Carlisle Castle Hotel

One of the best pubs for food in Newtown. I’ve been there many times and have never been disappointed. We have just had the salt and pepper calamari and the nachos. The calamari was excellent, great flavour and texture. The nachos was made with in house corn chips. It was surprisingly light and was delicious. As mention in other reviews, the front bar is very casual bit the dining area out the back is much nicer.

The bistro is out the back so don’t be scared off by the front bar or the omnipresent card machines. Good solid menu with plenty of choice and really good value kids meals if you need them. Order and pay CASH only at the counter and get your drinks from the bar. Food is consistent, tasty, fresh and good value. It went off the boil for a while but has been solid for the past six months or so. Kitchen can sometimes be slow but it’s a cosy room so relax and enjoy.

Great little pub tucked away in the back streets of Newtown. With an «old man pub» feel to it as you enter, it opens up into a lovely dining area and courtyard. Great food and atmosphere.

Some friends, who used to live in Newtown and know about the hidden backstreet wonder that is the Carlisle, took me there last night. What a great pub.
The front is old-​style, and reminiscent of English pubs: you walk in off the street and bang, the bar’s right there, probably with a row of middle-​aged gents propping it up. There’s not much room to get around here, so you’re probably just here to stand and chat and down a couple of schooners.
There are several other rooms behind, though: a room with a couple of old, low, wobbly sofas, a few chairs and stools adjacent to the pokies area, a pool room with two tables, and a back courtyard with tables. Nice, that caters for whatever other sort of mood you might be in.
But if you get the chance, you should go to the dining room and have a meal. Because this is gastropub quality grub. Last night I had fine, crackling pork belly with apple sauce, roasted beetroot and potato and eschallots, and herbed polenta. Yum! Grilled fish, roasted chicken, steak of course, blue swimmer crab pasta, dessert cheeses, ice creams and more were on offer as well: the menu looked fantastic from top to bottom, and the dining room was crowded (the only downside, really, as people kept bumping me).

The Carlisle is an absolute favourite of mine for great quality pub grub. the kitchen is run by the same folks as the Union hotel on South King, but the menu has a bit more of a seafood bent. The bistro is very frequently packed out, but the service is still generally pretty quick.
As for the rest of the place, there’s a little beer garden out the back which is quite nice, a couple of pool tables and a few tables and stools around. Wine selection is pretty good, and plenty of things on tap. Not the easiest pub to find a good spot to sit inside as a group, but when I think about it, very few pubs are.
Give it a bash, especially for a feed. There is no good reason to endure the overpriced, crap food at the Courthouse when this place is a stone’s throw away.

The Carlisle Hotel is hidden about a block away from the centre of King Street in Newtown and even though it may be a touch out of the way, a visit will be certainly worth it.
It’s an old school pub with a small area as you enter which is pretty much taken up by the bar itself and the locals in their usual spot. There are other areas to enjoy a room like the outside garden or the pool room. The bistro has had a makeover short while back and around lunch and dinner, that seems to be the most popular place to be!
There is your basic pub classics to choose from but a look on the specials board would be well worth it. I got there a bit late and while I got to look at the specials board, I couldn’t order anything from it as they’d sold out! Still the burger and calamari did the job and me and my companion we happy. Next time though, we’ll be there earlier!