Blue Gum Hotel — Restaurant in Sydney

I caught up with an old friend of mine here for dinner. Lots of parking space. There's a liquorstore underneath the bistro and the hotel itself is right next door. Upon entering the restaurant, the bistro and bar layout is open and spacious with lots of seating areas for patrons - from around the other side of bar to the intimate terrace area. We got in early as I had come from work so we took it all in. It is warm, earthy and inviting, the timber floors and furnishings giving this place a rustic, homestead kinda ambience. As you walk in, the first thing you see is the bar; However, the place is kid friendly so don't be deterred if you have small children. There is a bench/buffet along the wall facing the main seating area as you walk through and it's lined with cutlery and even colouring pencils and stencils for children.

We had a look at what was on the menu and it had quite a range of food options, which was nice. We ordered at the cashier and then waited for our meals...crossing over to the bar to get a look at what was on tap. Nice selection of beers, and the space boasts more seating, and an area to play pool. Off to the side is a section for VIP guests hahaha I didn't get to see the toilets.

Wait times for each meal - probably 20-25mins, respectively. The starter- Salt & Pepper squid was a lovely and fresh dish with nice seasoning and salad accompanying it. The mains were so-so... I had the schnitzel ( always gotta try the schnitty at new pubs I visit) with salad and chips & my mate had the eye fillet with veg and mash.

My schnitzel looked crispy and golden but it was dry. The salad and chips plus the mushroom sauce were welcome additions...them chips! Delish! I'd happily order a bowl of those chips to go with some tomato sauce. My friend's meal was... disappointing. For $35 bucks we were hoping to receive a generously filled plate. Unfortunately, not only was the portion size stingey but the eye fillet, which we ordered to be medium cooked, came out looking cooked but was rare... as if it had only been seared on all sides before being plated. We had to send it back 1 more time, it came back still rare before we asked for it to be cooked through. Lackluster effort, which is understandable if the place was packed to the rafters... but as i mentioned earlier, we came quite early so...go figure. The meals finished on a high- note with dessert being absolutely delicious. I ordered the Sticky date and my friend - the Nutella cheesecake.

All in all, the meals were good. Collectively, we think 7/10. The customer service was awesome - the girl on cashier very observant and obliging. Thumbs up to the chefs and staff for the flavours of our meals - the chips and sauces were divine.

Price-wise... just a bit dearer than what I expected. It's ok... but there is an expectation that expensive is what we get served. Didn't deliver all the way this time around.

Photos to come. I'd recommend this place to those who are curious but be aware of pricing and definitely be specific about HOW cooked you want... steaks, in...

Absolutely a ridiculous venue with unprofessional hot headed staff.

Had a staff member incorrectly carrying a large stack of glasses when they smashed behind us while in the dinning area which then had us covered in glass and the fluids from the glasses splashing over my clothes.

We could not believe the rudeness of the staff member by not even a plologisibv of this and then being rude towards our table. When they were cleaning up the glass we were pointing out missed pieces of glass as there was a lot still missed. Next thing we know the “manager” on duty comes over and we thought it might have been to apologise but completely the opposite as we were accused of abusing the staff and swearing at them and were told we needed to be more respectful to the staff. We tried explaining to her the situation and of which she was aggressive towards us and continued on and we tried explaining that respect is a two way street but she would not listen and was extremely rude and un professional. She stormed off and while we sat there shocked the security guard came over and told us we had to leave.

Upon leaving another table spoke to us and could not believe what they saw and that we were being kicked out for being covered in glass and they told us that there was glass over their table to. We then tried to alert the bistro staff of this who then got aggressive and abused us for talking to them about this screaming with words to the effect “do you know how hard it is working in hospitality?”

I’m fact we do. 10 years in hotel management and clearly the staff have not been trained to give good customer service and actually deal with situations.

The staff do not realise that without customers they do not have a job.

Clearly this venue has missed the mark with service and providing patrons with a willingness to return and if I wanted poor services where patrons are treated as just another number we would have went...

The food was awful. We've always enjoyed The Blue Gum Hotel for lunch with a drink or two, as the overall quality of the food, for the price paid, was quite good. Good enough, that we could look past the old rickety chairs and tables, the ancient decor, and the complete lack of service (self serve food and bar).

We hadn't been in a few months, and I doubt we will ever go again. When a business model lacks so much in absolutely everything else, their food needs to be good, or at least good enough for the price. It was bad food, and we also felt that the prices had increased since our last visit.

The chicken burger my partner had, was cold and had grated cheese, unmelted in it. The fish in my fish and chips was overcooked to the point of being chalky mush, and the batter was dripping in grease. It was ready very quickly, which also concerned us, as it probably should have taken longer to cook it, if it was cooked to order. Our chips were mushy and lacking all crisp, and the "salad" on my plate looked like an afterthought, just a few leaves of lettuce with some bottles dressing and canned corn sprinkled on it.

Considering there is really nothing else to rate it on, I feel that 1 star...