunday I enjoyed a few weeks ago. When I returned last week, I had to try the Cantonese sticky smoked pork ribs. It is advertised to feed two however for two hungry blokes, we were left wanting more, not because the portion was not generous, but because they were so damn good that we just wanted to fall into a pork induced sleep after devouring them. The servers have always been happy to promptly refill empty glasses of ale and were cheerful about it.
There is always a lively atmosphere at Left Bank. Service has always been efficient. My expectations have always been met and I am pleased it is in the neighbourhood to provide a refuge for the hungry and thirsty patron.

This bar is located on the corner of south-​bank busy restaurant & bar stip. At night its the perfect venue to be sipping cocktails out on the terrace, which also offers free standing heaters in the cooler months. The vibe is certainly inner city, with modern design and architecture extending from the exterior right through to the sophisticated lay out of the bathrooms.
I have been to Left Bank on two separate occasions, once for lunch and the other was for cocktails. On both occasions I felt extremely satisfied, the service was prompt, waitstaff were chatty and friendly and the variety on the menu surpassed my expectations. A great bar/​lounge area for entertaining, or an intimate dining setting for more romantic evenings it really is your choice.

I went to Left Bank for its weekend express lunch special (available everyday except Sunday) — where you can get 1 course for $ 18, two for $ 28 or three for $ 35. I got the three courses meal and found all three to be pretty good. In fact I would definitely go back again.
I did, however think that this French a la carte restaurant and bar lounge, like so many similar places, is trying to run before it walks. Not including the amazingly priced express lunch, I couldn’t help but feel like this place was over priced. The food is pretty good, but it is definitely not of the high standard that this place is clearly trying to achieve.
I think the wine list gives a good example of how Left Bank falls short of being exceptional. For about $ 10-​$ 12 a glass you can get a range of wines. In fact many of the same vintages that I just so happened to have at home in my cellar — all brought for about $ 10 a bottle from Aldi. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with these wines — after all I bought them for myself, but if you want to be a top of the range French restaurant then you do need to invest in some good produce to deliver the goods. Fancy names, refined cooking techniques and good service will not make up for this.