Orient Hotel, The Rocks

89 George Street, The Rocks, Sydney
Sydney Pub List reviewers: Bot & Blogs
Review time: Lunch

 "It serves beer and other things"

 
The Orient Hotel is a pub and it is made of bricks. The other little pigs built their pub of straw and sticks and now those pubs are gone. One of the sizier-looking pubs of the area, standing on the corner of George and Argyle Streets, The Orient demands some attention from passers-by.

A wooden bar with liquid beer

Walking in, the Bot and I found some carpet, which led through to a bar, it was made of wood. This being only one side of the bar, we followed the carpet a bit further around to the front of the hotel to find the other, larger bar, which was also made of wood. We pulled up some tables, of the higher variety, and perused the beer on display on the taps at the bar. You know the drill, Carlton Draught ($6! Ouch!), Bulmers, Squires, blah blah. We ordered up a couple schooners of IGP, which costs us $7.80. We found out a short time later that the pints were $8. Choice/research fail. Beer selection was okay although too pricey - yet expected for the touristy Rocks area.

Look at me! I'm a beer!

On the food side of things, we ordered up a couple of burgers, of course. Today they were $10, for Tuesday Ten Buck Burger Day. It was a Tuesday. The beef burger came out and looked okay at first glance but tucking in revealed a slightly different story. The meat was a bit dry, cooked well done, and I had to put the side salad into the buger to soften the blow. This was following Bot's example as his chicken burger was about the same, but with filling. There wasn't much going on in the middle. Just chicken and aioil. The burgers weren't great but on the positive, a good price and for the price, not too bad I guess. Chips on the side were fine.

The beef burger.

Following our slightly disappointing burgers we headed for the back courtyard, following the signage and carpet we mentioned before. Mmmmm, carpet. Out back we found a beery gardeny place of tables and sun. Nice. Some guy brought his schnitzel out, put it on a table then headed back inside to grab a beer. Within seconds some sneaky seagulls, Barry and Susan, swooped in and helped themselves to a couple of chips before being shooed away. And that was about it.

Barry and Susan's hang out

This review has been kind of nothing, I know, but that was because we couldn't think of anything overly exciting to say. Don't get us wrong, The Orient isn't a bad pub. We don't hate it. It's got beer, places to sit, stand, look out the windows, a beer garden, and even some seating out front on Argyle st, but for us there was nothing exceptional about it. By night, it turns into more of a night club feely bar, with cover bands and/or DJs on in the front bar, bringing in the city goers after sun down. Happy that people get something out of it. This is not our kind of place but everyone has their own preference and while we didn't think it was fantastic, you might disagree. That's fine, let us know in fact!

Seating on Argyle

If you in the area and looking for a brew, then check out the Orient. It's one of those pubs most of us have been to at one point or another. It's there, it serves beer. The Orient isn't going anywhere in a hurry. 168 years and counting so far.


Webby: http://www.orienthotel.com.au/