The Palace Hotel

Time Out made this its Pub of the Year in 2016 and gave it five stars, on the grounds that "on every scale one could judge a pub, these guys top the list."

Why go

For the cheapest good parma in this database and a beer garden that lets the dog in. Fred Siggins's five-star review named the buffalo wings the best in town and put the simple pub cooking, curries and parmas and pies and steaks, at the front of the case (Time Out). Eight years later the same masthead judged Melbourne's parmas against a stated rubric and this one made the list: a thick panko-crumbed breast with ham, cheese and napoli, on special at $24 on Thursdays (Time Out). The beer, in 2016, was a rotating craft list with named locals on it, something dark on the hand pump and official Good Beer Week venue status. That is real craft evidence and it is ten years old, so read it as the pub's direction rather than tonight's taps. The pub describes itself now as an independent family pub, which is worth holding onto, because the other Palace Hotel in this city is a $7.5 million ALH refit in Camberwell.

Order this / avoid

• Order: the parma, and go on a Thursday when it is on special. Wings. Whatever is rotating on the taps.
• Avoid: Mondays, when the kitchen and the bar are both shut, and the old thepalacehotel.net.au address, which no longer resolves.

What locals & experts say

• Fred Siggins, Time Out, five stars, on its own 2016 Pub of the Year: "The simple pub meals are some of the best around – no-frills curries, parmas, pies and steaks that always hit the spot, plus the best Buffalo wings in town." ref
• The same review on the beer: "The rotating craft beer list is always engaging but never too challenging with local heroes like Wolf of the Willows XPA and Holgate Temptress, plus something dark and delicious on the hand pump, like an outstanding porter from Napoleon." ref Ten years old, and nothing current confirms the rotation.
• Time Out again in June 2024, judging parmas across the city: "It's rare to find a pub where the food is as good as the sporting culture, but The Palace – our 2016 Pub of the Year – is just that place." ref
• No Melbourne chef in the 74-pick corpus names it.

Good to know

• Where: 505-507 City Road, on the South Melbourne and Port Melbourne boundary. The pub's own site now writes Port Melbourne 3207; the master row, the geocode and Time Out all say South Melbourne 3205, and the row keeps South Melbourne so the join holds.
• Timing: kitchen Tuesday to Friday 11.45am to 3pm and 5pm to 9pm, Saturday 11.45am to 4pm and 5pm to 9pm, Sunday 11.45am to 9pm. Bar to 11pm most nights, 10pm Sunday. Closed Monday.
• Booking: walk-in.
• Who runs it: described on its own site as an independent family pub. Time Out named Jess McGrath and Mark Pratt as publicans in 2016.
• Not this pub: the Palace Hotel in Camberwell, reopened in 2025 by ALH Hotels after a $7.5 million refit with an upstairs room called Josephine's Lounge. Same name, different business.
• Safety: Victoria publishes no venue hygiene rating. Safe Food Victoria's s.53D register of convictions, fifteen entries at its 21 July 2026 update, does not list this venue. ref

Jeff's take (his words)

Nothing here is Jeff's. Melbourne carries no raw saved-places export in this repo, so there is no Note column of his behind a jeff_note and the field stays empty rather than composed. The master row called it a classic corner boozer with honest pub grub near the market, which undersells a pub that a masthead named its best in the city.

Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)

should-visit — Time Out made this its Pub of the Year in 2016 and gave it five stars, and Fred Siggins's reasoning was that it tops the list on every scale a pub can be judged on: beer, sport, food and service. Eight years later the same masthead put its parma on a judged best-in-Melbourne list, described it as a thick panko-crumbed breast with ham, cheese and napoli, and noted it goes on special at $24 on Thursdays. The wings, in 2016, were called the best in town. The beer was a rotating craft list with a hand pump and official Good Beer Week status, which is genuine craft evidence and is now ten years old, so treat it as the direction rather than the current list. The pub calls itself an independent family pub, which matters here more than usual: there is another Palace Hotel in Camberwell that ALH Hotels reopened after a $7.5 million refit, and it is not this. This one is a corner boozer where the dog is welcome, the kids are welcome and there is two-up on ANZAC Day. Closed Mondays.