Star Hotel Yackandandah — Restaurant in Victoria

My only reservation about the food here is that my stomach cannot extend enough to fit it all in. It is a fallacy and a fault of mine. But the kitchen is equally at fault of making such delicious smelling, looking, and most importantly, tasting food that I have attempted to surpass my physical ability to non-dtop eat well into the evening.

If you don't order the burnt brisket ends, you've missed out on what I can say is the best slow cooked BBQ tasting plate I have had to date.

If you order the brisket burnt ends, you too will share in my grief that you cannot have a never ending supply.

Burnt brisket ends can bring about a vision of dry-to-the-point-of-powder roasts from depression-era grandmothers past. But these were juicy, tasty, and fatty morsels of caramelised art. Each bite deserves a round of applause. This isn't just a pub. It's a gallery of gestational art.

Perhaps it is the sunny curbside seating that allows you to take it the adjacent park and the slow crawl of local traffic (where today there was obviously some kind of amazing car show), or perhaps it is the sunny disposition of Sean and the team that make you want to have another beer that made us realise that we hadn't received our food after an hour or so.

Something that usually spells disaster. Something that may make this a 2 or 1 star review.

But when I approached the bar to enquire, all tools were down. All vets were off. Sean and the team didn't just step up and deliver, but they pulled people off their break to deliver. It wasn't their fault either, a technical glitch with the printer driver has meant that the docket wasn't printed to the kitchen.

You would expect an apology and a quick serving of the food would suffice. But in adversity, the mettle of what real customer service is comes about.

Sean walked us through how he would be putting on extra staff to ensure that this doesn't happen to you. The next customers to experience this awesome meal, with this awesome team.

Read my reviews. I'm not from around here and have been happy to point out faults and provide advice to others in similar situations. But none olhave done it like the team did today.

The bratwurst was a little dry, but my guess that is more of a timing of the printer technical issues more than anything else.

The gravy was banging, the coleslaw slayed, the kolsch has meant that my mountain bike ride back to camp is questionable at best and I will...

A Review of the Star Hotel, Yackandandah By a Discerning Palate

Yackandandah, nestled in the foothills of Victoria's High Country, deserves better. For here lies the Star Hotel, a modest public house where ambition seems to have departed through the tradesman’s entrance. Judging by its culinary offerings, one might surmise that the star in question has long since fallen from its celestial perch.

The ambience? Perfunctory at best. Neither quaint nor contemporary, it lacks the charm of a rustic retreat or the polish of a modern gastropub. The service, however, was pleasant—a lone bright spot in an otherwise monochromatic experience. One might say the staff smile out of pity for what arrives on the plate.

First, the beer. It was cold—yes, but as cold as the empty space for beetroot served alongside the schnitzel. Alas, the latter was an insult to that noble vegetable. Lacking seasoning, texture, and the faintest hint of a chef’s love, the beetroot sat forlornly, invisible to the eye as clearly vegetables are betrayed by its kitchen kin.

Now, to the schnitzel—a dish of simple pleasures, or so one would hope. Here, it evoked the culinary travails of one of Gordon Ramsay's kitchen nightmares. Compressed to a texture reminiscent of industrial cardboard, its crumbs were thin and joyless, a mere disguise for the dehydrated essence of chicken within. This, dear reader, was not food but punishment for sins unspoken.

The chips, once a proud testament to the humble potato, were nothing short of a travesty. One might wax lyrical on their failure—a soggy, bland, and pitiable mess. It is difficult to describe what precisely went awry, but if chefs were licensed to cook chips, the Star Hotel would surely have its privileges revoked.

In sum, the Star Hotel offers no nourishment of body or soul. One might enter expecting comfort, refreshment, and a touch of country charm, only to emerge bewildered, betrayed, and longing for even the most pedestrian of suburban bistros. If Evelyn Waugh could pen a recommendation, it would simply be this: don’t.

One star for the beer being cold. And even that star...

Dined at the Star on 2nd January. We have dined serveral Times before with our teenagers and alway enjoyed the meals and the service has always been great - unfortunately this night was not as we expected or hoped for and as a result we will never return! We arrived and waited to be seated. Menus were handed out but no mention made of the 5 menu items that were not available- went to the bar to order food for our table and was then told that 5 menu items were not available. Meals arrived quickly - a little too quickly. *Hawaiian pizza was raw in the middle (dough wasn’t cooked through) *The wrong steak was served (rump instead of flank which was what we ordered, and told oh we ran out!) *Side salad that was ordered didn’t arrive and I had to ask for it and was told ther is salad on the plate! I had also ordered an extra side salad The rump steak was not 300g! *The beef ribs had been reheated in the microwave - cold in the middle - the “coleslaw” in the side was just cabbage and mayo, nothing else and tasted fermented *the side salad was some lettuce, carrot and pickled onion, that’s it! *we could hear every conversation from the staff in the bar including one staff member declaring she had been here “long enough” today and was going home. *Tried to order a “frog in the pond” for our son at 8.20pm and was told “sorry the kitchen is closed” We ate what we could (it was 8pm at night by this stage and no where else to get a meal and our kids needed to eat! as we were leaving my husband voiced his concerns to bar staff and was told “well it is the holiday season” no apology just excuses! At no time were any of the staff friendly or even smiled! If I could give no stars here I would! Will NEVER...