The Austral

I haven’t been to The Austral for years. But it was a chance encounter — after realising The #GOUD isn’t open on a Monday — that we popped in for much needed Monday night burgers and beer.
$ 20 for both. Well, the price is right. And the choices looked good — your standard beef and chicken offerings were accompanied by a sweet potato and black bean vegan option. Good to see they’re catering for the plant-​eaters out there.
I opted for the chicken.
Service was quick though without a smile. In fact, the waitress was a bit of a grump. I guess that’s what you get at a pub like The Austral, with its rough-‘n’-tumble patronage. No matter, $ 20 for a burger…
The first thing I noticed was that you get a lot of bread. It’s brioche, so yum. For a brioche, it didn’t deserve much of a mention. It tasted briochy, if a bit stale and half-​hearted. Who cares…
The chicken. The hero of the dish, as they’d call it on one of those cooking shows. It was. Well-​seasoned. Herby, spicy. Juicy and cooked to perfection. The chook was accompanied by a salad of lettuce and tomato. A bit of cheese and mayo, and some slightly underdone bacon.
Chips were cooked and seasoned well.
The crowd? Lots of tourists and uni students, all having a great time. Even on a Monday night, the place was busy and there was a great energy about it.
The Austral isn’t fancy by any stretch and the service isn’t tops. But the food is good value and the beer cold. I’ll go back.
⁴⁄₅

I asked a vegan friend from Adelaide where to go with the family & this was on the list.
I had vegan nachos –way too big & the black bean sweet potato burger. Burger pattie a big like my home cooked patties, sloppy, so one cut and it slurped out the sides.
Great that there are vegan options in the CBD so hats off for that, for a family pub it’s a tad noisy, even in the dining room. Kids liked their burgers and fish & wife enjoyed her pork belly.
Be warned, very large servings, don’t go entrée & main one will do you.
Nice wine list, big selection of beers, a decent feed. Overall ok.

The Austral is a cool pub with a hip, playful vibe. It’s the perfect spot to meet up with some friends for happy hour. The crowd has college feel to it, so it can get a bit loud, but that can be a plus if your looking for a little snap in your evening.

Really solid pub. Tap beers were some of the cheapest I’ve found, the space is big enough to cater for groups, bar-​staff were chilled and friendly, music at conversation-​accommodating levels, and apparently the owner’s are Hawks supporters (we were over for a game) so full disclosure that my bias may be showing here a little based on that fact!

Great for any day night out! Just dont sit inside when it is friday or saturday night. If you do, you’ll be bumping with rowdy teenagers.
They have great specials also. If you want to have more special deals, check pokitpal.

I can’t say that the Austral was one of my favourite pubs in Adelaide, but I guess that had a lot more to do with finding a seat to sit down to have a drink, and I tell you what, on Friday and Saturday nights, especially outside, they can be very hard to find. Normally I end up sneaking around the back near the pool table where there are sometimes (but not always) a couple of seats available. In my latest visit I’ve discovered that they have opened up the second level where there is a balcony, but on that very same night, when I went to check the balcony out, they had reached capacity which meant that there was a line up just to step out there. Hey, don’t get my wrong, I don’t mind crowded pubs, and there are quite a few of them here in Adelaide, however for some reason the Austral was never actually high on the lists of pubs to visit (usually we would go there, look at the crowds pouring out of every opening imaginable, shrug our shoulders, and then head someplace else to drink).

A great place to grab some drinks with a group of mates whether it’s Monday afternoon or a Friday night after a long working week. Jugs of cider and beer are cheap and great way to share among friends.
Atmosphere and vibe is buzzing and fun, staff are super friendly and great, and the food is some of the best pub food you can get. I’m all about huge servings and they are generous here. It’s a bit pricey in my opinion though.
I like to share nachos or chips with friends over beer and cider when I’m here. Austral is hands down the most packed drinking place on Rundle Street; all times of the day and the night.
Great drinks, great atmosphere, great people, all round great place to head out to.

Affordable drinks, friendly staff, decent meals and arguably the most highly prized and hotly contested outdoor seating area in the whole of Rundle Street.
Seriously, if you’ve never tried to sit outside here of a weekend evening, especially during the summer months, you have never truly know the excitement and perils of outdoor drinking. Seat stealing, tiny tables with ten seats, and some tables with none are not uncommon. Despite the cut throat nature of this tiny slice of society, please treat you fellow patrons kindly. Generally the folks beside you will offer up their seats before leaving. And when you do finally secure seats for you and your friends, beware of seat vultures. They’re always circling. Always.
I’ve had food here a few times before. It’s always been of a decent standard. More often that not there’s a burger and schooner or burger and pint meal deal going down, it’s easily among the best value pub meals on Rundle.
And if it’s value you want, drinks here are always a good deal. Usually there’s cider jugs and beer jugs from $ 13ish. At the other end of the scale, boutique beers are reasonably priced too. The Austral is regularly one of the first places on the street to stock each years Cooper’s Vintage on tap. If beer and cider aren’t your thing, like all Adelaide pubs The Austral has an extensive wine list along with the usual array of spirits and shots.
To accompany your drinks there is also entertainment. It’s hard to believe they fit so much in, and how well they fit it in. most of the time anyway. Some afternoons and evenings there is live music in the front bar, usually weekends. Once the live band finishes, Adelaide’s smallest dance floor starts with a dj booth cranking at the back of the front bar. You must pass through here to get to the atm and toilet. In the back bar there is a pool table, it’s often busy but as soon as things get quiet they close the back bar anyway.
On the busiest nights, usually during the fringe, the upstairs bar and balcony is also opened but this is uncommon.
So there you go. Whatever the season, the Austral is a great place to socialise. Oh and one final tip: blokes, the downstairs toilet goes straight to hell pretty quick almost all of the time. There’s another one up the stairs.

Air conditioning = nonexistent, food = enjoyable but average, Staff = overworked. Not an enjoyable place for a sit down meal but good for a drink after hours. But seriously, in hot weather, don’t go.

Great location with outdoor seating, good pub food menu and reasonably priced beers and ciders.
My boyfriend and I split the Vegetarian Stir Fry and our friends had the Free-​range Chick Salad, both fresh and delicious.
Take caution when ordering non-​local brews, we received an out-​of-​date Kosciusko Pale Ale.

I love beer, cider, wine and spending time with mates and the Austral is great for this! It can become a little loud on a friday night when there’s a band playing but hey, I totally dig the fact that they support live music! Sit out the front and enjoy a drink and you shall be the envy of every passer by.

The Austral is naughty, forever tempting me in for a drink, or two, or twenty. I can’t help stopping in to grab a cider in between busy shopping adventures, the only problem is one is never enough and I often end up staying until the sun goes down.
Two of my good friends practically live here, if they’re not home or at work, I know they’re at the Austral. And it’s understandable, in a prime location where you can sit outside under sun shades and gawk at pretty people walking past, grab some of the fantastic food, and demolish reasonable priced jugs. Oh and the new pool table is a great addition, although it’s squeezed in around through the dining area, which makes games more challenging as the walls are often blocking your shot.
This pub is great to hang out with friends and get nice and messy on any day of the week. It’s always busy and the tables out front go fast.

The Austral.
Many a time has been had.
The Austral is definitely one of the busiest pubs in all of Adelaide.
It is always packed out Friday and Saturday nights.
I have even more lover for The Austral because of their fantastic support for financially deprived university students, such as myself. They offer drink specials for UniLife members and those with ‘PocketPals’. $ 10 jugs of TED and such.
They have a pool table which is hidden around in a somewhat elusive second bar room.
If you want a table outside, as most patrons do, you’d best be early or keep your wits about you. They often fill up very quickly, especially on the aforementioned nights.
I took a uni pub-​crawl that I ran through here and they were also very accommodating.
On top of their great drink options, service, and atmosphere, their food is damn good also. I’ve many a schnitzel and they are always well above average.

I ate here not that long ago. Felt like I was in the mood for pub food. Sometimes I just get that craving. As much as I love Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Italian, Greek, Lebanese and Nepalese (amongst dozens of others), it’s good to walk into a pub, order a steak and just relax with some comfort food.
This place is alright. I wasn’t blown away by the food quality. It was okay. It wasn’t badly priced. There are plenty of things they could do better, but there’s plenty they could do worse, too.
The atmosphere is pretty good, a really nice vibe. The service was pretty reasonable, too.

The Austral is always packed with its patrons spilling into the sidewalks of Rundle Street. It’s a great place to meet after work for a round of drinks on a Friday or a casual brew during the week.
Much like the Exeter Hotel, the outside seating area is where the action is. As one could expect from a bar during daylight hours, inside the bar is a bit dark until the sun goes down. It’s much more pleasant to be sitting outside enjoying the sunshine whilst you’re knocking back a cold one. But be quick to secure your spot at an outdoor table, because this place is bustling with people on almost every day of the week — and they won’t give up their prime seating positions without first putting up a fight.
Drinks are cheap and they have all of the usual suspects on tap. The Austral also hosts live entertainment with a variety of local acts (mostly acoustic performances), which really winds things down and is perfect to relax to. Pool tables are also available inside if you’ve filled up on liquid confidence and have decided to take on your friends in a game. It has everything a bar should have, no more and no less.

The Austral has always been a huge supporter of live music and one of those stalwart Adelaide venues that can withstand any crisis, grumble, and ignorant foreigner.
I’ve had a few arguments at the Austral over the years. Some bleak conversations about careers and possible contenders for sex too. But this is not the Austral’s fault, I just go there a lot and meet freaks and friends out on the footpath.
The Austral is a damn good bar and everyone knows it. I’ve never eaten anything there besides the dip platter but I’ve heard the food is as good and hearty as the staff. Interesting fact: The Austral had the first Coopers Ale and Stout tap in the world. Another interesting fact: The Austral was called ‘The Family Hotel’ from opening 1879 until 1907. It also has a very cool interactive website that I pursued with delight. The Austral is all Aussie and all awesome. On ya Austral, ya rippa.

When I was doing my uni internship, we used to head down to The Austral for a few post work drinks (maybe more on a Friday night).
It’s a lovely, chilled place to catch up with friends after a long week, or on Friday/​Saturday nights before heading out on the town. Most afternoons you can find people having a few beers outside, and the place is rarely empty. I’m not too sure why, but sitting outside at The Austral means two things: either you get stared at by passing people, or vice versa. It’s the place for people-​watching. That may be due to its location, which is right at the top of Rundle St near Hungry Jacks. Thus you get the flood of people that just crossed the road from Rundle Mall.
You might also find it hard to walk past on a weekend night, because it gets quite crowded. Some dodging, cramming and weaving is required.
It features great live music; I’ve heard some pretty decent funk/​blues there, either in a band or playing solo. The staff are very friendly, and the food is good too. With timeless wooden furnishings and a clean setting, the ambiance is always pleasant and carefree.
Highly recommended for those who like to hang out, drink and listen to live music.

There are some very beautiful historic buildings in Adelaide, some of them you can get inside to have a look and some of them once you do get inside you realise it is just a shopfront and the interior is not very groovy at all. The Austral is a historic hotel, gorgeous on the outside and still pretty much as it has always been on the inside, until you press through the funky crowds into the astonishing designer eatery out the back — but I’m going to leave that for another day. This is my review about the pub on the street. Friendly staff, good music, plenty of old wood to give you the feeling you’re in a safe and clean environment and the seating out front on the street undercover of umbrellas is the place to be seen on Rundle Street. Lots of the trendy beautiful people meet up here and then go on to gigs and dates elsewhere, the ones who hang on until the early hours are regular types who probably mostly live in the area and drink here all the time, it’s their ‘local’ as they say.
You can get some pretty decent pub grub (that’s food people!) at downright affordable prices as long as you’re the type who goes out to have a few drinks and considers that an affordable pass time.
The mood is always upbeat no matter what time of year and the general atmosphere is quite fresh and upbeat so I like to have a few bevvy’s (that’s drinks people) here if I’m out and about.
There’s not a great deal of parking in the area, but if you’re drinking you shouldn’t be driving anyway! And to be honest, there’s quite a lot of paid parking in the area, but I don’t want to encourage you to drink and drive, so let’s pretend there’s not!
The Austral Hotel has been around a long long time, keep yourself that way and maybe you’ll look this good when you are that old!