Met up with some friends here for drinks and food…read more We all met in the back room, which we had to ourselves. I'm not sure if this is the norm, but we ordered at the bar, got a number and then our food was brought out. Not sure if there's waiter service normally. Anyway, I was not overly hungry. My friend and I decided to share fried Mac and cheese and fries. The fried Mac and cheese was good. The menu described them as "balls" but they were more like bites. Flavors were good. It came with a black garlic mayo, which was pretty good. The French fries were also really good. It came with an aioli for dipping which was flavorful. To drink I had the house lager, which was basic, but refreshing. Decent spot to hang with friends.

This pub is most definitely a must do if you're in Sydney and love a pub feed! They punch well…read moreabove most. Really friendly staff, nothing but a can-do but casual spirit. Well set out spaces over 2 floors, proper a/c - not too cold. Now the best part the food and drinks could well be much more expensive. Amazing bottle prices for wine, loads of in Tap Craft Beers (see Image for list) and super generous food portions for the low prices but great quality all the same. Do yourself a favour and add it on your list!

It's incredible to me but the Macquarie Arms Hotel in Windsor is thought to be the oldest inn and…read more"the oldest pub" on mainland Australia. (Tasmania likes to sneaks in now and then when we aren't looking. Not sure if you can trust the Tassies though. I heard the place started as a penal colony. lol). Being the oldest pub is surely a great honour in Australia, in a land where beer is damn near sacred. Talk about hiding in plain sight up there on the hill in Thompson's Square (see separate review). I wonder if the patrons went from Australia's oldest school & church at nearby Ebenezer down here to the oldest pub. The Arms' website (http://www.macquariearms.com.au/history/) states: "In 1815 a "spacious and commodious inn" was constructed by Richard Fitzgerald adjoining Thompson Square and was known as the Macquarie Arms. In order to save Government the cost of providing such a structure, Macquarie had given "Mr. Fitzgerald a large allotment in the square on the expressed condition of his building immediately thereon a handsome commodious inn of brick or stone and to be at least two stories high." ( Macquarie's Journal of his tours- 12th Jan. 1811) The soldiers would sometimes stay on the upper floor. After a hard day's work, the convicts who built the Macquarie Arms entertained themselves by smuggling barrels of illegal rum from the Hawkesbury River into the quarters below through the "Rum Smuggler's Tunnels". Two convict brothers blew themselves up in the cellar. A young girl Mary died upstairs after being trapped by a fire. Windsor Ghost Tours says their ghosts remain and will take you on a tour on Saturday nights. That would be fun. The Heritage Council of NSW describes the Arms as follows: "Physical Description: The hotel is a building of generous proportions, with sandstock brick walls, stuccoed over and painted white. It has two large Georgian doorways with semi-circular traceried fanlights and sidelights, but the glass in the one facing George Street has unfortunately been painted over. The one opening onto Thompson Square can still be seen in its original state. The hotel retains its well designed cedar joinery, its cedar circular staircase, its extensive stone flagged cellars, its turned wooden verandah columns, and its stone flagging." I'll give it four stars for not giving up the ghost. A portrait of Governor Macquarie hands in the Dining Room as would be expected. The Arms boasts "Beautiful Pub Food from $6.50 pastas to $9.95 steak and beer deals (see our weekly specials in house). Keno, TAB, Pokies and three pool tables and two dart boards. HOURS: Monday/Tuesday/Sunday 10am to 10pm. Wednesday to Saturday 10am to 12am." I never thought of pub food as beautiful, but maybe it's in the eye of the beholder. Average or adequate would be a better description, but the wait can be painful. Maybe they're resting on their laurels, but pretty good laurels they are generally. Good for a drink for history's sake, but I wouldn't base a family meal here if you know what I mean. But when visiting a pub I'm not going to get picky about the food. They have steaks, battered fish & chips, schnitzel, burgers, pasta, salads and more. $10 for 10 items on Monday, and other specials, sometimes beef ribs. A horseshoe on the outside wall of the Macquarie Arms pub marks the level a huge flood peaked at in 1867, when beaches along the Hawkesbury to Barrenjoey were littered with the debris from the town.

This pub certainly doesn't feel like a local pub, namely because it tries to capture the semi-rural…read moreatmosphere of Windsor. It feels a lot like one of those pubs that appeals to the daytripper up here, particularly with the architecture, and of course of lovely beer garden down near the river. It is a nice pub, and it certainly has a lot of atmosphere about it, and in fact, feels that it is the original pub from up this way. The other thing that stands out is that it does have a nice selection of beers as well though the service, well, it wasn't the best, but it was still good.

Just your average pub. Clean place, cold beer. It was a little noisy though. Several teens were…read moreseated out in the front near the entrance and thought yelling, shouting and screaming at the top of their voice was appropriate. It was a bit disappointing when there were only around 15 people in the place with so much noise being generated by a handful of idiots. The bar tender/staff did nothing to quiet them down.

A SOLID ROCKIN' JOINT…read more The Fitzroy Hotel located in Windsor has been an established watering hole for locals since 1853. I wasn't around for opening day - I just know this from reading a blurb on TrueLocal.com.au. The blurb also said: "With a recent refurbishment this pub is now renowned for the live music and live entertainment acts. The bistro here serves up traditional pub food, with hamburgers and pizza to meat. There is a wide selection of beer here both imported and local." A review on that site from HeyPesto stated: "The Fitzroy is pumping on the weekends and is an awesome place for a meal, a drink and live music. Once the bands finish their is a decent DJ who plays for hours. Their steaks are highly recommended!" Pesto has pretty much summed it up. Checked out the Fitzroy one night at the end of November 2012. There were plenty of posters for past and future rock bands. Good ones too. A rockin hard core band was playing in the AC/DC tradition of Sydney. Loud and good. The singer complimented the bistro, but I didn't try the food. I've heard the steaks here are awesome. Plenty of good draft beers on tap, including a killer pale ale 2 DIE 4. No bad vibes experienced from the staff or the patrons - even with my American accent. Actually they were openly friendly. Outer Sydney can get pretty damn rough and Australia doesn't pussify the guys like they do in America. Sorry dudes, but it's true. ** Hawaii and New York exempted. I used to live down the road from here. If I still did I'd for sure be hangin' at the Fitz with cab fare in my pocket. Five stars guys - you deserve it. How's this for a first review on Yelp? Don't think I'm over-generous - check out my review of the Heritage Hotel down the road in Wilberforce.

The Flynn is a nice place for after work drinks and dinner and has improved noticeably compared to…read morethe last visit (about a year ago). Our entree was garlic bread which was buttery and obviously garlicky - a great start. Main consisted of lamb shoulder, chips and seasonal greens. The lamb was very tender and fell apart easily as we carved. The side of gravy added some nice depth of flavour to the dish. I really enjoyed the chips - they were light yet had a nice crunch that I love to see in my chips. Seasonal greens were as you'd expect from vegetables. A nice addition but nothing stand-out. Our dessert was a salted caramel chocolate tart with biscuit crumb, caramel popcorn pieces and popcorn ice cream. Such a fantastic end it had great texture from the crumb and popcorn and was overall a well constructed tart.

Oh, but The Flynn brings a touch of 1940's movie-star glamour to Bligh St…read more The tasteful sports bar fronting the street is great for a midday spritzer (add gin to taste) or an after-work tipple. Swirl your drink thoughtfully while you can gaze out upon the great commercial precinct of our city and watch its native animals, with their purposeful stares and gabardine pelts, prowl along asphalt corridors of Sydney's concrete jungle. For something more demure and intimate, and all-together classy, retire to the function room further inside The Flynn, a wonderfully decorated private area home to a restaurant with an internationally-themed menu with a European flavour that aldo houses some killer specials, like Tuesday all-you-can-eat pizza for just 15 clams. I love when style is paired with affordability. Hey, look at that, I got all the way through this review without making one obvious Errol Flynn reference. And then ruined it by calling attention to the fact. Blast.

I came here with some friends to watch the decider game in the State of Origin. We got there a…read morelittle after 6 and it wasn't too crowded. We grabbed a table pretty easily and ordered a round of beer. Love that they have James Squires Beers here - got me a one fifty lashes - yummy! We ordered some food. Noticed that they had chili con carte in their nachos and in their "Mexicana" Chicken Schnitzel. Since it was the 4th of July, I had to ask if they would do it. We went up to the kitchen and asked the cooks who looked a bit confused and hesitant but agreed. After we went up to the bar and ordered the fries and the buffalo wings. The waitress went to confirm with the cooks and charged us the price of the nachos. When the food came out, they actually had the chili and cheese in a separate bowl and the fries on a plate. I thought it was a bit weird, but I poured the chili over it and it looked pretty damn good. It tasted damn good too. My friends were pleasantly surprised and we scarfed the fries down pretty quick. The buffalo wings were also really good and had a nice spicy kick. Another plus about this place is they have a Stacker machine, which is the most addicting game in the world. Overall a very cool pub, slightly pricey for pub food but any place that has or is willing to serve chili cheese fries is alright by me.

This isn't the easiest of pubs to get to, but then again some of these pubs are actually the best…read moreto visit. The staff were awesome, as were the security guards (which is always a massive bonus). I ended up going upstairs which was a lot less crowded and there are some pretty nice rooms up there as well. Oh, and there was also a pretty decent selection of beers available on tap as well, so it is certainly a place to check out sometime.

A great place to catch up with friends in the middle of the city. The food is always good and there…read moreis a variety of shows each night. The service is excellent and the people are friendly. Walking distance from Town Hall and Museum Stations.

In the heart of Surreys Hill Kinselas is a colorful Art Deco restaurant with a bar and lots of…read morewindows. The small cafe area in front is perfect for a lunch and to people watch. The dining room is high top tables with stools. The food was good...chicken parm was a nice breaded chicken patty with sauce, a tomato slice snd melted cheese with the best mashed potatoes, and arugula salad. The Hoki fish and chips had the largest fried fillet. The fries were crispy, and a side salad. Both were main meals and filling. The bar selection was nice. I enjoyed my Aussie beer (see picture). Recommend.

Yelp has this incorrectly across the road. It is on the water right behind ferry dock…read more Clean and busy with limited menu. Good view of ferry side of Manly. Away from the real beach and the chaos.

There were many reasons why we chose to go for lunch to this spot. One being it is right next to…read morethe ferry, the menu had great options, the space was clean, and the views were great. I loved the interior, the white paneling, and the uniform of all the employees. I also appreciated that they had a large menu with plenty of healthy options. I got greens and grains salad, which was incredible. The food came out quickly and it was such a beautiful day. Highly recommend a visit if you're in the manly beach area.

I've seen many a great band advertised here but as is my wont, the thing that finally got me here…read morewas the lure of a spankin new comedy night. And it doesn't hurt that this deep wild-wild-inner-western venue is on the freakin bondi junction train line! #ftw Hump Night (Wednesdays, in a camel themed bar, capiche?) Comedy's opening night was brilliant, with a stellar lineup & full house. The decor description is best quoted to the night's MC- David Smeidt- who described it ss if a gay pirate was having a garage sale. Camels, camel themes, and some classic posters- the gay pirates responsible for decorating Camelot have definitely never heard the expression, "less is more"... I ordered a garlic pizza cos it was like $8. It was alright & for $8 I ain't gonna complain the crust was a bit hard tho. Some pretty amazing looking mezze plates were doing the rounds and making me regret my decision. Now that I know how easy it is to get to and groovy a venue it is I'm looking forward to joining the camel cult.

Random nights are the best nights, aren't they?…read more My friend Isobel sent me a message last week, with a Facebook link saying, wanna check this out next week in good old Marrickville? I was like, yeeerrrppppp, let's go. Why not, right? So tonight, I look at the Facebook page to figure out where it is and its like all trendy and ambiguous "in the back streets of Marrickville".... well, where the FUCK is that, eh??? Bloody thing. Well, I figured it out and I can't tell you how AWESOME it was! Dimly lit, trendy, hipster kitch. Think Shady Pines, but not so much Americana. Yes, cowboys. But also gypsies, persian carpets, camels and eastern flair. The owner, came over and introduced himself to us and was like, how did you hear about us? Well, we have the very uncool story that Isobel's mum told her about it. Yeah, I'm serious. LOL. We think it's funny as hell too, especially since the place was so great, so unknown. Her mum saw some live music here a few weeks ago. I should probably make up a cooler story about how I know about the place that makes me sound really awesome with my finger right on the pulse of avant guarde Sydney or something, so when I bring people here I can be like... yeah... I'm cool... man?!! We had wines which were delicious. I had an SA Pinot Noir. Hey, look! I'm trying to learn my wines! Be impressed. I'm a wine doofus. Downstairs is "Django Bar" which is I guess, not a music venue. Camelot is technically on the top floor, and is a music venue with some food... the garlic pizza is amazing. Perfectly garlicky and cheesy melty goodness. Sean Taylor was playing, he was described as a Chris Isaak acoustic guitar type.... well, wow, I could have easily stayed out til past midnight if it wasn't a school night. He was amazing. Everything was 5 star. I'm really glad to be able to write this review for such a great NEW establishment, but it's even better that it's in my home suburb of dear old MARRICKVILLE!!! Marrickville is seriously Sydney's Brooklyn. Seriously. Its coming up in the world. Watch out.