The menu was extensive, however the portion sizes were quite small. The smoked eel for 21 dollars was hardly bigger than a sardine. The main course of fish was too heavily salted. However I could see that the salmon was cooked perfectly. Balances out I guess. Be sure to order sides or you may be left hungry (unless you are ordering a four course set menu) The service was friendly, efficient and accommodating. A good restaurant, just not a brilliant one! read more

Number 8 Restaurant & Wine Bar - Skipton smoked eel and a lemon meringue martini - Restaurants Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Food so good you stuff yourself with three courses even though you're already bursting. Have to say service was slow on this occasion. Looked like only one server for a Friday lunch time which really, for this caliber restaurant not up to scratch. read more

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Number 8 is an upmarket restuarant who have an extensive wine list of 888 wines. The venue feels classy and modern and has dining over two levels; the mezzanine and the terrace. Dining at Number 8 we choose to take up the early dinner special, which consisted of a choice of two dishes entree, main or dessert as well as two glasses of wine each. Thinking we had struck it incredibly lucky with this too good to be true offer I quickly ordered wagu beef carpaccio for entree and Roasted barramundi for main. Wine and entree came out quickly, however the carpaccio seemed to have a few ingredients missing as to what was promised on the menu, still a tasy introduction I finished that off and waited for my main. The barramundi was served, however it was the same size if not smaller to the entree, being served on a tiny bed of three baby potatoes the dish was failry plain and very unsatisfying. Reluctantly finishing the meal off and waiting for the check, it took the staff 25 minutes to come over so we could actually pay for our dinner! Southbank is a very competitive dinning precint and for the upmarket prices charged by Number 8, my suggestion would be to try somewhere else a few doors down. read more

Number 8 Restaurant & Wine Bar - Restaurants Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Number 8 at crown is a modern Australian restaurant & wine bar, which sits on the banks of the Yarra offering glorious views of our beautiful city. This two story building is modern and sleek-giving it an up class and trendy atmosphere. I came here with my family and found the service to be exceptionally good. We had a 1yr old with us, and the staff were able organize food for the little one to be prepared and served immediately (to keep them busy). I found the food to be very satisfying as the portions were good and the quality/taste were very pleasant. They offer a good selection of steaks and a large variety of entrees/sides. I have a very pleasant time here and look forward to dining here again. read more

Number 8 Restaurant & Wine Bar - Restaurants Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Number 8 feels kind of pretentious to me. Just to be clear, the food here is very much edible, and I would describe the dishes as clever and tasty. The decor of the restaurant is contemporary and up market, and the service is good too. The menu itself though just feels a little bit, I dont know, over the top. They offer all these different set menu's plus the A la carte menu, plus a wine list that is 25 PAGES LONG. Now, dont get me wrong, I enjoy wine, and like to learn abit about what Im drinking. And perhaps for avid wine drinkers this will put them in heaven. But personally, I dont want to have to read a book in order to select a glass of wine or 2. I prefer a more casual style of dining and it just feels abit like hard work. Again, the food, decor and service were good, but maybe not my style of dining. read more

Number 8 Restaurant & Wine Bar - Restaurants Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Came here for my birthday with a lot of family and no budget (except for the wine which we kept under $80 a bottle). I knew going in that this would be all about the atmosphere, which is just as important as the food when it comes to special occasions, like celebrating the miracle of my birth. Not expecting a drizzly day, I had initially booked an outside table, but luckily my birthday fell mid-week so we were able to relocate indoors after our appetizers. The service was pretty slow to start and we were famished when the food finally started to arrive, but picked up from that point on. There were enough of us that we got to try pretty much everything shareable on the menu and were duly impressed, especially with the seafood. Complimentary birthday cake and champagne were a big plus, and admittedly factored in to my choosing Number 8 in the first place. As with pretty much any restaurant at Crown that isn't in the food court, this was definitely a great place to splurge. No point complaining that you don't get value for your money, because you probably don't, but hey, it makes me happy to know that I can always count on Crown for a satisfying upscale dining experience. read more

Every meal I have had here is perfect. Staff are great, the city view is amazing. Always a great menu to select from. Definitely a must. read more

Number 8 Restaurant & Wine Bar - Restaurants Near Me - Melbourne, VIC

Two girls from perth here... What an amazing food experience!! The fish of the day with tomato consume was exceptional, the risotto with peas and zucchini sublime ..... A must try for all travellers. Thanks no. 8 team a lovely surprise read more

There's really only one time to go to Number 8, and that's for lunch on a Sunday. Why? For $105 pp you get three courses, (entree, main + side dish and dessert) with unlimited Mumm champagne. To be fair, both the service and food are sometimes a little short of true fine dining standards, but both are generally great. Sunday lunch. Make it happen. read more

I'm not sure how long Number 8 has been around at the Southbank Casino precinct, I certainly don't remember it from my previous visits to Melbourne. We decided that we needed somewhere to go for lunch that would be nice, but also not hit the wallet too badly. Looking at the menu at Number 8 we almost walked by, the food looked lovely but the prices were a little steep for what we were wanting. As we walked away though, we noticed a special lunchtime deal, two courses for $45 or three courses for $55. This seemed like a bargain as the mains were all around the $45 range. After agreeing to go in and try it out, we were surprised and delighted that the menu was the standard menu, not a cut down version and it was indeed $45 for two courses. Score. Number 8 has a great menu with lots of options and I decided to try my luck with a chorizo and squid dish, which was delish and a duck and lentils dish, which was OK. The main issue I had was over cooked duck, which was mostly brown, instead of the lovely pink colour you want to see with duck breast. I was happy with the flavours, so overall it was a pretty good meal Number 8 is definitely a restaurant I would check out again, but I would probably stick to the lunchtime deal, which is amazing read more

As late diners on Tuesday night, we were greeted and shown to a table outside. The young waitress was attentive and most pleasant. Our meal was amazing and we really enjoyed our selection of wine. A lovely and relaxing way to celebrate my birthday. Would recommend read more

Came here for my girlfriends hens night and we had unlimited champagne and the degustation set. Presentation was on point and every dish was just cooked perfectly. My favourite would be the entree that was a taster with seafood and different types of meat on it. Yum! I'm still thinking about it. Friendly staff and the decor of this place is simple yet classy with the view of southbank. Amazing! read more

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This place is one of life's great mysteries to me...how does this place stay so popular when there are so many other options in Melbourne. I have eaten here twice, for lunch and dinner, and I have been underwhelmed both times. What they do well is simple food prepared and presented well. Maybe I have chosen poorly, but what I have eaten has definitely been on the boring side for the price you pay. Having said that, the restaurant is great for group bookings, the service is great and it is conveniently located near a lot of Melbourne's nightlife. You certainly won't get a bad meal here...but will you remember it? read more

This is more upscale than my usual but friends invited me to meet them there. It was good but even by Aussie standards seemed ridiculously overpriced -- $43 for a small rack of lamb, same for a sirloin steak, $18 for chocolate cake, sides extra. Friend said his oysters were delicious and fresh. Good wine. Staff were attentive but I got very, very tired of the server constantly interrupting our conversation. This is located in the Crown Plaza complex which is a bit like one of those new overdone monolithic Vegas casinos. Overall it was fine but for the money I'd go somewhere else next time. read more

When I recently needed to find a venue around Crown Casino to host a lunch meeting, I was drawn to Number 8 Restaurant and Bar as it always appeared to be a calm, respectable and a professional place - at least from first impressions after walking past it many times. I was keen to see if "8" had a special meaning - whether it simply denoted the address of Crown Casino (8 Whiteman Street) or perhaps was being associated with the lucky auspicious number in Chinese culture. This is one of the few restaurants that I have visited since I started writing this blog that I thought was simply sterile. All of the white linen, white walls and unremarkable decor reminded me of the days when I volunteered in the hospital. Although I was primarily at the restaurant to talk about business, the place was packed with others that only had that on their mind, serious faces, scowls and jowls flapping whilst the clink-clink of water-spotted silverware was used to slice the various cuts of meat on the boring tables. The service was a bit erratic and confused from the time that we entered. It was automatically assumed that we would want to sit outside and were led there by default. Given it was a warm day and the beautiful Yarra River (sic) is nothing really to languish around and look at, we insisted on sitting inside and far away from the hustle and bustle to take advantage of the air conditioning like the other self-important people were doing. We were asked if we wanted to see a wine list. This normally doesn't happen at restaurants. It simply appears. Normally when I am dining, the list is nearly always consulted and never refused so the question was vexing. The list itself appeared in electronic form as an iPad was produced housed inside a large cover effectively making it appear to be a book. I have nothing against using a tablet to present the empirical data associated with the wine list provided that there is data. Simply having a page that scrolls with selections and prices, and no further information - sommelier's notes, ratings from the usual periodicals or even the propaganda that the various winemakers release with their vintages made this wine list useless. This medium has so much potential to be useful but in this instance, was just a cumbersome and irritating toy that supposedly has 888 wines detailed. We opted for a 2009 Bannockburn Chardonnay from the Geelong/Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria ($115) thinking that it would match well with the first of two courses, the first being the kingfish ceviche. Although the kingfish was cured properly, it was presented nearly frozen and rigid. Perhaps the refrigerator is just too cold in the restaurant but the fish was far too cold for my liking and was bland. After the kingfish was consumed, we agreed that we should limit our wine intake to just one bottle since we needed to actually do some work in the afternoon. We polished off the chardonnay before the entree - wallaby arrived. I inquired if the wallaby was indeed from Flinders Island, which was claimed after the server spoke with the chef -- (Note: Flinders Islands Meats got in touch with me after the publication of this post and advised that they do not supply wallaby to this restaurant, so who knows where it is sourced from. I have since e-mailed the restaurant with a query.) Although there was a good hearty quantity of wallaby on the plate, probably double of what I received at Attica, it just seemed to be ordinary. The familiar "gamey" beef taste was there but the meat was not lean as I become accustomed to and it was rather fatty. The taste of the meat was overpowered by some sort of sweet sauce that I did my best to extricate from the dish as it was just unnecessary and almost offensive to the wallaby. Although business was concluded and the venue made for a calm alternative to a coffee shop or cafe, I left Number 8 feeling like I escaped from a vacuum of mediocrity and jilted as I expected something more. With so many other options in and around the Crown, I can't say that I will be trying my luck at Number 8 again anytime soon. (Note: Service rating was downgraded because I learned the restaurant lied to me about the origin of the wallaby on offer.) read more

Poor service is the bottom line. It does not matter what the food is like if the experience is terrible...and unfortunately this was the case at No. 8. Give it a miss if you have other options. read more

Try the salmon; unlike any you've had before. Melts in your mouth. Service is efficient and polite, as well. Sit by the river, if you can. My birthday dinner! read more

Food lovely, service very average. We clearly had a waiter who was having a bad day, bad attitude, not friendly at all, everything was an effort. Reaching over our party to deliver drinks/food, his personal hygiene left a lot to be desired. Atmosphere ok, nothing to what I was expecting/hoping for. read more