Strathfield Hotel, Strathfield

27 Everton Rd, Strathfield
Reviewers present: Burger Bot, Joe Blogs, Brandon Lee, Danny Sammovich & Co.
Time of review: Post Stra Pocha dinner

"All trains lead to Strathfield"

Just a hop, skip and a stumble away from Strathfield Train Station is where you'll find Whelan's Strathfield Hotel, apparently a family business for over 90 years. The Hotel was built just after World War I, although you wont find much of the original interior, with the establishment taking on a fairly large overhaul roughly 5 years ago.

Conveniently located by Strathfield station is definitely a win, for those using this station or travelling past and willing to stop. It's not a stop on our regular routine-run but on this occasion we were heading for dinner at Korean restaurant Stra Pocha, virtually next door. It was hard not to take the opportunity to stop in post-food and cross it off our glorified pub list.

The font bar, all kind of shiny and stuff

On the beer front, not bad at all. The stats look good. Real good. A Carton Draught rang up at $4.40, as did Tooheys New, VB and Carlton Dry, while James Squires "Chancer" was $5.50, making these beers some of the cheapest we have seen yet on Sydney Pub List.

Dining area up the back with small bar

Having already eaten, food here was not on the agenda tonight but we took a note on the rough run down anyway. From what we could tell, there were two menus going on at the Strathfield. "Jeans BBQ" covers a bunch of BBQ'd meats with the average price around $30. Alternatively you'll be able to choose from a fairly standard looking pub meal menu - burgers, schnitzels, etc - with prices ranging roughly between $9 and $15. The schnitzel was chalked up at $12.

Modern front bar serving cheap beers

With the feel of the place in general, it was nice enough but unfortunately the big echoey hall bar felt a bit lifeless (absolutely no offense to the patrons there that night). The place was neat, clean and reasonably fresh feeling, with some windows along the wall and up front allowing natural light in during the day. Up the front you can play a bit of the the ol' stick ball, I mean pool.

Pool table and TAB

Also up the front in the main bar area, next to the pool table, you'll find (can't help but see) a joyous TAB booth, fun for all the family. Off to the side and hidden around the corner you'll be able to hang out with the masses in the dedicated TAB cave.

TAB cave

Along the other side of the building you'll find a reasonable-sized beer garden with access through glass doors as well as directly from the footpath out front. On our visit we were treated to background music in the bar, which was also playing on the TV screens courtesy of Max TV. We weren't really paying attention to the music however as we were too busy discussing the chilli chicken from Stra Pocha we'd just devoured and the possible forthcoming arse carnage and talk of one of the group travelling to work the next day via their own burning brown wave. 

Strathfield Beer Castle

There was a mixture of clientele on this particular evening, seemingly representative of the normal crowd, which consisted of shirt and pants combos, polos, t-shirts, checked shirts, and high-viz tradies. We even spotted a combo of flanny with flashy suit vest over the top.

Finally, the toilets were fine for a pub, although did notice that the Dribbler has visited a few of urinals



It's a pub with cheap beer. In the area? Waiting for a train? Need a cool down following the chilli chicken? This might be your stop in.

2 schooeys

Their dubya-dubya-dubya: www.strathfieldhotel.com.au