Grain Store Newcastle — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

The place is well decorated and had good music. Lots of great beers on tap, 20 I believe. Atmosphere was busy and noisy so good place for great beer and atmosphere. Food? Well I suppose you can't judge on one meal but....

I ordered a grain hamburger it toook 40 minutes to come which I new on order, so not a gripe with long wait, it was the quality.

Burger perhaps the worst ever I have eaten. Bun was like a plain bread roll left out of the bag all day, so dry I needed to drink mouthfuls or beer to swallow.

Patty was luke warm, don't know how this happened as I was sitting 20ft from the kitchen door. Chips were oily, almost cold and real salty. Perhaps other meals are better but if you are going to charge $17 for a burger and a few chips then it better be good and it was not.

Sorry guys I usually don't like to write reviews to complain but I was hungry and expected a place like this with such a good rep would wow me. Left feeling cheated.

Service was good through although hey were failing to cope, saw people on tables after finishing their meal move their empty plates to other tables to make space, and a couple who came in had to move the plates from the people before them to use the table so probably need better floor management.

Look, they were busy and so perhaps the kitchen lost it under the pressure. That is my excuse for them. My recommendation to the kitchen if it ain't great bin it don't give it to a customer who has paid $17. Should have gone elsewhere for food, beer, atmosphere and...

Having a good system in place to support an on-tap selection of 21 craft brews is a must. Grain Store in Newcastle East has this nailed. You make your selection from numbered printed lists with tasting notes, and transcribe the numbers onto a beer paddle ($17) picture. The bar person takes this diagram and replicated it in beer—five 110ml pours—passing it back with your diagram forming the key to what you’re drinking. My two favourite brews came from One Drop in Botany, a Red Plum Sour ($8/325ml) that was like biting into a sharp red plum, and The Fiddler ($9/325ml) that has a big green burst of grassy hops before a grapefruit finish. I also enjoyed Ocean Reach Tropical XPA ($8.50/325ml) for the summery fruity post-beach vibes.

In the eats, they neatly avoid the potato chip crisis by making skin-on beauties from real spuds. Load ‘em up with gravy, bacon and liquid cheese for five bucks: it’s worth it. It does make a burger and fries kind of pricy, but the Loui ($22) with crisp dry chicken breast, lettuce and creamy blue cheese sauce cut with spicy buffalo, did deliver a solid burger experience. A good charry wagyu beef patty is the basis of the WhoopAss beef burger ($23) loaded up with American cheddar, onion rings, jalapeños and both buffalo and smoky barbecue sauce. It’s a messy two fist experience that stops just shy of...

Coming off a poor experience from another restaurant (Japanese near by) where I walked out after 2 hours unfed I was starving when I walked past the Grain Store & popped in after 9 pm asking if they were still serving food. Great guy at the bar said that I looked hungry & if I ordered now he'd make sure they cooked it for me. Ordered the ribs & some garlic pizza bread & he said no matter how hungry I wouldn't get thru the full rack so ordered the half rack (he was right!) then he sent me over to the beer counter while I waited. Now I love a different beer like the next guy but there was 101 of them ON TAP to choose from so I asked the lovely girl at the counter for help! She asked what I ordered to eat (saw that I came in late) & then said she had the beer for me, a pale ale, loved it! Atmosphere was comfortable & spot on, place looked great! Definitely coming back here again! And this is the 2nd review I've ever gone to the trouble of writing (1st one was earlier for that Japanese...