Falvey's Gowrie Road Hotel — Restaurant in Queensland

Simply put - this is an honest pub feed featuring unpretentious pub food.

The Gowrie Road is a local landmark. Featuring many of the same features as my house actually - curves reminiscent of Art Deco, asbestos ceilings and likely some gorgeous floorboards if that horrid carpet was lifted.

Service was great, especially for a pub marketing in this area. Two standouts were the young blonde at the bar and the older bloke with a vague viking appearance (could have been the duty manager by his actions). Everyone was punching above their weight and assisting each other - a delight to witness whilst dining. I believe a brigade of three was operating the kitchen.

Anyway, onto the food. The starters for us were the creamy garlic prawns (wife) and duck spring rolls (myself). My wife couldn't stop banging on about how great her starter was - prawns were perfectly cooked (not rubbery in the slightest). Rice was slightly overcooked by my palate but perfect for her. My spring rolls were quite OK and I'll sure take that sweet chilli and soy combination idea for a future dipping sauce.

Mains were chicken schnitzel, vegies and chips, with gravy (wife) and 500gm rump (medium rare), pepper sauce, salad and chips (myself). She enjoyed her schnitzel, but felt the vegies were just about raw (and we generally enjoy lightly steamed vegies at home).

I was pleasantly surprised with my steak. Most pubs in Toowoomba are supplied from a notorious wholesale meat vendor and their steaks are subsequently sub par. My steak was slightly on the dry side but cooked perfectly medium rare and had a great texture for a rump. The salad was not overdressed and the chips were good. Sauce appeared to be a generic product with a bit of pepper added.

It will be interesting to see what this place will transform into over the coming...

I have been a reasonably regular patron of this pub for well over 10 years and my visit on the 2/1/24 will sadly be my last. The pub has come under new ownership and either the owner has a half cooked idea or the ideas they've decided to implement come from an individual with a complete lack of business management experience. The Gowrie Road Hotel was a favourite of mine because of the warm atmosphere, large menu with well priced meals and complementary chicken wings and activity packs for children. These ideas have been abandoned in favour of a tiny menu featuring meals that are double the price they once were, yet are also half the size. The food was ok, but for the $70 I spent on two adults and two kids meals I would have expected far more.

Tvs and decorations have been ripped off the walls, leaving a mess behind. Perhaps don't open halfway through a renovation?

If the future of the gowrie is to charge as much as possible for as little food as possible in order to increase profit margins then I can only hope people come to their senses and abandon this pub as I have done, and, if the rumours are true, avoid any other businesses this...

I used to go to the Gowrie Road Hotel twice a week before it changed to the new owners. The food was consist, well priced, well sized, and the service was great.

Tonight, under the new management, I waited an hour for a schnitzel, with the most meagre amount of chips and salad possible, and a serving of rancid cold hollandaise sauce. The place smells mouldy, with rotting wood in the interior, and the bathrooms were disgusting, the cleaning standards have been dropped severely. A customary wing used to be always served under the previous owners, a nice gesture that has now been replaced with a tacky “if we don’t ask you for garlic bread with your order than you get it free” and pub membership pricing on food. The sauce station, with Worcester, tomato, bbq, and other sauces is also gone as is alcohol free beer. The only redeeming feature were the service staff and owners who, despite these shortcomings, are quite nice.

I can only hope that with so many steps back the new owner changes tactic or sells on. At least there is still the Newtown Hotel, owned by the former family, for the former...