The James Hotel

Made a booking for six early in the day for dinner that night. State of origin game 3 was on and there was about either tables of people there when we arrived at 8.15pm. We placed our orders straight away, as it was steak night we all went for that. We had a round of drinks then were told that our meals would be half an hour as they were busy and only had one guy in the kitchen. This message coming from the only guy working in the place, serving meals and running the bar. An hour later we noticed another table complaining about how long they had been waiting, they were there before we arrived. Eventually an hour and three quarters after we ordered we received half our meals, five minutes later another two, then five minutes later the last arrived. The steaks were all different cuts of meat, none cooked as ordered, and all were tough as old boots, full of gristle of burnt so badly they tasted like charcoal. All served with cold greasy fries and lettuce leaves, cucumber and horrible dressing. No bread or other salad. The peppercorn sauce served with many of the meals was inconsistent some runny, some congealed and almost cold. Waiting nearly two hours for the worst meal I have ever eaten at a restaurant in my whole life means we will never be back. The toilets were disgusting, the place looks run down, the beer was ice cold but pricey Don't waste your time or money eating here, you will be very disappointed.

The interior was classic old school pub. Clean, tidy, well laid out. The Chicken Parmigiana I ordered was good value for money and quickly served. Excellent choice of beers there. Unfortunately it is situated off the beaten track near the residential blocks over in Docklands. Hence there is a lack of customers. You'll probably end up having a chat to the owner when you're in there. He has nothing better to do.

I must start by saying that the wait staff were great - very friendly and did their best to help. Unfortunately, that's the only kind thing I can say about the James Hotel. When taking my order, the manager was trying to serve someone else at the same time and took down my order wrong. When the food came out and we explained there had been an error, the manager refused to fix it and wouldn't even accept that he had made a mistake. (It was a change of parma toppings - it would have taken little effort to fix.) I suggested they give me a refund and I would order something else, but he also refused that suggestion: insisting the parma had already been made and I had to pay for it. I scrapped off the toppings I couldn't eat and made do with what they gave me. That was two hours ago and I still feel ill. However their beer taps were also dirty, leaving a smell to the beer, so whether I feel unwell because of the food or contaminated beer is hard to say. There aren't a lot of options for places to eat in Docklands, but Melbourne is such a short trip away; there is absolutely no reason to give your money to the James Hotel.

a very nice looking venue, including some very nice leather wing back chairs. The beer is great, although no beers were on tap as they were cleaning the beer lines. i have worked in pubs and restaurants for more than ten years and i know to clean the lines, it should be done over night. So why didn't they they start soaking the lines just before they closed instead of 7:30 on a Sunday night? they stuffed the bill up and tried to charge me for pints even though they only had bottled beer (schooners) The rabbit and pork terrine was rolled in smoked paprika so it was all you could taste, the dips and the relish were both cheapies from a jar, how hard is it to make some dip fellas? especially when there is 4 chefs and a kitchen hand in the kitchen and a grand total of about 15 customers. the steak that i ordered (angus porterhouse) although reasonably priced was cooked medium and not rare as i asked, as for the pepper sauce that the steak was supposed to come with, it contained no pepper. the salt bush lamb that my girlfriend ordered was also over cooked to well done instead of medium. in conclusion don't go for the food or the service, go for the beer and the chairs.

I'm glad I read the reviews of this place before I went in. Many of the reviews advised await of up to 2 hours waiting time for food, so I was pleasantly surprised when the food came out 1 hour and 15 minutes after ordering. Drinks took between 15 minutes to 35 for standard mixed and cola drinks. We overheard 2 other tables complaining quite angrily over wait times for their food. The food itself was not bad for the price and the fact that it's in Docklands where most restaurants have the docklands tax. If you decide to dine here, expect long delays for service, food and drinks. Staff that seem to have been trained on a fake Irish accent more than quality of service and a decent meal.

The manager was rude, our host asked for "Sunday roast" but the waiter told him that we couldn't all have the same dish. He said that half of us would have to order something else. Steak was served with frozen string chips. We got less than 15 chips on each dish. You get 10 times the amount of the much from Maca's for $1. You get a kilo from Aldi for $1! The serve size was pretty small, not enough to get value for money. what can i say, very bad management!

A nice looking place with friendly, hardworking staff. Which is just as well, as it seems they have forgotten to roster on about 4 more people and the lone waiter and single bartender have to move faster than a metro train skipping stations. Then the hour-wait $25 parma comes out, which was dry and underwhelming - the only redeeming quality was the quantity, which can't be said for the chips or token salad.