Lorne Hotel

We were hoping to finish our holiday on a high and decided to try the Lorne hotel for dinner. What a mistake! We walked in and were greeted and shown to a table. We were given a couple of menus and that’s when the service stopped! We waited for a while then decided to leave telling a staff member on the way out we were leaving because it was too slow, the table service as promised was non existent. Later after reading other reviews we definitely made the right decision.

We three went on Wednesday night. Noisy bistro, no wait staff, $16 gin/tonic. Ordered wild fish with kipfler potato. Fish had a lot of bones, kipflers were a bed of mash complicated by tomatoes, capers and god knows what turning it into slurry, and Fish was very dry. Salad was just thrown together. Dessert of lemon delicious was lava hot but dry and resulted in absence of expected tangy lemon sauce beneath. Came with whipped cream. Had to deconstruct in order to prevent cream melting before daring to eat the lava hot pudding. View of the sea was pleasant. But for the high prices charged I expect wait staff, and not to have to collect condiments and water from bar. Three gins, three mains, two salads and three desserts $210. All in all a disappointment and we won't be going back.

Was looking forward to going out for dinner with family and expecting a bit of a wait for dinner as we realised it’s a busy time of the year, so we enjoyed a few drinks. But after an hour’s wait we decided to enquire about our meals, after asking 2 different staff members with no satisfactory response, I went back to our table and asked the next drink collector to ask about our meal, soon after someone came to our table and told us they had run out of the meals we ordered and offered a refund, we questioned why after an hour they decided to now notify us of this ?? With no response as he walked off, soon after we all received a text message saying we will be refunded and it may take up to 10 days !!! Not a good experience at all

We had dinner last night, 2 people, table 45 2 Serves of Scallops, special of the day, just passable. Greek salad ( miserabile poor and small) Fisherman basket $42, bad quality: Rusty colour due to such an old oil in the deep fryer that gave the food such a bitter revolting taste.👎🏻

Good atmosphere - duo playing, lots of people outside on the deck. Had a couple of drinks and went inside to the bistro area for dinner. Lovely view. Food was OK but not a standout really. The waitress was nice and friendly which made up for a couple of bar staff who seemed unenthusiastic. Try and bring your A game to work people!

Hotel is ok you get what you pay for there was a machine noise all night that I could hear from my room. Location was great walking distance to everything but the bistro was horrible waited 1 hour and 20 minutes for dinner to find out the kitchen has had issues and they didn't even start out meal had to cranky young hungry kids so had to get a refund and find somewhere else to eat wasn't the only family others were waiting 45 minutes some table half had food other half didn't so bistro for me a massive let down

The happy hour is great and if you come for that but don't eat here. The parma was average and the salad the Mrs had was below average for $34 I'd rather lick my shoe. The thing that topped it for me and the major contribution to the review is two employees did not wash there hands in the toilet, one had a walkie talkie and I assume was a manager, I'm looking at you shiny shoes. I held the door for them and everything.

The food was quick and one of the best fish and parmigiana dishes we've ever had! We had dinner here on a busy Saturday night and the waitress squeezed us in even though they were fully booked inside, out of the cold. Only downside was the waitress unfortunately didn't know the menu as she told me the fish dish didn't come with any sides just the grilled seasoned fish fillet on its own. We went by the online menu to find a better dish description.

I was a little harsh on this place the last time I came here, namely because I didn't take to opportunity to check out the rooftop terrace. The lower section of this pub was pretty ordinary, and didn't even have any couches, and as such I was ready to completely write if off. However, due to the insistence of my friend when I came down to Lorne recently I decided to give it another try. Fortunately the lower area was closed, so we wandered up to the terrace to be greeted with some amazing views of the Lorne foreshore. Even better, the section of the terrace with the best views was non-smoking. However, it certainly isn't the cheapest place (but then again, it is Lorne) and the staff were a little abrupt, but I still liked the place.

The Mojito Bar up the top is a nice spot for a mid afternoon drink on a nice warm sunny day. Nice views of the beach and the water through the eucalyptus trees. There was a moderate and happy crowd in attendance today and the vibe felt warm, amiable and pleasant. Nice spot up top for couples or a few friends when the weather is tight. The whole space though, especially the internal area, feels rather disjointed overall and unplanned. The shadow of the TAB, poker machines and gaming room sits there uneasily as the place's cash cow and real area of interest. The whole bottom of the pub appears devoted to the TAB. It almost feels like the dining and bar options are a mere adjunct to the gaming operations. That is, just something to get the punters in. It's a bare pass at best.

A lovely Sunday afternoon in Lorne, where to go? Follow the music and you soon find yourself at the rooftop terrace at the Lorne Hotel listening to some cruisey hipster folk band (who look a lot like sonic youth). Once 3pm strikes you can have any beer you like, as long as it's Corona (seriously they only sell Corona). The beautiful view through the glass balcony to the sea is completely obstructed by huge corona signage. I feel like I'm stuck in a Corona ad, but hey, the sun is shining and the music ain't bad... I can always look at the ocean on the walk back to my hotel.

Great location and views. BUT took 45 minutes to get overpriced entrées and there was very few people there. Asked twice and got attitude from staff. Cancelled mains. Manager very arrogant and didn't care when we tried to discuss it with him. Not even an apology. Lucky it's in Lorne praying on the tourists as you wouldn't last in the city. Manager. If you had just apologised or acted as if you cared you could have changed the experience. Hotel owner. Best get you staff some training.

So I am going to admit I am a bit of a food snob up front, but that doesn't detract from the disappointment that is the Lorne Hotel. We visited on the Queens birthday weekend so the place was busy but there were plenty of tables empty. We chose the hotel for lunch because we wanted simple, tasty pub food at an affordable price. Let's start with the food - don't ask me how I want my steak if you are going to ignore my preference. My steak was closer to well done than the medium rare I requested, and almost cremated around the edges. For the $38 they charged I would have expected way more chips than the dozen I received and more sauce might have masked the charred meat flavour of the steak. The highlight was the salad...and we all know you don't make friends with dalad. My wife had the $34 open souvlaki...that's right, $34. That gets you 6 small slices of lamb on top of a wet, over the top salad making the pita bread underneath this pile downright soggy. My favourite part though was that the kitchen clearly ran out of red capsicum (part of the menu description) so they replaced it with sliced tomatoes...to go with the handful of cherry tomatoes already on the plate. Very expensive yet disappointing pub meal...would have been better of with fish and chips on the beach.