The Jindalee Hotel — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Food Being just my wife and I, we ordered one starter and two mains. For the starter, we choose the tomato bruschetta flatbread ($14) and for the mains, the lamb chops ($29) and the Moroccan spicy chicken supreme ($25). The tomato bruschetta was a pizza style offering with lashings of fresh tomato, cheese and onion and smothered in a smooth balsamic vinegar. It was a meal. My wife’s lamb chops were tasty, well cooked and came with crispy potatoes, beans, a small serve of coleslaw, a little bowl of gravy and a little bowl of mint sauce. My Moroccan spicy chicken was succulent and tender. The cous cous and fig apricot relish were the perfect accompaniment and the whole concoction was covered in a creamy tzatziki sauce. We both enjoyed our meals.

Ambience We lunched on a busy Sun afternoon in May, and the place was packed, giving it a lively, energetic and fun vibe. We found the inside dining area a tad too hectic for our liking so we decamped to the terrace outside, where tables were decorated with colourful green and white striped tablecloths. That suited us fine and we were quite happy dining there in the warm autumn sunshine. There were a few other occupied tables outside but the acoustics were fine and we were easily able to converse. Even though we were out of the line of sight of the wait staff, there was no compromise on the service.

If you choose to sit inside you’ll find a large, airy and comfy space that’s been decorated in bright and cheerful colours with high ceilings and large low hanging lamps. There are cute signposts around the place and colourful wall murals just near the toilet and an interesting retro petrol pump. There are carpets throughout the venue, adding that homely and warm touch. It just had a thoroughly happy and cheerful buzz to it with tons of families enjoying a day out.

Cost Drinks were expensive and we paid 15 pesos for a schooner of ale and a bottle of apple cider. Food costs were a bit more reasonable and it was a nice surprise to discover that long-suffering seniors at least get a 20% discount on menu items. Consequently, we paid 54 for one starter, the aforementioned very generous bruschetta, and two mains, the chicken and the lamb. All up, with three drinks included we paid 75. I guess a year or two ago this would have been 50. So thanks to the idiots who run the Reserve Bank for destroying the purchasing power of our money.

Toilets There are ample clean and well provisioned toilets just behind the main indoor dining areas, and you can enjoy the interesting murals and retro petrol pump that I mentioned, on your way in and out.

Service Service was polite and friendly. Wait staff are neatly dressed and professional in their attitude. We had booked directly through the hotel’s website and our table was ready for us when we arrived. Of course, there are different ways to order, either directly at the bar, or using the Aust Venue Company app. I used the app then went up to the front bar counter to pay, but it took ages to finalise the transaction. Staff seemed unsure how to handle the seniors discount, rewards points and payments. To my annoyance, they wouldn’t accept cash. But apart from that, it all flowed smoothly and after eventually sorting and paying, food came out quickly and in the correct order.

Summary We had a pleasant lunch here on the terrace outside enjoying the warm and balmy Brisbane autumn weather. Food was nicely prepared, portion sizes were generous and the service was friendly and efficient (apart from aforementioned issues with app ordering and rewards redemption). It had a bright, happy and fun ambience. Add to that easy parking right outside and ample clean and well provisioned toilets and you have all the ingredients for a perfect afternoon or evening out with friends or family.

Memo Just for the record, the official name of this restaurant is “Roadhouse Grill”, even though in it's in the Jindalee Hotel. And to add to the confusion, RHG seems to be a brand name, with six hotels sharing it, I presume, all under the umbrella of the Australian...

I have been many times, I have good experiences and sometimes not so good but have remained loyal, now of late the place and the food has gone seriously downhill. I visited for lunch on Sunday with a friend. We ordered the pie, a meat pie that was $26, it was suppose to come with mash, runny peas and onion rings, so for this reason we both ordered it. We were feeling hungry and on a cold day thought it would be a filling dish- ridiculous plate turned up at the table holding a pie and a smear of mash, under the pie a tiny spoonful of runny peas on the side of the pie and 3 onions rings sitting on the peas, seriously ridiculous, it was looking like a pie - Al cart, why in the world would any person pay $26 each for a meat pie at the Jindalee hotel to receive less peas less potato than you get at a bakery on your pie, at a bakery price maybe at the highest price of $9 to be generous. The expectation paying $26 each would be a plate of mash, with peas and let’s say 6 onion rings with a pie- the pie was absolutely nothing special and definitely not a good gourmet pie. This is absolutely robbery and really embarrassing that the Jindalee hotel expect $26 per person for a pie on their menu and not serve that pie as one would presume. A pie with mash, peas and onion rings on the side that are visible with a magnifying glass. Trying to make it look fancy so they don’t have to give you a reasonable serving is a disgrace. A pie is just a pie and not worth $26 purely because they make it look artsy, using as little sides as possible- so annoyed. The staff are lethargic, no energy and bring drinks to the table without a glass or ice. People are doing it tough and expect to pay a reasonable amount of money for a reasonable serving of food, the staff have no idea how to handle a complaint, the place is a huge disappointment. Good on you Jindalee Hotel! for grabbing $52 for 2 pies on a plate- great effort! I certainly do not recommend spending your hard earned money at the Jindalee hotel.

The response from the manager- was not followed up, I did contact him as his request but he chose to ignore my contact-seems like his response was all for the readers sake to make it look like he cared, great work, Scott!...

We usually go Centenary tavern and sometimes Kenmore, Monier or even Bellbowrie. We wanted Centenary tonight but it was booked out with an event so against our better judgement (based on previous experiences) we came here tonight mainly because of the playground. We ordered Lamb shanks, Moussaka, meat lovers pizza and two $10 kids meals which were ham & pineapple pizzas. The menu was really uninspiring so in that situation I usually choose lamb shanks. This was the worst I'd ever had. It was literally a lamb shank wacked into an oven with nothing added then sat on top of mashed potato and unflavoured steamed beans on the side, no butter, no jus, nothing. The mashed potato was nicely flavoured. It was the only nice thing about it. I've made slowcooked lamb shanks at home a million times better than this from a masterfoods packet. I wanted my money back. We ordered two moussaka shared by 3 people who all thought it was awful and overloaded with pepper. No one finished the moussaka. My husband said his pizza was OK... like it didn't taste bad but he's had much better elsewhere. The kids pizzas weren't whole mini pizzas like you would get at other hotels in a $10 pack. They were two mini slices of a mini pizza with about 8 chips on the side. The dessert was a tiny plastic cup of icecream where you peel off the lid like you find in school tuck shops. For 6yr olds my boys are pretty big. I had to give them a snack at home because they were still hungry! What an awful experience and to make matters worse these mediocre meals were bordering on expensive, the portion sizes were small, we had to wait 45mins for our food and serving staff kept taking our glasses away without asking, even though we still had jugs of beer on the table. Twice i had to go back to the bar to replace a total of 6 glasses. Basil Faulty could do better than this! I don't like to be mean but people work hard for their money and this was definitely not good enough. I think the management here need to get around to see what other hotels are doing to get a better picture. Either bring your prices down to match your food or bring up the quality...