kingston hotel

awesome traditional style hotel with a gastro pub menu. i ordered the tuna steak with pepperonata and the green salad as a side. the tuna steak was delicious and perfectly cooked. the side salad was simple but generous. they may have been a little heavy handed with the dressing but not excessively so. will definitely bebackto try the steak night special- $15 is a bargain and the steaks looks phenomenal.

kicked out!. we have been coming for years for the steak night. the 'plate' said we had til 7.45pm before the next sitting, however we were told to leave at 7.30 because the next customers were annoyed at having to wait. table was rudely cleared - very embarrassing. we won't bebackand won't be recommending.

dissapointed. have been looking forward to dining at the kingston for many years, having heard of its reputation as a foodie pub. finally an opportunity arose on a saturday night with friends. unfortunately our expectations were not met. i would only give the food about 6.5 out of ten, the service only 3.

for drinks the offering was ok, but a little limited - no white rabbit beer (current fave), but a good selection of wines including by-the-glass, and reasonable prices.

decided to go straight for a bottle of red - brothers in arms shiraz from mclaren vale was a great choice.

unfortunately - pet hate number 1 - menus handed across the table, when there is plenty of room to go around. shows the wait staff are a bit slack. then the bread came out with lovely little bowls of pepper and salt, but no oil or butter. must have been a night for fry rations!

my wife started with the mussels, which were well presented but pretty ordinary. i had the soup which was fine, and our friend shared the antipasto which was conventional. pub food.

two large adjacent tables made for plenty of noise, and less than attentive waiters, so a bit of a struggle to get their attention.

mains sounded interesting enough, but the italian sausage/mash/potato combo although beautifully flavoured was cold. my lamb was casserole-style served in a bowl with breadcrumb coating. good flavour but dry, and our friends' calamari was like a bar snack.

it did make it difficult at first that the waitress had forgotten to provide cutlery, then disappeared.

all over just a little under-whelming. reasonable food, showing signs quality but let down in the detail. service poor for a restaurant with a reputation to uphold. atmosphere ok but very noisy - definitely not the place for an intimate dinner.

we won't be goingbackany time soon, given the variety of choice in the area, and much better options on offer.

try the grand hotel in burnley street (if you can get in) or the boozy rouge instead.

good portions and the manager here is so friendly! he should give hospitality lessons to ask k the other waitstaff out there on what real service looks like. the food is tasty pub fair and the area of thebacklooks newly refurbished and is very elegant with clean lines.

the calamari entree was pretty standard but the crab angel hair pasta was really delicious ave generous portion. i also enjoyed the zucchini stands tossed in their for an extra dose of my daily veg :)

warm friendly atmosphere, will return

great food and great service at a very reasonable price.
we had delicious battered prawns for a starter which were incredible. i had steak, and the others had spaghetti and salmon which i was very envious of haha.
we ended with a mouth watering fondant which i would comebackfor even if the rest hadn't been as great as it was!
the waiter also really knew his wine which was awesome!

we bought a groupon for this hotel and decided to try this fancy place out. the 4 of us were greeted by the hustling environment and the complexity of the place. on first arrival, we were directed to thebackof the hotel, where the nice dining area was set up (the front part of the hotel is the pub area). we were the first to arrive, however, by the end of the night, the area was filled with local families and other groups who were meeting up over dinner.

i ordered the calamari for entrée. the calamari was cooked to the perfect crispiness and i was sad the serving size wasn’t bigger- i could have eaten many more calamari as my main! the gluten free roasted duck breast caught my eye as a main and i also tried the t-bone. the serving size wasn’t very big, however, the food was delicious. the duck breast was cooked extremely well and the topping was thin and crispy, a great addition. the sauce accompanied the duck breast perfectly. i was really happy with my choice of main.

whilst i forgot the names of the 2 desserts we ordered, the pear, cream and crumble in one of them was amazing. i was so tempted to order another one, it was just that good. for me, that dessert was a 11/10. delicious! the other dessert (the one in a cup in the below photo) was average to me. it consisted of meringue with some berries- strawberries and raspberries- a 6/10.

the only let down was the waiting time and perhaps the serving sizes could have been bigger as i left feeling as if i could still eat more.

overall, having the groupon meant the meal was great value for money. however, i wouldn’t pay normal prices for the dishes at this place.

nearly a full house on a cold tuesday night in the restaurant located at thebackof this hotel. the 4 of us shared polenta chips, fish croquettes and tender calamari for starters. after a one hour wait for the mains to be served, we all enjoyed the eye fillet ( the diced potato it is served with is more like a room temperature potato salad ), ravioli with pumpkin in sage butter, and grilled tuna with a room temperature “ratatouille” style of thinly sliced red and green sweet capsicum on top. more points if the veggies were served hot. the anchovy crisp was a lovely crunchy element to this dish. the chocolate lava pudding for dessert was delicious.

beautiful classic local hotel. a hidden gem in the middle of suburbia. the wine list was impressive, with a lovely range by the glass. entree fish soup special was exceptional. the spanner crab handmade angel hair was a lovely main, although a little more crab have been appreciated through it. the duck was the dish of the day, cooked perfectly & quite generous. the beetroot carpaccio was a disappointment - don't be deceived by the fancy name, it was pretty much just thinly sliced beetroot. we will bebackto try other things, esp. $15 steak night - a little more affordable!!

i organised a surprise party here a little whilebackfor a friend.

what can i say?

the staff were fantastic - so accommodating and making suggestions of their own to make it an extra special night. the food was excellent ! they catered to a whole host of dietary requirements and managed to make the cocktail food absolutely delicious - no one went hungry! they were very well priced, great value, fantastic service and couldn't have been more professional. they helped me set up an av presentation on the tv with a slideshow and got the fireplace going which gave it such a lovely homey feel.

would recommend this venue to absolutely anyone!

i loved it here. it was a quiet afternoon and we had the garden almost to ourselves.

we had the antipasto platter and pate to share. it was absolutely delicious. the pate was up there with the best.

the guy behind the bar was really friendly
and welcoming. i'd definitely recommend this place and we look forward to goingbackfor another lazy afternoon.

came here for lunch with friends. good selection of beers and the food menu was appealing. i had bangers and mash, which looked deceptively moderate in size but i struggled to finish. the kingston burger looked pretty impressive and everyone else enjoyed their meals. will definitely comebackfor a rematch...

had dinner here and wasn't all that impressed. the food was ok, and the service average.
it is pub food but at more inflated prices and it's not the kind of place that i'll be rushingbackto anytime soon.

wow. really appalling service. we went to sit at a table only to be shooed away by a staff member and told the table was reserved, which we later find out were her friends.
the waitress looked after her "friends" table and pushed their meals through. 2 of our 6 meals came out, which the 2 were ordered first. the "friends" received multiple dishes and cooked meals and finished while we waited another 20 mins before saying anything. all sorts of excuses come through. "you ordered a well done steak so the other 3 are coming out with it. the "well done steak" came out medium and we still waited another 5 mins before my barramundi came out. lies and bad service continued. my dish had what was like a tub of salt poured on it. the salt was added after the dish was made, which makes me think it was added by a waitress to be spiteful. i was too hungry by this stage to send itbackbut it was inedible ordinarily.
we've had our birthday parties and after game meals and all sorts here and this is what we get. not the usual staff that are in here. spoke to the head chef, all i got was more excuses. appalling.

best hotel at the moment. so good, we all raved about our food - a perfectly cooked medium rare steak, steak tartare, fish and chips, the pie of the day and lobster ravioli every dish great. reasonably priced as well.
it was nice to bebackas i hadn't been there for years but it will be a favourite now.

we arrived at 12:30 as a table of 11, we didn't leave until nearly 4pm at no fault of our own.

after being told that they don't split bills so we needed to order and pay together, the mains took over an hour for the first one to arrive at the table, two at a time with spaces of at least 5-10 minutes between each. the last main served was well over half an hour after the first person had had their plate cleared. after speaking with management twice during this period we were offered complimentary deserts. we weren't the only table to experience this, it was essentially the whole place. chefs just couldn't get it together today. it wasn't a great meal because of the messy food service and general disarray of the dining room but i would consider goingbackwith a much smaller table to give them another chance simply because the food was exceptionally good for the price. all in all they comped us over $100 to apologise and i guess that is a pretty big "i'm sorry" i would suggest giving this place a go if your not in a rush or in a large group.