Yarra Botanica Review: The Must-Visit Bar in Southbank, Melbourne

Hello friends! Welcome back to another Melbourne Eats blog on Eats With Ash! If you’d like to check out some other ones, you can do so via the “Melbourne Eats” category.

Today, we’re reviewing the bar & restaurant Yarra Botanica, Southbank, Melbourne. I’ve been to this bar quite a few times because I really like it, but we went last Friday night with a couple of our mates, and it was great, just a little bit on the pricier side. It’s a bar that has great vibes, but terrible music LOL.

Location: North of 4 Riverside Quay, Lower Wharf, Southbank Promenade, VIC 3006
Opening Hours: M – W: 12pm – 10pm, Thurs: 12pm – 11pm, Fri: 12pm – 1am, Sat: 11am – 1am, Sun: 11am – 11pm
Price Range: Google says $20 – $60pp but I’d lean more towards the expensive side so more like $40 – $60pp
Cuisine: Seasonal Victorian Produce

All prices are in AUD.

What We Ate

Drinks

• Eureka! $25.50
• Tellurian Redline Shiraz $16.50

Food

• Crispy Halloumi $23.50
• Hot Chips with tomato sauce & aioli $14.50
• Seafood Toasty – Prawn & Scallop $25
• Local Baked Brie with Truffle $31 for the brie, $8 for the truffle
• Pumpkin Pizza $32

We also had a few other drinks but I can’t find them on the menu! Like there was a hot chocolate type of shot which tasted like Baileys. We also missed out on the Mulled Wine because it wasn’t ready when we got there around 7:40 pm. Do people only want mulled wine later at night?

My Review

I definitely like the vibe of the bar, but because it’s winter, it can be very cold in there, being so close to the river. If it had better roofing, this bar would be 10 times better. I think it’s a great bar for summer more than winter.

I LOVE the food here, but because it’s locally sourced, it tends to be on the pricier side. I really liked the hot chips and the seafood toasty the most because it had finger limes on it, and I am obsessed with finger limes. I think the key to my heart is finger limes. I found the pizza to be a bit average. However, it still tasted good and was cooked well. Plus, the pizzas are on sourdough bases, so very good for my IBS tummy. The baked brie with truffle was absolutely delicious and worth every penny, but because it had honey on it, it was very, very sticky, and being someone who struggles with that sorta stuff, I was like “icky”. I’m gonna say my favourite item of food we ordered was the Seafood Toasty. Even Luke liked it, and he’s not big on seafood. I always feel so proud of myself when Luke eats seafood, haha.

I thought that the food was great for sharing with a group of friends, as it’s kinda like grazing plates. I think I need to go here in summer for sure. Loved the drinks too.

The music is very loud in the bar, which makes it hard to talk to each other so that’s a bit of a down buzz but I’d definitely go back for food and drinks but as I said before, I need to go here in summer. I think once I’ve been here in summer, I might be able to critique it more.

If you are looking for a bar that’s open daily in Melbourne’s CBD, then I definitely recommend checking Yarra Botanica out, as we didn’t need a booking for a Friday night. It was busy but there were still tables everywhere.

YAY FOR FINGER LIMES! And justice for the finger lime chippies Australian supermarkets used to have.

Thanks for reading!
Ash x