Bar Rosamond

DELICIOUS. First time visiting, the staff were so warm and lovely. We order the 'feed me' option off the menu which is $70pp and you get a smorgasbord of different foods to try. Highly recommend this option so you can taste a bit of everything. Cocktails and wine also divine 👌 If I lived in Melbourne this would be a local spot for me. Highly recommend 😊

It’s a nice and cozy place, best for wine or cocktails. While I was going to try the food, oysters and scallop sando are my fav. Though it’s a place mainly for drinks, their food was also above the average level, which i didn’t expect too much. I was surprised by the display and the fresh new receipt of oysters. But the grilled broccolini was a bit salty for me, maybe it’s better with the alcoholic. Also, there was only one person serve the whole room. Me and my friend were thinking about take-away, but he didn’t notice it in a long period. Service is below average but compared to the price, it’s acceptable.

A recent trip left a lot to be desired on the service side. As we were walk ins, we felt rushed the entire time despite no indication from the waiter the spot was booked from a certain time so we could adjust ourselves accordingly. I have no issues with this as a walk in, it's just nice to know what time frame we're dealing with. I had never been before and I was discussing the menu with my partner who is a chef. After the waiter coming over twice in what was probably only a couple of minutes in between, we ordered a couple of things and drinks to start while we decided what we were going to eat, however, without asking, the waiter came and grabbed the menus from us. He said he needed them for other tables. These were simply small printed menus, something they should have had more than enough for every potential customer and not every table at that point was taken. The impression we got was that they felt we were not going to spend a lot of money and were therefore not worth the time, which, had we been shown some decent service, we would most likely have spent a whole lot more as the food was absolutely on point. Couldn't fault it and it was beautiful. Even the negroni I had was up there. All up, we spent just shy of $180 which included food and two drinks each, which, given the short time (around an hour) we were in there, was not unsubstantial. It's always such a shame when the service doesn't match the food. Maybe just an off night, who knows, but, the experience was one that we'd probably not risk it a second time.

Possibly my favourite little bar/resturant in Melbourne - its a hidden gem. The food, the drinks and the setting is all top notch and its why I keep coming back. I know some people have left reviews about the service, but personally, Ive always had an amazing experience with the service. Its a small space, so it can feel like they are always there - Id rather that than being ignored. Favourites are the spanner crab, the tuna tartare, the cucumber salad and the artichokes.

We arrived and ordered a bottle of wine and begun looking at the menu, which stated to advise staff of any dietary requirements. We asked if there were any additional vegetarian options aside from the two small plates, there weren’t but we were advised of the options that alternated for vegetarian guests, which sounded great. We were told changes wouldn’t be made to any dishes. If we’d given advanced warning of our dietaries alteration would’ve been made. This isn’t stated on the website or social media. It’s also particularly frustrating as the menu states to advise or any dietary requirements. I had also checked the website and social media ahead of time of sample menu but it wasn’t available. Other guests had uploaded pictures of menus, the most recent being a couple of months ago and roughly half the items on the menu were veggie. When we were leaving we had to pay for the entire bottle and not the glass each that we’d drank. We also had to pay the dine-in price for the bottle and were told a take-away price wasn’t an option even though it wasn’t possible to have food there. The food does look good, but after the inflexible service that we had I can’t recommend Mono XO to anyone, vegetarian or otherwise. I’m extremely disappointed and won’t be returning. I will say that the host/waitress was very apologetic to us and was visibly upset after returning to tell us alterations weren’t an option. I can only assume that the chef/owner wasn’t very nice when she advised there were guests with veggie requirements.