Flat Rock Brew Cafe — Restaurant in Sydney

I am astonished this place manages to even stay open, as it is awful on almost every level. The craft beer's are a bit weird and honestly mediocre at best, and way overpriced. Non house brewed products are out of control. A friend inquired about a single can ( standard size) of imported beer... $22! "No thanks" . There is absolutely no ambience here, no vibe, no comfort, no soul, no anything. Just cheap and nasty. The bar staff profunctory at best. I sat with a friend on a winters evening and had a few of 'the house brewed beers' and basically froze. There was not a single heater on anywhere, the warmest thing was the thin cushion on the bench I was sitting on. The front of this bar has bifold doors from side to side, on this night all these were wide open, so it was uncomfortably cold and not enjoyable. Service for anything was non exsistent, inexcusable as there was at most 4 or 5 people in the whole place, including the two musicians strumming out live tunes to nobody. Boring, expensive,...

If you like good independent beer and are not willing to drink megaswill, then Flat Rock Brew Cafe is pretty much your best bet in the area. There's always a good selection of beers on tap and the fridge often has some interesting (and expensive) beers too.

There are a couple of hand pumps for that authentic pint.

The menu has a fairly standard selection of pub dishes, so you won't go hungry.

If you are after a few good beers with a standard pub meal to go with them, you'll do fine at Flat Rock.

There are no annoying TVs hanging off the walls, which is a very welcome change from most venues.

The staff have really good music playlists - I very much enjoy the background music, which is not overwhelming, but...

Karl is a master brewer and the fact that some friends and I regularly make the trek from the Inner West to have some of what we reckon is the only genuine Real Ale in Sydney is testament to that. His cask beer festivals are amazing - such a treat to have so many variations to try - but he also makes (among others) saisons, stouts and American styles with equal skill. He's also got a fantastically can-do attitude, and enthusiastically brewed two special casks for us to take on a houseboat weekend last month. He's created a lovely spot to while away a few hours at the FRBC - there's a lot of good beer in Sydney but what Karl offers is unique and Naremburn is lucky...