The Russell Inn Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Western Australia

Only giving them one ⭐️ as got a drink! Basic service. Went to have a few drinks, around 10.30 on a Friday night, finals footy.… then 15 mins later calling “last call” and closing. Simply asked closing time, yet manager wouldn’t answer, constantly dodging the question, etc then long later told, can close if less than 10 people. Simply asked the manager for verification on this and where on website for public for future reference …. She couldn’t/wouldnt produce any evidence of early close,… so they totally backed off and begrudgingly stayed til 12am on the ALL counting down loudly as if our problem., very vocal, counting down time and pointing at their watches, yet going out of their way to be rude, timing etc… even in the car park once closed, verbally abusive … yes at 12am 🙈 Abusive manager was leaving work at that time, 12 on the dot, not closing and cleaning. Heaven forbid, you work hospitality hours and actually have do them!! Yes, some of us know rules/laws and question things. Don’t expect to be abused, from staff, esp managers doing their expected hours/time. The public patron's are a clear inconvenience to certain management and staff. If anything is different/changes in rules… feel free to show us, as asked tonight…. Clearly couldn’t, (though offered opportunity multiple times) then became defensive, rude and abusive. All clearly because had to stay back and actually work full paid hours. The abuse from the manager, went into the car park, whilst waiting for an Uber. All because I questioned last call, at 11ish, what time was close… defensive and rude, yet no answer. Will never go there again, it was embarrassing… not for me, but staff, mainly manager, whinging had to stay past 11.15 on a Friday night… and that was her car outta the car...

Have been a couple times and is generally pretty good. Most recent visit though showed standards appear to have dropped a fair bit.

Medium steak came out near raw in parts, parts cut off from what is assumed to be due to over cooking, and a lot of fat on it. Salad with the steak had barely any dressing, and chips were mediocre.

Due to the steak being put on it all, whole meal was quite slimy.

Pity, and while will no doubt go back, will likely be awhile.

Follow Up

Have been a number of times since the original review. Very hit and miss. Few weeks ago had a great steak sandwich. Recently was served the same and was easily the worst steak sandwich (at $25) I have had. 4mm thick cut of steak, a cheese slice cut in half (literally still rectangular and not even melted) and a few caramelised onions on a few pieces of rocket. Serve of chips would have been a handful, if lucky. Photo attached for reference.

Facilities were also very poor, with the ladies apparently completely out of action, and the men's simply having toilet paper rolls sitting on the floor.

Service was also extremely slow, even from being seated, then waiting 5 minutes for menus and water. Basically was able to take kids to the bathroom before anyone even attended the table. No follow up service either and struggled to get staff's attention for a drink refresh.

Taquitos were great though, and kids loved the nuggets...

To be honest, this was one of the best pub meals I’ve ever had. From the moment you walk in, everything just flows. You sit down, and someone comes to take your order at the table, which I really appreciated because it saves the hassle of lining up.

The food options were great. I ordered a burger that was huge and full of flavour. It could have used just a little more seasoning, but it was still delicious. The chicken wings in hot sauce were hands down the best I’ve ever had in my life. They were so good I’ve ordered them multiple times on DoorDash since eating here. Covered in sauce which is what you want, That’s actually why I’m writing this review. My only suggestion is that the wings should come with blue cheese sauce, not just crumbled blue cheese as an option. It would make them perfect. I also had the creamy garlic prawns, which were absolutely amazing. The flavour was unreal, but the sauce was more buttery than creamy. I think it would be even better with more creamy garlic sauce to soak into the rice. It would also be a nice touch to include two poppadoms instead of one to help scoop up the rice and sauce.

The lady who served us was so lovely and friendly, and even though I’ve taken a while to write this review, I haven’t stopped thinking about how good the meal was. I 100 percent...