Ben
Having never been to the Gateshead tavern before, I found the venue surprisingly empty. Apart from a few patrons enjoying the cricket, the bar staff, a single kitchen-hand and one man eating a meal, it was just the seven of us who arrived for a banquet of schnitty.
The (already mentioned) solo-waiter slash chef took our orders, but was unable to provide us with vegetables or mushroom sauce. I ordered mine sauce-less and planned to add tomato sauce to the plate later. I am thankful I didn’t have to buy tiny sachets of sauce at 30 cents a pop; there was a hefty and full squirter-bottle of tomato goodness for all to use, next to the little packets of salt and pepper, and cutlery.
Schnitty cost me $13, not bad at all.
Outside was the place to be, it was a warm night but not too warm to warrant the ice-age replicating air conditioners churning in the foodatorium.
The schnittys were cooked in very good time given that it was just the one chap doing all the cooking. We were lucky that we were the only ones ordering at the time, or it may have been an attempt at the 40-hour famine before we were eating. The schnitty was hot and looked delicious. My chips were a bit on the warm side, but not so much so that I would be taking them back. The salad was simple, some green stuff and some red stuff, but tasty nonetheless. I expected a little more chips:salad ratio, however. This plus the schnitty on top will cost half a point.
A schooner of coke from the bar was ice cold, with the perfect amount of ice, and cost only $2.20 – well worth it.
The meal was delightful, however. I was in good company with a good meal for a reasonable price. Given the price and quality of the food, in hindsight I’m surprised that there were not more people around.
As we were leaving the “night club” started, which also forced the other party of patrons to leave as well, which I thought was funny.
4/5 schittys.
Scott
Arriving early, the pub was a bit.. boring, large drinking area and a small pokies area which sucked and if you wanted any money out of the pokies you had to ask a staff member.. lame. Anyway once everyone arrived we set upon the eating area (which.. was a dance floor?) and ordered from a bewildered looking chef. Im guessing they don’t have many customers on Friday nights, as they only hired one person to take care of the kitchen. Well it was a bit slow ordering, but nothing to write home about and the meals were fairly quick.
I tried to have the usual, Pepper sauce schnitty with chips and veges, but he was out of vegetables so I settled for chips and chips. It cost $13ish. The chips were steakhouse style, tasted good and were hot (well mine were..) and there was plenty of them. The schnitty itself was deep fried perfectly, crisp and no detectable hint of fish/other fried goods. Nowhere near enough pepper sauce though but there was ample supply of tomato sauce so no issues there.
For an establishment, on face value having one chef put up with the group of us they get 2/5. The chef himself did a fantastic job in my opinion, and gets 4/5, a point off for no vegetables and not enough sauce. So the outing as a whole, I rate it 3/5.
Ras
As we entered the Gateshead Tavern, we had to wander out in the back to the dining area. This was a dark, freezing air conditioned area where tables are laid out in a 90’s fashioned multi-purpose room (I’d probably rate the eating area 2/5), so we setup in the outside area. There was 1 man cooking & serving the food, I frowned and thought we were going to get a bad meal.
He served us, cooked 7 meals in a reasonable time and managed to keep them hot when they were ready… and the taste… very good!
The schnitzel was cooked well and was thick (4/5)… I was expecting something undercooked or overcooked, the pepper sauce was kind-of gluggy but was still nice/not overdone, the salad was crisp and the chips were much better than some restaurants we have ventured to (without mentioning names hehe). Price was great too being under $14
Even though he did a great job, give that poor guy another staff member! 3/5
Just wanted to say, this website is amazing.
Thanks, appreciated.