belair hotel

first visited here about two weeks ago and found the meal disappointing.returned again today as i generally like to visit a place three times before i give it the permanent flick! anyway this time the food was better but still nothing to rave about.haloumi burger and chips was well presented and the combination of beetroot relish with the haloumi was good but i feel that the beetroot could do with a touch of acidity as it was sweet with the haloumi which is a sweet tasting cheese.the chef needs to add some balsamic vinegar and some sweetener to beetroot and i can assure you the burger will be a 10/10 after that! i am a chef so i know!


-----19 may, 2015-----

good arrived.ordeted belair burger and chips.disappointing in flavour and cold.ate it because i paid $20 for it.i can do better at home.this place has gone downhill food wise despite nice views of hills.views can never make up for bad food.sorry.


-----19 may, 2015-----

ordered lunch 45 minutes ago and still waiting.......

jumped the shark.... we loved this place once. we ate in the bistro while the hotel was only partially refurbished most weekends for a year, perhaps 6 years ago while we looked for real estate in the hills. we did that for a reason, it was excellent. well, we did end up buying out little piece of the hills and i'm sad to say that we hadnt been back to belair until a couple of weekends ago, the large mortgage was to blame for that more than anything else! well, we decided to return one saturday, i wish i had just stayed away and could of just remembered it fondly. we arrived at about 11:40 for lunch, we hadnt booked (back in our day you didnt have to). we were greated at the door by an unpleasant young woman who appearered to be running the floor and were told rather abruptly that there were no tables available. i found it a little strange in that at that point we were the only people in the entire establishment that werent being paid to be there. she quite simply did not appear to want us there. i explained that we had 2 young children and we were only out for a quick meal so she begrudgingly seated us at a (strangely unreserved) table for 4 on the provision that we leave as soon as we were finished. we ordered as soon as they would take it, the food came out perhaps a half hour later and it was average, not terrible but no better than average. i had a schnitzel with some sort of swiss mushroom topping, my bad, i should have known that would be a shocker and it was. pretty much a decent schnitzel rendered a sloppy, creamy, cheesy mess by the dodgy topping. my parner had the fish and chips which would best be described as tasting quite odd. i suspect cold or old frying oil was the culprit. but we ate, we paid and we left, as negotiated. we were out just after 1pm and i could not hlep but notice that the bistro at this point was perhaps 1/4 to 1/3 full... so thats my last memory of a place that we used to love. we'd of happily gone back despite having what may of been an off day with the food but will not return thanks to the cold reception we were given. note to management, first impressions, you only get the chance to make one and the person making yours is a shocker. if you are still bothered by too many diners i predict that this will sort itself out in the fullness of time, to think of all the money spent on your refurbishment only to be negated by one person?

nice venue, lunch wasn't too busy but had atmosphere.the friend i dined with noticed the menu changes regularly which i class as a good thing! risotto chicken arancini was nice! wine list had good variety, half bottles available for all "by the glass" wine. service just ok.

awesome chips! there's a l.... awesome chips!
there's a lot of good chips around but belair hotel's made me stand up and take notice. they taste double fried with perfect combo of creamy inside with golden crispy outside. i sat out in the alfresco seating area and had a tasty pint during happy hour and it was the perfect spot to unwind. recommended!

staff are always lovely snd friendly but it's pretty expensive for standard 'pub meals'. also, the dining room echoes like crazy so you're best off sitting outside. lovely spot near the road.

used to be good, gone downhill.. they get busy, it's so noisy you can't talk and i don't mind waiting for a nice meal but not well over an hour when the restaurant is half full and other tables are getting their meals despite ordering after us. even this would've been acceptable if someone just apologised or even explained. we politely enquired how much longer (kids with us) and were quite aggressively told "it hasn't been an hour and the kitchen docket proves it. it's only been 45 minutes!". showed the cash register receipt with the actual time. no apology just bad attitude and frankly it was embarrassing how rude the manager (?) was. our meals came out staggered, two of them cold. it was just so disappointing and although the belair used to be great, the last few times just haven't been up to par. avoid until they improve their customer service and sort out the kitchen.

if you want an expensive meal served by rude gen y ers and be asked to pay $10 for cakeage i recommend the belair hotel

great food. i was really surprised how delicious the roast venison tasted. at many places, the roast is usually dry. but belair hotel does it superbly. the gravy was super nice. the serving of roast pumpkin was generous, sweet and had a undescribable yummyness to it. green beans were lovely too. plating was 10/10. sweet potato croquettes - liquid goodness. smoked chicken empanadillas - this one unfortunately had a strong smokey taste to it. when asked for feedback - i told them about the smokiness. glad they asked.

i had a mojito before the meal - that made me feel fuzzy n good :)

raw pork on your fork and other follies.. i could have written the review below this one. we too have visited twice and both meals have been a disappointment. let me list what was unsatisfactory about today's meal :
1. the beer; it was very cloudy, and by that i mean it was the colour of milk, and as transparent. the waitress told me it was the end of the barrel and they would not change the barrel but would offer me a different beer. whilst i was stood at the bar 2 other people came up to complain and return their beer as well.
2: generally, when you order as a party of eight one would expect the food to arrive reasonably together, not one meal 15 minutes ahead of the rest.
3.miranda or melanie (it was difficult to see your name tag), when someone tells you the pork on their plate is raw it is not acceptable to say you will tell chef and to then walk away and clearly not tell chef. i will be pointing this or to the environmental health officers, m. chef, it is absolutely not okay to serve raw pork and claim it is cooked in paper bark.
4.why clear all the plates bar one? this intrigued me. that one plate then sat there through dessert and right up to when we left. you cleared tables around us, you walked past and looked at it but you left it resolutely alone.

my recommendation to people is to find somewhere else to eat.

cakeage charge is blatant greed !. my wife and i attended our grand daughter's birthday celebration at the belair hotel last friday evening. this venue was chosen primarily because it is children friendly with a playground and games room. however we were shocked when our son and his partner were charged a $10 cakeage fee to cover the cup cakes which they brought along. i note from an earlier review response from hotel management that this fee is charged to offset loss of dessert sales which i believe is a very shallow excuse. a group of thirteen were at our table and consequently the sales of main course and drinks were very healthy indeed. given the children's amenities at the belair hotel, then no doubt it would be a popular venue for children's parties and to slap on this $10 surcharge for parents bringing along birthday cakes is certainly a very strong negative marketing initiative. our family will certainly be seeking out far more children celebration friendly venues in future and given that there are five grandchildren in our family, then the belair hotel stands to lose a lot more than the $10 surcharge imposed the other evening. i am aware that many hotels and restaurants impose this fee, however those venues who regard this charge as a blatant ripoff, do not ! furthermore, as local belair residents, my wife and i have often dined at the belair hotel, however no more following this family incident.

we came here for dinner before quiz night. obviously staff were not aplenty as we waited 50 minutes and our food was cold when it arrived. noisy place in main bar so won’t be having dinner before quiz night again

came here as a group of four and:

1. we waited 45 minutes for the food and had to awkwardly ask when it was coming

2. we got parmies, schnitzel and a veggie curry and everything except for the schnitzel and chips were all below average. the veggie curry was especially terrible - the curry tasted like a bowl of tomato sauce with no taste whatsoever and the rice was too dry and had no aroma

we were pretty excited about trying this place out but are definitely extremely disappointed

we enjoy the meals and the environment as our local hotel. plenty of tables, plenty of menu and wine choices etc. however, we find it very noisy most nights and this detracts us from going there.

oysters and arancini we had for starters were nice, but mains below average. the vegetable salad was awful which we paid to add 150g of haloumi to and came out as about 50g undercooked. mushroom sauce very gluggy and salmon main was very average for $30. no one asked how our meals were when clearing the table which is unfortunate as i wouldn't of had to leave this review.

this is one place that i continue to return to for a fantastic meal. the staff are friendly and the service is good, the menu is fantastic such a great show case of local and interstate produce. we are a family that only eat fish/ seafood and found there was a ample amount of choice on the menu, i decided to have the atlantic salmon with risotto and asparagus everything was delicious the risotto was tasty and the salmon cooked to perfection only thing missing was a sauce to go with it but that's just me being fussy. my partner had the chef special #1 which was a nt barramundi in a green curry served with rice. this needs to go on the menu permanently he loved it and licked the bowl clean, he wasn't a fan of the pickled vegetables on the side but the curry itself was to die for, they even accommodated by giving him more chilli as he likes it hot. overall i never seem to be disappointed when i come here for a venue that's so busy i do recommend booking but it's well worth the trip up the hill. will keep returning. keep it up guys