Correction (5 October 2026): an earlier version of this page listed places and details we could not stand behind. It has been rewritten from scratch: every place below was confirmed at two independent sources on 5 October 2026, and every price was copied from the page it was published on.
A date-night dinner needs a booking, a price you can see before you sit down, and a table where you can hear each other. Six sit-down places made this page, and none of them has its address in Montmorency itself. Five are in Eltham, mostly along Main Road, and one is in Lower Plenty, so this is a list for dinner in and around Montmorency.
Each place is described from what its own pages and the Australian Good Food Guide (AGFG) print. “Romantic” below is always a quoted tag or a quoted line from the venue’s site, never our verdict, because MELBZ checks sources and does not visit. Accessibility details were not part of what we checked, so ask the venue when you book.
Plan B for a wet night is built in: Mercer’s sells a take-away menu, Machan’s AGFG listing shows takeaway and delivery, and Second Home’s AGFG listing tags a fireplace.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Order this | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A set-menu dinner in a Federation-style house, booked ahead | Mercer’s Restaurant | Mercer’s Six Course Menu | $135 per Person |
| Greek and Cypriot dishes, with its own site naming a romantic date night | Kuzina Greek Kitchen & Bar | GYROS PLATE (lamb / chicken / mixed) | $36.50 |
| An Indian dinner any night of the week, tagged Romantic on AGFG | Machan Indian Restaurant | Samosa (2 pieces) | $14.00 |
| A daytime brekkie, or dinner on a Friday or Saturday night | Second Home | Our Benedict | $27 |
| Tapas and cocktails, tagged Romantic and Pet Friendly on AGFG | Little Drop of Poison | see below | not printed here |
| Modern Italian on green acreage in Lower Plenty | Solana Restaurant and Wine Bar | see below | not printed here |
Mercer’s Restaurant — 732 Main Road, Eltham VIC 3095
Mercer’s site says the restaurant is “housed in a Federation style home surrounded by a beautiful cottage garden”. It describes “double clothed tables and Riedel glassware, together with subtle background music”, which it says create “a calm and intimate dining experience”, and AGFG tags it “Romantic”. That is the venue’s own wording and a guide’s tag, so treat it as a description, not a promise.
The site says “Bookings essential”. It lists dinner from 6.30pm Wednesday to Saturday and lunch from 12 midday on Friday and Sunday, but the home page and its footer do not agree on the lunch days, so confirm before you book. The menus we copied are set menus.
On the menu (copied from mercersrestaurant.com.au/menu and mercersrestaurant.com.au on 5 October 2026):
- Mercer’s Six Course Menu: $135 per Person
- Mercer’s Four Course Menu: $115 per Person
- Cooks With You take away menu (three course; pick up Fridays and Saturdays between 4pm and 6pm): $55.00 per Person
Exit plan: if the evening changes, the site’s “Cooks With You” take-away option is the fallback, with the three course menu priced at $55.00 per Person.
Kuzina Greek Kitchen & Bar — 1092 Main Road, Eltham VIC 3095
Kuzina’s site says “Whether you’re seeking a cozy corner for a romantic date night or a spacious area to celebrate with family and friends, we have the ideal space for you.” That is the venue naming date night itself, which is the strongest wording on this page. The site describes its food as Greek and Cypriot, and AGFG tags “Vegetarian Options”.
The site’s mid-September to mid-June hours list dinner from 5pm on Tuesday to Thursday nights and lunch and dinner from Friday to Sunday, and says it is closed Mondays. It also says “The kitchen closes at 9pm and the venue closes later”, so a late table is a question for the venue. Its menu PDF prices the beef moussaka at $36 (ground beef, chargrilled eggplant and capsicum), the gyros plate at $36.50 (lamb, chicken or mixed, on charcoal), the makaronia tou fournou at $33 (pasta with ground beef and tomato) and the saganaki at $20 (grilled kefalograviera cheese). The menu PDF also notes a 15% surcharge on public holidays.
On the menu (copied from kuzina.com.au/Kuzina_Menu_Aug26.pdf on 5 October 2026):
- GYROS PLATE (lamb / chicken / mixed): $36.50
- BEEF MOUSSAKA: $36
- MAKARONIA TOU FOURNOU: $33
- SAGANAKI: $20
Split or splurge: share the saganaki at $20 to start, then order two mains, such as the beef moussaka at $36 and the makaronia tou fournou at $33.
Machan Indian Restaurant — 953 Main Road, Eltham VIC 3095
Machan sits in the shops at 953 Main Road, Eltham, and AGFG tags it “Romantic”. AGFG lists dinner from 5:30 PM to 9:30 PM every day of the week, and the venue’s own site offers a “MAKE A RESERVATION” button. AGFG also lists “Takeaway” and “Delivery”, which helps if the plan changes.
The site’s menu is wide for different diets. It names “malai kofta, palak paneer, pumpkin masala and various vegan delights”, and says “Machan was one of the first to offer gluten-free naan.” The menu prints the samosa (two pieces of spiced potatoes and green peas in homemade pastry) at $14.00, the butter chicken (a mild dish of boneless tandoori chicken in a creamy tomato sauce) at $27.00, the palak paneer (cottage cheese in a creamy spinach sauce) at $22.00 and the dhal makhani (black lentils and kidney beans in a creamy sauce) at $22.00. A garlic naan is $5.50. According to the site, prices can change.
On the menu (copied from machanindianrestaurant.com.au/menu on 5 October 2026):
- Samosa (2 pieces): $14.00
- Butter Chicken: $27.00
- Palak Paneer: $22.00
- Dhal Makhani: $22.00
Say this: “Can we start with the samosa, share the palak paneer and the dhal makhani, and order a garlic naan?” It is an easy order to agree on, and the vegan and gluten-free lines on the site mean most diets are covered.
Second Home — 21 Brougham Street, Eltham VIC 3095
Second Home is a cafe by day and, on Friday and Saturday evenings, a dinner room. Its site says “Join us every Friday and Saturday evening for dinner, with beautiful produce, fine wines and your choice of two or three courses”, and it prints a Spring 2026 evening price for each. AGFG tags “Fireplace” and “Alfresco Dining”. The site says the full evening menu is available to dine in or take away.
Daytime hours on the site are Monday to Friday 8am to 3pm and Saturday and Sunday 8am to 3:30pm, with the kitchen and coffee closing a little earlier. That makes it a lower-stakes option for a daytime meet-up: Our Benedict is $27 and the Pancake stack is $25, and the site lists an Espresso Martini at $20.50 for a drink.
On the menu (copied from secondhomeeltham.com.au/menu on 5 October 2026):
- Our Benedict: $27
- Pancake stack: $25
- Wagyu beef burger: $30
- Hot chips: $12.50
Stage: a daytime coffee-and-brekkie meet-up on any day, or a booked-ahead dinner on a Friday or Saturday, since the evening menu is only listed for those nights.
Little Drop of Poison — 937B Main Road, Eltham VIC 3095
Little Drop of Poison describes itself as a “Tapas, Mexican, Craft Beer & Cocktail bar in Eltham, Melbourne.” AGFG tags it “Romantic” and “Pet Friendly”, and the site has a “BOOK A TABLE” button. The “Romantic” wording comes from AGFG’s feature tag, not from the venue’s own site.
The venue’s own contact page gives two different sets of opening hours, and AGFG lists different ones again, so we are not printing any. Ring the bar before you go. Its menu is an online-ordering widget and we copied no prices from it, so we cannot tell you what a night here costs.
Talk-ability: we copied nothing about the room’s noise level from its pages, so ask when you book if conversation matters.
Solana Restaurant and Wine Bar — 410 Main Road, Lower Plenty VIC 3093
Solana is in Lower Plenty, not Montmorency. Its site calls it “a modern Italian restaurant set on beautiful green acreage, where contemporary style meets rustic tradition”, and AGFG tags it “Romantic”, “Vegan Options” and “Alfresco Dining”. The site has a “Book A Table” button.
The site lists Tuesday to Thursday from 05:00 PM to 09:30 PM, Friday and Saturday from 12:00 PM to 10:00 PM, and Sunday from 12:00 PM to 09:00 PM. The menu items on its site are posts without prices, so we cannot tell you what a table here costs. One listed dish, “CRUMBED GREEN BEANS (V) (GF OPTION)”, is marked vegetarian with a gluten-free option.
Stage: a longer lunch or dinner on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, since those are the days the site lists lunchtime hours.
Quick answers
Are any of these date-night restaurants in Montmorency?
None of the six addresses we confirmed is in Montmorency. Five are in Eltham (Mercer’s, Kuzina, Machan, Second Home and Little Drop of Poison) and Solana is in Lower Plenty.
Which ones need a booking?
Mercer’s site says “Bookings essential”. Machan’s site shows “MAKE A RESERVATION”, Little Drop of Poison’s shows “BOOK A TABLE” and Solana’s shows “Book A Table”. Kuzina’s site invites online bookings for larger groups too.
Which restaurants carry a romantic tag or wording?
AGFG tags Mercer’s, Machan, Little Drop of Poison and Solana “Romantic”. Kuzina’s own site names a “romantic date night”. Second Home carries neither; it is here for its Friday and Saturday evening dinner.
Which ones list a set price per person?
Mercer’s prints a six course menu at $135 per Person and a four course menu at $115 per Person. Second Home’s site prints Spring 2026 prices for its two and three course Friday and Saturday dinners, which we have not repeated here. Solana and Little Drop of Poison had no prices we could copy.
How we checked
We checked every place on this page against at least two independent sources on 5 October 2026: the places’ own websites, the Australian Good Food Guide and OpenStreetMap. Every price is copied exactly as printed on the page linked under Sources, on 5 October 2026. Menus, prices and opening hours change, so check with the venue before you go. The cover photo is illustrative, from Unsplash, and does not show any place on this page.
Seen something out of date? Email [email protected] with the page link and what has changed, and we will check it again.
Sources
- Mercer’s Restaurant: mercersrestaurant.com.au, agfg.com.au/mercers-restaurant-2810, mercersrestaurant.com.au/menu
- Kuzina Greek Kitchen & Bar: kuzina.com.au, agfg.com.au/kuzina-119728, kuzina.com.au/Kuzina_Menu_Aug26.pdf
- Machan Indian Restaurant: machanindianrestaurant.com.au, agfg.com.au/machan-indian-restaurant-2809, machanindianrestaurant.com.au/menu
- Second Home: openstreetmap.org/672048358, secondhomeeltham.com.au/get-in-touch, agfg.com.au/second-home-53034, secondhomeeltham.com.au/menu, secondhomeeltham.com.au/evenings, secondhomeeltham.com.au
- Little Drop of Poison: littledropofpoison.com.au/contact, agfg.com.au/little-drop-of-poison-45208, littledropofpoison.com.au
- Solana Restaurant and Wine Bar: openstreetmap.org/144359643, solanarestaurant.com.au, agfg.com.au/solana-italian-restaurant-lower-plenty, solanarestaurant.com.au/menu
