Waterloo Hotel — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Unfortunately, we chose the night of a football final to dine here, so we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Waterloo was packed, with most patrons having come to watch the football on gigantic screens. That made it noisy and hectic. We had hoped for a quiet night at a pub, enjoying a nice meal and cold beer so it wasn’t exactly what we’d bargained for, but of course no fault of the venue. But good on them, because this place is clearly popular with the locals, who all seemed to be having a good time eating, drinking and watching football. And it’s not hard to see why this place is so popular, because the food is of a high standard, the app makes the ordering process fast and easy and if you add to that professional staff who are polite, friendly and helpful, and quickly deliver food the table, you can enjoy a pleasant experience here. I’d love to come back, but it would hopefully be a quieter weeknight when we can really enjoy it, and soak up the ambience of this place.

As it was just my wife and I dining, we stuck to a fairly simple ordering protocol of a beef burger, onion rings and a “green bowl”. That all cost us 56 pesos for food and 9 for a schooner of XXXX, which is fair value for what we had, but really just goes to show the extent to which our little Aussie peso has become a worthless piece of paper. Think of that: 65 pesos for a glass of beer, a burger, a salad and a bowl of onion rings. That's what happens when you reduce interest rates to zero and turn on the money printers like there's no tomorrow.

But we were impressed with the food. The green bowl had wholesome and nutritious ingredients, like avocado, cream cheese, leeks and celery. Unfortunately my beef burger was too raw for my liking. Now I can understand people wanting a medium or a rare cooked steak, but undercooked mince? No thanks. We took it back to the bar counter, where we were told that that was how they cooked it here, but to their credit, the fab staff kindly prepared me a fresh burger, with the meat beautifully well cooked to perfection just the way I like it. And it came with a little serve of crispy chips. The onion rings were perfect round creations, with fresh onion in a crunchy batter; the ideal complement to the burger, chips and green bowl. We both enjoyed our meals. Serving sizes were just right: not too small to leave you feeling hungry afterwards, or too large that you feel overstuffed. Perfect.

And I love the retro ambience and feel of the Waterloo with low mood lighting, and elegant timber features. It’s a huge place with multiple dining areas, some with bar style seating on wooden benches with wooden tables, some more formal with long communal tables and upholstered chairs in a carpeted, lounge room-type area.

Strangely, even though we had made a booking and received an email confirmation, staff had no record of it, so we ended up at one of the communal tables, in the outer dining area. But that actually worked out well, as there was only one other couple at the table and we were away from the loudest noise from the game.

Given that it was so full that night, parking was bound to be a problem and we struggled in the car park just behind the venue. There aren't enough spaces, and many are reserved for other businesses in the area, like the First Choice Liquor store and the Aqua Gym. Also, it was hard to read the writing on the ground, and to figure out which spaces were designated for patrons of Waterloo. In the end, out of frustration, we simply parked in a space marked for First Choice customers. I think the venue needs to make it clearer where their customers can park.

But despite the few negs I have enumerated here, there are enough positives for us to plan a return visit. Being a member of "The Pass", the recently renamed Aust Venue Co’s rewards program is a further inducement to wanting to return as one can earn points and redeem them for meals and drinks at any...

🌟 The Waterloo Hotel Trivia Night (aka the Guessperados Take the Crown) 🌟

Let me take you on a journey, dear reader. Not a spiritual one, per se (though what is trivia if not a pilgrimage through the pop culture pantheon of our time?). No, this is the story of Wednesday night at The Waterloo Hotel, where knowledge is power, laughter is currency, and chairs are… structurally untrustworthy.

I arrived early. Like early-early. Pre-trivia stillness. Sacred silence before the storm of useless facts and half-remembered Simpsons quotes. I was first, naturally, kings don’t queue. My queen Mandy followed. Then came Lukeus (who immediately broke a chair, possibly with the sheer force of his arse or his aura, we’re not sure). Kana. New Nathan. Then wave after wave of beautiful chaos. It was triple birthday night. Two new Guessperados. Eleven humans. One destiny.

The trivia host, Sam, is not so much a man as a philosophy professor (technically a grade 3 teacher) moonlighting as a showman. Years ago, he hated the trivia host so much that he seized the mic and never gave it back. That, my friends, is either the beginning of a Netflix biopic or a Greek myth. Sam is raw. Sam is present. Sam doesn’t need a script because the trivia is in him. If Zeus and RuPaul had a trivia baby, it would be Sam.

The audio? Honestly, it was like trying to hear Morse code through a colander. But maybe that’s part of the challenge. Maybe trivia should be a little harder. You’re not at a TED Talk, you’re in a pub in a building older than sliced bread. Deal with it.

Let’s talk toilets. Specifically, the disabled toilet. Picture this: you sit down, vulnerable, reflective — literally. There's a mirror directly in front of you. The frosted glass window lets in streetlight as if the universe itself wants to witness this sacred moment. A deeply humbling poo. The kind that makes you consider your place in the cosmos.

The highlight? A game called Battleshipples. Yes, that's how it's spelled. A wholesome family guessing game based around identifying nipple coordinates on a shirtless man. You know, like Plato intended.

Lukeus shouted "Crikey!" at a crocodile when he was meant to shout it at a photo of Steve Irwin. Sam deducted points. I deducted respect. The gods deducted fertility. “That’s how you get pregnant,” someone muttered. Unclear who. Possibly the spirit of the venue itself.

We won. Not like “spiritually won” or “had a great time” won. No. We. Won. 1st Place. The Guessperados first 1st place. Fifty-three points. No disputes. No ties. No mercy. The Guessperados finally took the crown after weeks of placing second or third like some sort of intellectual bridesmaids.

Aidan went up to collect the prize. So did Nick. They returned empty-handed. Confused. The ritual had failed. They went back. Then back again. Eventually, somehow, victory was exchanged for vouchers. Or validation. Or vodka. Who knows?

If you're thinking of going to The Waterloo Hotel for trivia, stop thinking and just go. Bring your weirdest mates. Break a chair. Shout at a crocodile. Make friends with your toilet reflection. You’ll laugh. You’ll learn. You’ll question everything you know about nipple geography. And you might just win.

5/5 stars. Would get existential on...

We had been regulars at The Waterloo on a Thursday evening for some time . Heading out for a casual dinner and drinks . Things have always been pretty good hearty pub grub with excellent service. We then booked in for a dinner with whiskey pairing on our regular Thursday evening . Thought this might be something different as we both didnt mind a drop of whiskey. We paid for the evening up front and gave details to staff . The evening was cancelled and we were assured the evening would eventually go ahead or we would be refunded our money . This did not happen as there was a change in bar manger and all we received was our money back in vouchers . No problem as we were fairly regular dinners . However over the ensuing weeks the quality and standard of food slipped greatly ! Paitent and not too worried we accepted excuses for poor food with free drinks and sincere apologies from staff . This last Thursday however we lost our cool . I had orded a fillet steak medium rare . As i was cautious from last meals i cut the steak in half to check if it had been cooked correctly but yet again it was more on the blue side and when i touced the centre of the steak it actually felt cold like it had been pulled straight from the fridge . (Not the first time ) . I lost my composure and complained. ( apologies to bar staff . Not your fault ) however the evening manager came to see what our complaint was !!. God help me he said its a thick piece of steak so you should expect it to be cold on the inside . REALLY !!! And would i like to have it heated to medium . No i want a steak cooked like i asked !!! Short story we explained how we have had bad steaks recently and this was the last straw ! We were already dinning on vouchers all we want is decent steak . Hubby lost it and said jam your vouchers ..... The manager then said for us to leave . The worst customer service ever . We said never again will we return after that appaling treatment . To the staff who have been a delight to us thankyou but the manager...