Railway Hotel

Bar staff couldn’t tell when to give someone half a second to themselves (clearly needed a moment) at 6:00pm because they were more worried about an imaginary line on the floor and we were on the wrong side of it… Apparently 3 times. Could have been handled very differently

Okay, I must admit that this is not really one of my favourite pubs in Prahran. While I can’t really criticise the name, it is not the most original that I have encountered (and I wonder how many ‘Railway Hotels’ there are in Australia). It’s not a bad pub, but it is not what I would call fantastic. The balcony is pretty cool, and it does have a decent view of the city, and it is pretty clean (but then I guess if you run an establishment that serves food you are legally required to do that). What I did discover was that you have to be careful where you sit. You simply can’t sit where you like in this pub because if you do, somebody will be on you in a second saying, ‘ah, excuse me, but you can’t sit here — this is a fine dining restaurant’. Oh, I see. At least that were polite about it, but then again there are lots of other pubs where I can sit where I like (though I am sure I’d get told off it I tried sitting behind the bar).

As a Scotsman visiting Melbourne I enjoy the railway for it’s food quality
and the excellent service provided by the staff

Friendly staff, great feel, love the beer garden!
I was lucky enough to come here with one of my friends who enjoyed the free bar tab courtesy of the app. Not bad when you’ve got friends that buy you drinks, despite the drinks kinda being free anyway.
As I was saying, I stopped by on a Saturday night around 10pm I’d say. I met one of my old friends who was working at the bar as well who I hadn’t seen in a while. My group ended up rotating between the inside and outside of the pub. Going from the greenery of the beer garden to the warmth of the wood fire. I have to say, the Railway is pretty fancy looking.
The beers on tap aren’t bad at all. They’ve got a couple craft beers on too if that’s your kind of drink, I know it’s mine. I personally enjoyed the Schöfferhofer Hefezeizen and the local Kooinda Pale Ale. Why don’t you come here and give both a try?

I’ve always felt there’s potential here but it’s never quite lived up to it. Just needs a little more ‘character’ to get beyond the stock standard Chapel St bar set up.
Staff are friendly, but the food was pretty average. That said the Sunday sessions in summer are pretty ace… Might just be that the winter visits

What can I say? The Venue itself is a little try-​hard.
I found it a bit wanky, lifeless and definitely lacking something.
It’s as if they haven’t got it quite right. Its seems all to modern, generic
and sterilised for me. The downstairs are is never open, and the bouncers
aren’t great at telling one where they need to go. It’s a bit of an odd door
policy but far less insidious and vicious than most in this area.
The upstairs bit, has a had a make over, but even so, it’s nothing special.
Still it is in the only bit of chapel street i dare venture; I’m so over the whole
pumped up testosterone, and made of money scene. So fake, so pretencions,
so disingenuous, and utterly alienating. Cringe! I’ve had enough of trumped up
bogans, and «chap laps.» So at least it’s a winner in one sense.
The bottle shop attached, is pricey, but that makes up for it’s all night laws
a rare thing in Melbourne. yes it would seem we go to bed early. The reason
why everyone comes here, is because every other place in Melbourne is
shut, and this is one of the only bottle shops still open. That’s if you can
survive getting your head kicked in by the common place fights going on,
don’t get run over by a endless stream of taxi’s nor, get killed by hoons
doing drag races. It generally has a good range. but I’m over this scene.
I’m going Rail-​way Hotel crazy!

After coming back to the Railway after a substandard steak I ended up there again on a first date.
The menu had just been changed in the last few weeks. From the new menu, I ordered the steak with a side salad again and when it came out it was one of the best steaks I’d ever had.
My well done steak was tender (hard to do to a well done steak I think), tasty and had a moreish peppercorn sauce. The fried potato accompaniment also left me wanting more.
Hopefully the food coming from this kitchen will stay up to this quality. If so, I will keep coming back.
Still love the Sunday sessions here. The ‘friends of dorothy’ friendly venue cater for a sneaky sunday drink.

Located in Windsor on Chapel Street, the Railway Hotel isn’t anything fancy on the outside, but when you go in, a sophisticated bar with adjoining courtyard awaits.
In a very ugly greyish-​brown building, the Railway Hotel is bright and spacious inside. With a lot of natural lighting, silver and brown colour palette, it does look quite elegant and classy.
Because of its central location this place gets quite popular with the 9 to 5 crowd. I went here after work once and all I could see were suits. On the menu are a range of Australian and New Zealand wines, basically one of each varietal to please all palates. We ordered their riesling and it was quite good and affordable ($ 40).
The bartenders were friendly and the bar had a good vibe. I’d definitely come back again. Plus, they’re also a 24 hour bottle shop so if you want to continue drinking at home for a bit cheaper, it’s convenient.

The railway Hotel in Windsor operates on this ‘holier than thou’ platform whereby they assume that they are classier than the other joints around because they only let ‘hot’ people through the doors. They do OK tapas food and serve drinks but they’re the kind of place that give you your beer in a wine glass and charge you double price.
The two good things about the railway are that they have one of Melbourne’s few 24 hour bottle shops downstairs, though they change their prices after a certain time justified by the fact their licence in this backward Christian bull shit society costs an arm and a leg — I’m sure they ain’t hurting too bad.
The other good thing is that, as the name suggests, there’s a train station over the road so you can get the fuck out of Windsor.

Yes, the 24 hour bottle shop is attached to the Railway Hotel, but the venue itself has a little more to offer than just easily accessible liquor.
My favourite thing about the Railway Hotel is the alfresco dining space in their decked open air courtyard. It looks out over Chapel Street and Windsor and is really very comfortable and relaxing on a warm Summers day. Outdoor dining not your style? Never mind The Railway Hotel also have a great and slightly more intimate cocktail bar, for if your wishing to grab a quick drink and a chat after work.
The Railway Hotel offer a range of Internationally inspired meals, as well as an express lunch menu from 12pm — 3pm Monday to Friday. I love the Thursday Pizza and Pasta night, you an choose from a selection of Pizza or Pasta dishes as well as a glass of wine for around $ 20.