the robin hood hotel

robbing hoods

there are eateries and then there are c-class-street-food-fails. the robinhoodhotel in adelaide’s eastern suburbs is a complete fail. ‘went last week with a small group. we had three courses.

the sour-dough ‘loaf’ we ordered arrived scorching hot and untouchable for ten minutes. it had been scored four times: the intention being that we break it apart! in this covid age, a really stupid dish, with all at the table encouraged to ‘heave off a chunk’. dumb!

the mains were a total rip-off. i had the double serve of whiting. talk about trashing a good thing: a salad consisting of mangled lettuce — the type that hangs to the side of your throat — a quarter of a tomato and four slices of cucumber. the chips — likely manufactured. despite these packet chips being almost idiot proof, the ‘hoods’ managed an own goal ‘limp, deformed and a waste of not so good oil’. the whiting had no sole; notwithstanding this being an opportunity for the kitchen to capitalise on local produce, they also trashed this option. the fish tasteless: you know the food is less than expectations if you find yourself reaching for the salt! we all asked for salt! this meal was charged at $36. if i had one piece of whiting, i was charged $20. so, an extra piece costing $16. my friends ordered the single piece of whiting and apart from the extra whiting, the serves identical in size. go figure. i reckon the hoods were looking at patrons ordering whiting as a given junket; ‘chuck ‘em a kipper, that’ll keep ‘em happy’.

furthermore, the desserts, cheap — like mutton dressed as lamb. my chocolate cake direct from a construction site, complete with compressed cream and a sophisticated artistic touch; a strawberry cut in half! my guests equally appalled at their selection: a glass of generic tasting ice-cream with a shot of coffee on the side and given some exotic sounding italian name like ‘annunziata.’

this pub is masquerading as a restaurant. it’s decor new and interesting, the staff on the day pleasant and professional. sadly, with a kitchen so dysfunctional — making basil fawlty’s abode look like the french l'atelier de joel robuchon - there’s questions relating to the new owner’s true intentions including potential ongoing profitability. adelaide has some really great pubs with great, unique pub meals. the robinhoodsits well below expectations.

very good experience every visit to the robinhoodhotel...
a+...
meals and service is always excellent every time. easy to find parking ...good value for money ...

on the recommendation of a colleague michele and myself had lunch at the robinhoodtoday. he raved about the wagu steak, turns out it was a special for last thursday and not available, disappointing but i move on.

the robinhoodhas some delightfull dining areas, a shame that today which was a beautiful spring day there were workmen making the outside area unpleasant (noise and walking through the dining area with building products). we decided on the main dining room which was nicely furnished.

michele ordered a chicken schnitzel with gravy on the side which was served with gravy over the schnitzel, i know this is a first world issue but it is vey annoying. the second attempt was better and michele said it was good. i had the scotch fillet which was well cooked, tasty and very tender. not sure why it was sliced into a few thick slices but it was.

in summary, food was good but there were issues, decor nice and staff ok but the issues of the day really affected the experience.

went to thehoodfor a family birthday dinner, sat in the dinning room. the waiter taking our order was abrupt and in a hurry. my partner asked about the steak and he said the fillet steak was thick and he recommended it. it came out cut in slices. oysters were overcooked and just thrown on a plate with no lemon or offer of cracked pepper. i had the grilled barramundi, which was small, thin pieces of white fish, which i highly doubt was barramundi! fairly average food, stick to a snitty if you go here, as the chef is no foodie!

the experience i had at the robinhoodactually left me feeling so mad.do not normally go out of my way to write something like this but just wanted them to know how disappointed i am.

i ordered thehoodtrio of sliders which consisted of: a cheeseburger, a pulled pork burger with slaw, and a peri peri chicken burger - with a side of sweet potato fries.order came out - appeared to look good...
peri peri chicken - was basically a rocket burger. rocket leaves, some aioli and a piece of chicken the size of a 20c piece. which was unseasoned and dry - where was the peri peri? lacking any sort of flavour.
cheeseburger - did not actually involve cheese. should have been called a sauce burger.
pulled pork burger - was literally pulled pork - no sauce or flavour whatsoever, the slaw consisted of red cabbage and no slaw sauce - again completely lacking flavour.

mr z had a chicken schnitzel with pepper sauce. how could you go wrong right? it came out, looked and was soggy. pepper sauce was gross and chips - not hot and hard. 

the worst part is the fact that this meal cost over $50 not including drinks. it was so disappointing when you are really looking forward to a nice meal out and the night was completely ruined. definitely would not go back or recommend to anyone.

great service & good food. after two weeks of holidaying in adelaide and dining with the in laws at various adelaide pubs, i have finally found one worthy of a mention.
the robinhoodhas remarkably designed itself for all ages. a quiet reserved dining room for the oldies and a funky beer garden and bar area for the younger crowd. the food was the best of the pubs we had been to and the service was exemplary. prices were very reasonable as well. heartily recommend it.

a very bad experience has spoilt the place for me.. i want to preface my review by saying that i have always loved the robinhoodin terms of a fabulous overall dining experience. i have never in my whole life complained about food & definitely never sent anything back.

tonight i ordered the rack of lamb cooked rare & it was served to me completely raw in the middle. i poked it around on the plate for a while which didn't make it any less blue so i spent 10 minutes trying to get the eye of the wait staff. fair enough, they were very busy. so i went up to the counter & started by apologetically saying to the waitress that i hate to be a bother but the lamb was too rare & would she mind sending it back to the kitchen to be cooked a little longer? this woman was so rude, gave a big loud sigh & came over to the table with me & then announced "this is how we cook rare here". errrrrm, actually, it's blue, i know the difference! she took the plate away in a huff.

in the meantime, i was still waiting for my garlic bread which we reminded the wait staff about after they brought the entrees out. all the others at my table had finished their mains before mine had come back (which i accept responsibility for as it took me a long time to go up to the counter). when it came back it was cooked beautifully, the same girl brought it back with her big, dirty attitude & then brought the garlic bread once i had finished the lamb.

all that aside, the rest at our table very much enjoyed their meals. take that horrid waitress out of the picture & it's still a lovely pub with mostly wonderful food.

the robinhoodis to be commended on a generous wine list with a very wide range of wines offered by the glass (although, with such a big by the glass list i hope they are taking care to store the opened wines properly). service was also very good. it was prompt and friendly and the waiting staff obviously work with a degree of flexibility...overall, the robinhoodgets a big tick – definitely an above average pub dining experience.