Pretty cool and trendy pub in Canberra. Came here for the weekend with some friends, two of which…read morehad been and raved about the cocktails. The cocktail menu was pretty extensive and every drink sounded amazing. They all cost $15 which isn't bad compared to drinks in Sydney. For my first round, I got the So Ho Lychee flavored drink - YUMMO! And the thing with the cocktails are, you can actually taste the alcohol, they don't skip. I tried my friend's Cherry Blossom drink, very yum and very strong! My next drink with the Japanese Geisha Drink which had midori and sparkling champagne - very tasty as well. Later in the evening, an R&B singer started performing and she was really talented. This is a very cool place to hang out and have a cocktail!

A true gem in Canberra. Great whiskey selection, friendly staff, I love the warm atmosphere of this…read moresmall upstairs speakeasy. I spent an evening drinking whisky, eating cheese and listening to jazz. Hard to beat. If you like whiskey or mixed drinks, this is the place to go. I'm an American and I arrived in Canberra on a Wednesday afternoon. The first thing I did when I got to my hotel was Google "Canberra jazz" and Hippo Bar was the top hit. It's located right in the heart of the city center, but its vibe is very different than the touristy stuff around it. It was dark and cozy with a film noir atmosphere. If a complex murder mystery had erupted in front of me, I would not have been surprised. They are skilled mixologists too. One bartender made a drink where he filled a rocks glass to the brim with water. Then half-filled a small brandy glass with some brown liquor, lit it on fire, began spinning the brandy glass on top of the water glass, then started shaking in something from what looked like a pepper shaker, causing sparks to fly within the brandy glass. He did this for a lot longer than I expected. It was quite a show. He finished by pouring the singed brown liquor into a new glass and grating what smelled like cinnamon on top. I was impressed. The only disappointments were the wine. I had two glasses to start and both choices were mediocre. They are clearly focused on mixed drinks and whiskey. The food choices were minimal as well. I enjoyed a cheese platter, but it wasn't a meal.

First day of trade and the boy and I just happen to be in the area!…read more After a 3.5 hour car trip from Sydney to Canberra, checking into the hotel and realising how hungry we were, we headed out to find food! Being after 3pm we weren't sure if there would be much open. What a great little cafe! Burgers, Craft Beers and Coffee... What more could someone ask for? Reading the menu i couldn't decide which burger I wanted! The sliders, the pulled pork, a beef burger, no a chicken! Oh man why is it always so hard? The easiest part of the menu they actually pair the burgers with the beers!! I'd finally made my decision, the mixed sliders but alas they were out of the slider buns, so in the end I ordered the Porkie Burger and a Cappuccino (can anyone say coffee withdrawal headache) and the boy ordered an American Beef Burger with no bacon and a Young Henry's Natural Lager. The drinks were brought to the table pretty quickly. The coffee was exactly what i needed. The burgers followed soon after, the porkie burger was a pulled pork burger with cheddar cheese, pickles, chipotle mayo and sweet slaw it was delicious! The pulled pork had so much flavour, and the chipotle mayo the right amount of kick. The american burger was a beef burger with fried onion, cheddar cheese, house BBQ sauce and mustard mayo the boy was in love. The staff were friendly and very helpful. The only downside to the meal was the side chips - they were a little on the undercooked side and cold. Otherwise it would have been a winner.

The service was very slow and when our meals came half of them had been forgotten and not made and…read morewhen there made the rest of our meal it was wrong it was ordered without pickles and came with the pickles on it and when we complained about it the staff picked them off with there bear hands and said there you go wasn't very happy asked for a new one got it 2 minutes later don't think it was a new one. The beer was fantastic Don't know if we'll go back

Redsalt Restaurant is inside the Crown Plaza hotel and is great for breakfast buffet but is…read moreexpensive. They have a great selection of meats, cheese, granola, fruit , stewed tomatoes and mushrooms , bacon , sausage, ham, eggs, along with coffee, tea, and juice.

Burger #229: A Burger From Down Under…read more For a $22au hotel burger, I expected a lot more. For one, I expect competent service and that was something that I didn't have much of. I feel bad for my server, honestly he shouldn't have been hired to work with the public. He had such a hard time hearing my order of "the burger, medium-rare, and a coffee with cream and sugar." I swear I had to repeat each part three times and twice he left only to come back and ask again. Any caring and compassionate person will order a burger medium-rare (or any cut of beef). It's a disservice to cows to eat their flesh cooked any higher. What's the point really? You lose fat, flavor, and have to chew for days. If you disagree with this, stop reading my reviews, defriend me, and go somewhere else to pretend you enjoy life. This all leads to what happened next; I was told that for safety reasons, they would have to cook my burger above medium. Since my server could barely tell me this, I gave up hope and didn't argue. When the burger finally did come, it looked okay; http://www.yelp.com.au/biz_photos/btM0lK-w0QT5D4mQSVURjQ?select=bkYI0pN8pyHaEYgm-N-ebg But my camera does a good job at fooling you. The meat, or meatloaf rather, had such an off-putting texture that it instantly sucked any chance or enjoying the burger away. The meat was mealy and gritty and full of bits of not meat stuff, maybe a mirepoix. Beyond that, the meatloaf patty was sad and dry. Overcooked beyond hope of being slightly juicy, this overpriced hunk of food matter cried out for help. The toppings did little to help; the fried egg's yolk was solid, devoid of any runny goodness, the "crisp bacon" lay flat and limp, and the onion jam was overly sweet. As I travel the world more, I'm seeing a pattern of foreign countries lacking the ability to 1) grind beef, 2) form beef into loosely packed disc, 3) season that beef well, and 4) cook it to 133 degrees F (56C). Oh well, America needs to be best at a least a few things right?

They recently rebranded the place that is no longer part of the Pancake Parlour franchise. It is…read morecalled Capital Pancakes now and has the blueberry stack pancakes as a signature dish. However, the essence of the place hasn't changed and the pancakes still fluffly and delicious!

Their pancakes are so tasty... They have a huge variety available and they can be topped with…read moreregular cream or ice cream!

Been coming here for trivia on Wednesdays and have been having a great time! The service is mostly…read morequick, the atmosphere is fun and the food, especially the pizza, we have been really enjoying. My one complaint is that for being a bar with "hops" in the name and a beer centric venue, there really aren't that many options for beer on tap and they don't seem to have rotating options either. Otherwise totally love it

They do have some of the best Buffalo chicken wings in Canberra, and I do appreciate that they…read moreserve them with a BLUE cheese dip (I'm strongly opinionated it's blue cheese dip or nothing). The service is always nice and the decorations and activities around are fun and give off good vibes. The menu is slightly overpriced for what you get in my opinion, to explain why it's not 5 stars. Please keep your Buffalo wings with BLUE cheese sauce on the menu. However they make the wings and Buffalo sauce is tasty and stands out to other Buffalo wings in Canberra. All my reviews are standardised to the following star ratings: 1. Customer service I.e. friendly, easy to book, etc. 2. Accessibility I.e. location, decor and scenery, easily assessable or flexible, etc. 3. Work, health and safety I.e. clean, safe, etc. 4. Quality of goods and/or services I.e. good food, good movers, etc. 5. Comparison to similar for location - I.e. would I recommend this above other places

This was my second visit to the Charcoal Restaurant. The food was enjoyable the first time the…read moreservice wasn't great. I decided to give it another go tonight and booked for a group of 8 for dinner. Again, the food itself was very good and everyone enjoyed what they ordered. Unfortunately, I think the service has gotten worse. The lady going chatting to the tables around ours I can only presume was the owner, did not bother to come near our table to ask if we needed anything, if we were happy, if we want coffee and dessert etc. They did however make it very clear that they wanted our table for the next booking, to the point the next group we're hovering around our table waiting for us to leave. They got two of our mains wrong and my friends were still finishing off their meals. Considering I was expecting our bill to be $800-$1000, I expected the staff to be a bit more attentive rather than needing to chase them to order more drinks etc. Since we were basically pushed out, we ended up finishing the night at San Churro for coffee and dessert. Needles to say I'm very disappointed with tonight, I told the owner that the food was good but the service was very much lacking. She said they were short staffed, but showed no real interest in what I had to say. Thankfully Canberra has a lot of very good restaurants but this one will not be one I will ever return to.

From the small pokey and friendly restaurant comes one of the best steak dinners you can ask for…read more Very well respected establishment with a great reputation and impeccable service. The crumbed Camembert it a must to start with, the wine selection is vast and well presented to compliment your meal. A must for every lover of old world charm and dining.

Tucked into the small enclave of Kingston shops is the Durham Castle Arms; an English style pub…read morewhich offers a variety of beers on tap and a bistro for the less liquid-based hunger satisfying creations. 12 beers on tap provide good variety to choose from (including some dark ales) in addition to plenty of bottled sorts, wines and spirits for those wishing to diversify their selection of drink. The bistro serves standard pub fare, tried the Guinness pot pie which was delicious put down with a dark ale. The pub is divided up into a number of areas with seating on the bar side, kitchen side, and outside. There is also a stage and small dancefloor. A band was playing the night we came down. The bar population went from 2 of us plus a handful of others at 9:30pm, to overflowing with people and packed some 30-45mins later. Quiet to epic in under an hour - something which surprised me for this small Canberra venue.

I went to the Durham on a Tuesday night, and they happened to have pub trivia that night. I enjoy…read morepub trivia nights, so I liked this about the place. There were a lot of people there that night; the only seating I could find was at the bar, which was fine. Other than that, the atmosphere was very positive, everyone seemed to be having a good time. The Durham has the feel of an old English pub, which I thought was pretty cool. Overall, I liked the place. The only negative I have is the price of a beer. Maybe it's because Im an American and Im used to different prices for a beer, but the beers here did cost a bit more than they do back home. Other than that, Im a fan, and I would definitely go back here, especially on trivia night.

Stopped in for pub lunch on the way home between Sydney and Canberra. What a cute spot! The…read moreSurveyor General is the oldest continuously licensed inn in Australia, built in 1834 using convict labor and remained in the Harper family for almost one hundred years after being built. In the early days, prisoners were detained in the cellar of the sandstone inn! Place was hopping on a Sunday afternoon but we were able to order food at the counter and grab a seat in the taproom. Very cozy, with the fireplace going on a chilly winter day. Ordered a burger and the fish and chips at the counter and it was brought to us in the taproom. along with a glass of wine and a ginger beer. Everything was tasty, ambiance was nice and staff very professional and friendly! Overall a lovely stop in Berrima, a cute town.

We stopped here for dinner as part of a wildlife tour. I was impressed by the menu--not what you…read morewould expect from a small, remote inn. I had the beef burger, which was well cooked with scrumptious house made pickles. The chips here were fresh and crispy and tasted amazing. I'll never care about American "French fries" ever again. My husband had the fish and chips and his fish was battered perfectly and he loved it. Other members of our group had steak or duck and all were very pleased. They had chicken dishes on the menu as well as pasta. The menu was small, yet diverse, and impressive. The staff was all friendly and helpful. The best thing about this place was the feeling of stepping into another world. So much of the original feel is intact, including original stone work and woodwork. You feel like you're in an 18th or 19th century pub. I could have sat here and chatted with people and sipped a drink next to a fireplace all night.

Best burger I had ever had. Price is a bit high, but worth every dime. Fresh ingredients, huge…read morechunk of juicy beef and it's special sauce(whatever that is) made this burger place stand. Friendly staff. The fries are a bit too salty for my liking though, but the overall experience more than made up for it.