Best Restaurants in St Kilda 2026: Acland Street & Beyond

Updated 16 March 2026 | 6 places tested | Jules Marchetti reporting

St Kilda has always been Melbourne’s most theatrical dining suburb. One minute you’re watching the sunset over Port Phillip Bay, the next you’re squeezing into a red leather booth for pasta that’s been coming out of the same kitchen since 1993. The strip along Acland Street has lost a few old-timers over the years — the cake shops keep turning over, the rent keeps climbing — but the dining scene itself? Honestly, it’s held up better than most people expected.

This isn’t a list of every restaurant in St Kilda. There are 200-odd venues here, and most of them are perfectly fine but forgettable. These are the six that earned a return visit, the ones where the food justifies the trek across town, and the ones that actually feel like they belong to this neighbourhood. We tested them across multiple visits over summer and into early autumn 2026, eating at the counter, at the window, and tucked in the back corner like a regular.

1. Stokehouse — The Big Night Out

📍 30 Jacka Boulevard, St Kilda 🍽️ Modern Australian / Seafood 💰 Shared menu $145 per person | Mains $48–$68 ⭐ Signature dish: Yellowfin tuna belly with compressed melon

There’s a reason Stokehouse has survived a fire, a pandemic, and two decades of St Kilda’s shifting fortunes. Perched right on the sand at Jacka Boulevard, this is the restaurant you book when you want to feel like Melbourne is genuinely one of the world’s great food cities. Mark Douglass Design’s ceiling installation — those 2000 frosted glass tubes in blush pink — catches the bay light in a way that makes everything feel slightly cinematic.

The kitchen sends out seafood that tastes like it left the ocean twenty minutes ago. The yellowfin tuna belly with compressed melon is one of those dishes that recalibrates your expectations: impossibly clean flavours, the sweetness of the fish playing off the almost candied texture of the melon. If you’re doing the shared menu ($145pp), you’ll also get grilled king prawns, a snapper crudo that changes with the season, and some of the best sourdough on this side of the city.

The wine list leans heavily Australian with some sharp European picks. Ask for the sommelier’s recommendation rather than self-selecting — they know what works with the food, and they won’t upsell you unnecessarily.

Insider tip: Book for a late sitting on a clear evening. When the sun drops behind the buildings along St Kilda Road and the bay goes pink-to-purple, you’ll understand why this place charges what it charges.

2. Cafe Di Stasio — The Institution

📍 31 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda 🍽️ Italian 💰 Mains $32–$58 | Set menu available ⭐ Signature dish: Fresh pasta with seasonal truffle

Rinaldo Di Stasio’s white-jacketed dining room has been a Melbourne pilgrimage site for more than 30 years. The art on the walls rotates. The waiters have been there longer than most marriages. The daily specials are recited to your table by someone who actually understands what they’re describing.

This isn’t Italian in the way that most Melbourne restaurants do Italian — no $22 cacio e pepe with a truffle surcharge, no Instagram-friendly burrata towers. Di Stasio does the kind of Italian food that a well-off family in Milan would eat on a Tuesday night: twice-daily made pasta, seasonal produce treated with respect, a veal parmigiana that’s been on the menu so long it has its own legacy.

The set menu is the move if you haven’t been before. It takes the guesswork out and lets the kitchen show you what it does best. Expect Italian truffles when they’re in season, lobster when the market’s good, and always that impeccable pasta.

Insider tip: Sit in the front window if you want people-watching along Fitzroy Street. Sit in the back if you want a proper date night. The bar out the back is excellent for a pre-dinner drink — the staff know the wine list backwards and the art on the walls is always worth a look.

Note: 10% weekend and public holiday surcharge applies. Book ahead — this place fills up, especially on Fridays and Saturdays.

3. Claypots Seafood Bar — The People’s Champion

📍 213 Barkly Street, St Kilda 🍽️ Seafood / Mediterranean 💰 Mains $18–$42 | Entrees $12–$22 ⭐ Signature dish: Claypots (the namesake one)

Since 1998, Claypots has been the place where St Kilda locals go when they want excellent seafood without any of the faff. No reservations, no dress code, no nonsense — just walk in, grab a table, and order the dish this place was named after.

The claypot itself is a stew of whatever’s good that day: mussels, prawns, fish, chilli, garlic, a tomato-based broth that you’ll want to soak up with bread. It arrives steaming, bubbling, and exactly as unpretentious as the room it’s served in. The garlic king prawns are always reliable, the grilled snapper is simple and perfectly executed, and if they have chilli crab on, get it — the sauce is one of those things you’ll think about for days.

The atmosphere is the real drawcard. This place is loud. Tables are close together. The wine is cheap and decent. Someone at the next table is almost certainly celebrating something. It feels like what St Kilda was supposed to be — inclusive, unpretentious, a bit rowdy, and absolutely alive.

Insider tip: Go on a weeknight. Weekend queues can hit 45 minutes, and the walk-in-only policy means no amount of charm will get you a table faster. Wednesday or Thursday evening is the sweet spot.

Getting there: It’s a 15-minute walk from Acland Street down Barkly Street, or a short tram ride on the 96. If you’re coming from South Melbourne, the 96 tram drops you right nearby.

4. Radio Mexico — The Late-Night Legend

📍 11-13 Carlisle Street, St Kilda 🍽️ Mexican 💰 Tacos $7–$14 | Mains $16–$32 ⭐ Signature dish: Slow-cooked lamb tacos with salsa verde

Carlisle Street doesn’t get enough credit. While everyone fights over Acland and Fitzroy, this little strip between Barkly Street and the Esplanade has quietly become one of Melbourne’s best eating streets — and Radio Mexico is the anchor tenant.

Since 2012, this corner spot has been doing Mexican food the way it should be done: proper corn tortillas, slow-cooked meats, salsas made fresh, and margaritas that don’t come out of a slushy machine. The taco truck — a custom-built carro de tacos — sits inside the restaurant like a permanent installation, and the food that comes off it is the real deal.

The slow-cooked lamb tacos are the headline act: falling-apart meat, sharp salsa verde, pickled onion, a squeeze of lime. But the real value play is the shared plates — the ceviche is bright and clean, the tostadas have a satisfying crunch that makes you forget you’re in Melbourne and not Mexico City.

The drinks list is built around tequila and mezcal, with a handful of margaritas that range from classic to experimental. The staff know their stuff and will steer you right if you tell them what you like.

Insider tip: Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm onwards, this place becomes the best version of itself — packed, loud, and the kitchen is firing on all cylinders. Book ahead or arrive early. If you’re bar-hopping afterwards, Balaclava is a five-minute walk down Carlisle Street with some excellent late-night options.

Hours: Mon–Thu 5pm–10pm, Fri–Sun from noon. Closed Tuesdays.

5. Cicciolina — The Acland Street Darling

📍 130 Acland Street, St Kilda 🍽️ Italian 💰 Mains $28–$52 | Entrees $16–$24 ⭐ Signature dish: Hand-made pappardelle with slow-braised ragu

If Cafe Di Stasio is St Kilda’s Italian grand dame, Cicciolina is its eccentric aunt — the one with the incredible wine collection and the house full of art that shouldn’t work together but somehow does. Since 1993, this Acland Street stalwart has been packing diners into its small, art-covered dining room and feeding them simple Italian food done with care.

The walls are hung with an eclectic mix of paintings, prints, and photographs that feel like they were collected over decades of dinner parties. It gives the room a warmth that newly designed restaurants can’t fake. The red leather booths are booths in the classic sense — slightly worn, deeply comfortable, and perfect for lingering over a long lunch.

The menu isn’t trying to reinvent Italian food. It’s trying to do the classics properly, and it mostly succeeds. The pappardelle with slow-braised ragu is the dish to order if you’ve never been: thick ribbons of pasta, rich meat sauce, a shower of parmesan. The wine list runs to 250+ bottles, mostly Italian and French, and the bar out the back is one of St Kilda’s best-kept secrets for a quiet drink before dinner.

Insider tip: Don’t skip the entree section. The antipasto here isn’t the sad cheese-and-cured-meat platter you get at most places — it’s properly generous and a great way to start while you deliberate over mains. Also, the private dining room seats 8–14 with no surcharge, which makes it one of the best value group bookings on this side of town.

Getting here: Right on Acland Street, opposite Luna Park. If you’re coming from Elwood, it’s a pleasant 20-minute walk along the Esplanade with the bay on your left the whole way.

6. Mya Tiger — The View You Earned

📍 11 The Esplanade, St Kilda (upstairs at the Hotel Esplanade) 🍽️ Cantonese / Chinese 💰 Shared plates $14–$28 | Yum Cha from $58pp ⭐ Signature dish: Duck pancakes with hoi sin

Tucked upstairs at the Hotel Esplanade — the Espy to locals — Mya Tiger is St Kilda’s answer to the question nobody asked but everyone needed: what if you could eat excellent Cantonese food while watching the sun set over Port Phillip Bay? The answer, it turns out, is quite good.

The space takes advantage of the Espy’s upstairs position, with floor-to-ceiling windows that frame the bay. The food backs up the view. The duck pancakes are the signature — crisp-skinned, well-seasoned, wrapped in thin pancakes with proper hoi sin. The spicy pork chilli wontons have a kick that builds slowly and rewards patience. The sesame prawn toast is a nostalgia hit done better than your childhood memory of it.

Yum Cha Sundays are the main event: a shared selection of starters plus six yum cha items from $58 per person. It’s a booking-essential situation, and when the weather’s good, the terrace fills fast. The cocktail list leans into the Cantonese theme with ginger, lychee, and lemongrass-infused drinks.

Insider tip: If you’re seeing a show at the Palais or the National Theatre, Mya Tiger’s pre-theatre banquet is the move. It’s timed to get you fed and out the door without rushing, and the quality is significantly better than most theatre-district dining.

Getting there: Straight off the 96 tram at the stop outside Luna Park. The Espy entrance is on the Esplanade — head up the ornate staircase and follow the chandelier.

Honourable Mentions

A few places that almost made the cut:

• Saint George (54 Fitzroy Street) — Karen Martini’s Italo-pub with a proper grill and a Bistecca alla Fiorentina that’s worth the walk from South Melbourne. The grill side is excellent; the pub side is a bit hit-or-miss depending on the night.
• Flour Child (Level 1, 77 Acland Street) — Their “pinsa romana” style pizza is genuinely lighter and more interesting than most woodfired options. Great cocktails, great views of Luna Park from the upstairs terrace. Can get chaotic on weekends — go on a Wednesday.
• Rococo Acland Street — A St Kilda stalwart doing solid Italian with their famous antipasti boards. Reliable rather than thrilling, but there’s something to be said for reliability.

What We Skipped and Why

Dim sim joints on Acland Street: The cake shops are iconic, but they’re more of a takeaway-and-wander situation than a sit-down dining experience. Acland Street’s continental bakeries — Acland Cake Shop, Monarch Cakes, Le Bon — deserve their own guide, and we’ll give them one.

Fitzroy Street’s mid-range strip: There’s a cluster of perfectly acceptable Asian restaurants along Fitzroy Street between the Palais and the pier. They’re fine for a quick feed, but none of them are doing anything that compels a dedicated trip. If you’re after Vietnamese or Thai specifically, you’ll do better on Carlisle Street or heading to Balaclava.

The beachfront fish and chip shops: They serve what you’d expect at the price point. We’re not going to pretend one is dramatically better than another. Buy your chips, sit on the beach, enjoy the moment.

Gelato shops: We ate at all of them. We have opinions. That’s a separate article.

Getting There and Getting Home

Tram: The 96 runs from the CBD straight down Carlisle Street and along the Esplanade — it’s the St Kilda lifeline and runs late. The 16 from South Melbourne via St Kilda Road is another option.

Parking: On Acland Street itself, it’s a nightmare after 5pm. Try the side streets off Barkly Street — meters are cheaper and the walk is shorter than you’d think.

Getting home safe: St Kilda’s foreshore and Acland Street are well-patrolled, but stick to well-lit areas after midnight. The 96 tram runs until about 1am most nights. If you’re leaving late, the Uber rank on Fitzroy Street is better than hailing one from the beach.

Accessibility: Stokehouse, Cafe Di Stasio, and the Espy (Mya Tiger) all have step-free entry and accessible bathrooms. Claypots and Radio Mexico have ground-floor access but tight interiors — worth calling ahead if accessibility is a priority. Cicciolina has stairs.

The Bottom Line

St Kilda’s dining scene in 2026 is quieter than its peak years, but what’s left is good — really good. The venues that survived are the ones that earned their place through quality, consistency, and genuine character. Whether you’re after a $145-per-person degustation at Stokehouse or a $7 taco at Radio Mexico, the strip delivers with a confidence that most Melbourne suburbs can’t match.

The old cake shops on Acland Street still have their window displays. The Esy still has live music three nights a week. And somewhere between the bay and the boulevard, there’s a table with your name on it.

Have a St Kilda restaurant we need to try? Submit a tip or rate the suburb on our interactive map.

Related reading:

• Best Cafes in South Melbourne 2026
• Elwood Beach Guide: Where to Eat and Drink
• Balaclava’s Hidden Food Street: Carlisle Street Deep Dive
• St Kilda Suburb Vibe Score This Week

This article was independently reviewed. No venue paid for inclusion. Prices and menus were accurate at time of testing (February–March 2026). Hours may vary — always check the venue’s website or call ahead.

Jules Marchetti is MELBZ’s Senior Food Editor. She’s eaten at every restaurant on Fitzroy Street at least twice, once on a Tuesday and once on a Saturday. She has opinions.

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