http://www.thealbion.com.au/

Gman

The Albion was completely refurbished early last year and is a very warm and welcoming place.

I went there with some colleagues from work to take part in their Tuesday night trivia competition (bookings required).

Let’s not talk about how intelligent we are(n’t) but instead about the Schnitty….

I chose the Parmiagana (their spelling again) schnitty to see whether it improved on the Kent’s from Friday which I was not a fan of.

The Albion’s Classic Parmiagana consisted of napoli sauce and mozzerella cheese with aioli on the garden salad and beer flavoured chips for $16.90.

Higher than the price of the Kent’s schnitty but well worth it for this was doubly good. The napoli sauce was melted in with the cheese and formed what looked like an exploding car crash. This gave me the impression it was going to be a slap-dash affair but I was wrong. The taste was amazing, albeit that the schnitty itself was quite thin and not as big as the Kents’. The aioli was sloshed on a bit strong and took a bit away from the salad which otherwise was pretty good. The chips didn’t taste like other beer batter chips I have had before but were good otherwise.

Well worth a try.

All in all 4/5.

http://www.thekenthotel.com.au/

Gman

First let me set the scene. 

It is pouring down rain at 7:30pm. To misquote Morpheus from the Matrix, “Unfortunately, no one can be told where the Bar on the Hill is. You have to see it for yourself.”

In short, there are next to no signs of how to get there. I know where it is, but as for parking in front of it, I am still at a loss. For this, the Bar on the Hill loses a mark.  Secondly, the music was too loud, another mark lost. Thirdly, the kitchen was closed, there it loses its remaining possible marks.

0/5

The decision was then made to………..something………….go near Hamilton?   No…. Darby St?   No……. Beaumont St? There wasn’t really a decision made apart from following Scott’s Failcon…..

So we arrived at Oasis on Beaumont St after driving km’s to find parks. Scott covertly found us a table in the Kent.

The Kent

The Kent has a smallish pub/bar area up front and beergarden type restaurant out the back. It is not very inspiring due to the cream, cream and more cream colour scheme, or lack thereof. 

Everyone chose the Parmigina (their spelling) style schnitty as that was just about all there was to choose from. This was quite a big schnitzel and had a layer of ham, tomato sauce and cheese. I also got the chips and salad.

The schnitty was not dried out enough for me and parts of the batter were also a soggy mess. The chips were only lukewarm and the schnitty was like a fireball it was that hot. The salad was passable.

From my point of view it felt rushed. The meals didn’t take long to come out and that showed. I didn’t bother finishing it. I will go back to the Kent but probably for the pub area and upstairs, not the grub.

Remember, if you have a leaking roof, poke it with a broom and forget about that whole “water & electricity combination” thing.

2.5/5

Kroony

Chicken Schnitzel With ‘Parmigina’ topping Chips and salad – $14.90

Drinks - FireEngine and rum i call it a burning fireengine… unless someone can tell me there is a real name for it and im wrong?
Staff - The staff were a little worrieing. It was raining quite badly and the roof was leaking water from a light. So they decided to poke at it with a broom before turning the light off. I was a little concerning.
Company – Small group of 6 braved the weather on the great quest. Good mates, all you could ask for in regard to schnitty.
Side – Chips and salad. OK. chips were normal chips good but not awesome.
Topping -Parmigina. This was there spelling not mine. IT was fairly average. The cheese on top was nicely cooked under the grill but there was possibly a bit too much sauce on it.
Schnitzel - Chicken. Decently sized heart shaped chicken breast. The meat had a good tough quality about it, not chewy or dry but less falling apart like i have seen. The batter got a little soggy on the bottom. I think the issue here is the traditional chips served under the schnitty. This is not a good thing please everyone stop doing it. steam from the chips condensates on the underside of the schnitty and it goes soggy. The batter was also a little thick, not such a bad thing just that it kept comming off.

Well rounded schnitty, not a bad price, i gave it 3.5 schnittys out of 5

Ben

If I were to review the entire night, including the terrible weather, the planned destination not serving food that night, and the trouble taken to finally find a parking spot near The Kent; then I would have a grim score for schnitty that night.

But The Kent didn’t have anything to do with any of those factors, so I will ignore them for the sake of fairs-fair. The atmosphere in The Kent was everything you could expect from a little pub. There was music playing but not peeling the skin off of the patrons, who were kept very warm thanks to the superb heating installed around the place. The layout of the pub makes you wonder what’s behind that door or up that flight of stairs or around that corner, but I was there for the food and didn’t go exploring.

Pricing was fair; less than $15 for a large schnitty parmigiana, with choice of chips + salad, or mash potato + vegetables, and by that point in the night I was ready to eat it burnt off the counter.

The food came out in a near-perfect time, not enough to have me complaining but just long enough to make my mouth start to water. Presentation was good, schnitty on top of chips (of which the opposite I would have preferred) with a decent serving of salad on the side. The schnitty itself was delightful, with melted cheese, a parmigiana sauce and some ham underneath to top it all off. Plus it was enjoyed with good company, in a busy (but not crowded) setting, where it was warm and (until a leak in the cieiling nearby caused some lights to go off) well lit.

The entire experience left me even more reluctant to wish to leave for a raining walk back to the car and a wet drive home.

4.5/5 - only lost half a point for the fact that nothing can be truly perfect. Thanks to the staff at The Kent for having us, I will definitely look forward to a return visit.

Scott

The Kent = Win. What a soggy night it was, but all that running and driving in the rain, getting drenched etc doesnt count towards their score so we will leave it there.

The Kent was busy, but willing to accommodate us at such short notice and had a big enough table right under a heater for us. Ordering was quick and painless, although there could have been a bigger selection instead of plain schnitzel or parmigiana. I got the parmigiana and chips with vegetables. $14ish, very moderate pricing and well worth it. The schnitzel came after 15 minutes and looked great. The vegetables were ok, standard carrot, beans and cauliflower. The chips were nice, not the best but good either way. The schnitzel itself was brilliant, searing hot and perfect crumbing and size. The schnitzel itself was probably a 5/5 but the overall score will be a 4.5 due to limited menu choices and because on the way back to the car I walked into a puddle of water 30cm deep and my car failed on the way home and has been broken for the 4 days since.

http://www.jewellstavern.com.au/

Scotts

These guys have (or used to?) have advertising of ‘Newcastle’s Best Schnitzel’ somewhere, and being local to work, I had eaten there quite a few times and they had been good. Fast forward to now however…

First, we were shoved outside. Regardless of the fact it wasn’t booked, there were enough tables around empty inside, and in one case, 2 people (who had finished their food) were just sitting at a big enough table for our group. I guess the staff just weren’t interested in lifting a finger to actually work on a Friday night. As for menu design, similar to the Mattaras and still annoying. Such a seemingly high price and only a little a choice of toppings. These guys need to go to Waratah Rugby Club and see the amount of toppings they give, on their cheaper budget.

So onto outside. Was not too cold, and once Andrew had performed magic tricks to get the heaters going, it was bearable. The seats are terrible though, I did not want to sit on the style of furniture they had in colonial 1800. Long heavy frozen lumps of wood they call benches are not high in my list of comfortable things to sit on. Also on the outside – the kids. Just walking outside had me almost clean up some small kid who was running through all the tables. Theres a wooden box full of PS2s, a jungle gym, and kids still feel the need to play up in the eating area. The incessant screaming made it hard for conversation and it actually got worse later on when we were in the car park, it sounded like they decided to have a screaming contest..

The food. Not too bad for a $10 schnitzel, unfortunately it wasn’t a $10 schnitzel. It was $18.50ish. I ordered my schnitzel with chips and vegetables, with a honey-mustard topping. There must have been some serious changes since last I came here, as this was nowhere near as good as 6 months ago. Nowhere near enough sauce came, and the schnitzel was normal sized, the chips normal… veges was pretty good though. Corn/beans/broccoli/cauliflower/carrot. The schnitzel itself was ok, but not on par with the $18 ticketed price. Just an average run of the mill variety that Joes Bar could serve out.

I finished the meal, but it just didn’t have that aura of being a good meal. I’m giving it a 3 out of 5, as I expected more. Maybe that’s the problem? Or maybe they had too much of a good thing and got greedy.

Ras

Newcastle’s Best Schnitzel is a somewhat disappointment. But hear me out

There were 10 people ordering, one of our larger attendance nights were here tonight and they have a regulation to bring out all meals out on time. But so does Mattara and that was pretty good (though they are owned by the same people), we had a large group then too. This could of easily degraded the quality.

So we ordered, no booking to a place that’s INCREDIBLY busy at times, but its hard to book when you have a group with invitees which can’t commit to coming. Ushered outside and got the heaters working, it wasn’t too cold and the kids playground screaming was our punishment for not booking. Great kids playground, I used to love it when I was younger, hasn’t changed a bit (for the good?)

I was distracted for a moment by an old friend who was there and my garlic bread was eaten by the usual culprits who don’t order things they want! Bastards! But then out came the meal which made me grateful I didn’t fill up on the bread…

My schnitzel was HUGE! It was stacked on top of the chips beside the salad on an extremely large plate. It had a muggyish honey mustard sauce which didn’t have too much honey mustard flavor and wasn’t really enough to cover the whole meal. After I had finished eating it, I was full, definitely at the regrettable that you have eaten too much level. It was a decent sized meal however as pointed out by others it was missing the accomplishment feeling. It was like I have just eaten something half-decent, something wasn’t there, I think it was the fact the schnitzel was a bit too dry and not enough sauce was given to counter-act it.

Even though it didn’t fulfill the expected title of best schnitzel, it was still somewhat up there and I give it a 3/5

Ndroo

Service: Good, no complaints. We had to sit outside as per usual but they had some very nice heaters to keep us warm, no one helped us turn them on despite the fact we expressed interest in using them (Safety hazard?)…however eventually we got them going, and assisted a nearby customer of the tavern to turn theirs on. Hearing the band that was playing inside i wasn’t that upset to sit outside anyway, they were way too loud. The food came out quickly, woman serving obviously didn’t have much understanding of the food as she named one of the meals “Schnitzel and orange”, that orange was actually lemon (Still lemon?).

3/5

Location / Environment: Jewels is a bit far out, i guess they have a fair hold on the area as there are not a massive amount of choices when it comes to eat out food. The place itself isn’t too bad, the outdoor area has too many kids…however i assume that’s what its there for. Don’t get too excited about their “Playstation cave”, not only do you have to be a certain age to get in…they’re old ps2′s and i wouldn’t really want to touch a control that a snotty nosed kid had touched, just before i eat my mean.

2/5

Food: Terrible. Overcooked, obviously sat around and was left to dry out for a while…the chips were good, the salad was OK but the part we were interested, the schnitty…was terrible. I would not recommend this place, they need to step up the quality of their OVERPRICED food ($18). These people need to check out the competition and see that a schnitty of that quality is worth $10 at most, maybe $11 or $12. The best schnitzel we’ve had so far was $14 and far thicker, juicer and in general better cooked.

2/5

It fed me, but i wasn’t excited about it nor do i want to go back unless there’s a good reason.

Feel free to invite us back once you’ve improved your meals…

Ben

As my first schnitty in Newcastle and my first time reviewing a schnitty, I was both at the advantage of having an open, unbiased opinion of my meal, and the disadvantage of not knowing what to expect.

Atmosphere:
The first thing I noticed was the venue was a very children-friendly place, with the kids play area and “Playstation Cave” being what surrounds patrons on their way into the dining area. Unfortunately there was not enough seating to accommodate for our party so we were left with no other option but to eat outside with the fun-loving, yet noise polluting collection of kids. There was no music being played, nor was there any other distraction from this noise such as a TV showing the football (or Olympic games), which I found disappointing. The giant fish on display between the outside area and the inside was a nice touch.

Service/Pricing:
The lady who served me was very friendly, or at least as friendly as one would expect without becoming concerned or uncomfortable. The self-serve cutlery and condiments placed unmissable near the register and queuing area was a benefit to the entire experience, as I find myself spinning around, salt shakers in one hand, plate of schnitzel in the other, trying to find a knife and fork to use while dodging other hungry individuals as one of my least favorite things to do on a Friday night. We were told that someone would turn on the heaters for us outside, but by the time we made it out there and realized we were still cold, Andrew did what any tech-head would and play around with knobs and wires until the heaters were warm once more. Another party of patrons asked the group how to get the heaters turned on, too, which further illustrates the lack of motivation the staff might have had regarding the guests outside in the cold.
I ordered the small schnitty with salad and chips for $14.50. This would seem reasonable if it were for a large schnitty, but for a small it was a little pricey, and over $18 for a large schnitzel was just plain expensive.

Food:
The most important part of the review is finally here, and to be honest I didn’t mind my schnitzel. It was on the large side for a “small” serving, I liked the steak fries and the tomato sauce wasn’t that terrible “no added salt” stuff that doesn’t taste anything like tomato sauce. The salad was disappointing and made me wish I had selected the vegetables instead. I am a simple salad lover; give me lettuce, tomato, cheese, and some carrot and I will love it. Instead I had long strings of green and fat clubs of green of which neither looked appetizing. I did like the lemon.

Overall I would give my experience a 2.5/5 but if I had to round up or down I would round it up to 3. There was a lot more I would expect for a $14.50 meal that just wasn’t there. Until next time.

Gman

Honey Mustard Full Schnitty
There was and wasn’t anticipation for this. I was hungry and chose the full schnitty but I was a tad disappointed with the range. Full or half and no toppings, only sauces. Then again in comparison to the 20+ choices of the Waratah Rugby Leagues Club below, it was bound to be a let down.
That said, the Honey Mustard schnitty came out and could be smelt from a distance. A sweet honey scent with a tiny bit of pleasantly off putting bite. Much the same with the taste. The full schnitty was huge, 10mins in it looked like I had made no progress whatsoever.
Steak chips and a good salad. Schnitty was so good, the government will probably shut the place down.
Is this allowed? 5/5 schnittys, not the best in Newcastle………….yet.

Waratah Rugby Leagues Club

Gman

Mexican Meatball Schnitzel – this was pizza on a schnitzel. Oh yes, it was good.

Large schnitzel covered in cheese, so much so that I don’t really remember seeing crumbing or batter. A mountain of sour cream and lava like pourings of sweet chilli sauce.

Unfortunately, like The Dark Knight, you can have too much of a good thing. The meatballs had a classic sausage taste which I am not a fan of. After a while the whole thing became tasteless and underwhelming which was a great shame.

An idea for……….. a bacon mcflurry…………. was suggested…………….. must investigate

4/5 schnittys

Kroony

Chicken Schnitzel With ‘MeatLovers’ Topping – $18.00
I feel kinda bad now walking into the place i got the initial impression that this was a bogan filled sports bar where outsiders would not be treated nicely. Apart from a little uncalled abuse I was mostly wrong.

Staff – A lovely little old lady served us who also brought the food to our table.
Company – We had people visiting from Townsville but there was a mixup/communication error and they didnt attend. Otherwise i think there was 7 of us a few non regulars.
Side – Chips. A very generous serving of chips were placed next to my schnitty
Topping – This was the winner, ‘meatlovers’, It started with a BBQ sauce base with melted cheese on that. Placed on the cheese was Bacon, sausage meatballs and salami. Quite the meatlovers indeed. With the Meatballs and the sausage it brought a very Italian flavor to a very different topping
Schnitzel – Wow after all that meat there was still a whole schnitty under it. The schnitty its self wasnt anything fantastic. With out the topping it would have scored low but the copious amounts of BBQ sauce mostly covered up the slight dryness. The batter was a good thickness and over all it was cooked evenly.

Overall I have given this meal a 3.5 out of 5. With 19 other toppings to choose from I dare say i will be coming back here sometime. If your looking for some variety or some peace and quiet I do recommend.

Scott

Before this review, I hadn’t heard of this place. Someone queried ‘Isn’t that the place they are going to knock down?’ and I had no answer… So we give it a try and the pub again is full of locals, one of whom abused our group for ‘standing around’ near a doorway. Now we weren’t blocking the doorway in the slightest – but this is the intelligence we can expect from the people who are locals at waratah…

The menu was quite comprehensive, a list of 20-30 different schnitzel combination’s, all reasonably priced. I picked the $18 ‘Meatlovers’ schnitzel and a $4 old school chocolate milkshake. The wait wasn’t too long, with all of us discussing the recent wedding, and various trips around the place until they arrived. For the money you certainly got a lot of meat, but the sides were a little disappointing. The vegetables were good, but not many and the chips were so/so and there was only about 10 of them. Ah well. The schnitzel was of a decent variety, thickish and cooked but covered with a barbecue sauce that is so strong in taste it, dare I say, ruined the meal? There was ample bacon in large pieces, lumps of sausage and lots of cheese, but the sauce was over the top. If I were to try this meal again at some point, I would asked without sauce and I daresay it would have been a 4 at least, and a 2 with. The milkshake was good – so I will bump it up to a 3.