The Southern Railway Hotel Goulburn — Restaurant in Goulburn

We came for lunch to check out the local heritage after visiting the awesome Rail Heritage Centre down the road. There are a couple of pictures on the walls and some interesting architecture nearby. I didn't look in the back section as it was a bit dark looking and looked to be just people eating.

The garlic and rosemary focaccia was very large and dense. Not toasted. Not as expected. Comes with a little balsamic and salt flakes, and is just a massive hunk of warmed, homemade bread, with a drizzle of oil. I couldn't taste any garlic. I could see a couple of rosemary leaves but it tasted pretty plain. Very dense and bready. Lovely homemade type bread with a chewy/oily, caramelised base - but just basically a dish of heavy, plain bread. I could only get through about a third of it and that was my lunch. It was a full meal of (more or less) bread. It wasn't really light like focaccia, but more like a sourdough density and would have been better (in much smaller portions, and toasted) with soup or served as a share plate with dips. Pictures don't show the size too well as it was about 4cm thick, and as wide as the plate. Normally balsamic is mixed with the oil, so you don't get just a mouthful of plain balsamic too. While it was well presented, the taste wasn't there.

The kids cheeseburger had a tiny meat pattie and American style cheese on a big bread roll with no sauce. It was odd that there was no spread or sauce or pickles or anything (see picture). The bun was too big for such little filling.

The chips were good. Mum said she reckons they were the best she's had in Goulburn. I thought they were quite nice too. We'll cooked, well seasoned, not greasy or cold. The gravy was a bit too runny for me - it makes for messy eating.

I asked for no ice in the orange juice and was given ice in it.

Staff were friendly. The place was fairly clean.

This place could be okay if you're looking for a substantial meal and happy to pay $30-$50 each, or just for a beer, but there aren't many tasty in-between options for a light lunch. You can have a bowl of vegies, a side salad, a bowl of mashed potato, a bowl of chips, a plate of chicken or a big hunk of bread. None are particularly interesting, or a...

Lovely old building that really needs someone with vision to spend some money on it. As accommodation, it was pretty awful. You might think that a shared bathroom doesn't sound that bad but when you experience it, you'll change your mind. They are small, not private at all and getting a steady flow of warm water is impossible. Soap provided but no shampoo. Priority one.....fix the hot water! The room was very hot and stuffy all night after a 30 degree day. A ceiling fan looked helpful but didn't really do much and a wonky floor fan was OK if you sat close enough. There was one small window that wouldn't stay open so we had to use a large water bottle as a wedge. On occasion a pitiful breeze would enter the room, which was like heaven. Needless to say, we sweated all night. Priority two....install A/C! The antique era furniture looked nice but wasn't very functional. Our chest of drawers was missing most of the handles making it useless. Beds were OK. Cheapest rooms in Goulburn and now we know why. Pay a little bit more and get a good nights sleep elsewhere. There are plenty of well run businesses in Goulburn, this is not one of them unfortunately. Great shame, lovely heritage building that could really be...

It was lovely to visit a historic building. Loved the external restoration and inside was well done. In fact they were painting in a section of the dining room. The 2 girls were outstanding with their attention and service and were happy to have a quick chat. And finally a place that gives water in nice drinking glasses, thank you 😊 We did not sleep here. The rump steaks were excellent. Cooked to perfection at medium-rare. It was great to see real roasted vegetables, not the usual 'steam roasted🤣' vegies most pubs/clubs offer. I would suggest though, that the sweet potato be put in a little later as they roast quicker, they were somewhat shriveled up instead of being yummy and bulky, however they did taste great. The house wines (from Gundagai I think) were excellent. It's great to see support of local produce. Yes, I'd...