With locations in London, Ibiza and Melbourne, Match brings its “No frills” theme to the Melbourne CBD, and combines it with fine dining.

Website:

Match
BOOKINGS: +613 9654 6522 or melbourne@matchbar.com

Location:

249 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne (CBD)

Difficulty Finding:

- Easy to find, situated on the first floor of the corner overlooking the state library and Swanston street. Its entrance is next door to Strike Bowling.

Summary:

- Type: Bar and Grill
- Food: 80 seat restaurant
- Music: DJ
- Cover: No Cover

Review:

The award winning Match Bar Group has been offering the “No Frills” experience in London and Ibiza for several years now. The idea behind Match being that it offers a professional bar experience with the best available ingredients and staff without the pretentiousness that is found at other bars. While it might be offering something different ins London and Ibiza, in Melbourne it fits in perfectly. Inside there is a cosy, relaxed atmosphere and for those lovely warm summer’s nights there is a balcony offering views of Swanston Street and the State Library Gardens.

One thing the chain focuses on is the training of staff, and this shows with polite professional staff waiting on tables and bar staff who are able to meet any challenge set for a drink. Aside from cocktails, there are beers and wines on offer and the staff are more than willing to help if you are unsure. The policy of just entering, sitting at a table and a tab being started makes a night out easier as it breaks the routine of someone always paying for something, and the staff are constantly circling offering table service adding to the no stress atmosphere.

The restaurant area is quite fine and also quite expensive. Recently the restaurant has changed menus from an upmarket pub style meal to a fine dining steak house style, and with it the menu has become significantly more expensive and old favourites like the Match Burger have been left off the menu, replaced with a Waygu Burger. The new menu offers very delicate flavours, is the new restaurant style of offering a basic meal and sharing sides. While they have implemented this quite effectively the meals themselves tend to be slow getting to the tables and when they do arrive the feeling of value for money is not quite there. It is a shame that the change was made because the restaurant area now seems less busy that it was before and doesn’t really complement the bar as well as it used to.

What makes Match unique in its other locations, like the no dress code and no chart music, are nothing particularly “new” to the Melbourne bar scene. This makes it the sort of place you go to hang out in a comfortable environment rather than a place that offers something particularly different or special.

Final Thoughts:

If you are looking for a relaxing place to head to on a night out, that is centrally located, Match is hard to pass up.

Pro’s:
+ Relaxed atmosphere and great music
+ Great bar staff with professional service
+ Relatively well priced drinks
Con’s:
- Doesn’t offer anything particularly new
- Can get cosy around after drinks

Score:

Atmosphere: 5
Service: 6
Menu: 5
Cost: 6
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Overall: 5.5