One word for this place- ahhhmazing! prosciutto entree,…read morefreshly cut for your delight right before your eyes with their meat cutter. The steak is as delicious as expected. Not cheap but good for an indulgent treat.

If you're a steak lover, this is the place to be. I've…read morerecommended many friends to Esca, all would agree best place for steak. Ps if you order the house chips as a side for your steak, let it cool down. I'm talking a good 5 minutes, it is hot. Many mouths have been warned and ignored, you won't find fresh chips like this. They taste amazing servied with cloves of freshly baked cloves of garlic.

Fresh, delectable seafood at a good price, served with a smile. It's what you get at Moonee Ponds…read moreSeafood - everytime!! Not only is the seafood fresh, it's great quality; no yucky brown bits, big juicy prawns and great calamari. For not much more than you'd pay at Coles for god-knows-how-old and god-knows-where-it-came-from seafood, MPS is the best value seafood I've found in the area. The guys that work here are so helpful and full of info on what's come in that day, new produce and even ways on how to cook your seafood as well as some great recipes. I love this place!!

MAGGOTS IN FISH! I…read morepurchased fish from here due to convenience and the hopes that as the business sole product is seafood that they would care about factors such as quality and freshness as opposed to supermarket giants where quality can at times be lacking; I WAS WRONG. After purchasing multiple types of fish, including Salmon and Cod Fillets, and whole mackerel, I went home to begin the preparation of my meals. I sat the whole mackerel in a bowl of water and began cleaning and de- boning them. After approx. 5 minutes I look int the bowl to find an insect of some sort crawling out of the mouth of the fish and laying eggs. Obviously, this completely put me off my purchase. I went back to this establishment to alert the management, only to be told that the fish is fresh and It is not their problem. They also refused to give me a refund as they could not resell the fish, only for the owner to dump the fish back into the window after I refused to take it back as the fish was CLEARLY NOT FRESH. On top of all of this as we were leaving a woman stopped us to ask what was going on, and then informed us that the fish (salmon) here had also given her food poisoning. So, in conclusion, if you do decide to purchase products from here do it at your own risk!

Was looking for something different on my last night in Melbourne and this came up when I was…read moresearching. I made my way over to Hardware St which was hopping early-ish on a Saturday night. Thankfully I was able to get a table outside (great area for people watching!) I started with the sambal ray and a glass of champagne. The ray was really good and the champagne wasn't bad for just the house option. For the main course I got the seafood claypot and some of the chili bread for dipping as well as a glass of chardonnay. First, the bad part, the main came out less than a minute after my appetizer. I was mildly annoyed by this, but in the end it wasn't a huge deal since the clay pot kept it piping hot until I was ready to eat it anyway. The bread, couscous, seafood and broth were all really good. I did my best to soak up all of the broth with my bread and in the end I had no chance at finishing the huge helping of couscous. All in all it was a really good meal and I would definitely go back.

The food was fantastic, the atmosphere was amazing, sitting outside in hardware Lane was really a…read morenice place to go have dinner. The wine at Clay pots was awesome! I definitely recommend going and checking it out when you're in Melbourne.

Ordered 6kg of fish priced at roughly $20 per kilo, I was told to come back in half an hour after…read morethey've gutted and prepared the fish. It was not ready for nearly one hour and that wasn't even the worst of it. The order came to over $300 ($50 a kilo) and they claimed to have misheard the order and I still had to pay for it. They had not told me the price nor showed me the supposedly fresh/live fish before (could have been old stock). Would not recommend this place to anyone. TLDR: Sneaky fishery management dupes unsuspecting customer.

From the owner: Family owned, very passionate about Australian seafood. Please support Australian fishermen &…read morefarmers.

What a great way to start the morning. I Decided to go for a stroll and ended up at the market and…read morespent a good chunk of time then walked out with a bag of groceries. Reasonably priced and a great selection of products. If you ever want to prepare a meal, there's great selection.. Market city coffee was fantastic, bought some cheeses, and picked up a borek pastry. Market is separated into different buildings. Seafood, deli and meats, and I didn't get to walk to the produce section. I stopped in at nine, but according to Google, it opens at six. In a shopper. Owner told me they close at three on the weekdays and four on the weekends. Open every day!

Definitely glad I booked my Melbourne hotel next to this market knowing I'd spend a good chunk of…read moretime there! The market is huge with so much to see - I spent almost an entire day here! Really great lively atmosphere with lots of people and the large downtown buildings in the backdrop of the market were beautiful! There was a great fruit and vegetable selection - I choose a few different fruit options to take back to my hotel later to enjoy. I LOVE mangosteen but it's hard to get fresh ones in the US so was super stoked to see those available! The indoor section with cheeses, meat and seafood was also super impressive! I snacked on some lobster and oysters then went outside and had some sugarcane juice and the BEST MUSSELS I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE. Such a great day at this market!!

Not worth one as our party of 6 waited 1 hour the menu then when we ordered a garlic pizza was told…read moreit would take at least half an hour maybe longer. Waited anther for our main course. Food was average at best but the worst was the salt shaker being filled with sugar. By the time we found out two mains were spoilt. No apologies were given and we had to insist on a refund. Last time we visit here.

My aunt took us here to eat after we landed in Melbourne and I was surprised at how much I enjoyed…read moreit. I have always heard that italian restaurant always have that family environment and this is the first time I have experienced it. The owner was actively talking to everyone and super engaging. He was funny as well. The other waiters and waitresses we're also nice and friendly. We ordered a variety of dishes to share: Squid ink pasta with seafood - my favorite, the pasta was cooked perfectly, it had the right flavoring, and it was balanced. Carbonara - pretty standard, good portion Grilled meat platter - filled with ribs, chicken, sausages, lamb and a meatball - meat was good, cooked perfectly, tender and flavorful Lamb plate - really good, the lamb was not gamey, it was tender and the gravy that came with it was good. Margherita pizza and garlic/cheese pizza - not my favorite, too thin for me. They threw in a complimentary tiramisu for us as well after the owner knew we were visiting from America. The tiramisu was super moist and you can taste the coffee flavor in it. Overall, very good Italian restaurant, I would go back for sure.

By far one of the best squid ink pastas in town. Excellent friendly and attentive service !! Will…read moredefinitely come back to try other items on the menu

This place is always so busy & now I know why! Food was great!…read more I ordered Salt N Pepper Calamari on a bed of rice with a side Greek salad! So delicious, no bounce at all! Just fresh & amazing! Added bonus, they do takeaway so I didn't feel like a terrible human wasting food (because the portions are huge!) Now I've got salad for lunch tomorrow My friends got the coupled up pack & there was soooo many chips! Fantastic value! Only flaw is the seating gets a bit confusing. People don't really know what the 'rules' are and pounce on a free table before you even get a chance to blink. You have to line up to order and pay when you get there and then wait around for a table to free up. The staff do try to help you get a table, but they're so busy & there's no formal line so it's kinda each for their own. We got a table a few mins before our food came out. Will be back for sure, probably order less!

The stars is purely for the food. I am not a salad eater but they do these fantastically. The fish…read moreis always cooked to perfection and the tartare sauce is amazeballs! Their service is absolutely crap. If not for the food i'd have one starred them. I have been here 4 times since it opened a few months ago and went back as recent as today and unfortunately they haven't improved. The register girl was so unpleasant, abrupt and rude when taking your order, and will eye you down when you seat yourself at an empty table - if she doesn't like where you're sitting she will snap at you to move! And it wasn't just us she barked at - i noticed she did that to 2 other patrons that came in after us. Idgaf if its because she was having a bad day - don't take that out on your customers. Table waitresses are also a bit overwhelmed and therefore haven't a clue what they are doing - on past trips we had one completely forget an order and another giving us a duplicate order for free (gave us 5 huge fish and chips plates for a table of 4 umm?!?!). Maybe the poor serving girls cracked under the pressure from taking barked orders from the register lady. Who knows. She needs to chill out though.