Beach House - Hobsons Bay

I was not at all impressed by this restaurant during my visit, and I still feel unenthusiastic about it now. While there was nothing particularly wrong with my experience, there was also nothing that stood out and made it memorable. I don't foresee myself returning in the future.

The staff was delightful, the service was quick, and the coffee was absolutely fantastic! I had read some complaints about the restroom facilities, but I personally found them to be perfectly acceptable.

Treating ourselves to a "lazy day" free from cooking my husband & I decided to have breakfast at one of the small eateries located in Pier Street Altona. Perusing the various outlets we finally selected the 'Beach House Café; as it was at that time the least busy & our stomachs were starting to sing their demanding song.[ Staff & Décor ]:A young man greeted us upon arrival & pointed us in the direction of the nearby tables advising he would be over with the menus briefly. He was true to his word with our orders taken shortly after.Whilst waiting for the meals we had a look around the Café. You can get a picture of how this must of looked when it first opened & the idea for a family friendly, child play area to be set up at the rear of the property was an excellent one. A trampoline is on site although it is looking a bit worse for wear & I honestly don't know if I would allow my children to jump on it.The lounge chairs in this section have also seen better days & could do with a vigorous clean. Sadly it seems the owners may be more focused now on using the play area for storage of old equipment, various bits of old furniture & broken wares. Cluttered, dirty & untidy this 'play area' does look potentially hazardous & personally we would decide against sitting al fresco at the venue albeit with or without our son in tow.The rear wall of the Café appears to consist primarily of a type of thick Perspecx in need of a thorough clean along with some repairs. Cracked & unsightly, in combination with the 'Family Area' looking so un-loved what was initially a wonderful idea has become an uninviting eyesore. [ The Food ]:In almost stark contrast the food on the other hand was very nice. My husband ordered the 'Breakie Burger' which was piled high with eggs, avocado, spinach, bacon & tomatoes. A Chef himself he said that the eggs were 'perfectly' done & the overall dish thoroughly enjoyable.I opted for the Buttermilk Pancakes served with Maple Syrup, Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream & Fruit. Very thin & consisting of only two [2] actual pancakes the meal was admittedly nice but far from satisfying & my suggestion would be that at least three [3] pancakes should make up one serve.The coffees were plain and unremarkable. The juices we selected were served in the bottles with a straw, I would suggest that taking time to pour it into a glass would be far more presentable & keeping in line with being a dining establishment. [ " Taking Photographs is Not Permitted " ]:Whilst grabbing a few snaps of the artwork & décor I was approached by a man whom proceeded to interrogate me as to what I was doing & chastising me for "not gaining his permission before taking pictures. Having no idea whom he was I advised that the waiters had indeed been made aware of why I was taking photographs & I headed back to our table.Some time later a woman approached. Introducing herself as the owner she explained the man was her husband & told as to how they have apparently had "issues" with customers & Facebook in the past. She apologised for his rude conduct & offered us a complimentary coffee, which I subsequently declined.There are no signs to inform patrons that permission must be sought via Management if one wishes to take photographs of anything within the Café even of your own group.I respectfully suggested that they may wish to put up a sign conveying their point of view if that is indeed the case.[ In Conclusion ]:All things considered my husband & I did enjoy our meals & the servings sizes were in line with the prices being asked. The serving staff were friendly & at first glance the Beach Side Café does appear a great place for persons with kids, however there is an underlining issue with cleanliness & safety.Wi Fi is advertised but when we asked the staff about it no one could confirm this. The tables were unkempt & the empty dishes sat there for quite a while before being cleared away. Unfortunately our visit was tainted by the interaction with the owner.Recommendation? In this instance we will remain neutral, we hope that this review has been helpful, thank you for reading it. Please refer to the photographs as they form a part of the review.

Do yourself a favour and go to one of the other places to eat in Altona.The worst coffee, bland food and the owners are incredibly rude.We have eaten here twice, once for breakfast and once for dinner, the best thing about that was leaving.I went in once and was reading the wine list that was on the bar, there were wine glasses in the rack and when I ordered my coffee the owner tells me they aren't licenced.....so why did you just stand their and watch me read the wine list and why do you even have it on the bar?The kids play area out the back is a great idea but its filthy and when my mothers group and I went there and ordered coffee they served them to us in paper cups?Toilet - was so dirty I held on.4 strikes and you are out.

I'll be quick here. Visited Saturday 13th August approximately 1pm.Waitress was kind and almost looked apologetic as we ordered the chargrilled chicken burgers w/chips.Food came out in pretty good time, but it was oil-soaked and sloppy. Side of chips on my plate contained 18 chips that looked a bit like your McCains variety. You know when you count the chips that there's not many on the plate.Anyway, very polite young waitress elevates this place to two stars, otherwise it'd scrape into one star territory.