Hog's Breath Cafe Penrith — Restaurant in Sydney

The very definition of mediocrity, hogs breath offers exactly what you would expect and it comes in huge servings. If all you want is 'normal' food (meat and three veg/salad and chips) look no further. The menu is extensive but really only offers many varieties of three different things: steak with sides, chicken with sides and burger/wrap with sides. Everything looks like it was warmed up in the microwave. It all tastes ok, it's just completely uninteresting. It baffles me why someone would pay between 35 and 40 dollars for this stuff when there is no skill or finesse to it. The staff are friendly in that American waitress sort of way (read false), which I guess is what they are going for. But they were not very good. I counted about 3 full tables in the place and as many waitresses, but our meals were slow to come out, we didn't get table water, they never came back to ask for more drinks. like everything the absolute basics were met, but nothing special. The thing I come back to is the price, mains are about $40 each, sure they are large but there are so many nice places offering interesting food at cheaper prices it just makes me scratch my head. Why wouldn't I just go to the local pub instead? Get an equally apathetic schnitzel chips and salad for a fraction of the price? I'll give it that it's family friendly in that kids can more or less run around and no one cares because they are all there calibrating some uncles birthday with the family. I'm sure that part of the appeal for the target audience is the large servings, so if the main quality you're looking for in meals is size, then hogs breath will sort you out. It's the sort of place I'll go if invited by the family, but not out of choice. Quantity over quality, basic (boring), food for when going to McDonald's is not fancy enough, but something that isn't a chain restaurant...

Would you like flies with that?

We've just dined at Hog's for a birthday dinner. It's our second and final visit. From the moment we arrived, it all went down hill. The floor and table was sticky and upon sitting down we noticed that our table was greeted with a guard of honour by a small band of flies, not one or two, I counted 8 in our area, 5 were alive swarming our table and the other 3 were belly up on the headboard. When our meals arrived from the kitchen, one dish brought another fly to the party. We had to eat our meals with one hand in the air to keep the flies off our food, a first for all us inside a local restaurant. When I contacted the staff about the issue we were given the excuse that it's caused by the heat and it's Australia, implying that we should be used to flies at the dinner table. That's all well and fair if you're outside at a BBQ but we were dining inside a restaurant and that's not on! The staff member didn't really seem too concerned and was very disinterested when I said we wouldn't be returning. The real kicker was the fly bait, it was placed on the headboard on purpose. The bait is attracting the flies to the table, not away from it, not a smart approach. If you were a fly, would you be tempted by the bait or a freshly cooked meal? The flies know where it's at, they're not silly. If you're looking for a good local dining experience, go elsewhere, Restaurants are supposed to provide their guests with safe and comfortable environments for enjoying deliciously-prepared meals. Flies aren’t welcome because they can carry a wide array of diseases that can be easily transferred to humans via food, including cholera, tuberculosis, and typhoid. Penrith...

Below average food, poor facilities, poor service with friendly staff.

Pros:

Waitress was friendly

Cons:

-Food is of poor quality, burgers were ordered and all we could taste was burnt/charcoal flavour from the patty and the buns. A steak was ordered for another person on the table which was flavour less.

-Value for money is not good. A lite cut of steak was ordered for one member of the group. Yes I am aware the lite cut is a smaller portion, but this looked abysmal. Lite should be renamed to 'child size'. Burgers were brought out with a small serve of chips and no salad for the size. The chips appeared to be crumbs and leftovers from unwanted orders earlier in the evening.

-Timing of meals was strange. Once we placed our order, the garlic bread was delivered to the table in under 5 minutes, which is good. Then they bring out a kids cheeseburger at the same time. We were left to wait 15-20 minutes after that for the starters and the remainder of kids meals. How could the burger possibly be ready almost immediately after we order and the other kids are left waiting? I think the burger was a cancelled previous order and was microwaved. On top of this, it's nice if as a group we could have all eaten together.

-Air conditioner not working. 35 degree day, probably should have the air conditioner working.

Sorry Hogs Breath but this is the last time both our families eat at any of your restaurants. There are plenty of dining options and you guys need to pickup your game or lower your prices to reflect the quality of food/service...