We stopped here recently for an overnight stay and were pleasantly surprised!…read more ++ Check-in was relatively painless, and staff even offered little bottles of milk for "coffee or tea" Very clean room and ensuite bathroom that looked recently renovated All basic appliances and supplies provided in the room, including a mini fridge, coat hangers, heater, and flat screen TV - - Bathroom had a fan that worked well but came on everytime the light was on, and it was absolutely freezing in the shower on this cold winter night All in all a great stay, and we'd consider a revisit!

Just had lunch at the gateshead tavern i got the battered fish and it was superb and only $10.90…read moreand my husband got the steak sandwich and he said it was the best he'd had in a long time and the service was fast and staff were friendly

The food and atmosphere is great awesome pub the staff are wonderful and they are dog friendly…read morewhich is a plus for me

Yummy Highly…read morerecommend Great for the whole family Friendly staff Delicious meals recommend the cheeseburger

I didn't find that this place was really all that inspiring. In fact, it seemed to be just your…read moretypical suburban pub. I would probably say no frills, but then again sometimes no frills can be pretty good. This place was, well, bland. In fact, they had a really limited number of beers on tap as well, and none of them particularly thrilled me either. As such I doubt I'd come back, though I must admit that the service was pretty good.

Great pub lunch. 3 of us had the John Dory with salad and chips - yum. The 4th person had battered…read moreflathead which was good but by comparison it was a very small portion. Desserts looked good but overly sweet. Overall a tasty pub lunch but over $100 with a soft drink

Absolutely horrible experience, if I were you I would avoid this place at all costs. It's over…read moreexpensive, very low quality food and completely arrogant waiters and ground staff. My recommendation for those who are reading this keep going to anabay or salamander Bay and hit up the taverns there. They have amazing food. Brilliant service and a stunning atmosphere. Now for the full details. We came in on bikes being a beautiful day. Thought we'd stop in for lunch and a beer. We parked the bikes in the shade. There were no signs saying do not park here or staff parking only, it was open slather. So we walked up and found a table in the shade, it was already 32° C and will feeling the heat and very keen for a beer. After sitting down, ordering a beer, settling in and ordering our food. We were then told by one of the staff members who bought my dish out (I'll get to that shortly) That we had to move because the table was already booked. If there was something clearly saying that the table was reserved we wouldn't have sat there in the first place. However, it wasn't clear so we had no idea. This waitress, french-speaking lady, then took my food away and told us we had to relocate to another table. Finally, after finding another table in the shade, we all sat down and my so-called crispy pork belly was served in front of me. Now this dish is $23 and it had a handful of pork belly and a very little amount of what they thought was pineapple salad I think. The pork belly was like chewing gum. It was flavorless, far from crispy and a big challenge to eat. My mate who was with me was Kane on the prawns and salad. This dish was $28 and it came with three prawns including the heads which were already cut off and three pieces of green rocket I think. Locally you can pick up half a kilo of tiger prawns for about $20. My mate went and said something about the meal because he was completely disgusted at the price and the value in which we were sort of compensated for. I'm leaving. We've come down to our $30,000 bikes to find them being watered and covered in bore water from a sprinkler that wasn't there when we arrived. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, the staff were notified and some very large overweight middle-aged individual in a high-vis vest came down and whinged to us saying that we shouldn't have parked there. I asked him to show me where the signage says "no parking" But there wasn't one because someone had taken it down well before we had arrived. So I explained to this individual that it was not our problem and this looked like parking for customers. Now I'm a local, I live 15 minutes from this place and the four occasions I've been here over the last 12 months. I've not had any luck with the service or the food quality. If it was my choice we would have moved to Salamander Bay or Anna Bay where there are two amazing taverns with much better food quality and outstanding service. The staff here just did not care about their service or the issues with saturating our $30,000 motorbikes in bore water. Don't come here, it's over expensive and the food quality is well below average. You won't leave here with a smile on your face, I was totally disgusted and I can assure you I will never return. I'm hoping you've read this review in full and seriously reconsider where you are going for lunch, this place had so much potential back in the day, but it is completely failing right now, it's failing the locality and the reputation of this amazing area that we live in.

We spotted Murray's Brewery along the road on the way to Port Stephens. On the way back, we decided…read moremake a pit stop for some food and drinks. There's also a winery on the premises, Port Stephens Winery. We dropped in on an early Saturday evening (around 6:00pm). The layout is quite nice with a beautiful view of the vineyards in the background and plenty of outdoor seating. The menu is quite massive with beer snacks, sides to share, lighter meals & salads, burgers, pizzas, BBQ, cheese platters and sweet treats. There also was a small gelato case inside. There's the usual merchandise with other random touristy nicknacks for sale. - Beer tasting paddle ($23.00 AUD for 6) - this is pretty pricey but you do get 6 samples that are 200ml each. The unfortunate thing is that they don't let you choose what you want. Never been to a brewery before where you didn't have the option. Lame! There's about 10 flavours on tap. The best one we tried in our sampler was the east coast lager and dark knight porter style. Rest were pretty unmemorable. - Crispy pork belly bites ($15.00 AUD) - came with red wined braised cabbage and macerated apple. You get 6 pieces of pork belly. The apple sauce was a nice combination and the cabbage was tasty. Pretty great for sharing. - Sweet potato wedges ($12.00 AUD) - came with a side of sour cream and sweet chili sauce. The wedges were quite chunky but needed to be way more crispy. Decent stopover. Food was better than expected but wasn't too impressed with their beer offerings.

Fantastic local pub that managed to come through a tasteful renovation while still maintaining it's…read moreoriginal character. An ever changing range of local beers rewards the repeat visitor. Having grown up just down the road, it is pleasing to return home to see some local goodness. Probably my favourite newie pub.

This recently renovated place has got some serious pub food, in fact I'd go as far as to say it's…read morethe best pub food I've ever had! Those chunky/crisp beer (or cider) battered fries and the beef burgers are just mouthwatering. It's the only place I'll go to in Newcastle for a decent pub meal. 5/5.

I was sent to The Junction for a business trip. My employers had booked me a room for a 2 night…read morestay at The Junction Hotel. My first reaction after hearing the arrangement they had made was "You've got to be kidding me! They booked a room for me at the top of a pub?" (thinking that The Junction Hotel would be another one of those filthy pubs with a bunch of drunkards). Colleagues who stayed at this hotel tried hard to convince me that The Junction Hotel is no ordinary pub - but I still had to see it to believe it (you wouldn't blame me for being cynical too if you saw most of the pubs within the area I live in). But to my surprise...it was a nice hotel! 1. My hotel room was clean. 2. Modern. 3. Complete with necessities (like most commercial hotels): * Towels and hand towels * Shampoo - conditioner - body wash gel * Complimentary bottles of mineral water (and chocolates!) inside the refrigerator * Hair dryer * Iron and ironing board * Lots of toilet paper and tissues (no need for the housekeeper to stack them up on a daily basis * Coat hangers 4. There is a bar and a nice restaurant right downstairs: there's no need to get out of the building just to get food and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Their menu was great and has quiet a variety of things to choose from. The meal prices (depending on what you order) can be a bit costly. But the quality of the food served at the hotel are well worth it. You just need to taste it and refer to the food presentation! 5. The restaurant and bar staff would be willing to bring food and drinks to your room (although you will have to order by the bar downstairs due to the fact that there are no telephones inside the rooms). But hey...it's a few walks down the stairs and you're there. Unless you are ridiculously lazy... 6. Less expensive than other hotels (I forgot the exact price but it was definitely less than $150 per night). 7. Oh! Did I mention how super comfortable the bed was? I definitely wouldn't bother paying to stay at the Crown Plaza Hotel (not far away) when I could get myself a hotel room that is equally decent - and that cost less. The guests - mostly locals - were also nice. I felt that I was able to just randomly start conversations with strangers.

Great pub food. Really enjoyed my Cajun Barramundi . It was surprisingly moist. But the highlight…read morewas the wait staff. Attentive friendly but not intrusive to a sole diner here for business.

Gastro Pub Food! We had a really enjoyable dinner here -…read moreamazing burger and well cooked salmon fillet together with a very reasonably priced bottle of Hunter Valley wine. There's something on the menu for everyone here, the prices are reasonable, the portions are generous and the service is fast and friendly. No wonder this place is so popular!

This is a small hotel attached to a pub, like many others in the area…read more Room was tidy, neat and comfortable with a tv, fridge, iron and ironing board. Queen bed was very comfortable for both sitting and sleeping, we didn't get to that other option beds are used for... ;) Check in was a little confusing as there is no front desk for the hotel part so you actually check in,pay and get your room key at the bar in the pub's main area. Once again, it is part of a pub and they serve your standard pub/comfort food but bookings seem to be essential. we were there on a saturday night and and every table was booked. There is a tiny section available for walk-ins, but that was also full by 6pm Very quiet and great for the sunday morning sleep in we both needed after a 30th bday the night before. Would stay again.

The thing about Hamilton is that there is a pub on both sides of the railway station, and both pubs…read moreare pretty cool. However, this one was actually much livelier than the other one, so I guess I would have to give it points for that. In fact listening to the banter going on between the bar staff was actually rather amusing, especially since they were dealing with an undersirable. The other thing was that they had some awesome beers on tap, and a great outdoor area as well. Yeah, this place was pretty cool.

A basic little pub that's right across the road from Hamilton train station. I went in late…read moreafternoon, as a place to have a cold drink while I waited for my train. Given the time of day, I saw the place at its most naked (though darkly lit) and it was showing signs of wear. I considered sitting at the suede/micro-fibre lounges, however they'd seen too many good times and were rubbed bare. The other seating was stool based. Though not particularly comfortable (I probably wouldn't go there for a chat), in my brief wait for the train, my stool was sufficient. It felt a bit dingy. The bathrooms were older style, but roomy and clean. Edit: I hear they have new furniture?