Harpoon Harry’s

Used to love this place but all the good food items are gone. I’m happy they’ve got a fancy new dining room upstairs but all our favourites have disappeared from downstairs. No more Baja fish or pork carnitas or brisket. No more buccaneer burger. Harry’s burger has been downgraded to the cheaper/​plainer HH.
And yet all of these could have been overlooked if not for the biggest travesty of all, the removal of the Sammy Cubano!
Fried green tomatoes, devilled eggs, salt roasted beetroot and clams just don’t do it for me. YMMV.

Harpoon Harry, we were drawn to this establishment by BBQ pit master Rodney Scott. This BBQ venue does regular cameos to keep the vibe fresh, a smart ploy. We were in line for an hour, that was ok: the anticipation built up my appetite. The staff did a great job keeping us informed and reassuring us that we wouldn’t miss out. I had been to this venue a while back when it was the brewery. The venue itself is quite large set up in the style of a Southern American BBQ joint. On to the food, which is why I was here. The serving size could have been bigger, particularly with an American involved. However the BBQ plate was worth the $ 25 paid. The pulled pork was a little dry but had a nice vinegar based sauce. The twice cooked crackling BBQ’d and fried was crisp with a nice seasoning and a pepper kick that I couldn’t put my finger on. The slaw was well dressed and wasn’t too creamy. The pimento mac a simple tasty dish. The meal was also accompanied with standard white bread, they called it devil bread, more filler than anything. There is no need to complicate classic BBQ, this was simple and done well, considering the numbers being catered for. We also had the fried apple pie which consisted of 2 fried golf ball sized pieces of pie with 2 scoops of ice cream. This dish was nice, but nothing to write home about. I also had the moonshine milkshake, which was very good. I hope they keep this drink on the menu. If I’m in the mood for BBQ I’ll be back here for another crack to see what the usual fare is like.

I came here on recommendation from Sarah Lyons. She was followed by them on Instagram (@blackcatsandpianos) but then they unfollowed her. She was a little cut about it but we came anyway.
I came here a month or so ago with Sarah Lyons. If you recall, she was friends with them on Instagram but they unfriended her and she was cut. We went anyway. So, I have had to come here for a birthday. Without Sarah Lyons. She would’ve wanted it this way. She is still cut.

So I’ve been to Harpoon Harry’s a few times now — and because I’m such a rebel I did it without checking in :-0
I’ll grant them the title of one of Sydney’s most decent DJ — because let’s face it, the nightlife post-​lockout has become a cemetery of closed-​up venues, from which only the ghosts of rhythms and blues have disappeared into the bottomless absurdity of Mark Baird’s nanny state.
Now Harpoon Harry’s is actually a place where you can dance and have fun on a Sunday night to enjoy the last moments of a fleeting weekend!
The burgers are incidentally quite nice and the regular specials at happy hour or on different nights of the week make it quite accessible price-​wise.
I recommend it to have a few drinks and smoothly transition into the day that we all dread, the Monday (comes from «Monughtiyy-​daysshijty» which means «Day of the end of fun and chill» in kirghiz, true story).
So duck in and dance a bit — see that duck pun there … Oooooh yeah baby!

I came here on recommendation from Sarah Lyons. She was followed by them on Instagram (@blackcatsandpianos) but then they unfollowed her. She was a little cut about it but we came anyway.

I wasn’t terribly impressed with this place, and not being able to talk below a shout is a contributing factor to this. By the same hand though, you can’t help but get caught up in the atmosphere the minute you step through one of the 3 entrances.
This is the second time I’ve been here, and I’m convinced that there’s no such thing as a «quiet drink» here. Also, the food wasn’t as good as it once was. I could’ve made a better chicken burger for less at home to be quite honest.
The staff had a very haphazard way of dishing out the orders, eventually paying no regard at all to the order numbers and just hollering out the names of the dishes.
Though it was good to see my fellow Unilocalers, I would rather have seen them somewhere slightly less «toxic».

This place used to be a bit of a dive bar but thanks to its renovations a breath of fresh live has been blown into it. Has lots of different sections, some more bar/​pub/​lounge like than others and so can usually find a spot somewhere. Good place on the edge of the CBD.

This place is attrocious. I came in here for a quiet drink and right from the word go one of the security guards came up to me and simply stood there staring at me. Thinking that there was a problem (such as it being closed) I asked him at which point he told me that there was no problem and that he was security and that he could do what he likes. I politely asked him not to stare at me at which point he became incredibly aggressive and asked me to leave. Not wanting to make a scene, I left and looked for an email to make a private complaint to this bar about their customer service and the attitude of their security staff, especially since all I wanted to do was have a drink. I wanted to at least give them the opportunity to rectify the situation. Obviously the simply don’t care about whether their customers have a good time or not and will treat everybody with contempt. As such I would never recommend this place, and since there are plenty of other pubs and bars in Sydney, go and spend your money elsewhere.

I first spotted Harpoon Harry’s menu while sipping on their vast selection of faux-​craft taps (white rabbit, little creatures, Sierra Navada) a few months back, passing some time before meeting up with some peeps nearby.
Circumstances allowed me to convince a group of people to try HH for dinner on Good Friday. The renovated Macquarie hotel has one of those menus that gets any stereotypical North American real excited.
Wings ($ 8 special, $ 12 reg): not your typical pub wings. These babies aren’t split at the joint (but have had the tips removed). Serve was huge. I don’t know what they were trying to do with the adobo sauce in the muffin wrapper –the stuff on the table (various flavours of Companhia Das Ervas) was heaps better. Light jerk-​ish seasoning, wonderfully cooked, juicy. Would order again without hesitation (while secretly hoping they had developed a great sauce in the interim).
Brisket tacos ($ 12 for 2, another special): I’d bet money on knowing the name of their corn tortilla provider. I’ve had them at a few spots around Sydney (and have ordered them directly myself). I don’t like them. I left the tortilla and ate the filling. Brisket was good. Sauce was good.
Sammy Cubano sandwich ($ 16): loved it. Free range Pulled pork, smoked ham, cheese & adobo sauce with spiced mustard). Table mate now convinced he doesn’t have to leave the country for a good Cuban. Toasty, melty, would come back for that sambo.
Despite having a picture of a suckling pig on the menu and prominently stating that they are «casa de suckling pig», the only one I could find on offer was on the specials menu. In any event, now that I know Harpoon Harru’s can handle a brisket, I can’t wait to try the meat platter (jerk chicken, adobo pulled pork & beef short rib $ 58, feeds 2 – 3).

Doesn’t look special from the outside and if you’d told me this was a Cuban-​themed Oz bar I think I would have stayed away but what a gem of a find, great atmosphere, music and vibe were a real pick-​me-​up, great selection of non-​traditional beers, food looked awesome and the crowd was very light on the douche-​factor!