Society Restaurant & Bar

Directions
Decorated in a lavish red with Mona Lisa smiling down to you, enjoy this traditional Italian restaurant and bar for lunch or dinner Monday to Saturday. The menu is extensive offering a range of pasta and risotto, seafood like the citrus sugar cured marlin and salmon and meat mains such as the Wagyu beef sirloin. The restaurant can be booked for  functions in the private dining room with a capacity up to 45 people. Society is fully licensed with cocktails being served in its High Society Lounge.

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Reviews of Society Restaurant & Bar

  •  Newbie   1 review
    Great place - we had a fantastic night out

    8 months ago

  • robstein
    robstein  Local Star   249 reviews
    Society is one of the many restaurants the successful DiMattina restaurateur family can lay claim to. Other notable eateries being the one that started it all, Il Gambero & Blue Train. Even though Society, in its current incarnation only opened back in 2006, its history dates back to the 1930s. Its staff know this well & are more than happy to detail the desire for Society to be a throwback to yesteryear when my grandparents would go out here for dinner.
    The staff are very warm, welcoming & attentive. The decor is intimate yet opulent. I was lucky enough to be treated to a five-course degustation menu with matching wines. The food was superbly crafted, the tortino of scallop, potato & fava beans topped with an olive tapenade was particularly pretty, as my fellow female diners proclaimed. I was drawn more to the prosciutio wrapped lamp backstrap & slow roasted pork belly, with its robust flavours, delicate textures and neat presentation. But I am a sweet tooth at heart & most desirable for me was dessert a semi freddo white chocolate & honeycomb parfait with a soft velvety texture and a flavour to die for.
    A $20 midweek express lunch means this high society opulence is available to the middle class masses, and I for one aim to take advantage of this charitable offer with gusto!

    1 year ago

  • robstein
    robstein  Local Star   249 reviews
    Society is one of the many restaurants the successful DiMattina restaurateur family can lay claim to. Other notable eateries being the one that started it all, Il Gambero & Blue Train. Even though Society, in its current incarnation only opened back in 2006, its history dates back to the 1930s. Its staff know this well & are more than happy to detail the desire for Society to be a throwback to yesteryear when my grandparents would go out here for dinner.
    The staff are very warm, welcoming & attentive. The dcor is intimate yet opulent. I was lucky enough to be treated to a five-course degustation menu with matching wines. The food was superbly crafted, the tortino of scallop, potato & fava beans topped with an olive tapenade was particularly pretty, as my fellow female diners proclaimed. I was drawn more to the prosciutio wrapped lamp backstrap & slow roasted pork belly, with its robust flavours, delicate textures and neat presentation. But I am a sweet tooth at heart & most desirable for me was dessert a semi freddo white chocolate & honeycomb parfait with a soft velvety texture and a flavour to die for.
    A $20 midweek express lunch means this high society opulence is available to the middle class masses, and I for one aim to take advantage of this charitable offer with gusto!

    1 year ago

  • SophieMelb
    SophieMelb  Newbie   1 review
    TERRIBLE SERVICE- I recently booked to have a function in the cocktail bar. Despite my calling twice to confirm the booking (and being told everything was set) they gave the space I booked away to another group, and then had the audacity to tell me that I had booked for 5:00pm as opposed to 6:00pm. (I don't finish work until 5:30pm, so this was completely wrong).

    The staff member I spoke to was incredibly rude and aggressive, which was uncalled for, as I was pretty chilled about the whole thing. I would have been completely understanding if they had simply told me that a mistake had been made, and that they were sorry, but they turned it into an extremely unpleasant experience.

    The staff on the whole were incompetent (orders were wrong, drinks were late, our food was given to the wrong group of people) and I will never go there again.

    Avoid! There are so many great bars nearby in Melbourne why go to this place where they can't get basic service right?

    1 year ago

    • D.R.G
      D.R.G Newbie 
      Hi SophieMelb, We'd like to apologise that you had a less than satisfactory experience with us. We always endeavour to provide our guests with the best possible experience and we'd love to take the time to have a chat with you about the evening. It's obvious here that communication channels broke down and we will work hard to rectify the situation. If you'd like to, please email us at: tony@dimattinas.com.au so we can obtain your best contact details. Many thanks, D.R.G (Society Restaurant)

      1 year ago

      REPORT
  • unfy
    unfy  Foodie   62 reviews
    It was alright. the food was really good cooked but the service was a bit slow.

    3 years ago

  • SimpleMind
    SimpleMind   23 reviews
    Society by name and society in class

    4 years ago

  • Monday:
    7:00 AM-10:00 PM
  • Tuesday:
    7:00 AM-10:00 PM
  • Wednesday:
    7:00 AM-10:00 PM
  • Thursday:
    7:00 AM-10:00 PM
  • Friday:
    7:00 AM-10:00 PM
  • Saturday:
    9:00 AM-10:00 PM

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Restaurants

Dining Options

Functions Lounge Indoor Dining Eat-in Corporate Dining Lounge Functions Banquet Bookings Bookings A-la-carte Indoor Dining

Cuisine

Italian Italian

Price Guide

Mains over $30 Mains over $30

Licensing

Licensed Licensed

Features

Group Bookings Private Function Outdoor Seating Function Room Smoking Room Bar Outdoor Seating Private Function Bar

Menu

Breakfast Breakfast Dinner Lunch Dinner Lunch

Disabled Facilities

Wheel Chair Access Wheel Chair Access

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Editorial Reviews

  • Society

    Dani Valent, Reviewer

    Monday, July 02, 2007

    The pitch is unpretentious food, just like nonna would cook.

    It's no wonder this revived legend is as loud as an Italian wedding. As well as the present-day patrons talking up a storm, echoes of the past seem to bounce off the walls, dating all the way back to 1932 when Giuseppe Codognotto opened Italian Society here. Back then, it was a retreat for homesick immigrants enduring life in a city that considered pasta spooky and coffee irrelevant. After Giuseppe's son Rino took the reins in the 1940s, the Society became a hang-out for adventurous Anglo-Aussies, as well as the so-called Spaghetti Mafia, the Italian restaurateurs who clustered at the top of Bourke Street. No doubt many of their conversations were about the knuckleheaded liquor laws that kept drinking and dining separate. For a time, Society got around the prohibition on selling alcohol by offering free wine with meals. In 1952, it was granted a licence, but only until 6pm. Rino Codognotto sold the lease in 1984 and the restaurant went through various incarnations before the D...

    Source: The Age

    Full review on The Age

  • Society

    Michael Harden, Reviewer

    Monday, June 04, 2007

    Society has regained the energy that, until recently, seemed to have been lost forever.

    Everybody loves a good resurrection story - there is something reassuring about a seemingly inevitable end being thwarted at the last moment, when what you imagined lost suddenly rises again, smiling bravely and ready to fight another day. The top end of Bourke Street (or Bourke Hill, for those into precincts) has recently witnessed one such return from near death with the reopening of Society. Opened by Giuseppe Codognotto in 1932, Society has been in various hands and incarnations over the past few years, all of which seemed determined to kill off the innate Italian glamour that was its main drawcard. But now the Dimattina family (Blue Train) have stepped in, giving the place a slightly risque, nightclubby refurb that has transformed Society from an embarrassing shadow of its past glories to a place where you'd actually want to go for a drink. The new Society has two distinct areas. Out the back is Rino's Room (named after Giuseppe's son, who still owns the building), a r...

    Source: The Age

    Full review on The Age

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