"MY NEW ST KILDA GO TO!"
Located on the less travelled side of Acland st stands a relatively new addition, Lona pintxos bar. Alluded by the neon sign out the front and kept captivated within by a well priced drinks list and yummy pintxos selections, we managed to spend a good portion of our afternoon there and headed into the night. Be warned, this is the kind of place you can easily loose track of time in. The menu is smart and offers a good selection. Stand outs for us were the pork sliders, the crackling on the bun sets these apart. Also being a lover of all things lamb I couldn’t go past the lamb ribs, I think they were from flinders Island. Not disappointed and will be back for more!
"THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE EXPERIENCE"
As the earlier reviewers indicate this place is a bar with food. A tapas bar. We tried it out recently prior to going to the David Gray concert at the nearby Palias. We were so pleased we did. It is not fine dining but it is top value, full of flavour tapas with very good value drinks, especially if you are a member i.e. Monday nights 2.50$! The setup is good, event sized room, plenty of space between tables, maybe overly white, good paintings and comfortable chairs. Wait staff young professional and helpful to first time diners at the restaurant. We could not decide so took the 8 dish 35$ a head tasting menu. Well what a fantastic deal this is. We enjoyed all of the plates we had. Highlights for me were the potatoes, the chicken skewers and croquettes. The best though was the corn on the cob. I had enjoyed the Mamasita version, this is better!With happy our drinks at 5$ for beer and very good house wines, this place is a bargain. Will definitely return!
"A REAL TASTE SURPRISE."
OK, so I don’t generally do reviews, but… I was very impressed with this joint. I am Spanish and I think I know a thing or two about tapas and pintxos and I am pretty choosy about the real stuff.firstly: this is not a “tapas bar”… in fact there is not such a thing in Spain. There are just bars and in all bars they serve tapas.
secondly: the idiotic “big brother knows better” food regulation in Australia prohibit any possibility of a bar doing the traditional tapas thing as it should be done… we stumbled upon Lona by accident in a visit to St Kilda and what a bloody great find. the quality of the food was exceptional and the service knowledgeable without being snobbish or pretentious.
generally when you order 4 or 5 things, one will miss the march… well, not here. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the taste, the quality of the cooking, the quality of the presentation and the knowledge of the person that waited on us that turned out to be the owner Charles. this is definitely a place we will return to when we are next in Melbourne. forget La Movida… like really… Lona offers a taste sensation at a fair price and a contemporary facet to traditional Iberian cooking. Well done Lona!!!
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