Terminus Hotel Pyrmont — Restaurant in Sydney

First time at the pub I ordered a steak frites and it was great. Chips well cooked and decent cut of meat cooked spot on as a blue steak. Second time I ordered and again it was great. Last night huge disappointment. I sent back the first steak - it was cold served on a warm plate and chips were undercooked. Steak was tough. I was offered for the steak to be put on the grill a bit longer but that would have overcooked it. New steak was cooked a bit more than the previous one [sadly] and again served only on a warm plate, chips undercooked and steak only a bit warmer. Nice piece of gristle/sinew along one side of the steak, very pale charring and steak was tough. Both times the Cafe de Paris butter was so cold that even on a well done steak it wouldn't melt and I was cutting into it like it was cheese on a relatively cold steak. Conclusion - cut of meat is different to the ones I had a few weeks ago; heat on grill is not high enough to char the steak properly; steak is taken straight from the fridge to grill instead of cooking a room temperature steak that has been patted dry and seasoned and therefore it is cold in the middle and tough and bland. All three at our table had steak and one had well-done - I would have called it medium well and he also complained it was tough and rated it 3 out of 10. The cook needs to be trained how to prep and cook a steak and that gristle should be trimmed off the steak. How to plate the meal should also be learned - meat should face the outside of the plate as opposed to a strip of sinew and chips should be neatly placed on the plate not appear as though they were thrown on straight from the basket. Salt and pepper on the tables would be a nice touch as neither steak nor frites are seasoned. A decent mustard or aioli would be great rather than a huge assortment of hot condiments and basic tomato and barbecue sauce. Oh and don't believe them when they say they don't charge for using a card. I did and found ridiculous charges per transaction for using my debit card. Drinks are expensive enough as it is here and then they add a fee but...

Terminus hotel is an upscale and expensive hotel & pub in Sydney. Being a local, I used to visit the place regularly, sometimes three & four days a week, for two years. One Friday afternoon, when I ordered and paid my second drink to a bar staff, another bar staff came to the counter and aggressively yelled at me to the level that all other customers turn their heads and looked at me. After I felt ashamed and insulted in front of the other customers and bar staff, I canceled the order and told them they can keep the $16 I already paid.

I was very disappointed, felt uncomfortable and left the place and decided to never come back again. It was one of the unpleasant experiences I have had in my entire life.

I don’t know why that individual bar staff snapped at me, but I suggest they serve and communicate with the patrons with dignity and respect. Especially given the label of the hotel.

On the positive side, I am very grateful to the female staff who apologised to about the incident.

After being shamed and insulted in front of others by a rude staff member, it is not a pleasant I will visit ever again. Especially used to being a royal customer for two years.

Anthony.

Replying to owner's comments:

Thank you for your reply.

I am genuinely disappointed by the consistent and persistent dissemination of false information about the facts and my attitude mentioned in the owner's reply. For example, nobody kindly asked me to leave.

I won't make any further comments on the owner's comments.

However, I'd like to emphasize that providing false information in response to a customer review can harm the pub's reputation. Trust and credibility are essential in the hospitality industry, and dishonesty may lead to negative perceptions among potential customers.

Additionally, I am not interested in contacting you in any form or shape. I have limited...

Terminus Hotel||So this this the first time in history where my parents recommended something to me, seeming to be in the know first. Word on the street was that this was a great pub with excellent food, what would be described as a gastro pub. ||The pub is certainly historic, one of Sydney’s oldest pubs, having been licensed and in operation in Pyrmont since 1841.||As we walk around the pub, we appreciate all the history documented through photographs and captions highlighting the checkered past throughout of the area. For some time (1984-2018) it was closed and in disuse and it has since been revived into this beautiful boutique pub. ||The pub has a few separate areas to socialise and dine, such as the ground level around the bar, small rooms and a semi outdoor area, entered via the upstairs space. We love that the courtyard is also dog friendly.||Plenty of cocktails, beers on tap, wine and bubbles. ||The food menu has been designed by Colin Fassnidge with plenty of upscale pub classics such as burgers, steak and chips, salads and and a number of daily specials. Their entree list is also much better than most pubs with kingfish sashimi, a suckling pig sausage roll and mushroom croquettes. ||For our mains, we had the special market fish - a beautiful cooked trout with a tomato and chickpea sauce. Another special we opted for was the steak and fries, served with a chimichurri, lettuce and a beer!||In addition, their chicken schnitzel was a generous size, served with slaw, lemon and fries, and the fries here are darn good.||We couldn’t go past a dessert, my favourite of all time, donuts! At the Terminus Hotel, the large cinnamon donuts are warm and served with chocolate sauce. These are a must order.||We look forward to returning to trying more of the menu, as well as doing some trivia, which is held a few nights...