Sorrento has something it's never had: a restaurant built directly over the water, with unobstructed sea views. ONDA is a 150-seat coastal Mediterranean restaurant positioned on pylons above Port Phillip Bay. Walk across a glass feature floor to reach the dining room, grab a table inside or on the deck, and settle in for fresh seafood and wood-fired pizzas.
The location is unmatched. The menu keeps things simple: seafood that makes sense when you're sitting over water, share plates built for groups, and pizzas named after Port Phillip Bay ferries. The Lonsdale comes loaded with calamari, mussels and prawns. The Golden
Crown gets dressed with prosciutto and rocket. All wood-fired, all straightforward.
Leading the kitchen is Executive Chef Mike Jaques, who brings serious credentials without the serious attitude. Jaques cooked in Michelin-starred kitchens in London, earned a Chef's Hat at Tulip in Geelong, and in 2025 was named Peter Watson Memorial Chef of the Year;
one of Australian hospitality's highest honours. “Dining directly on the water changes everything,” said Mike Jaques. “You can hear the bay
and you can see the movement beneath you. ONDA is about quality local and seasonal produce, in a truly unmatched space.”
The menu centres on what you'd want when you're sitting over the bay: freshly shucked oysters with lemon and pickled shallot, school prawns with bisque aioli, grilled calamari salad with pickled lemon and grapes, pan-roasted snapper with fennel and saffron. Beyond seafood, there's lamb rump with harissa, burrata with green tomato chutney, gnocchi alla vodka, and a 300g dry-aged scotch fillet.
Pizzas are the anchor. Simple. Honest. Fresh. Named after ferries because that's where you are. The Nutella chocolate, cookie and strawberry dessert pizza has already been tipped as a crowd favourite.
Head Chef Tobias Marks, previously from Gingerboy, Major Tom’s and Jackalope, joins Jaques to deliver breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. The drinks program leans into coastal summer energy: Aperol spritzes, local prosecco, Bellarine and Mornington
Peninsula wines, and a tight selection of gins and cocktails built for long afternoons.
The vibe is beach town with Italian fishing village energy: lively, social, fun, without trying too hard. Upstairs, a tapas and cocktail bar shifts from ferry passenger lounge during the day to aperitivo hang in the afternoon.
ONDA sits inside the new Searoad Ferries Sorrento Terminal but operates as a standalone destination. Accessible by car from the Esplanade or by ferry from Queenscliff, it's designed for everyone: locals, Melbourne day-trippers, families at lunch, friends chasing spritzes and sunsets and ferry passengers grabbing something before boarding.
Walk-ins are welcome. Bookings are encouraged. ONDA can also cater for large groups and private dining. The 50-seat deck, positioned to face west over the bay, is already being called one of the Peninsula's best sunset spots. Inside, 100 seats are designed for you to soak in the endless sea views, no matter where you are positioned.
Sustainability runs quietly through the kitchen. ONDA's signature tomato powder seasoning is made from kitchen off-cuts that would otherwise be waste. Seafood is sourced from Victorian waters where possible. Produce is driven by what's in season on the Peninsula.
"We want people to feel like they've stepped into a casual coastal dining room that belongs to them," said Jaques.
ONDA, located at 10 The Esplanade, Sorrento.