the austral hotel

good menu for a casual pub, frequently updated as seasons change with a couple of good vegetarian/vegan options. big serves and fresh sides.

after late night shopping today we went to one of the rundle street pub called austral hotel for dinner. it is quite a popular bar close to the two universities and is quite packed with university students and young professionals who gather there after work. the austral usually has a local band playing during weekends and the place can get quite rowdy inside. it was our first time eating in the pub and it sure was noisy from the band and people yelling over each other. the eating area looks very plain with bits of paint peeling. in some ways it looks a bit like an old bar from the outback but i believe the bar intends to go for that kind of appeal. the usual pub scene on a friday night. after a short while we flagged a staff down and after he took our order at the bar, he showed us to our reserved table. the eating area was packed out and we were given a table at the centre of the rowdy room. everyone around us were chatting away with a beer in their hands and eating pub meals such as schnitzels and nachos. too loud to chat, just play on our phones. our meals came quite promptly and we were pleasantly surprised that they looked very appetising. we ordered the marinated kangaroo salad. the salad was quite big in portion with a generous amount of char-grilled kangaroo fillet.

kangaroo salad. delicious


-----24 oct, 2014-----

amazing! !!. dropped in for friday lunch was worried the food would take a while to come out as it was packed, to my surprise it only took 20mins. for entree i had the brushcetta i'm suprised at the previous review bagging it obviously they have no knowledge of food, the so called goats cheese was actually buffalo mozzarella the bread was soft but delightfully crunchy layred with fresh shaved prosciutto which i could tell was excellent quality topped with rocket that had been tossed in sticky balsamic. my girlfriend had the chicken breast which was classic italian in my book, myself i had the kangaroo salad which looked and tasted like it was picked straight from the australian outback.. good work guys keep it up

rip off. went to the austral for a bite to eat around 6pm. i ordered the bruschetta which cost $14 for one piece of bread, some goats cheese and a few pieces of rocket. couldn't believe it :(

a little bit good and a little bit bad. went to the austral on monday for lunch with friends. there weren't very many people there as it was a monday so i assume most people need to be at work, so, retrospectively the service was great! the pub was very clean and, i've been there in the past for drinks with friends and the atmosphere is always good. i ordered the entree size calamari, another one of my friends ordered the vegetarian club sandwich and the other 2 got the chicken salad. the calamari i hadwasn't very nice, i don't think they were fresh as i couldn't actually bite through some of them and i know it's not a problem with my teeth. the chips were good though, can't complain about the chips. my friends all had good experiences though with their meals so i think it was just my bad luck. i would definitely go there again but perhaps hold off on the calamari, or ask how fresh they are if i'm tempted to go down the seafood path again.

impressed. random stop with a couple friends
i had the beef tacos, loved it. around the table, hollandaise chicken breast had the plate licked clean! lamb shanks were apparently (wouldn't share!) worth the return trip on own. keep it up guys as we'll be back for more
highly recommend...

best so called 'pub food' i've ever had! far better than any pub i've eaten at. the gnocchi was perfection, the steak was beautiful & the service was very friendly and fast. would definitely go back!

they water down the spirits. i ordered a vodka neat and it was definitely watered down and not smirnoff but something nasty. had a foul taste in my mouth the next day.

worst food ever. schnitzel took 40 minutes to arrive and must have been ready for 30 minutes. it was cold, gravy was cold and there was about 10 chips with it. tasteless!

this is probably the worst pub in the cbd. staff are rude and entitled. $20 minimum eftpos is a joke and a pure money making scheme. walk down the road to the exeter if you want a nice pub that doesn't feel like a stain on the east end of adelaide.

what's with the service? cheerful after seeing santa come to town , but then list my mojo when i saw the glum and skanky looking staff here. are they hungover? well it all seems to hard to serve the customers. i'm going elsewhere!

tonight, i ordered the 300g porterhouse steak. the meal came out after a 15 minute wait and all meals arrived at the same time.

friendly staff and such good food. go for the house dips and a steak with the surf and turf sauce.

couldn't fault the service on a beautiful adelaide winters night. had pork cracking, chips, squid and haloumi as entrees. not fine dining, but more than adequate pub grub.

perfect for a catch up with your mates. can't go past the burger and beer deal. their burgers are large and really tasty and the fries are consistently good, i haven't had a soggy batch (yet). yep, it's standard pub fare but it definitely hits the spot!