Wow. Could improve in many ways... Let's start with the way the menu is written...writing the…read moredollar amount is actually more effort on the eyes than numerics. Am I getting old or just experienced ? My eyes probs ain't what they used to be! So then they have taken the path of pay more if you want veg or salad with that. Mains are starting at 29 & go a lot higher for grill offerings and you have to be willing to fork out another $8 for a side. Look if the place had atmosphere to die for and excellent knowledgeable staff I could accept this punishment. But it's a hotel mantra lobby it's airy and cool, need my jacket, staff are young and not that knowledgable, makes you feel a bit fleeced. They did serve my whiting really quickly mind, but what is fish without some salad on the side? Sounds old fashioned I know but salad can be fashionable too ! I would be happy with half the serve of whiting- which was quite generous but if only I could have some vegetable matter in the way of leaves and dressing! Another quibble, they don't tell you wine regions! That can't be right! Why wouldn't you inform the customer about regionality? It's so important right now - terroir front and centre! I realise I don't choose a wine until I know something about its origins. These things can be easily fixed!

Sirloin was a bit thin. The tables.were open to the foot traffic to the hotel lobby. Nonetheless,…read morethe food and shiraz was good. The flavors on veggies and sauce were very tasty. Staff was courteous. I would go again and try something else tahn sirloin.

Forget the claim that this is a 1920s, prohibition inspired bar. Forget that in current bar-speak…read morethis means (drinks in mason jars and other novelty vessels). Leave all these judgements at the door as you perch upon the bar stools and high tables outside Next Door Kitchen & Bar (next door to Ole on Little Stanley Street) or take a table inside. Instead, focus on what they do well: small plates and cocktails. The cocktail list is not extensive by any means, but what they do do they do well. During our UYE I tried the specially concocted Rudolph Valentino (Scotch, Martini Rosso, Cherry Brandy and Cranberry Bitters) which was interesting. The flavour that hit the front of your palette changed by the time it reached your back palette. I didn't mind it. The Clover Club (which was too sweet for my cocktailing like) and a sip of an 18th Amendment (matusalem rum, red wine, violet liqueur, cherry jam, vanilla and nutmeg) a friend ordered, which was easily my pick of the bunch. As for food, try a little or try a lot. The small plates are made to be shared. For our table of 6 we ordered a few of the chips with truffled parmesan (win), beetroot and blue cheese arancini balls (win) with black garlic aioli and baby chard, and my favourite of them all the slow cooked lamb neck, maple roasted pumpkin, fire roasted onions, hazelnut and Maleny yoghurt. Simple flavours that packed a punch when grouped together. Worth every penny of the $19.50 this particular share plate will set you back. There were a few moments where drinks ordered were forgotten or were slow to be delivered but given the patronage on this Wednesday night it was easily forgiven. One bar tender for the number of people in the venue and anyone could understand the minor delays. The staff at Next Door were dear and we were regularly checked on to make sure everything was to our liking. It is the little things.

Came here for an unofficial Yelp event! It was super fun and the weather was perfect to be sitting…read moreoutside. The chair stools were pretty comfortable. They light tea candles on your table around dusk. Everyone was very kind and checked on how we were doing periodically. The drinks tended to take a little time to be delivered. We weren't sure if it was because of lack of staff or slow service. Once the drinks were delivered, all was forgiven. The food was excellent as well! We tasted the gangster wings, truffle parmesan fries, beetroot and blue cheese arancini, black garlic aioli, baby chard, and slow cooked lamb neck, maple roasted pumpkin, fire roasted onions, hazelnut, and maleny yogurt. Best thing you ask? LAMB. No question. It was so tender and the roasted pumpkin was an amazing compliment. I could have devoured the entire place but since we are to share the plates- I did just that. I recommend the fries if you want a nice appetizer to share or a comfort food with a twist. The place was quite crowded on a Wednesday and I loved the 1920s theme. This would be a fun place to go on a date or take a friend. It was fun seeing all sorts of groups coming. Will definitely be back! Shout out to Lani for organizing the event! Tip: If you come in before 5:30, you can get slingers and wings for $15.

Maybe I was seduced by the Pepe Saya butter, or perhaps it was the fresh interior of The Alliance…read moreHotel that completely changed my opinion of this building I'd walked and driven past so many times without giving it a second thought as a venue to come for drinks, lunch or dinner. With new owners, and I'm assuming, a new passion to make it a gastro-pub of choice when you're seeking a simple but familiar meal, I'd say they're on the right track. He dined from the bar menu, ordering a steak sandwich which not only looked great, but matched it in taste. I found myself reaching for more and more of his lunch than my own. I ordered the pork belly and seared scallops from the main restaurant menu. The scallops were cooked to perfection but this dish made me realise I'm just not that into pork belly. I've tried, several times, but the ol' pork belly and I are not destined to be friends. The Alliance Hotel would be perfect for the working man's lunch and as we dined there were many local office workers enjoying a good gourmet "pub lunch". So when you next walk past this fine establishment, ready to pass it over for something else, take a chance. Walk in and find yourself surprised at the quality of food served here. As a recent local media food writer asked, "Could this be Brisbane's first true Gastro-Pub?" i'm inclined to say, yes, yes it could be.

Hill area one night when I was in Brisbane. Mind you, that time made me realise there isn't…read moreactually all the much in Spring Hill (with the exception of a couple of pubs, some coffee shops, and a bunch of hotels). The thing that stood out to me was how friendly the staff where. When I popped in here for a drink they told me that the bar was closed due to a freack accident, however I could have a drink in the restaurant (which does make me a little uncomfortable, since restaurants are for eating and bars are for drinking), however the friendliness of the staff did make me feel really relaxed, and as such I do have fond memories of the place. It did feel a little classy, but that was okay because if the staff are welcoming to little old me, then that's a good pub in my books.

This was actually quite a nice pub with some really friendly staff. In fact I never really expected…read moresuch a warm welcome when I wandered into this pub. Maybe it had something to do with it not being particularly crowded at the time. Then again, considering that it does happen to be a suburban pub, I generally don't hold all that much out for them. Yet it turned out that this place, well, this place was actually pretty good. Honestly, it was quite a pleasant surprise.

The service is very good as always, but the new menu is not. Taking eye fillet off the menu is…read moreupsetting as it was my favourite things to order. It would be 5 stars as before if the old menu returns.

It turned out that this pub was better than I expected, especially since in my mind it happened to…read morebe one of those suburban Brisbane pubs. However, upon wandering inside I discovered that they actually had a nice tap beer available. That, to be honest, was pretty cool. In fact, it made this place feel much better. Mind you, I do remember coming through here ages ago, so it certainly did seem to be one of those places that I enjoyed visiting again.

Having driven past the Aspley Hotel many times we decided to give it a go and use another…read moreEntertainment Book voucher. We were seated and had a look at the menu and were told that when we were ready we should order at the bar. So we headed to the bar to order our meals and grab a couple of drinks and when we got back to our table another couple had been seated there...not happy. We found another table and awaited our meals but the mix-up put a dampener on my mood. We ordered the Roast Duck and Eye Fillett to share. The roast duck was described as orange and madeira oven roast duck with braised cabbage and creamy potato. It was a very pretty dish but let down terribly by overcooked duck and an undercooked potato stack despite the menu promising creamy potato.. Very disappointing. The medium rare Eye Fillet with mushroom sauce was very well cooked and accompanied by a side of delicious chips. The salad a bit bland and boring but who orders a steak for the salad anyway...

Service was slow but the food was good. We had to go up to the bar 3 times to determine is our…read moreorder was ready. Four staff members standing around and yet we had gather it ourselves. That's the definition of poor service.

Always great food. Better than great.. you yeah nag, better…read morethan that. Bloody great tucker.

This was a rather nice pub with some rather friendly staff, though it certainly isn't one of my…read morefavourites in the area. In a way it is more like a fancy restaurant, or at least the bistro out the back was, where I decided to go and grab a drink. The service was pretty good though, and the beer selection was okay, though not necessarily all that fantastic. Still, it was a nice pub, and being close to the railway station certainly helped as well.

Unfriendly and rude staff. Sent email 3 weeks ago which was ignored concerning lost property. Their…read moretoilets including their new ones are gross and vandalised.

This pub really isn't all that particularly great, which is a shame because it is actually the…read morefirst pub that I visited in Brisbane's west end. Okay, it is rather large, but it appears to have come about due to apartments being put up everywhere, so basically it takes the place on the ground floor. However, I still found this place rather bland and am unlikely to visit it again.

The Melbourne Hotel is one of those places which tries to be all things to many and pulls it off…read morepretty well. Just off the main drag of West End's Boundary St, it has more of a corporate, white (& sometimes blue) collared vibe than the more bohemian bars on the main strip. Physically it's a massive space with pool tables, cavernous booth seating and a stack of flat screen TVs for watching the game on (someone once told me the place is a tax write-off for WOW Sight & Sound, but in West End people son't always let the truth get in the way of a good story...). In addition to being a solid pub where you can get a cold beer or cocktail if you're feeling refined, they also boast a respectable modern Australian menu. The emphasis on quality food is evidenced by the quote emblazoned on their signage (and I'm paraphrasing) "One of life's true pleasures is that we sit down to eat three times a day". Not being one to be able to resist a call to action rationalised by a quotation, I recently went on a Tuesday with a couple of friends to take advantage of their $15 steak special. It was quite busy but the service was impressive, with a waitress showing us to a table promptly and being generally quite helpful. She recommended the 'Confit garlic & buffalo mozzarella bread' for starters, citing its popularity. I enjoyed the 'confit garlic' part of it (they used whole cloves which become deliciously mushy with slow-roasting) but overall thought it could have benefited from a sauce of some kind, perhaps a pizza sugo. My chosen steak was a hefty 300g rib fillet -- definitely good value for the $15 -- and I was happy with their approximation of 'rare', with there being a noticible core of pink flesh in the centre of the cut. The presentation was very good too, with a balsamic reduction drizzled in orbit around the centrepiece. My only gripe with that though is that it interfered with the taste of my chosen 'pepper jus' sauce, causing a discordant clash of flavours. But it was a minor issue; overall, I left satisfied and happy with paying about half the price as you would for such a serious steak at most fine dining establishments.