King Henry’s Restaurant

King Henry’s Café Restaurant is a charming old style place with a warm and slightly mysterious atmosphere. The food is ok and but not friendly priced, But the breakfasts and coffee not bad. Their special Investigation Nights where guests explore ghost stories inside the building make it truly different. It is a fun experience for adults but not ideal for young children. The staff are friendly, the service feels relaxed, and the visit has a mix of comfort, history, and mystery that makes it a real Melbourne gem. Overall Atmosphere: 8/10 Food: 7/10 Experience: 8.5/10 Value: 7.5/10 Service: 6/10

Ross Jazani · 2025-10-07

When you book a restaurant that advertises Christmas Dinner on Christmas Day, you'd expect a restaurant such as King Henry's Sassasfras to deliver. Sadly, this couldn't be further from the truth. From the moment we arrived, to the entrees through to dessert, the evening was a total disaster. We had a 7:30 booking for a 3 course dinner. Upon arrival, signage from the disabled carpark directed customers to walk all the way around to the back of the restaurant to enter the venue. The host stood at a front window & literally watched us struggle to walk around. Imagine our surprise when we turned the corner, only to find that all of the tables from the lunchtime bookings, still hadn't been cleared away. Dirty plates, dishes & glasses lay everywhere. When we were seated, the table was absolutely filthy & it wasn't even dressed. No glasses, cutlery or napkins. Old and warn plastic salt and pepper shakers from the supermarket, plus a dirty old jam jar which contained sugar, were left scattered all over the table. And given it was Christmas, there wasn't a single Christmas cracker in sight. The waitresses although friendly were clearly inexperienced and kept referring to my elderly parents as 'you guys' throughout the entire evening. Very disrespectful, not to mention unprofessional. For our entrees, we ordered potato & leek soup which was supposed to have bread with garlic oil & butter & a prawn cocktail. The butter came in a small peel back plastic tub without the garlic oil & the soup was bland. The prawn cocktail consisted of 3 single shelled prawns hanging from the side of the salad dish which had 1 cherry tomato cut in half, 4 small slices of cucumber & the rest was made up of mixed salad. The cocktail sauce contained saracha, which is not traditional for prawn cocktails & could not be consumed, leaving the entree very dry & inedible. The roast lamb was ok, but the meat was a little dry. The rest of the vegetables were just slapped down on the plate. Very little care was taken, when plating the meals. When we asked for cutlery, the waitress went to one of the uncleared tables, picked up a set & a napkin from the table & handed it to my father. When I asked the waitress for a clean knife, she walked over to her station, grabbed a cloth used for cleaning the tables & attempted to wipe the knife clean, then bought it back to me to use but it was still dirty. We had to ask the waitress 3 times for our drinks & each time she kept getting it wrong. As for the Christmas pudding, it hadn't even been cooked or heated & was served raw with minimal cold custard, not brandy sauce as advised. It was disgusting & inedible. It is was very clear the cooks (not chefs) had little to no idea what a traditional Christmas dinner was. Almost every offering on the menu contained some sort of Asian hot spice in the meal, & definitely aren't what you would call an English Christmas fare. The final straw came when paying the bill. A 3 course set meal was $79.00 x 2 people + 1 x 2 course meal at $55.00. We also had 2 x glasses (not bottles) of wine & 2 x glasses of soda water. The total $307.00. If meals = $213.00. How does 2 glasses of wine & 2 glasses of soda water equate to $94.00? Only when I complained about the poor service did the cost drop to $253.00. Even then the drinks were still overpriced. Sadly King Henry's has lost the days of old. Henry would be shouting "off with their heads" if he was subjected to the evening we experienced. There is little to no ambience, complete lack of professionalism, & the cleanliness of the place is disgusting. (FYI- the lunchtime tables still hadn't been cleared when we left at 10pm). I do not recommend King Henry's & would honestly suggest that you really consider eating elsewhere before eating at this venue. There are definitely other lovely places around Sassasfras & Olinda, that would outdo this venue in a heartbeat. It's clear now from the other feedback posts, that this venue has lost its way and really needs to lift its game again. King Henry - you can definitely do better than this.

Larz H · 2025-12-30