Stokehouse City

*Review incomplete
The new restaurant is a little bit fancy and nautical themed. The room is on a grand scale, feels like a revived ballroom.
The food was nice, but with a 90s vibe, not my favourite menu in Melbourne.
Service was a little bit confused, we had multiple people serve us, and it took some time before we could flag someone down to take our orders.
Good place for an older crowd.

Great menu. Really comfortable setting. Portions are small but the food is tasty. Menu not the same as the original Stokehouse.
Good for business lunches.

Oh this is going to get that coveted Scott Fifth Star real soon — but, as you know, I don’t give five for a first visit. I need to see repeat quality in customer service, meal, and experience.
But this first visit was great. It was also extemporaneous, which kept us fully open for whatever may happen.
My wife and I just left another venue that wasn’t to our liking and knew that Stokehouse City was nearby — we never had the chance to visit their original St. Kilda location, but, being city dwellers, we were excited about their Melbourne CBD presence.
Wander down the alley, up the stairs, in the gorgeous front door and to the receptionists desk … a tentative «we don’t have reservations, but» was my greeting, and we were happy to hear that they’d be happy to accommodate. Going on a Wednesday night probably had a lot to do with that.
There are two choices for dining: Upstairs and Downstairs. Upstairs is considered more «fine dining» with a different menu and prices. Since we had never been to Stokehouse, I wanted them to «wow» me with Downstairs first and then we’d give Up a go in the future.
The décor is light and bright. No deep dark wood and leather here — I suspect they were trying to bring a bit of their St. Kilda beachiness to the party, and that’s fine. The dining area is very open, so if you’re looking for an intimate corner to cosy up with someone you love over a quiet meal, Downstairs may not be the spot for you.
We sat at one of the round tables, near the front windows. I mention this because it appears that the round tables may actually be on giant screws. We were able to rotate our table 360 degrees, but it wasn’t entirely clear if it adjusted the height or not. I would love this to be true, as I actually found the table too low. I didn’t want to spin the table too much and have the huge chunk of marble fall upon the floor, so we left it, but, that might be a neat and useful feature to those tables.
First up: Service.
Fantastic. Super friendly from the moment you walk in. Very nice waiter, patient with us as newbies to Stokehouse, answered our questions about the oysters and whether or not they had sake (they don’t) — a great start.
Next up: Meal.
Wow. Just wow. Okay. Got it? I went with the house made tagliatelle, spanner crab, saffron & parsley, and my wife went for what was, I believe, a «roast beef on rye» sandwich — with gruyère cheese and lots of other delicious things. Add in a side of skinny fries with aioli and another side of farro, quinoa & toasted pistachio salad, pomegranate and labneh and we were set.
My wife loved the farro/​quinoa side, and it did have a great flavour, but I probably would have enjoyed it more without the pomegranate seeds. That’s just me.
My tagliatelle was outstanding. Perfectly cooked, spectacular flavour, a great pasta dish.
Oh, we also had a dozen oysters to start, and YUM those were spectacular. I really was hoping that they had sake to pair with that, the red wine I ordered didn’t work with oysters, but my wife let me have a sip of her chardonnay which actually was fantastic.
First visit, won’t be our last. I think next time we’ll try Upstairs. I dare say there’s a better than average chance of us becoming regulars here.
Please don’t leave the CBD, Stokehouse. You’ve found a fan in us!

Stokehouse city is a semi permanent pop of the Stokehouse house that has been destroyed by fire. The Stokehouse city will provide the Stokehouse experience while new Stokehouse is being built on the old site.
The Stokehouse city like the the original Stokehouse has up stairs and downstairs.
We dined upstairs.
The environment up stairs is amazing with its more than 6 meter high ceiling and large rope net covered chandlers.
The menu was extensive. We had mains and dessert.
The food was excellent and the service exquisite. One should understand, upstairs at the Stokehouse is a dine out experience and when you can afford it is an experience worth doing.
If you would like to get a taste it is always good down stairs.
Missing at the Stokehouse city is the great bay views but replaced with an architecture that takes you to another world and well worth seeing.