Golden hour: 12 of Melbourne’s best rooftop dining and drink specials
Shout it from the roof(tops) – we’ve rounded up the best spots to enjoy cut-price food and drinks while you watch the sun go down this spring and beyond.
Summer is coming, and rooftop-bar season is upon us. So, Specials Board has gone sky-high this week to scope out some of the best drinking – and, of course, dining – deals that you can make the most of while soaking up the sun on a rooftop. Cheers to that.
$1 wings at Full Moon Fever (and Lulie Tavern), Abbotsford
Decade-old dive bar Lulie Tavern levelled up – literally – when it opened Full Moon Fever, a rooftop bar with desert vibes, in 2022. And one of the biggest drawcards to the double-decker Abbotsford site is its weekly specials. Thursdays are all about wings – from BBQ to buffalo to southern fried – when they’re a buck a piece from noon until late.
Level 1, 225 Johnston Street, Abbotsford, lulietavern.com
$25 margherita and margarita at Mirror Mirror, South Melbourne
On hump day, the most charming thing about this Snow White-themed rooftop lounge is the prices. From 6pm to 9pm, make a beeline to the new South Melbourne spot for its Margs on Margs deal, when $25 gets you a margherita pizza and a margarita cocktail.
Level 3, 209 Clarendon Street, South Melbourne, mirrormirrorrooftop.com.au
$39 cocktail and snacks at Beverly, South Yarra
Sunset is when you want to be at Beverly, perched 24 stories above Chapel Street. So, from 3pm to 8pm daily, it’s running a hot offer – in partnership with Campari – that gives you a cocktail (negroni sour, garibaldi or aperol spritz) with two skewers for $39.
Level 24, 627 Chapel Street, South Yarra, beverlyrooftop.com.au
$80 unlimited food and drinks at Pinchy’s, CBD
Bourke Street’s famously seafood-centric bar Pinchy’s is pivoting, adding meat to the menu for the first time. And to celebrate, it’s hosting a series of all-you-can-eat and -drink Spanish BBQs – every Sunday from December 1 to 22 – on its open-air balcony. With live entertainment and unlimited drinks and food included, this Bourke Street gem is the place to be this festive season.
Level 1, 200 Bourke Street, Melbourne, pinchys.co
$7-$15 golden-hour specials at Runner Up, Collingwood
Hard to find but easy to love, Runner Up is the cherry on top of arts precinct Collingwood Yards. Locate the lift just off Johnston Street and shoot to the second floor for golden hour from 5pm to 7pm weekdays, when the shandies are $7, the spritzes are $12 and the tommy’s margs are $15. Bonus: $9.99 wines are pouring all day, every day.
Level 2, 35 Johnston Street, Collingwood, runnerup.net.au
Multiple specials at Rufio, St Kilda
Bayside restaurant and rooftop Rufio deals in Latin American fusion, and there are some great-value options to lure you in most days of the week. Wednesdays it’s $25 parmas; Thursdays it’s $25 steaks, with Oaxaca-cheese potato skins and chimichurri; and there’s a daily happy hour promising $10 house vino, beer and frozen margaritas.
188 Carlisle Street, St Kilda, rufio.co
$25 steak night and drink specials at Union House, Richmond
This Swan Street pub has one of Richmond’s favourite front bars, but there’s even more to love upstairs – like a sunny rooftop. Go on Wednesday night and be rewarded with a $25 porterhouse with chips and peppercorn sauce, plus cheap drinks from 4pm to 6pm.
270 Swan Street, Richmond, unionhouse.com.au
Multiple specials at Tetto di Carolina, South Yarra
You don’t have to splash out on a visit to suave rooftop cocktail spot Tetto di Carolina – from the Bar Carolina and Il Bacaro crew. Especially if it’s midweek. On Wednesdays, the freshly shucked oysters are $3.50 and the flutes of Taittinger champagne are a reasonable $18; and on Thursdays, the negronis and martinis are $15 all night long.
Level 1, 48 Toorak Road, South Yarra, tettodicarolina.com.au
$9 drinks and $75 bottomless brunch at Blacksmith Bar & Grill, CBD
King Valley winemaker Dal Zatto has stormed into the city to take over the rooftop at Blacksmith Bar & Grill this summer. The wines (and limoncello spritzes) are $9 for aperitivo “hour”, from 4pm to 9pm, and bottomless brunch starts at $75 on Saturdays.
Level 7, 30 Timothy Lane, Melbourne, blacksmithbarandgrill.com
$15 cocktails and three-for-$15 canapes at Fable, CBD
One of the CBD’s tallest rooftop bars, the 13th-storey Fable, wants you to clock off early and spend the arvo in the sky. From 3pm to 5pm, Tuesday to Friday, it serves $15 classic cocktails and three-for-$15 canapes like the playful adobo-chicken lollipops.
Level 13, 168 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, fablemelbourne.com.au
Multiple drink specials at Good Heavens, CBD
Last year, rooftop hotspot Good Heavens, on the corner of Bourke and Exhibition streets, doubled its capacity. And now it runs drink specials every day of the week – bar Saturday – to help fill the sprawling 380-person space. We’re talking half-price bottles of wine on Tuesdays, $8 G&Ts on Wednesdays, $12 cosmos on Thursdays and more.
Level 2, 79 Bourke Street, Melbourne, goodheavens.com.au
Multiple specials at Stella, South Yarra
There are four levels at Chapel Street’s Italian destination Stella, which opened in 2022. But the crowning glory is an easy-breezy rooftop terrace with views across South Yarra. From 3pm to 6pm weekdays, there are select $8 beers and $9 wines, plus $20 glasses of Piper-Heidsieck champagne, and $65 bottomless pizza and spritzes on weekends.
427 Chapel Street, South Yarra, stellarestaurantbar.com.au
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Tomas Telegramma is a food, drinks and culture writer.