Hickinbotham of Dromana

Great selection of food to go with their wines, along with a great venue with outdoor seating under umbrellas, and the afternoon blues session was amazing.

I attended the Jazz Shuffle Club concert at Higginbottoms on Australia Night. The service was excellent, the food was good and the band were well and truly worth the trip. Unfortunately a drunk woman who insisted on getting in everyone's face and generally making a fool of herself took the edge off I really fun night.

Excellent friendly service. Food delicious and reasonably priced, wine outstanding! We are so lucky to have this winery/ restaurant on our doorstep!

Great service, friendly staff. Food was AMAZING. Live music on Sunday afternoon was fun. Cellar door reasonably priced.

Very large portions
Crunchy chips
Tasty lamb shank
Tasty linguine
Great variety of drinks
Fast service
Spacious ambiance

If I could give them more stars I would. It was absolutely wonderful. The food is to die for and the service is wonderful. Thank you for a wonderful lunch.

Great place to be on a Saturday afternoon with live music and a roaring fire. Service was great and food came out pretty quickly. Lamb shanks were the stand out dish. The menu is fairly pricey so good for a celebration. Also made a quick visit to the cellar door for a tasting. Would definitely come again!

Lovely place with great love music and friendly staff. They have a nice little tasting shed too where you can try their wines and gin. Whilst I really enjoyed the place, I thought the food was a bit hit and miss. The chicken pie was under seasoned and slightly too watery for my liking but the lamb shanks were very good. Veal caponata didn't have much flavour but wasn't bad. Dessert was good though. I will say that the portions were very generous and I probably would come back but hopefully they can make some minor adjustments to some of the dishes to really make them shine.

Thank you to Terryn and the staff @hickinbotham_dromana for providing Matt and I with the perfect venue for our wedding. Our guests have continually told us what a wonderful meal they had and even better wine. THANK YOU Terryn for being super easy to work with, no stress what so ever.
We will see you for lunch soon
Xxx

We had lunch here for the first time today and we'll definitely be back. All the food was amazing and very decent servings for the prices. My husband and I shared the Proscuito wrapped Brie as an entree and it was huge! I had a the Baramundi burger as a main and the fish was cooked perfectly and again it was huge. We did plan on sharing a dessert, but we were so full that I couldn't finish my main. Even the kids meals were very generous in size and one of the best spaghetti bolognese I've ever tasted.

The service was outstanding. Very professional and attentive without being intrusive.

We look forward to going back again and taking friends or family with us.

Perfect venue for 3 generations of a family to celebrate a 70th Birthday. The food was varied and excellent, wines great, the staff exceptional and should be congratulated for their efficiency and happy faces, the music was a well appreciated bonus. Well done we will return no doubt about it.

First time there and wasn’t nice at all. The food came out cold especially bathe steaks and the rocket salad had no dressing whatsoever and the cherry tomatoes were like they were cut days ago. Bland as. Service was not up to scratch and dirty seats. So I guess I won’t be going there again.

Until today I enjoyed the times I went to Hickenbothams.
I even helped them build the big wood pizza pizza oven in the back.

But what happened there today was more than I could bare. And worthy of the worst of worst reviews.

I had spent countless weeks organising for my very disabled brother to be taken here for a Xmas outing, away from the despicable aged facility in St Kilda he unfortunately resides in, that has factually, for a very long time, been grossly abused in.

This outing was to be a time of peace and enjoyment for us.
I was so excited for months to be able to do this with him.

My brother has, among other things, an acquired brain injury.
He’s a very good, kind man.
A big teddy bear kind of guy.

Upon arrival, all was great. Staff flurried about us, and assisted nicely.
Including guiding him back from the disabled toilet & smoking area (unfortunately he still smokes)

However, not long after returning from this, a female staffer approached and said my brother had told other staff he had COVID.

There is no way I believed he would say this, and I never will. For he lives in a facility that jab and test him like a lab rat. He would not even be allowed out if he had it.

I asked him did he have any discussion at all about COVID, and he said no, and I believe him. Or he would have said yes.

Then a male staffer approached and called me away from him in private, saying the owner had said to him, that my brother had told him he had COVID.

At about here, livid at what I knew was a lie, I asked him to go get the claimant. No surprise he suddenly wasn’t available.

This male staffer then repeatedly kept coming over to our table, inviting himself to sit & interupt what little peace we had, with the ongoing false claim that my brother “must” have said he had COVID.

My brother re- confirmed to him, that he had not even had any discussion with anyone about COVID, let alone said he had it. And I believe him.

The male staffer kept insisting the owner would not lie. Hence, that means he must be accusing my brother of lying. As there’s no other option.

By now I was very distraught, especially as we had already had a day of hell yesterday, going to a “respite home” I will be making formal legal complaints about, that meant the day prior was also ruined by people lying.
This was all the more reason we were desperate to relax at Hickenbothams.

So I asked do they want us to leave, as I was absolutely fed up with it all by then. He said no, and went to some lengths to continue to claim his boss “wouldn’t lie”…

At this point I realised he was determined to be right, at our detriment, no matter what.

So I said if our meals weren’t cooked yet I would just pay for the 2 drinks we had and leave.

I asked for confirmation of how long the meals would be, or if mot started, we would leave.

He went to enquire, & came back stating we had only ordered one meal.
Which clearly we ordered two.
So I prepared for us to leave, I was beyond fed up.

Then he returned again apologising saying the order was wrong bc of their error… whatever. And again he tried to invite himself to sit down, no doubt again to try to convince us my brother must have lied, as his boss wouldn’t…

At this point, I was so utterly fed up with him that I literally had to repeatedly beg him to stop, not sit down again, and to leave us alone.

The meals finally arrived. Very small.
And I could not enjoy anything.
This horrid incident of clear discrimination against my disabled brother, totally ruined our day, and the rest of the day thereafter.

I personally am so absolutely fed up with people lying to save their own skin, to the detriment of others. But to do so to a very disabled man, who was telling the truth no doubt whatsoever, was despicable. I won’t ever forget, and can’t forgive.

I figured perhaps they may give a discount or gesture of good will before leaving, but no, they took the whole $60.

I will now never be able to enjoy this place again, as it will bring these bad memories back. So I’m not going to return.

Love the venue but very disappointed with NYE. Waited nearly 2 hours for our order to be taken, then after 1 hr queried how long for our entree arrived 15 minutes later only to find of 4 meatballs 3 cold and 1 warm. Main came well after 10pm lamb so small looked like they had run out comparing to others serves earlier at other tables and drinks never arrived! We left. Will go again but won't order food. So disappointing and expensive.

Amazing food, great venue and lovely staff. Perfect place for a lazy Sunday lunch. Ruby cider, Gin and Beers all fantastic.

Thank you Hickinbotham for making my birthday special. We came with a couple of friends and had a number of share plates (ribs and mussels were outstanding), which made for a fun afternoon. The service was attentive and suited our party of 13 including kids.

Great new menu. Loved the calamari, perfectly done. Seared, no batter. And the pear salad to share. Shared some pork belly, delish!

If you like a genuinely relaxed atmosphere with great food (well priced), good coffee, live music and a tremendous range of in house beers and wines, then this is a top spot to enjoy an afternoon.

A great function and event winery and restaurant. The service is great and the food is amazing with a diverse menu to chose from. Very relaxed atmosphere.

2 friends & I went to Hickinbotham yesterday for lunch & it was great! Saganaki, chicken wings, brisket burger, lamb rump, pork in char siu sauce…all SO delicious!