Pub Of The Week: Tony Leonard reviews the Spotswood Hotel

Spotswood Hotel

62 Hudson Road, Spotswood.
9391 1330
www.spotswoodhotel.com.au

When? February 11, 2022.

VENUE 

The Spotswood Hotel went under a total revamp some decade ago, when a canny  buyer saw it withering away and decided to ramp it up and better reflect what this lovely inner western suburb was all about.

This was a place to be avoided back then. While the old greyish façade is still  its calling card, the inside has had plenty spent with all the walls striped and  sandblasted and columns removed so it  is totally opened up, and a modern  beer garden is a focus of  sport watching.  There’s a good mix of old and new Western suburbs inside.

No TAB / No pokies.

At great expense, the front bar looks fabulous and welcomes with its range of taps, all well presented and inviting. The pub connects with its community sports club and runs a most popular Beergarden trivia night on Tuesdays. (Burger, all trimmings, drink  $15 and you’re away).

The Spotswood should be proud of its transformation over the past decade and the locals have a pub that is genuinely theirs.

FOOD/DRINK

While the pub promotes itself as taking “a refined approach to classic and affordable pub fare”, in truth the menu reflects a parade of pub hits and memories, done well, with an extravagant guitar/drum solo on some dishes.

Shares of dips/buffalo wings, calamari start off, with 5 pizzas (including a nod to the pubs old name – Spottiswoode – that is anointed with Napoli, feta, mozzarella, salami, anchovies, spinach, roast garlic) and each weighs in around $17.

Mains are reasonably priced, most around mid 20s, and generously served. Four pastas, ( the aglio e olio which is normally a very straightforward dish) is ramped up with prawns, scallops, mussels, calamari. (A marinara by any other name?! At 25.90 it is very good buying. Chicken Scallopini full whack (25.90), or Chicken Parma (24.90) Steak Sanga (23.90) continue a line of pub favs.

Same again with  the drinks section being most familiar, with wine being sourced through Treasury, e.g., Secret  Stone, Rothbury, TGallant, and again fairly priced. The always popular Pepperjack Shiraz is $11. Great range of tap beer, Brewery Fresh Carlton served as it should be.

Average Prices:

Entrees: $13

Mains: $24 (steaks mid 30s, fully plated)

Desserts: $10

Tried was;

• Mushroom/Blue Cheese Arancini. 4 @ $10.90. Trick to these being served at optimum flavour is relative freshness so the tastes are distinguishable. Sharpness of cheeses and earthiness of the mushrooms evident, plentiful and a good starter. Think the price was bang on.
• Mexicali Eggplant Parma, enchilada sauce, jalapeño, mozzarella, tomato/corn salsa, chips, salad. $24.90. Even while typing, this was a massive dish, 3 crumbed eggplant, joined by a covering of cheese, topped by a plentiful smattering of salsa. Good heat from sauce, chips/ salad, big pub dish.
• 300g Scotch fillet, rare, pepper sauce, mash/salad. $37.90. No faults and changing from chips to salad did not cause the staff to become apoplectic at the request. Served rare, (very good trick to achieve in a pub), no problems.

SUMMARY 

This is a sound, well run pub that is a focus of its local community. Good food, good vibes and totally bearing no resemblance to the fixture that stood on this site a decade ago: it was horrible back then.

Which brings me to an absolute bugbear that has been spoken of :  that being totally irrelevant, harmful and blatantly inaccurate commentary still being promoted in third party review sites, given that the screaming headline (as at 16/2, page 1 of Google, courtesy of TripAdvisor reads) “disgusting”.

The date of that so called review? 12 April 2013. The Spotswood may have deserved such criticism then, but 2- 3 owners later in this clean and modern pub?

I will restate what should happen with every one of these sites who profit from this erroneous claptrap : Do the right thing and Remove very review that exists on your sites pre March 2020.  Given that the world, (much less hospitality) has changed forever, how can they possibly have any relevance to what’s happening two years later  (heaven knows why anyone would pay attention to any review 4  plus years old).

I hope there is change sooner, support hospitality in deed and word, but  when it fails to meet expectation in 2022, give reasonable opinion as to why.

The Spotswood is ticking over nicely.

SCORE: 13.4/20