Ras

The Place
This is my first time to the Great Northern Hotel. This place is old, it could be a haunted house. Might of been damaged by the 1989 Newcastle earthquake and half repaired.

While entering, the eating area wasn’t evident except for a specials board in the bar. It was fairly dark inside, the lights were not complimenting the place, I’m sure that alone will bring the mood of the place up. After we ordered from the bar we were quickly ushered into an empty room with tables, which was the foyer with the lift of the hotel. The doors were open (as usual foyer doors are) so it was cold, with a straight look at customs house. It was completely empty with no one else there except from the 1 bar staff running back and forth through the room. The foyer has the odd paintings of Newcastle’s history of the coal industry, construction and the beach (the usual paintings you see around Newcastle).

The building has definitely seen a lot in it’s lifetime and is being renovated slowly. It’s not a comfortable eating place but it has a popular night life on Wed and Fridays

The Schnitty
The order took about 30minutes for 4 people, pretty decent
The schnittys were delivered, they had nice modern presentation which was unexpected from me
I ordered the Mexicana (as usual), every place does this different. This one tasted like spaghetti bolognaise on a schnitty with kidney beans, which is more of an Italian dish rather than Mexican. It didn’t have an ounce of spice or seasoning in it, it was still eatable though.
The chicken was cooked properly but very average in taste

Not very great, but eatable
1/5 Schnitties

Scott

MJ Finnegans – Normally this place is only heard of when you are talking pubs, very late (or very early) on weekends spent in town, however they serve schnitzels so we decided to try them. Walking in, first impressions are that the mood lights under the bar are about 30x brighter than they should be, and gave my retinas glaucoma just looking at them. But the rest of the place was quiet, a few guys playing poker in one corner. We ordered at the window and found some pool tables where we proceeded to play. It wasn’t long before our meals were ready – and we weren’t for once (hadn’t finished a certain pool game)

What I ordered was a $15 ‘Mexican’ Schnitzel, with a topping that promised cheese, corn chip and guacamole, vegetables and chips. What I got looked a little ‘plainer’ than I was expecting, but the chef had seen us playing pool, and figured the meal would be sitting waiting and didn’t put the guacamole on until we were taking the dishes. That was pretty thoughtful, he didn’t want the crumbing to go soggy. There were no corn chips however, and this depressed me until we realized the corn chips were in the batter – ingenious. There was beans under the cheese, and at the end it really left the impression of Mexican food.. The schnitzel was pretty thick, cooked/fried to perfection and as mentioned before, the corn chip crumbing was delicious. Could have done with more cheese, less beans though, but thats just my opinion.

The sides were not bad either, the vegetables were a large serving, with carrot, brocoli, cauliflower and green beans (different to the mexican style beans on the topping). The steakhouse beer-better chips were probably the best I have tasted so far, but that isnt a hard thing to beat considering some of the chips we have had of late. All in all, I would recommend this place, it was quiet and the chefs seemed to put more effort in than required. Price was about right, not to expensive – but not a cheapie – and this was reflected in the meal, it wasnt just a small schnitzel whacked on a plate in exchange for $10. 4 out of 5 for me.

Kroony

Chicken Schnitzel With creamy potato and chips – $15.00
Staff – They seemed to be missing a restaurant hand, we were served by the chef. Awesome dude he should just stick to cooking.
Company – Just a small group of 6 of us, Unfortunately the person who picked the venue could not make it.
Side – Chips. A handful of crisp beer batter coating.
Topping -Creamy garlic Potato something. The potato slices were a little green but don’t let that put you off it was very creamy and very garlic. If your out on a date with a new partner i would recommend giving this a miss if u plan to try snog them.
Schnitzel – Very thick. It was rather deceptive cause the chicken was placed on top of the chips and it wasn’t until i cut into it that i noticed it was a good inch thick at the thickest point.

Overall I have given this meal a 3 out of 5. Brilliant if your heading out with a few mates and don’t care too much what the meal looks like, not so great if its a 1st date.

http://www.thegrandhotelnewcastle.com.au/

Reviews:

Scott

Parking was good, right outside the front doors. The outside looked a bit dingy, but once inside the atmosphere was what some people would call ‘romantic’ and other people would call ‘annoying’. The meals were quite decently priced, not as cheap as some however at $10 for a schnitzel with vegetables/chips it was decent. Any topping seemed to be $2 extra, and some herb bread went around at $3. The bread was probably the most decent herb/garlic bread ever. The schnitzel, arrived about 9 minutes after ordering and was designed to be pleasing to the eye, a lot of time spent making it look right. The portions were smaller than I feel we were used to, but the taste made up for that. Thick schnitty, with the perfect amount of Dianne topping was awesome. Im still hanging for a place that uses roast potatoes with their vegetables though.

3.5 out of 5

Moss

I arrived at the Grand and ordered a Guinness. The guinness was poured fairly well. For foodstuffs, I had a chicken schnitzel with boiled vegetables and green peppercorn and whitewine sauce. The sauce was brilliant. The schnitzel itself was good; it was nice and tender, and had all the things you’d normally expect from a schnitzel. Boiled vegetables, yeah. They were good, or at least as good as boiled vegetables can be, although I think I could have done with more of them. Overall, I think the rocking sauce was what made the money shot.
4.0 / 5.0.

Kroony

Chicken Schnitzel With gravy chips and salad – $11

Drinks – Guinness. I really like a good Guinness with my schnitty and i was glad to see they had it.
Staff – Fast. No time for pleasantries… or my jokes were shit, either way no laughter.
Company – No Lights. the lighting was very lacking, i assume to create that lovely ‘romantic’ effect. So i could not really see my company that well. I assume thats what makes such lighting romantic, the fact u cant see how ugly the person is your on the date with.
Side – Chips and salad. the servings were quite small and decently nothing to rave about.
Topping -Gravy. I was pleased with the gravy. They didn’t have too much and it was a nice flavor and consistency.
Schnitzel – Chicken. This was a little disappointing, The chicken was very hot and quite dry. Not to mention that again its was rather small.

Overall i was a little unimpressed i give it 2.5 schnittys out of 5

Marker

The building was quite nice, the room was cosy, the lighting was shithouse.

The meal was shithouse. Too thin, too small, the salad had no dressing on it.

The herb bread was definitly the best part of the meal.

Cant give it 0 out of 5 schnittys, because it was at least a schnitty. Not a shoe.

I give it 1 out of 5.

Worst schnitty i have had in a long time – apart from one I have cooked myself

However, the company: Fantastic!

Thanks for reading