From the large car park head straight past the bing and ping of the pokies area and straight for…read morethe 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 Yelper 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.

The first thing that caught my eye with this pub was the frontage. It is really old fashioned and…read moresomething 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.

"The Lower" has a leafy outside terrace which is a relaxing place to enjoy a beverage..or three on…read morea sunny day. This part of the hotel is also home to a large bar and TAB, but you can order food from the bistro to enjoy in the more casual setting. Fridays here go from relaxed to party HQ as the DJ livens things up as young and old head past security into the hot spot Terrace Bar. Saturday night is 80's music night so head here to get your retro dance moves out! To enjoy the bistro on weekends or in groups it is best to book as it gets busy. It is worth the prep time though as the food is good pub grub. The large dining room is loud and casual and you will have to head up to the counter to order your meal and the bar to grab a drink. If your toting kids then the games area at the back of the bistro should distract them while you linger over coffee or desert. The LP Hotel has a gaming area which is filled with pokies if your into that type of thing (I'm not) which also has a separate bar. My tip? Drop by the bistro on a Wednesday night for $12 Parma and Pot! If your taking your party on the road then the LP Hotel Bottle shop is located 200 metres down the road, to the right as you exit the upper car park.

This is one of those pubs that you can quite easily miss if you don't know where it is because it…read moreis set back from the road surrounded by natural bushland. I've been wanting to come here ever since I went past it years ago to seem them redeveloping it, and while it was quite hike to get to (especially if you don't have a car) I was really glad that I did. The bush setting certainly gives it a lot of character, and the beer garden, which looks out over the creek, is a great place to spend your time. It appears that it turns into a night spot after 7:00 pm because they bring out the ID checker and station a bouncer at the entrance. This is certainly a place I would like to return to some time.

There was a buzz around Monty that a wine bar was about to open. Monty would not be sleepy hollow…read moreanymore!! Sure enough it came to pass the soft opening and the excitement was palatable. Through the summer months a healthy walk, a few grapes & hops and a healthy walk home. A more mature clientele with warm, comfortable surroundings. Naturally, as we consumed the ales, we had an opportunity to "gripe and hope" for a better outcome the next day. The front of shop opens onto the wide payments outside. The sound of local artists on the weekends and the atmosphere fits into the general ambience of "Monty" (Montmorency), friendly and always likely to meet a friend in the street only now in a wine bar!! Will observe with interest and enjoy the drinks as the wine bar evolves and matures. Many stories are being told of this "young" wine bar and there will be many more to come..... The wine bar supports the ability to consume food purchased from the local street takeaways which supports the traders further adding to the local community bonds. A must visit experience.

Once upon a time Were St in little old Monty was just filled with hairdressers, chemists, and…read morebutchers shops. Bit by bit that changed to what is essentially now a long line of cafes. The fact that there is also now a wine bar there, and a good wine bar at that, confounds the teenage me that grew up around the corner but delights the old me that still drops past the old neighbourhood from time to time. The wine by the glass options are plentiful and well chosen - no duds as far as we experienced so far. There's also a great selection of tap and bottle beers with some decent specials, even on the weekends. ($5 for Hawthorn bottle beers when we were there). There's a couple of small areas for improvement - the live music on a Sunday arvo was a nice touch but was way too loud and forced those wanting to converse outside to the front tables or small courtyard out back. That courtyard, quaint and cute as it was, had heaters blasting a little too strongly for our tastes - we had to strategically position ourselves out of the heat rays to remain non-charred. There's two TVs that were playing AFL when we were there, but the locals tell us that they switch those away from sport if it looks like they're getting a pub kind of crowd in. Fair enough. The crowd was an older one, our party of three in our thirties felt like the babies there, but the vibe was good and we'll likely be back each time we re-visit the old stomping ground.