The Edge Hill Tavern — Restaurant in Queensland

Review of Bistro Only

Food My wife and I dined on a quiet weeknight, on a recent visit to Cairns. We started with a serving of garlic bread. It comprised four generous pieces of fluffy white bread, cut into neat squares and smothered in smooth, creamy butter. The perfect way to start the meal. We followed that up with the crumbed steak, with chips, salad and peppercorn sauce, and a “power bowl” which had rice, seaweed, avocado, cucumber, tomato, pickled vegetables, lettuce, and a sesame soy dressing. The steak was well cooked, just the way I like it, enclosed in a breadcrumb batter and accompanied with fresh salad and crispy chips. The power bowl had a nice selection of colourful, tasty and wholesome ingredients. Serving sizes were generous, the presentation was appetising and we both enjoyed our meals.

Cost Thanks to the A.L.H. Group, the owner of this and many other fab pub venues across the country, for keeping eating out affordable, especially for seniors who are facing the worst cost of living crisis in history. Being a member of the Monty’s Rewards program also helps, with a 5% discount off meals and drinks. All up, and including two alcoholic drinks, (a schooner of beer and beautifully handmade cocktail), the garlic bread and two mains, we paid a total of 65. That’s outstanding value for money.

Toilets There are ample clean and well provisioned toilets that are easy to find just behind the main dining area.

Service The moment we arrived, we were warmly greeted by the friendly maitre d’. We ordered using the app, which has now become “de rigueur” for us and generally presents no problem. In fact it's a superior option to the old fashioned manual ordering, as you can see exactly how much you are spending as you add items to your “cart”, which allows you to better manage your budget by deleting items or adding extra items as the case may be (super important now that we live in an age of hyperinflation). Once we’d placed our orders electronically, the humans took over to deliver quick, efficient and professional service. First, out came the drinks, followed by the garlic bread entree, and shortly thereafter by the main meals. We couldn’t have been happier with such premium service

Parking Although as visitors to Cairns we used taxis to get to and from the venue, I did notice a huge car park right in front of the hotel, with what looked like free and unlimited parking with plenty of available spaces.

Ambience As with all A.L.H. Group Hotels, the ambience is casual, laid back and relaxed, in a clean, spacious and well ventilated area. The place has been decked out in a retro style with checked brown, grey and white colours, wooden furniture with comfy upholstered chairs, strong lighting and carpets throughout. That all works well to create a homely, warm and welcoming ambience. Acoustics are good, and we were easily able to converse. Despite it being a weeknight, there was a decent turnout with about half the tables occupied. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Summary We had a super pleasant evening at the E.H.T., and everything ran smoothly. Staff are friendly and polite and service is fast and efficient. We’ve come to expect a certain high standard of food from A.L.H. Group Hotels and the E.H.T. did not disappoint. All our dishes were beautifully prepared with love care and attention to detail and nicely presented to the table on stylish white crockery. And if you add to that, modest prices, clean and well provisioned toilets and free parking right outside the front door, you have all the ingredients for a pleasant night out. We'll definitely be back next time...

The Edge Hiil Tavern has the most rude, obnoxious and totally disrespectful management I've ever encountered in my life. Today whilst standing near the front doors awaiting opening at 10 AM a female manager came out and bluntly told me I am barred from the place for doing something illegal at the bar previously and when I told her she must be mistaken as I've never even had words or any troubles previously she stated it was her bar attendant who informed her of the problem to which I politely but firmly said that's incorrect and mistaken identity but the manager abruptly said she doesn't care and I'm barred. I requested for the bar attendant to come have a closer look in person but the manager was having none of it. I was left gobsmacked and humiliated standing at the front entrance in shock. I don't even drink alcohol and I've never been barred anywhere in my life and to make matters worse I was waiting for my wife to join me once she'd finished shopping but had to alert her to the complete mistaken identity that's occurred. But none the less I will never attend the Edge Hiil Tavern again spending my hard earned money in their pokies. Totally pathetic treatment of a loyal customer. The Edge Hiil Tavern, forget about it. Brother's leagues club is much...

I have never left a negative review in my life but here goes. Absolute appalling customer service. just like a lot of the reviews on here the two old ladies, one being the duty manager, acts like they are in charge of the world. Not very customer focussed at all. Some people cant work technology but they are adamant on only using the stupid online ordering system, even after offering paper menus, no other ALH pub has forced their CUSTOMERS to do this before (I've been to a few of course, putting money back into struggling pubs and all that). The constantly getting cranky, slamming things down, messing up our orders, almost like a contest of who could be sour more between us and them, was not something i have ever experienced before. As soon as i walked in I felt like our table was an inconvenience. Head office has been notified and I hope the service and the employees are better trained in future and reminded that their customers are the reason they have a job and are what holds companies like theirs together. PS. Compliments to the chef, doing everything on her own with a high strung manager, she would be better valued and utilised in another Venue where the focus is...