I've driven passed True South heaps and heaps of times, and always wanted to try it, yet never did ... until tonight. I am kicking myself that I never came sooner. It was really, really good. The restaurant has a great vibe about it. For some people, they'd love to come in summer when out the front there are tables on the footpath and on the inner outside there are bar stools to sit and drink while watching the world go by. Inside, the restaurant has a clean, industrial feel to it. It was busy, but not overly loud. We were seated right away and your placemat is the menu, so you dive right into looking for things that grab your taste buds. Many - if not all - dishes are great for sharing, so we started out with Chipas (mini cheese rolls, mandioca flour, cheddar and parmesan) and the Croquetas of the day, which were chicken and corn. Before those came, we were served up a mini bread roll each with an olive and ricotta dip. Very delicious. The entrees came out and they were heavenly. The Chipas were amazing and I could have just had several serves of those as my meal. The were like mini warm cheese scones. The croquetas were good; had a beautiful crumbing on the outside, but the inside was nice, though nothing to rave about. For the main, I ordered my own Caviche de Salmon. It came with mango, cherry tomatoes, onion and plantain crisps. I didn't much care for the plantain crisps, and I hated the fact that there was coriander in the dish without it being listed on the menu. I would have asked for it without it, as I can't stand coriander. Yuck. Of course, there was something that really stood out to me on the dessert menu, so I had to order it. It was a chocolate fondant, with banana and caramel ice cream. That sounded incredibly appealing and tasted really, really good. My only minor complaint about it, was that it was truly ICE cream. That almost ruined it, but the flavours were everything. There was just a few things I didn't like about True South. One was the tables felt sticky. Two was that you could smell cigarette smoke from outside, even though it's illegal to smoke right outside an eatery. And three, because of the open shutters, it allowed for flies to fly in. Small things I guess in relation to how good the food and service was. Yes, the mains came out slowly, but they were really busy and food was continually leaving the kitchen. Would I go back again?? YES, YES, YES. I really enjoyed the meal and it was something different to usual here in Melbourne. How authentic it is, I don't know. But if you want a great spot with good atmosphere, great food and reasonably priced meals, then this is the place for you. It's worth the drive. read more

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Nice birthday meal with family. Good food, the porterhouse steak was the winner. Cooked to perfection. The broccolini was the best I've ever had. The jalapeno margarita was underwhelming. Good coffee, friendly service. Would definitely come back for the steak and oysters alone. read more

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Excellent in every way. Not pretentious, not too pricy and delivered exactly what was expected. Well done

I am so biased for my love of True South as this is where we got married for our Aussie wedding in 2011. Every time we come back to Australia we head here for a visit and this time was no exception. I love the location of True South - Black Rock is a really nice area and right on the beach too. As a wedding venue it was perfect - we weren't looking for anything formal, we just wanted a fun wedding with friends and family. As this is part brewery with an awesome function room upstairs and a massive balcony, it was absolutely perfect. It wasn't expensive either although obviously it was a few years ago now! The food has changed since we had our wedding and now it's Argentinian. We were in for Sunday lunch and ordered a bunch of stuff to share - highlights being the chipa (mini cheese rolls) and the wallaby salad. The beer menu is decent and worth a try and we didn't find anything too expensive - our bill was $100 (about £50) for lunch for two with two beers, a glass of wine, soft drinks and too much food. The staff were all super friendly, the place is very relaxed and it was the perfect way to get over our jetlag. read more

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I'd love to do a proper report on this place but sadly A) I was upstairs in the function room and B) I was at my uncle's 60th and drunk off my ass. What I can tell you though is that the wait staff were off the hook, they were friendlier than labradors and super accommodating. How accommodating? THIS accommodating: my two famously drunken aunties each spilled an entire bottle of red wine, independently of one another, at completely different tables, all over the nice white linen and the staff just laughed it off and said they wish they were having as much fun as we clearly were. That's golden in my book. read more

True South - Pomegranate with lamb, superb. - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

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I love beer, I love watching it made & I love places who make their own beers & ciders so I was kinda always meant to find true south. I sampled a few of their beers & drank plenty of their cider & can I say what a wonderful, fresh, crisp cider! I could not get enough. We then decided to sample some of their calamari which was delicious! The most outstanding part was the service, any question I had the staff could answer, I needed a function pack so the staff got me one straight away. The plus the staff were not over the top or annoying, I believe it is a fine line between good and annoying. I would reccomend this place to anyone who likes something a little different and likes their beer. read more

True South - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

I'm probably a little biased here, as I got married here, but True South is an absolute gem of a place if you're after a drink, for something to eat and as an event venue. Looking out onto the sea at Black Rock, it's a really nice place to spend some time. The main area is nice and bright with a white industrial feel that maintains a good amount of feel and character. There is an overall theme about this area that's kind of travel based, and although I'm not overly convinced that it's needed it doesn't interfere. The food has a serious Argentinian feel to it, and is based around smaller sharing-sized plates. There are loads of things to choose from, from great wee sliders, wallaby salads (really good, and something a little different), and lots of other things to choose from. The South American feel definitely gives it a little bit of an edge over standard pub grub, and it's all reasonably priced. A major edge True South has is that it has its own brewery, so you're getting to try one-off beers that you can't get anywhere else. The beer is really good, with some decent standard brews as well as other things like Scotch Ales. They used to be brewed on-site, but this looks to have been moved, and the brewery area has now been turned into a function area. The upstairs area is the main function suite, and this is where we got married. Like downstairs it's a bright open area, which has a lot of scope to personalise should you choose. It has a little bar area, and has a cracking balcony area which gives you great views of the sea. Overall, I love True South. I'll always have a connection to it, and it's great to be able to visit it and relive our wedding day. That it's a really good place is a lucky bonus! read more

True South - Slider special. $9. - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

Summary - great pig, fantastic service, interesting beers, still find the seats uncomfortable and the place noisy. We were keen to try the Argentinean menu after hearing many good reports from locals. We had the suckling pig on Grand Final night. You have to pay a deposit (so it can be marinated) and they ask if you are big eater - we had two women with small appetites so they said the $100 pig would feed four ok. They had two sittings that night so we opted for the 6pm to 8pm session as the place has concrete floors and can get very noisy. On arrival they were very apologetic that the pig wasn't ready so we wouldn't be kicked out at 8 and we were to be provided with complimentary starters as recompense. The lovely waitresses then proceeded to bring out five large plates of free food which was all delicious - cheesy mini-breads, fresh bread with spices, chorizos, calamari, and succulent marinated beef. The pig itself turned out to be a quarter of a suckling pig (one leg and a bit of the ribs) which was deliciously marinated. It looked kind of disappointing on a huge plate and came with two fresh salads and two excellent condiments. We didn't finish it all but I think if we had been big eaters and didn't have all those free dishes we might have been chasing the last scraps. You cut the pig up yourself (although the kind waitress did help us get started). I would try to see if you can opt for the leg half of the pig (there is a picture on the web of one half where most of the half pig is it's head). I would have liked to give them 5 stars - they went out of their way to make us enjoy the night but I still have an issue with hard and basic seats at True South and the noise. It's a converted garage and they get cudos for maintaining the old façade but I think some acoustic baffles on the roof or walls and maybe something on the floor would greatly improve the dining experience. Also $38 for a bottle of wine was steep. We had the Argentinean style beer ($7 per glass) and I recommend it heartily. read more

True South - Hind quarter delicious marinated suckling pig (bigger than it looks) - comes with two salads - to feed 4 - $100 - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

A fantastic location with awesome brews on tap - True South brewed plus local varieties and from overseas as well...Food is nice! Great meat options and salad and veg options too. I keep eye balling the 1/4 and 1/2 suckling smoked pig...maybe I can convince the Mates to do it in 2017!!! Don't just take my word...come grab some feed and a brew for yourself...Enjoy!!! read more

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True south- just about as far south Melbournians venture for good food. For a weekday night the venue was almost full to the brim. A nice buzz was in the air & intrigue preceded for this Argentinian tapas bar/ brewery. Service was friendly & our helpful waiter kindly explained the menu. For the four of us, we chose one item from each of the sections of the menu. The house made complimentary bread was soft, doughy & fresh, presented with house made ricotta to die for. The empanadas, ceviche & cheese were all above standard& devoured in a hurry. The mains followed, once again beautifully presented. the only criticism was that mains were a tad on the smaller size for price. We tried multiple house beers on tap- regular size being enough for a school night! Can't wait to come back to try the suckling pig. Peace out true south we will see you next time. read more

True South - Beautiful 'burnt' vegetables - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

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So there was five of us. We arrived late for lunch and rang ahead to advise to which they were thankful. The place was probably 15% full so expected a hi or welcome when we arrived but got nothing. We stayed roughly 4.5hours and waiter was not as attentive as you would expect from this type of place, we had to ask too many times for water and his clearance of empties was a little slow, this brings it down a star. The beers were tried were Two Birds, always a winner and the True South Pale Ale(Happy hour 3-6pm) which was quite nice. Food- we tried a variety of the menu and the stand out was the Flathead fishtails, I think we had 4 plates, the sauce accompanying garnishes really brought it alive. We also tried the beef skewer, calamari, pork sausages, raw scallops and churros. I know there was more but these were the main contenders for quality, taste and items I would try again. Oh and the kitchen cooked outside theirs hours which was damn nice. As we were there for a long time, it actually would have been nice to have been offered a table out front in the sun, just ask. Overall, a place I would return to again, but expect improved attentive service. read more

True South - Beef skewer - delicious - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

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True South is in a lovely location close to the water. The restaurant has a fantastic decor polished concrete floors, wide open seating area and a room for functions up stairs which is equally as nice. Two large black boards flank the left side wall, one is used for menu specials and the other to advertise the function room. I understand the need to advertise what you have available, but I found the photos of the room and the fake blackboard script pretty tacky and detracted from the space as a whole. I felt like I was in a local pub rather than a restaurant. Let's talk food... It's Spanish people, tapas to be more accurate and if you don't like sharing then this is not the place for you. I love to share food. It gives you a chance to have the food you know you like but also try something that someone else loves too. This was a perfect example, the food was flowing and I was full before I knew it. I enjoyed the crispy calamaris with hommus and chickpeas, the house made chorizo, spinach fritters,rough cut chips with a delicious aioli and pulled pork sliders. The food was beautifully prepared and presented, the staff were friendly and helpful. It was a very enjoyable night! read more

Terrible service at True South. We were sat in the 'garage' out the back where it was about 5 degrees. Waited half an hour just to be given the chance to order. Weren't told about specials (and couldn't see the board from the back room), despite the specials menu being longer than the actual menu. Got served other tables' food 4 times (seriously, how is that even possible?!). Entrees and Mains arrived and were quite nice, dessert was complete crap though. I've had better Churros a from a food truck (Señor Churros for those interested), and the chocolate fondant had no flavour (I didn't even know it was possible to stuff up a fondant but apparently it is). And one of the waitresses was incredibly rude to us when we could finally move to the warmer part of the restaurant. The two and a half hours we spent at True South freezing made for a horrible birthday dinner - hope you're happy. read more

A little while ago I celebrated my 50th birthday at True South. We had the most amazing night. Everyone kept raving about the venue, the food and the service throughout the night and for weeks afterwards. There were about 35 of us, and I hired an acoustic guitarist. We all fit comfortably with room to spare (the room can cater for 50). There were helium balloons; I chose to have cocktail tables and stools, and we had our own bar inside the room. Because of the glass walls, we felt the ambiance of the kitchen and the restaurant, but could keep the door shut which made the space private. It also has a disabled toilet on the ground floor, so my elderly mum could manage going to the ladies with her walker. The team at True South were so easy to deal with and delivered on every single thing I asked for, with a smile. Nothing was too much trouble. The food really was mouth-watering and plentiful. I had a tab open on the bar and paid minimum dollars up front - I was reimbursed quite a lot of money not used, very soon after the event. I cannot speak highly enough about the night - without being too dramatic, it was one of the best nights of my life. I could not have chosen a better venue. Stylish, warm and inviting. read more

Great local night out! We're currently dining with a pram and this restaurant was easy to access and very accommodating. I've never been to Argentina, but I loved all the dishes we tried for what they were. We had the provoleta, the crispy baby chicken (YUM), the octopus and beef cheek. All were delicious and unique on their flavours. The chicken was a stand out. We tried some of the much reviewed beer, and the porter was crisp and enjoyable all the way to the end of our generous pint glasses. We're planning a return visit with friend to try the suckling pig. read more

True South - Churros with chocolate - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Black Rock, VIC

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Always have a great meal here. Lovely staff, delicious food & fun atmosphere. The view doesn't hurt either!!

Excellent service. Great selection of their own beer on tap. Must order the beer wheel for $15. You get five decent size beers for tasting. Every dish we had was delicious and fine dining experience. read more

The food is very good and a bit different from the usual offerings. I have found the special two tapas deal at lunch inclusive of a drink of choice (wine, beer, coffee etc) is good value. There used to be a boutique brewery in the restaurant but that has long been moved. read more

Disappointing. Nothing on menu has changed. Asked to leave when told to book for 6:15pm. Out by 8pm. Won't be coming back plenty of other good options. read more