Mietta's Review
The Metropolitan is next door to what was the Meat Market Craft Centre. It has a nice front bar with leadlight windows. The charming, Victorian hotel dining room has gone upmarket. New owner/chef Craig McVean has put on a classic gastro-pub menu at very attractive prices. A welcome addition to the gastronomy of this slightly cut off section of North Melbourne.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2010 Score: 13/20 "The heritage-listed Victorian edifice makes for an impressive entrance. Inside, the highceilinged dining room is furnished with elegant chairs, linen tablecloths and a huge mirror that all hint at the Hotel Metropolitan gastropub aspirations"

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 13.5/20 "A framed photo of a stern-faced HRH or even a stag's head would not look out of place in Hotel Metropolitan's dining room, which does much to conjure colonial spirits with its hardbacked antique chairs, Persian rugs, velvet drapery and landscape paintings with fat, gilded frames"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 13.5/20 "The restored dining room of this meat-focused gastropub dates back to 1874 and is adorned with white linen tablecloths, the full complement of glassware, high ceilings and grand mirrors that lend a colonial grandeur without stuffiness"

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 13/20 "Adjoining the former Meat Market in North Melbourne, the Hotel Metropolitan may have recently undergone an extreme makeover but it's still determined to celebrate its roots. The restaurant makes a point of ageing its own beef and relies on local markets for its ingredients. Hence owner-chef Craig McVean chalks up a menu of classic gastropub dishes on the blackboard each morning."

Herald Sun 21/12/04 Stephen Downes score 14/20 " Judging by some of the fine, subtle cooking I tasted at the Metropolitan a week or so after it reopened, I believe it can only improve. The wine list is limited, but offers a comprehensive range of drops at good prices. Three whites and four reds are available by the glass."

Age Epicure John Lethlean November 16, 2004 "Add another gastropub to your list of inner-city boozers worth a visit for the food. After months of renovations, which coincided with the refurbishment and relaunch of the adjoining former Meat Market Craft Centre in North Melbourne, Hotel Metropolitan enters the fray. ... Proprietor and chef Craig McVean is one of the many who has passed through the kitchens of Jacques Reymond over the years and spent five years working for Greg Brown in his bakery business, launching the Browns Bouchon restaurant concept in Toorak as its head chef."