St James Hotel, Sydney

114 CASTLEREAGH ST, SYDNEY

Reviewers: Bot & Blogs
Review time: Tuesday lunchtime

St Shames?

We really have to start only going to places that are actually good. Ticking these ordinary establishments off our list is reducing us to whinging reviewers who appear to not like any pub in existence! On the plus side, it certainly makes the better places stand out!

Lots of tables. Packed. Lots of empty tables. The fancy pants light fixtures, walls, floors and ceilings really didn't do it for us. The beige-land "Street Level Bar" is a room full of tables and chairs with the bar up the back and pokies off in the back pokie cave. A quick glance downstairs to the "Lower Ground Floor" area revealed another semi-empty room where the kitchen staff resided, next to a closed bar and two lonely looking pool tables. It kind of felt like a dumping ground for unwanted furniture. Upstairs on level 1 you'll find St James' "Mirabelle" cocktail lounge, "plush and opulent" apparently. Busy with patrons.

Regrettably we stayed on and perched in the dimly lit bland-land on the ground floor, chosen as it was the only area with an open bar. Ordering food and drinks was fairly straight forward although it was like the dude was sleeping behind the bar. We had to wake him up.

The James Squires Golden Ales we got into were $5.50 a piece, which isn't exactly a bad price and was possibly the only thing we liked about the place. The Portuguese Chicken burger clocked in at $13, the Portuguese Beef Burger at $15. Neither were memorable. Noted on a sign inside and out front was a "Recession Buster Meal" at $9.95. Yes, it's probably as good as it sounds.

We excitedly chomped away at our food to the sounds of John Mayer and other frowners while taking note of the televisions and pokies, and big bucks spent on the excessive looking Bose speakers. Bonkers.

Other beers on tap at time of review included Tooheys New, Hahn Superdry, XXXX Gold, Heineken, Stella, and the 'Squires Golden Ales.

We felt a bit shameful being there so upon finishing our drinks and burgers leaving a plate of corpses, we got the hell out of there before becoming too depressed.

If it was the last pub open in Sydney and we just wanted a beer, we might consider stopping there. Briefly. The place looked and felt like it had closed down and they forgot to close the doors so people just kept wandering in.

Not for us.



More info: http://www.stjameshotel.com.au