The Wokalup — Restaurant in Wokalup

We have always driven past the Wokalup on the way to Bunbury and thought nothing of it.

On our way back to Waroona we looked up The Wokalup and read that they were having a family friendly New Year event, bouncy castles, live music. We decided to stop in for a drink.

From the front The Wokalup looks like a country pub well worn and aged but well looked after to preserve the history of what it once was. We walked in the back entrance of The Wokalup half expecting dark wood décor with aged patterned carpet. WHAT A SURPRISE. They have a microbrewery on site, and have fully renovated the back area. Beautiful lush grass laid picnic tables and bean bags for seating. There's a large sandpit with a boat, mud kitchen and some nature play tree stumps for the kids. Plenty of outdoor games Jenga, quoits, pick up sticks etc. They had a bouncy castle for the kids and live music, we went in for one drink and the bar staff told us we were welcome to stay for the first few songs of the band but if we wanted more time we would need to purchase an arm band for $25.

For anyone with kids, you would understand how difficult it is to go out and have a relaxing time with the kids and not have to chase them, growl them for being a kid and just wish you had of stayed home.

The kids ran wild, no one cared. We witnessed the most amazing sunset, setting over the Harvey farmlands, the atmosphere was so fantastic we bought an armband and ended up staying another 4-5 hours. People bought their own picnic blankets and chairs to sit on the grass and watch the music and I must say this was the best way to spend New Year's eve. We will be regulars here from now on for sure.

Don't judge a book by...

Stayed at the Tavern on Saturday night. We were greeted by a lovely fellow who organised our room. That was the ONLY service we received ALL night. The wait staff simply did not know their role or the jobs they were required to do. We bought multiple drinks & entered the $100 meat raffle at least 8 times. Whilst we were seated at our table directly opposite the bar the meat raffle was drawn. No one made ANY effort to tell us that it had been drawn or to call out the name of the winner, instead the manager redrew the raffle & gave it to someone else!! We went in shortly after to find out if it had been drawn & our friend had won it. Needless to say she was delighted & then told that oops sorry we redrew it & gave it away!! She was terribly dissapointed so I asked to speak to the manager. When she arrived she said tough luck there was no mobile number on the entry ( although there was no signage to that effect nor were we told it was required) and it was a free raffle anyway! I expressed my displeasure & suggested that perhaps she could make their meals complimentary. She refused. I suggested she do something as the winners were local & word of mouth is powerful! She finally acquiesced & gave them a free drink, which the girl behind the bar couldnt mix!! She has been working there for three weeks & i'd expect her to have some idea on how to mix a cocktail. Would I recommend them... NO! Would I stay again No. Not because of what occurred re the raffle but the attitude of the manager left a bad taste in our mouth. Oh the food was nice which is why I gave...

This place has been on my list for over a year now, and I'm glad we finally checked it out.

I really dig the idea that they've kept the old pub out the front, and created a fancy part at the back. We were in the fancy part :)

We had our dog with us, so we sat outside. This place is very dog friendly and it seemed like everyone had brought their dogs. The downside to sitting outside is the lack of shade. This is the most common problem with new pubs (Phat Brew, Blasta etc) They all opened with no shade, then fixed it later. I could see some new tree plantings by the fence, which is awesome, but the area is quite large outside, and could benefit from a lot more trees to be planted. That's the only negative.

Food: Pleasantly surprised with the vegetarian offerings here, for a regional pub I was expecting to be eating the usual, but they've got a cracking menu. The specials even had a vegetarian option too, which you don't see very often. Thanks. I had the Chickpea burger and it was great.

Beers: I had an IPA and ended up buying some beers from the liquor store out the front to take back to camp. All the beers were very good.

Staff: All the staff were friendly and pleasant, They apologised for wait times, but I honestly thought the wait times were ok as they were very busy.

Add this place to your list,...