
Melbourne Restaurants Where You Can Dine at the Bar
Perching at the bar with a robust negroni, not sharing a parmesan-laden bowl of fresh cacio e pepe is a largely unpretentious dining experience that cuts to the core of hospitality. Perfect for solo dining or a delayed catch-up with your long-lost friend, this type of dining had been lacking in Melbourne until recent years. Nowadays, Melburnians aren't so intimidated with dining solo, sitting right in front of the chef, and foregoing a strong-backed seat for a humble stool. These restaurants and bars will let you pull up a pew in front of the action, and won't judge you on a table for one.
Image: Sunda, Kate Shanasy
Melbourne Restaurants Where You Can Dine at the Bar
Take a seat up front, whether you're dining solo or finally having that long-delayed catch-up.
Melbourne Restaurants Where You Can Dine at the Bar
Take a seat up front, whether you're dining solo or finally having that long-delayed catch-up.
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Food & Drink
Pepe's Italian & Liquor
You'll find cheesy bowls of gnocchi, meatball pizza and giant sundaes at this 1930s New York-Inspired Italo-American joint on Exhibition Street.
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Food & Drink
Byrdi
This new CBD cocktail haven comes from minds behind one of the world's best bars.
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Milk the Cow St Kilda
This Fitzroy Street fromagerie is the where you go when you want cheese for dinner.
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El Camino Cantina
Fitzroy's colourful Tex-Mex joint with giant cocktails from the Rockpool Dining Group.
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Casa N.O.M Bar y Restaurante
A mezcal bar with a broad-ranging Latin American snack menu in Prahran.
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Lupo
Chef Scott Pickett's Collingwood pasta bar with spanner crab lasagne, squid ink linguine and a 120-strong wine list.
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Food & Drink
Aromi Restaurant
An Italian spot in Brighton with two Bar Carolina chefs, margherita cocktails and salted caramel mini 'Magnums'.
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Food & Drink
The Local Taphouse St Kilda
This Carlisle Street institution boasts 19 taps, two fireplaces and an indoor bocce court to boot.
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Goldie Asian Canteen + Brews
A mod-Asian tuck shop with bubble tea cocktails in the CBD.
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Di Stasio Citta
Part art gallery, party Italian restaurant, this CBD is the second outpost of St Kilda's Cafe Di Stasio.
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Yoku Ono Ramen + Sake
This Prahran ramen joint is known for its rich and creamy slow-cooked broth.
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St Giles
An elegant wine bar, cellar and restaurant hidden up above a Camberwell shopping centre.
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Leonardo's Pizza Palace
Carlton's palatial home of Italo-American pizza and pasta from the team behind Leonard's House of Love.
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Food & Drink
Estelle
Celebrated chef Scott Pickett has combined Estelle Bistro and ESP to create one venue celebrating wining, dining and everything in between.
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Bodega Underground
This CBD taqueria is completely gluten-free, very vegan and open till 3am every night.
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Bar Romantica
A Lygon Street institution has been transformed into a sleek late-night Italian bar and eatery.
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Future Future
This little Richmond eatery is slinging meatball katsu-sandos, donburi bowls, cocktails and rare Japanese sake.
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Matilda 159 Domain
Restaurateur Scott Pickett's new sprawling restaurant is an ode to Australia.
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Ciao Cielo
This refined Italian eatery in a historic courthouse will transport you to Tuscany for the night.
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Congress
You'll find everything from 6.30am coffee to late-night sangas at this Collingwood wine bar.
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Mjolner
Melbourne's Thor-inspired bar and restaurant riffs on the feasting halls of Valhalla.
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Joanie's Baretto
Thornbury's cute neighbourhood Italian bar serving spritzes cicchetti and bowls of pasta.
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Butchers Diner
This 24-hour CBD diner serves up burgers, steak and sticky date pudding at all hours of the day.
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Palermo
An Argentinian restaurant serving up smoky meats and bold red wines in the CBD.
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Waterside Hotel
The historic building features five separate hospitality spaces, including a Champagne lounge and a craft beer bar.
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Arlechin
Grossi Florentino's basement bar is serving snacks and cocktails until 3am every night.
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Supernormal Canteen
Andrew McConnell's gone more casual with his canteen, serving up highballs, fancy cup noodles and, yes, those lobster rolls.
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Bontempo Pizzeria
Valoriani clay oven woodfired pizzas, local beers and bottled cocktails in Fitzroy.
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Food & Drink
Neptune Food & Wine
An ambitious two-level Windsor wine bar with a 'fireplace lounge' and 'cocktail saloon'.
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Osteria Ilaria
A CBD wine bar and Italian eatery from the pasta kings next door at Tipo 00.
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Vaporetto Bar & Eatery
An enchanting Venetian bar that nails all the best bits of Venice.
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The Rose Fitzroy
The Fitzroy mainstay has a new lick of paint and an upstairs wine bar.
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Lamaro's Bodega
This classic family pub has ditched the schnitzels for Spanish-style tapas.
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Rice Paper Scissors
Enjoy all the Asian fusion food at Rice Paper Scissors' new Fitzroy venue.
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Leonard's House of Love
Drink tinnies, down burgers, dance and play pool in Leonard's lounge room-like bar.
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Underwood Wine Bar
Venture north of the main Fitzroy drag for a no-nonsense glass of red.
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Harley House
Picanteria-style Peruvian fare is the new face of this subterranean city space.
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St Hotel
Once a questionable choice of venue, the Saint Hotel has been transformed into a sleek Thai dining space and bar.
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L'Hotel Gitan
From Paris to Prahran, this is Jacques Reymond's attempt at the French gastropub.
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Magic Mountain Saloon
An eatery and bar spawned from one of Melbourne's best hospo pedigrees.
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Botherambo
Richmond's newest Asian joint is a little bit different to its Victoria Street neighbours.
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The Botanical
A new breakfast offering adds new life to this all-day South Yarra institution.
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Merchant Osteria Veneta
A Venetian celebration within a thoroughly modern Melbourne setting.
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Baby Pizza
Even with high profile siblings threatening to outshine, this Italian Baby is anywhere but the corner.
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Fatto Bar & Cantina
With Fatto meaning 'stuffed' in Italian, this riverside cantina and bar might just be a self-fulfilling prophecy.
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Jimmy Grants
The souvlaki just got sexy, and suddenly, it's no longer just a 'sometimes' food.
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Pabu Grill & Sake
Serving sake rather than beer, Collingwood's newest pub is distinctly Japanese.
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Mr. Miyagi
New Japanese eatery brings the funkiness of Fitzroy into the flashy end of town; a winning trifecta of food, sake and service.
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The Waiters Club
Despite missing out on the neighbouring Meyers Place revolution, the Waiter's Club remains a city stalwart.
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San Telmo
Inspired by Argentina’s vibrant culture, San Telmo offers authentic food and wine to match.
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Neighbourhood Wine
With a history steeped in Melbourne Mafia, this bar brings a cosy, speakeasy-style space to Fitzroy North.
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Bellota Wine Bar
Hark back to the golden age of food and drink with South Melbourne's Bellota.
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Chin Chin
'The Chris Lucas effect' has people lining up out the doors each day for hours on end.
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Top Paddock
This little patch of greenery is where some of Melbourne's most loved cafe owners have struck gold once again.
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Parlour Diner
Parlour Diner's tiny size keeps it grounded with a sense of community rather than commodity.
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MoVida
Tucked away in stencil-drenched Hosier Lane, MoVida offers a grazing extravaganza in an enchanting room akin to what you'd actually get in downtown Barcelona.