Blue Gums Hotel

Taking the awards for Adelaide’s oiliest calamari, thickest crumbed schnitzel and having the ability to burn the chips while leaving the inside raw. The salad bar looks like its hasn’t been refreshed today, or possibly even yesterday.
With the quality of community club and the prices of a city pub, ill be hunting for a better local.

Okay, I generally don’t come out to this part of Adelaide all that often, probably because anybody that I used to know out here has long since moved on. However, I did want to come and check this place out and I must say that I quite liked it. Okay, it is basically a suburban pub with everything that you would expect from one, however the front bar, and the adjoining beer garden was quite nice. While it is certainly not a pub that I would continue making the trek out to visit (despite not living in Adelaide) I did quite like the vibe and the atmosphere, especially in the front bar.

I visited here for the first time recently, for lunch. Salad bar was very lacking in interesting and tasty choices. Not much on the menu inspired me, but I settled on the Satay Chicken Skewers, supposedly served with an Asian style salad — yeah, right! The ‘salad’ consisted of a pile of bean shoots dumped on the plate rather haphazardly — no other vegetables! The satay chicken pieces were tasty but hard to pull off the skewer. The sauce was acceptable. Two separate piles of rice also on the plate were too much over-​kill. The atmosphere was noisy. I probably wouldn’t return to the hotel anytime soon.

The Blue Gums is a suburban pub that wishes it wasn’t.
The front bar and beer garden are updated, vibrant and appealing. They have regular entertainment and live music. We were originally planning to eat in the beer garden which was well-​heated despite the cold but unfortunately, despite the mostly enclosed space, smokers are still permitted to ruin the air for others and the only table available wouldn’t have accommodated a high chair.
We moved across to the bistro. A miscommunication meant some attitude was forthcoming from one staff member, however her co-​worker was bright, bubbly and very friendly. There was some discussion as to whether our group of 7 plus high chair could be accommodated but in the end, they put us at the end of a long table that was already set up for another function.
For the next day.
I was surprised there may have been the potential to turn away paying customers in favour of keeping a table empty for a booking the following day, but we were grateful to get a table inside regardless.
The bistro is generally packed, mostly with families, however I wouldn’t say it was «family-​friendly». More like «family-​tolerated». High chairs are available and there are kids meal deals but nothing for older kids to do and most pubs of a similar genre provide game consoles, a playground or even activity packs. Our junior dining companions declared it boring. The décor is a mix of late 90s bistro, with neon script signage over the bar and a cork themed carpet (as in actual corks, not cork texture) and some half-​hearted attempts at edgy modern lighting fixtures.
The menu is pricey for what it is, which is standard pub fare. I ordered the sirloin, rare, and was disappointed to get a steak that was medium to medium-​well. Too hungry to make a fuss and send it back. However, the other meals were all good. I tried the schnitzel with Mexican topping and that was heaped generously with delicious topping. The salad and vegie bar has tasty offerings including fresh, warm bread rolls and is popular so you may be waiting a while to get into it as you can only approach from one side.
The general feeling I get is that the Blue Gums is aiming itself at a different market, yet despite all of the above, the families keep coming in droves. The place is immensely popular and has plenty of regulars.
Even though I can walk to the Blue Gums from my house, I don’t think I’ll become one.