East Village Hotel Balmain — Restaurant in Sydney

Busy local pubs usually make great, simple meals. That's not our experience here. Love the place, and happy to pay $55 for a schooner, soda water, salad and side of Cole slaw...but not these ones. (Btw the white bay beer is sublime). The system is that the food is made, a bell rung and someone comes to grab it and ferry it to you. After watching our meal sitting as several kitchen team walked past it, looked at it and...nuthin, we went to grab it ourselves before the chef kindly obliged. The nicoise salad was sans pommes de terres, that is, no spuds. The beans were 4 whole beans buried under the pack of mixed leaves and halved cherry tomatoes of the lowest quality imaginable. A nicely poached egg, olives, and mediocre anchovies. If youre going to use fresh tuna, atvleaste sear the outer, tataki style to give us some interest (though the traditional tin tuna really works better (though originally, there's no tuna, but I digress). Incomplete, especially spudless but a pass, 2.5/5. Sadly, the slaw was a disaster. I'm old, I'm really old, but in human years, that cabbage made me look like kid. As cabbage ages, it loses its ability to snap when easten, even when dressed. Think of it like shaving with a dull razor. That's what eating that cabbage was like. We will come back when we pass by again...you never know, the $50 500g beef ribs (expect max 150g of meat) may be...

Great local pub but the food is terrible and overpriced.

We had a couple of orders of the steak and sides which at $52 (plus tips…) in a pub you’d expect something decent. Both steaks were well over cooked grey masses rather than medium rare. The mash was an unseasoned watery slop that couldn’t hold itself upright and was inedible however the veggies were quite nice to be fair. There was also an order of snitty at our table, again, it was well over cooked and dry, the crumb was a dark hard crust that tasted of burnt oil, the mushroom sauce looked like a grey puree of mushrooms with the consistency of a pâté that you had to dig out with your knife and smear over, rather than be able to pour over your snitty and chips. We were of a mind to send all 3 meals back but for the fact that morally we struggle with food being thrown out and experience tells me that if they are happy to send this poor standard of food out once, odds are it will be just as bad the second time around.

Bar staff and atmosphere top notch, but just order a plate of chips with your beer until they change the chef…I’m sure chef knows the food is average there and sending it back or making a complaint would be a waste of beer drinking time, I can understand one bad meal but all three shows consistency and a lack of caring on...

Quality pubbage.

Nestled in the relatively quiet area of Balmain East, East Village Hotel is one of the best pubs in Balmain - and that's saying something. This isn't one of your hipster, showy pubs that have become popular in recent times. This is a down-to-earth honest pub that serves great food and drinks. It's location allows it to not be overly popular, while definitely still feeling full on any given night and it somehow doesn't attract a rowdy crowd. You typically won't find drunks stumbling out of the place and it feels very safe. There is a decent sized screen TV on in the main area though sporting events aren't often a huge focus there but there is enough room for a small crowd.

The food is your typical pub fare - but done really well. Burgers, fish and chips, steaks and salads are what you typically expect thrown in with a few others. The burgers are absolutely to die for, though you will pay for them, unless you come on a Tuesday night when they're an absolute bargain. Drinks are quality but don't expect a huge range, that said, there's plenty enough. Staff are as friendly as you'd expect from a pub this popular; everyone is quite upbeat.

Overall a fantastic place to...