Decent apartment stay hotel in the Essendon area very near to the Essendon airport and relatively…read moreclose to Tullamarine (MEL) airport. The hotel has underground parking however I find it easier to just park in the carpark outside - the area seems safe enough to leave a car. The lobby reception isn't much and the lift is very skinny so you'll be squeezing in with people during busy times. There are a variety of rooms and I was lucky enough to stay in a 2 bedroom full apartment on the top floor with a huge balcony. This would be ideal for a family for a long stay but for 1 night as a single party - it was definitely a waste of so much space. The hotel has an arrangement with an attached restaurant and they provide room service but during quite limited hours. Pretty good location with a Coles just outside and a few restaurants on the immediate block. If you walk either direction on Mt Alexander Road, you will find little clumps of eateries every few blocks.

The Punthill Apartment in Essendon is situated in a great location - there are Cafes and…read morerestaurants surrounding the place, Melbourne's fantastic tram service is right out front ready to take you into the city and a large supermarket 'Coles' is right next door. The room we had was very large for 2 people, with a grungy but welcome balcony. All the amenities were in order. The bed was super comfortable. everything was clean and in overall great condition. It wasn't too noisy despite the location, however we were mid-week. The service was friendly and professional. We didn't dine in the Punthill restaurant or get room service, however the menu was tempting!

If there was an option for negative star ratings this place would be a 5. We had a meal that cost…read moreover $120 for four. Fish & Chips was $32.00. I swear it was Basa from the freezer at Coles. The Chicken Parmi had a choice of one sauce "Napoli". The mozzarella topping looked & tasted like plastic, the sauce was so watery it was akin to a small serve of soup & the chips were cold. I swear they were cooked the night before & even then weren't great. Pasta dishes were between $25 & $36. I got packet linguini topped with a jar of some sort of white sauce which was absolutely NOT Carbonara & exactly 4 frozen prawns. One choice of burger, which was tasteless & cold on the smallest Brioche bun I've ever seen. That cost 27.00. Even the garlic bread came out of a packet. The beer garden is a sad smoker's lounge & that's about it. Don't think they've emptied the ashtrays for a week but that's OK as most of the patrons just seem to prefer to stub out their butts on the ground. Staff were cold & unwelcoming & so were many patrons. On the bright side if you're a big drinker, they seem to serve people far past the point where they ought to have been offered a coffee. Shame really as from the outside it's all heritage charm but the inside seems to be only inviting to those who want to get legless sit in front of a row of poker machines losing their pay packet.

I found this pub when I was on my way to an engagement party one Saturday, though because I had to…read morego to the party I couldn't suddenly change my plans and go inside. Mind you, when I left to go home a couple of friends asked me if I wanted a lift, to which I politely declined explaining that there was a pub that I discovered that I hadn't had a beer in as yet - being this pub. Well, there isn't all that much that really stood out about this pub though - it is what you would expect from a suburban pub. There was a TAB, pokies, and a restaurant, as well as an outdoor area out the back, which was full of smokers (which doesn't make it a really enjoyable experience if you are not a smoker, and I would hesitate to call it a beer garden). The pub itself wasn't bad, but it is certainly not one that I would travel all the way out to Essendon just to visit.

This place is "adequate". I travel a lot for work and usually stay at Superchains like Marriott or…read moreHilton. Mantra is clean enough and the bed is comfortable enough. While the Sheraton Melbourne in the central business district was a 10/10, I would rate this a 6/10. If the smarmy, bespectacled guy at reception at Noon on December 13 had been nicer I would give this place a 7 but I cannot stand haughty, dismissive customer service at any place, let alone at a mid-range airport hotel. I'd still recommend if you wanted a quick layover hotel but if you have even a day in Melbourne, I recommend staying in the city (or picking a Marriott or Hilton property where staff are trained and consistent)

Stayed here for the night, complimentart shuttle from the airport. We got here at 8:30am and rooms…read morewere not ready so we went to eat breakfast. It was continential however the variety was mediocre. The wifi was not free!! $10 for 1 gig.. which is soo expensive. Rooms were clean. There is a gym on the 9th floor. They are close to the airport however the area is very quite and doesnt have much. I think theres a mall 5 min drive from there.

This pub is ok as a place to watch the footy or to have a beer with friends but I wouldnt recommend…read moreit as a place to eat. The prices are far too high for what are really quite small servings. The food tastes good and is of high quality, but if Im paying $19.90 for roast of the day Id like to get quite a lot of meat from that roast. The slices of roast beef were too thin and too few. The vegetables were done beautifully and the gravy was nice but there was not enough meat for a $19.90 roast (Im painfully refraining from calling it a $20 roast). What was absolutely bizarre though, was that the childrens meals were as big as the adults roasts and also contained chilli! Who on earth thought that putting chilli into kids meals was a good idea??? That said, maybe the concept of putting chilli into the kids meals is well thought out - because with chilli in there most kids wont eat much of it and thus their parents get to finish off the meal for them - which makes up for the lack of quantity on the roast... Yes, its probably just a really well thought out plan to make sure that parents get enough food, kids dont get too much and nothing goes to waste... Of the aesthetics, the pub is clean and light and has a TAB and a kids playroom which is a big hit for the little ones (the playroom that is, not the TAB). The playroom is actually great because it allows parents space to have a meal without their kids bothering them too much. I couldnt help but notice that the mixed grill was $33... When I was a kid my father (a blue collar working class man) told me some advice: "When you dont know what to eat, get a mixed grill - then you get a bit of everything" (the best/only sensible piece of advice he ever gave me). Well in his day, a mixed grill would certainly not have cost the 1975 equivelent of $33.... its supposed to be a blue collar working mans meal - not a $33 dish!!! I simply refuse to pay $33 for a mixed grill. If it was cheaper I probably wouldve had it... Anyway, the roast was nice, the kids chicken noodle stirfry type thing was also quite nice but the food was very expensive... Might be the sort of place to go on a Friday night for the footy, but I probably wont eat there again with those prices...

We went to the cross keys for my fiancé 25th birthday with 22 people quiet a large group, the night…read morewas fairly busy so I expected the staff to be more on to it. It took two hours for food to come out which was just a joke for a pub meal. Everyone starting getting fidgety and the staff hardly cleared the table of use glasses and jugs. When I ask for the birthday cupcakes to be brought out it took them another 20 mins to try and plate them up so I ended up taking it off there hands and handing out the cupcakes myself. Definitely would not consider going back there in a hurry.

So I was stuck in Melbourne for an entire day while I waited on my next flight. Just minutes from…read morethe airport and with free transportation, this airport hotel was the perfect lodging for my layover.My room was quite comfortable with a Jacuzzi tub, cable, and a luxurious mattress; after backpacking throughout Indonesia, all of this was a dream come true. Other amenities that made this hotel a winner included a very nice sports pub and an indoor pool that had some amazing lighting at night. The hotel's restaurant also had one of the best buffets I had seen in ages. It was a seafood bonanza, and I was quite happy that it had an international flare so there was something for everyone. Finally, the staff was very friendly and helpful, making my stay and transfer to the airport trouble free.

Ciloms is about a 5 minute drive from the Airport. They provide a pick up a drop off service to…read morethose people flying into Melbourne Tullamarine Airport. I have stayed here a few times and would reccomend it to those that need a cheap nights stay close to the airport. The Staff are quite friendly and helpful. The rooms are pretty basic but it's really the only kind of motel you want to stay in for a night or two. The rooms have always been tidy upon arrival as well. There rooms have air conditioning, Television/DVD player, tea and coffee making facitilies and a bar fridge. there is no microwave in the room. There is not too much that surrounds Ciloms. There is a shopping centre a couple of kilometres down the road and last time i stayed there they offered us a drop off pick up service to the shops which was extremly handly as the last time i went it cost me $25 return in taxi fares. the shopping centre has a woolworthes and other specialty stores. The Hotel offers room service and have menus in each room. There is a restuarant/bar on site as well so you can sit in there and eat dinner. I haven't found too many businesses that deliver food around that area but Melrose Pizza has always delivered to Ciloms for me. The food on the menu isn't all that great. they have a pool, sauna and gym on the property for guests as well. Most rooms come with a balcony as well.

BEWARE: Appalling room cleaniness (carpet not vaccummed, comforter had stains), poor sleep due to…read moredoors opening and closing, trucks at 1am pulling up outside our window, showers / fans. Then to top off all this I dropped my husband at the airport at 6am wanted to go back to room to shower etc. To be informed that I wasn't allowed back into the building between 4am- 7am, Sat out of the front while my belongings where all still in the building. Asked to speak to manger to be argued with extremely poor Customer service, Will NEVER be back and don't recommend them to anyone WORST EXPERIENCE !!

The meals are average and a bit expensive for pub food. We ate here on a busy Saturday night and…read moreafter waiting an hour for our meal we chased down a waiter and found they had lost our order. Maybe it was just bad luck. I will give them one more chance. Definitely nothing to rave about.

Was over the moon with the exceptional service received by Viola. Many thanks for taking the time…read moreto provide outstanding customer service. Some five star properties could learn a great deal from you about how to treat customers. Viola going over and above was sincerely appreciated by myself and my husband who the booking was for.