Eltham Hotel

The first thing that caught my eye with this pub was the frontage. It is really old fashioned and something that I really like in a pub. However that completely vanished once I stepped through the front door. Basically this is your standard suburban pub with the standard clientele. It has a sports bar, a restaurant, and a pokies room, all trying to masquerade as a nice pub in a nice part of Melbourne. The thing with the restaurant is that it is supposed to be a family restaurant, however it is just down the corridor from the pokies room, which sort of undermines somewhat. The sports bar is, well, a sports bar and you can expect sports bar type patrons in the sports bar. Not really a pub that I would travel all the way to Eltham to have a drink at again.

Fairly typical pub grub in a fairly typical pokies pub. I ordered the mixed grill burger and had to dissect the very tough steak with a knife and fork. The staff were friendly enough.

From the bistro — the meal was ok, I mean, it’s relatively hard to stuff up a chicken parma — but it has been done before. The place was crazy loud for what it looks like. It’s not a bad place for a meal — but not a destination.

From the large car park head straight past the bing and ping of the pokies area and straight for the large bistro and bar area. Once your gathered around a table head over to the small counter to order yourself a big serving a typical pub fare. Yes as a Unilocaler with a parma obsession I can totally recommend Eltham hotel chicken parmigiana.
The long bar is where you can get your drink on but don’t expect beverage service at the tables. The drive through bottle shop at the rear of the hotel with allow you to keep the party going after the drive home.
There is a function room and beer garden to relax in on nice days. If you can’t miss the game then head straight to the sports bar and place a bet at the TAB.
On Friday and Saturday nights this place is packed! Live music at 8pm Fridays draws a crowd and Saturday is well… Saturday.
Eltham Hotel is family friendly and has a kid space with playground and TV screen. This place is packed with families enjoying weekend lunch, so make sure you book on weekends.