The Rose & Crown — Restaurant in Brisbane City

The Guessperados’ Fourth Foray into Quiz Meisters Madness

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Ah, the Rose & Crown. A pub so British that just stepping inside might give you an uncontrollable urge to order a pint and declare "God Save the King!" And what better way to spend the evening than with Quiz Meisters’ trivia night?

This was our fourth round of Quiz Meisters mischief in our seventh Guessperado trivia outing — meaning we’re practically pub-trivia aristocracy by now. Think “Downton Abbey,” but with slightly more beer and fewer titled relatives.

The evening was helmed by Jacinta, a cheerful American quiz mistress who seemed strangely at home in a British pub—though we dared not bring up certain topics, like tea-related rebellions or that "friendly disagreement" in 1776. Jacinta kept us on our toes, channelling her inner schoolteacher as she insisted on good behaviour. I half expected her to give us a pop quiz on why beans are legally considered a vegetable in the UK.

Let’s start with the pub itself: a proper “Crumpet Central,” complete with hand-pulled ale and a Sunday roast so legendary it might just inspire a new Arthurian myth. This is Queensland’s only pub with beer pulled straight from the cask! The £20 cheeseburger, chips, and beer trivia special was enough to make us wish we'd brought a Union Jack cape and declared, “One cheeseburger to rule them all!”

Now, the trivia experience was… intense. With eight rival teams in close quarters, we were shoulder-to-shoulder, louder than a pub brawl over the last Yorkshire pudding. The L-shaped layout of the room meant that, unfortunately, I couldn’t shoot my usual dirty glares across the tables at rivals. A missed opportunity for evil-eye intimidation, though we could still hear their raucous laughter like a herd of trivia-loving geese.

As for the questions, they came fast and fierce, with a Halloween twist that was pure bloody genius. Jacinta didn’t just hand out candy, she practically pelted us with it. Nothing says quizzical joy like a Reese's hitting you in the forehead at high speed. There were screams of delight, groans of defeat, and enough sugar consumption to fuel a small Victorian orphanage.

And then there was the Roomba Rumble. It replaced my beloved ‘Dycklympics’ game, but watching robotic vacuum cleaners battle it out like drunken bumper cars still satisfied my thirst for absurdity. The sight of those Roombas spinning and colliding was enough to make me rethink everything I thought I knew about household appliances.

On the trivia leaderboard, the Guessperados… shall we say, “enjoyed the scenic view from fifth place.” We’d been holding strong at fourth in previous rounds, but tonight? It was like we were trying to pull Excalibur out of the pub floor with buttered fingers. Yet we were undeterred. Winning? Optional. Laughing until the ale foamed out our noses? Essential.

And then came our American bartender, another cheerful invader from across the pond, who made me wonder if the pub was quietly trying to reunite the colonies. She kept the drinks flowing and the trivia going—just don’t mention the election or you might get a pint of something “extra-strong” on the house.

In summary: The Rose & Crown is the perfect place to indulge your inner Brit while butchering historical facts and downing cask-pulled ale. The trivia was as challenging as it was loud, with enough energy to reanimate a Victorian chimney sweep. And Jacinta, our American quiz mistress,...

Was really looking forward to a proper roast dinner here and was left so disappointed. The beef was just all fat, the Yorkshire pudding rock hard burnt to a crisp and there was nowhere near enough gravy. I did ask for another Yorkshire pudding but it was just as bad and I had no gravy left to eat it with anyway. I should have asked for more gravy but the staff were literally all over the place we were served by 4 different people and had to shout at them to be heard over the noise. Also ordered sticky toffee pudding which was also rock hard, tiny, and stingy with the sauce. There was also a blonde hair across the top of it so we just sent it straight back.

We ordered drinks when we sat down, the food came before the drinks and the waitress asked us what drinks we had ordered and who we ordered them with so we had to point out which girl took our drinks order which was strange. Then she went to find out where the drinks were and she came back and angrily asked us ‘did you even order drinks?’ to which replied yes and again told her what we ordered. She then when to make them and brought them back, slammed them on the table and stormed off before I could ask for a straw.

We went up to the bar to pay and after paying the lady asked us how it was and I told her. She said I should have mentioned it before I paid and she would have given me a discount. Apparently they can’t refund it.

An all round...

As someone who is an avid lover of British pubs, and have frequented them all over the UK on several trips, I have to say, I was pretty let down by this establishment. Whilst the service was good, and my meal came quickly (I did attend while it was very quiet), the food and drink left me a bit disappointed. The main meal tasted ok, however the gravy was incredibly thin, so thin that you couldn’t actually taste it when paired with the food or chips. The chips themselves were salted within an inch of their lives, requiring me to brush off salt from every chip like I was unearthing some precious archeological find. I was really hoping they would have curry sauce which could be ordered for this chips, as this is one of the things I love about British food, and next to impossible to get in Brisbane (and Australia in general). The most surprising thing however, that for a ´British’ pub, none of the beers (at least on tap) were British, and there were definitely no ales, which you would expect to find in a British pub. The vast majority of beers were Australian, and the only sign of a beer that slightly resembled a beer found in British pubs was Birra Moretti. I have been wanting to attend one of the Sunday roasts here as I love Yorkshire pudding and roast veg with gravy - and I’m over the moon that this pub offers a vego roast option, however, after my mid-week experience, and the thinness of the gravy, I...