Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page listed five West Melbourne restaurants, with opening hours, prices, seat counts and “insider tips”, that we could not verify: neither the restaurants nor their street addresses appear in West Melbourne in OpenStreetMap, and none has a website or menu we could find. It has been rewritten from scratch. Every place below was checked against its own website or menu on 1 October 2026, and its address against a second, independent record.
The best restaurant in West Melbourne depends on the question. A long Italian lunch with the wine you brought from home? A $20 parma on a Tuesday? Injera and stews for the table? The five places here sit on Victoria, William and Spencer streets, and three of them are pubs that serve a proper feed. This roundup sorts five places by occasion, gives a price band from each venue’s own menu, and picks one menu highlight with its listed price.
Prices were copied from each venue’s own menu on 1 October 2026. Menus move, so give them a squiz before you book.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Menu highlight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| A long Italian lunch or dinner, BYO wine | Amiconi | Calamari fritti, entree size | $33.90 |
| A pub parma, any day | Three Crowns Hotel | The Crown Parma | $30 |
| Pizza and pasta, Tuesday to Sunday | Royal Standard Hotel | Capricciosa pizza, small | $15 |
| Dishes to share at the table | Little Africa | Vegetarian combination for two | $45 |
| A gluten-free-friendly pub dinner | Hotel Spencer | A steak or a burger (menu posted as an image) | see its site |
By occasion: for lunch, Amiconi (Monday to Friday) and the Three Crowns (Wednesday to Sunday) both serve from midday, and the Royal Standard takes lunch pre-orders; for a long dinner, Amiconi or Little Africa; for a group on a budget, the Three Crowns’ weekly specials.
Amiconi — 359 Victoria St, West Melbourne VIC 3003
A traditional Italian restaurant that describes itself as “fully licensed and BYO wine”, and whose own site traces its story to a family in “the early 50’s”. The menu prints two prices for most dishes, an entree size and a main: tagliatelle alla carbonara is $31.90 or $35.90, the garlic mushrooms it calls famous are $31.90 as an entree, and bread with garlic, herb or chilli is $4.50 a serve. For a table that wants everything, the banquet is $95 per person and runs from breads through calamari, gnocchi, veal and profiteroles to coffee.
Price band: $31.90 to $45.90 for pastas and seafood, as listed. Lunch Monday to Friday, dinner Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday; bookings by phone only.
Menu highlight: calamari fritti, $33.90 entree or $45.90 main.
Three Crowns Hotel — 365 Victoria St, West Melbourne VIC 3003
A pub that calls itself “a meeting place since 1867”, with a kitchen that runs seven days. Its posted kitchen hours are dinner only on Monday and Tuesday and lunch and dinner the rest of the week, though another page on its site advertises weekday counter meals from midday Monday to Thursday, so ring ahead before planning a Monday or Tuesday lunch there. The Crown Parma is $30 (crumbed chicken, smoked ham, Napoli sauce and three cheeses), but the weekly specials are where the value sits: parma night on Tuesday is $20, the Wednesday steak night sirloin is $25, and Friday’s fish and chip special is $22 from 5pm, against $32 on the regular menu. Sundays bring a $25 roast, and the beef and Guinness pie is $26 any day.
Price band: $26 to $32 for the pub classics above, $20 to $25 on the special nights, as listed. The menu marks gluten-free options GFO.
Menu highlight: The Crown Parma, $30. On Tuesdays the pub runs a separate $20 parma night from 5pm.
Royal Standard Hotel — 333 William St, West Melbourne VIC 3003
A pub with a separate restaurant and an Italian lean: its site describes a European-style dining room with an a la carte menu, a bar serving bar meals, and lunch you can pre-order for a quick break. Most of the classic pizzas are $15 for a small, a capricciosa (ham, mushroom, olives and anchovies) among them. Pastas come in two sizes, so a carbonara is $19 as an entree or $24 as a main, the lasagne is $24, and the chicken parmigiana is $26. The menu also notes that all dishes can be made gluten free on request.
Price band: $15 to $26 for pizza, pasta and the parma, as listed. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 11pm.
Menu highlight: capricciosa pizza, $15 for a small.
Little Africa — 223 Victoria St, West Melbourne VIC 3003
A dinner-only restaurant that bills itself as Ethiopian dining. The food is built around injera, a soft, spongy sourdough flatbread you tear and use to scoop up stews, and berbere, the chilli-based spice blend that colours most of the sauces. Shiro, a seasoned chickpea stew, is $20; lamb zighini, slow-cooked in berbere with clarified butter, is $24; and dorho zighini, the chicken version served with a hard-boiled egg, is $25. The combinations are the way to share: the vegetarian combination is $27 for one or $45 for two, the combination of the day is $31 or $57, and extra injera is $2. The menu does not list what goes into each combination, so ask when you ring.
Price band: $20 to $57 for mains and combinations, as listed. Dinner 5pm to 10pm, closed Monday; bookings by phone.
Menu highlight: vegetarian combination for two, $45.
Hotel Spencer — 475 Spencer St, West Melbourne VIC 3003
A gastro-pub that, by its own account, re-opened in November 2013 and serves “starters, burgers, steaks and bistro classics”. It is the pick here if someone at the table is coeliac: the site says gluten free, vegan and vegetarian options are always available, and that it takes care over cross-contamination to the point that even its deep-fried food is safe. There is also a private dining room for up to 35 guests, booked ahead.
Price band: not listed here. Its menu is posted on the site as an image, so check prices there. Open Wednesday to Saturday, midday to 11pm, with the kitchen running from midday to the end of dinner service.
Menu highlight: a steak or a burger; see the menu image on its site for current prices.
If you only try one: make it Amiconi for a long lunch, since it serves lunch and dinner every weekday, lets you bring your own wine, and has calamari at $33.90.
Quick answers
What are the best restaurants in West Melbourne?
This roundup picks five, by occasion: Amiconi (359 Victoria St) for a long Italian lunch or dinner with BYO wine; the Three Crowns Hotel (365 Victoria St) for a pub parma and weekly specials; the Royal Standard Hotel (333 William St) for pizza and pasta; Little Africa (223 Victoria St) for Ethiopian dishes to share; and Hotel Spencer (475 Spencer St) for a pub dinner with gluten-free options.
Which West Melbourne restaurants are open on a Sunday or a Monday?
On a Sunday, the Three Crowns kitchen serves lunch and dinner, the Royal Standard is open 11am to 11pm, and Little Africa opens for dinner. On a Monday, Amiconi serves lunch and dinner and the Three Crowns lists kitchen hours of 5pm to 9pm. Little Africa and the Royal Standard are closed on Mondays, Amiconi is closed on Sundays, and Hotel Spencer opens Wednesday to Saturday only. Hours are from each venue’s own site on 1 October 2026.
Where can I get a cheap dinner in West Melbourne?
The Three Crowns runs a $20 parma night on Tuesdays and a $22 fish and chips special from 5pm on Fridays. At the Royal Standard, most classic pizzas are $15 for a small. At Little Africa, shiro, a chickpea stew, is $20.
Can you BYO wine at a West Melbourne restaurant?
Amiconi describes itself as fully licensed and BYO wine. Its website does not list a corkage charge, so ask when you ring to book; it takes bookings by phone, not email.
Which West Melbourne restaurant is best for gluten-free?
Hotel Spencer says gluten free, vegan and vegetarian options are always available and that it guards against cross-contamination for coeliacs, deep-fried food included. The Royal Standard’s menu says all dishes can be made gluten free on request, and the Three Crowns marks gluten-free options GFO.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each venue’s own website, and copied every item and price exactly as printed on its own menu: the menu page on Amiconi’s site, the menu PDFs linked from the Three Crowns and Royal Standard websites, and the menu page on Little Africa’s site. Hotel Spencer posts its menu as an image only, so no price from it appears here. Opening hours come from each venue’s own site. On 2 October 2026 we re-read the Three Crowns’ specials pages, which give the start times for its parma night and fish and chips special. We confirmed each address at a second, independent record, the venue’s entry in OpenStreetMap. Two venues mention North Melbourne on their sites, but both give a West Melbourne 3003 street address, which is what we use.
The places on the earlier version of this page could not be found at all, so none of them is here. We also left out places whose websites did not load or whose menus we could not read on 1 October 2026; that says nothing about whether they are trading. No star ratings or review counts are used. The photos are illustrative, from Unsplash: they show the kind of dish, not the venue’s own food.
Seen something out of date? Email [email protected] with the page link and what has changed, and we will check it again.
Sources
- Amiconi: amiconi.com.au and its menu; address also at OpenStreetMap
- Three Crowns Hotel: threecrownshotel.com.au, contact and kitchen hours, menu PDF, and its parma night and fish and chips pages; address also at OpenStreetMap
- Royal Standard Hotel: royalstandardhotel.com.au, contact and menu PDF; address also at OpenStreetMap
- Little Africa: littleafrica.com.au, its menu and contact page; address also at OpenStreetMap
- Hotel Spencer: hotelspencer.com.au, contact and menu; address also at OpenStreetMap
