The Whole Restaurant, Not a Corner of One
A restaurant with fresh produce and service
Wood & Bone offers private dining in Melbourne's south-east, hosting exclusive functions Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at 4 Tabbita Street, Moorabbin. You get the entire venue rather than a partitioned room — wood-fired steak and smokehouse menus, free on-site parking, and no fixed turn time.
What “private dining” usually means, and what it means here
In most of Melbourne, booking a private dining room means booking a corner. A partition goes up, you get a section of a working restaurant, and somewhere around the ninety-minute mark a staff member starts hovering because the table is double-booked for a nine o'clock sitting.
Sunday through Tuesday we do not open to the public at all. Those three days the restaurant is a function venue and nothing else. When you book, you book the room — all of it. Your guests, your music, your run sheet, your pace.
That distinction sounds like a detail and it changes the entire night. Nobody is at the next table. Nobody is waiting for yours. Speeches happen when the room is ready for them rather than when the floor manager needs the space back.
Who this suits
Corporate dinners are the most frequent booking, and the most improved by exclusivity. A team of thirty in a shared function room spends the evening competing with another company's night out. Here the acoustics belong to you, which means people can actually hear a thank-you speech.
Milestone birthdays — thirtieths, fortieths, sixtieths — that want a proper sit-down meal rather than canapés and a playlist. Engagements, where the point is the people rather than the styling. Christenings and family lunches that need space for a pram and a grandparent in the same room.
And wakes, which we handle with more care than most venues bother to. There is no set menu for a wake and no run sheet. People arrive at odd times, eat when they are ready, and stay as long as they need. A venue that is not simultaneously running a dinner service is the only kind that can accommodate that properly.
Anything from roughly twenty people up to a full venue. Below twenty we can still help, but you will get better value from a large table on a Wednesday night than from exclusive hire.
Food built with you, not handed to you
We do not have a laminated function menu with three tiers and a bronze option. The kitchen builds the menu around your group — shared smokehouse boards for a relaxed room, plated steak service for something more formal, and genuine attention to whoever in your group does not eat meat.
The grill and the smoker are the same ones running on a Saturday night. Booking a function does not get you a downgraded kitchen working from a separate, easier menu designed for volume. Wood-fired porterhouse and Sher Wagyu, brisket that went into the smoker the night before, seafood that is actually fresh.
Dietary requirements are planned in rather than improvised on the night. Tell us at the enquiry stage and they are built into the menu rather than handled as an exception at the pass.
How the process works
You send a date and rough numbers. We come back with availability and two or three menu directions rather than a PDF and a deposit link. If one of them is close, we adjust it until it is right.
Closer to the date we confirm final numbers, timings, dietary requirements and anything you want set up in the room. On the night, you arrive to a room already arranged. That is the whole process — there is no portal, no event coordinator you have never met, and no upselling.
Why a south-east venue beats a city one
Because your guests live here. Nobody has to negotiate the city on a weeknight, park at city rates, and then work out how they are getting home at eleven. Venue hire in Melbourne's CBD carries a premium that buys you a postcode, not a better night.
Free off-street parking, which for a Melbourne function venue is close to a luxury. Moorabbin station is a short walk. We are minutes from Bentleigh, Cheltenham, Highett and Brighton, and around half an hour from the CBD against the traffic rather than into it.
How to enquire
Call 0477 099 177 or email info@woodandbone.com.au with your date and approximate numbers. We will come back with menu options and availability rather than a PDF and a deposit link.
Four to six weeks is comfortable notice for most events. Christmas is a different conversation entirely — those dates start going in September.
For a festive booking, see Christmas function bookings specifically. Work events sit better on the corporate dinners page, and milestone celebrations on milestone birthdays. Whatever the occasion, shared smokehouse boards and the full wood-fired steak menu are both available — enquire about a date to start the conversation.
FAQ
Do you host birthday parties in Melbourne's south-east?
Yes. The full venue in Moorabbin is available for exclusive hire Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for milestone birthdays and celebrations.
Is Wood & Bone suitable for a 21st birthday?
Yes, if the plan is a sit-down dinner with speeches. It is less suited to events built around a dance floor and a late DJ set.
Can we hold an engagement party here?
Yes. Shared table service works particularly well for engagements, where two families are meeting properly for the first time.
Do you host christenings?
Yes. Sunday functions suit christening lunches, with space for prams and multiple generations.
Can we bring our own cake?
Yes. We will store it, cut it and bring it out when you want it.
Can we decorate the venue and play our own music?
Yes. Because the restaurant is exclusively yours, you can decorate the room and run your own playlist. Ask about set-up access times.
What is the minimum number for a birthday function?
Around twenty. Below that, a large table during normal service is usually better value than exclusive hire.
Do you cater for children at family celebrations?
Yes. The kitchen provides smaller portions of the main menu rather than a separate children's menu.
