Terminus Hotel

Consistently great experiences at Terminus. It’s on the expensive side but since the refresh it’s one of our favorite spots for a drink and meal on the weekend
The menu is Asian influenced with lots of yummy options. The chicken wings are crispy with a great amount of spice. The spring rolls are delish. Everything comes with yummy dipping sauces and the flavours are generally good
The burgers change frequently and are epic and delicious
But beer is the real winner here. Rotating taps of amazing craft brewers means there is always something new to try. Sure, the brews are not cheap, but you’ll always find a few that no one else is pouring. Nice

I wouldn’t recommend you try the unimaginative and bland use of quality ingredients, a disappointing meal.

As a lover of craft beer and watching footy in decent non-​pokie pubs (not always as easy in Melbs as you’d think) the Terminus ticks a couple of boxes for me.
Being handed a beer menu at the bar was a nice feeling — it’s a big enough list, made of half regulars and half-​rotating taps — to give you a heap of choice without being overwhelmingly big. One thing to note is that the beer list has a size split like «$ 7÷12» without any further info on the sizes to match these prices. All good and well when you’ve been here before and know the biggest size is a schooner, but otherwise a little confusing and could save the staff having to explain to every single person I saw served that they don’t do pints, which must get annoying.
Lots of screens playing multiple footy games, which is great if that’s what you’re there for but otherwise might suck some energy out of the place if you’re just there for a catch up or date.
Tried the Cajun chicken burger special — pretty solid. Lots of kick. A bit pricey though, for what it was.

Lovely atmosphere and tasty food. The staff were attentive and friendly. We will be coming back here again.

Sadly this place has taken a dive of late. Used to be great, but now food is just average. And if you’re charging these prices, people expect above average. Will just come here for drinks only in future.

Opened on New Years day, deserving of a star alone almost!
Quick and to the point;
…the good; 10+ beers on tap, decent outdoor seating area, well spaced interior seating in the brew bar section, foods out fairly quick, fresh.
Not so good… cagey staff correcting me when I asked for a pint, tinny/​sterile atmosphere, pricing on the high side in line with better quality pubs in the CBD, food relatively bland.
Nothing was standout bad, nothing highlight good either.

3 in 1 — that’s «The Terminus». We’ve been regulars here since 2009. The food and beer is fantastic.
It should go without saying this is a SENSATIONAL craft beer venue but I thought I’d mention it to make a point. Whenever in the venue you chose to drink you have an option of drinking from all bars. The selection of craft beers are sensational!
This selection is not the case for the food sadly. There is the lovely restaurant at the back, the original pub part and the (no longer new) craft bar where the drive in bottle-​o used to be.
To me, as a customer, the oddest concept of this is the snobbery between the craft kitchen and the original kitchen. You can’t order from both and eat in one area — they demand you order from the one you are in only. I get it from a kitchen point of view but for me the biggest issue with that is that the pub part doesn’t have fish and chips because that’s a fav of my husband whilst I adore the pub part steak.
I would give them ⁵⁄₅ if I could order food from either kitchen — just as I can with the beer.

This is one of my favourite pubs in Melbourne, if only because it is on my way home from work and close to two railway stations (so I get off at Clifton Hill, go and have a beer, and then jump back on the train at Rushall). When I first came here there was only a restaurant, a front bar, and some tables out on the street, but almost overnight a craft beer bar opened up which pretty much changed the entire dynamic of this place. In addition to the craft beer bar, they also opened up a pretty decent beer garden out the back (which is a much better place to have a beer than out on the street). Mind you, it is not the cheapest of pubs around, and the bouncers appear around 9:00 pm to start regulating who comes in, but it is still a pub that I love to visit for one of the many (and ever changing) craft beers on tap.

I have dropped in here a couple of times and I was impressed with the selection of craft beers. A great range of local beers, plus imports. They have a standard set of beers on tap and another rotating set, which I thought was a great idea. I couldn’t see any ciders on tap, but they were available in bottles. The only disappointment is that they served schooners and not pints, come on guys, this is Victoria — it’s pints not schooners.
So that was the good stuff. Unfortunately the place has the atmosphere of a shoebox. Lots of big TVs playing sports, which I know interests some, but seemed out of place for a craft beer bar. It would have been nice to have at least one bar without a television. It was also very bright inside, someone please turn down the lights a little bit, it’s like being in a shopping centre. Also, if you prefer sitting down, either get there early or forget it, however there is plenty of room in the dining room.
I had heard some great things about the food at the Terminus however, it wasn’t anything better than average pub food. The meals were a good size, however lack any sort of zing, especially for the price. We had the parma and gnocchi. The chicken was excellent however the cheese and salsa tasted like it was out of packet. The gnocchi was fine, but nothing to write home about. This area has some amazing places to eat, unfortunately this isn’t one of them.
My advice, go for the beers before the footy starts and stroll up to Westgarth for a meal. It got to 3 starts only because the beer range is excellent.

I admit, my review is going to be slightly biased, I was here for an event. It was the Opening Party for Good Beer Week.
I thought this pub was in a good location, walking distance from Clifton Hill Station. There are plenty of parks in the side street, if you don’t mind walking a little bit.
I was surprised by how large this venue is. The bar wraps around the whole place, and there is an outdoor patio in the back, as well as tables in the front. They have a good range of local beers on tap, to me, that makes it so worth it.
The place was packed, but bar staff was friendly.
I’d want to go back to try their menu items. The even have some nice 6 packs for sale from different craft breweries. #floatsmyboat

I hate to start a review negatively, but it is so disappointing when you go to a place that has such a perfect outdoor area and you are simply made to feel not at all welcome in it, because you don’t smoke.
The main attraction for us to visit the Terminus Hotel was the outdoor area. But, the entire area was full of people who were smoking.
I fully understand that people have the right to smoke, but alternatively, perhaps owners of food and drink venues should also fully understand that non-​smokers have the right to not smoke. It would make sense to put the smoking area out front of the hotel, which is a public area. But, the smokers are encouraged to congregate in the nicest part of the venue (in the garden), and as a result, the non-​smokers can choose to sit outside and breathe in secondary fumes, or sit inside (which is still nice — just not outside).
Now that we have gotten that out of the way, I do have to say that I was very pleased with the food and the craft beers at the Terminus. A great menu with some interesting options in the Asian fusion kind of area, and spectacular beers on tap. I had the Pacific Ale, which is so difficult to get on tap, and it went perfectly with my fish and chips. It was all very nice, although some mushy peas would have made it perfect.
It’s becoming a bit of a pattern, but I am just really disappointed that so many places make it so unpleasant for non-​smokers. Summer is the time you want to be outside, having a drink and something yummy to eat with your friends. If a venue decides to have an outdoor area, non-​smokers also like to be out there, so why not focus on making them happy, rather than the 16% of population who do smoke.

Great beer selection that gets updated pretty regularly. Eye fillet with pepper sauce is the best you’ll find in Melbourne. Triple cooked chips are also a winner.
When this place is busy (Fri & Sat nights) service can be a bit hit and miss, and food can take a while to come out. Always worth the wait though.
Save room for desert, especially if the peanut butter parfait is on the menu. It’s a copy from Golden Fields, but delicious nonetheless!

Terminus has to be 5 star purely for the love of beer. The selection on taps is plentiful and features boutique beers that rotate frequently. The guys behind the bar really know their stuff and share their passion for the hops. To the right and upstairs you’ll find a typical looking pub, but to the left you’ll be drinking in a mod-​bar with a great beer garden!

Always delivers. Good menu and well cooked food. Good service and staff are friendly and welcoming. A favorite.

My first experience of this rather awesome pub was during good beer week. It was stop #2 on a 7 pub craft beer crawl. My first impressions were pretty good. They had some amazing beers on tap and some pretty damn tasty sounding meals. We had intended to make it back that first night, but suffice to say, after 7 pubs we were pretty much done!
I made it back here today, again during good beer week, but on a Wednesday at lunch time. I took a nice 5 km walk along merri creek to get here, so to say I was thirsty is a bit of an understatement. This time I headed to the craft beer bar, and ordered some food and a beer. They have a very impressive menu that caters to vegetarians which is great. I had the lemongrass tofu bahn mi which was fresh, tasty and full of flavour. Over the course of finishing a graphic novel and drinking about 4 pots of amazing craft brews, I ordered the broccolini bao, which was obviously sent from heaven. Again, it was fresh, tasty and to die for! I easily wasted away a few lazy hours here this afternoon. They do have another menu in the bistro, which did sound really good too. Even though it was good beer week the fact they have a craft beer bar tells me they take great beer seriously. As arnie said, ill be back.

The food and service were good. Quite good, but I agree wit the other Unilocalers about the «ambience» something just kills it in there. I have to confess my Eton Mess desert was all kinds of special though and worth it!
Still beer and food, how can yo go wrong?

Damn fine parmas here though the chips are not fantastic. The Pork belly is also top notch and well worth a try.
The beer selection is pretty good and has prices which reflect that. Not the right place for a cheap beer in noisy surrounds but perfect for a good quality lunch with a pot or two.
There’s enough bicycle parking available most of the time and it’s the perfect destination for an easy ride down from suburbs along the Epping line.

When I am looking through my list of required pub assets, I have to admit that the Terminus Hotel has many ticks next to it’s name. A menu chocka full of all things steak (broken down into aging periods and grain and grass fed regimes), chips that can be more closely described as heaven, and a dining room fit for a king (or at the very least a duke).
Unfortunately I find that the Terminus just doesn’t draw me in as often as it should. Sure it has a good pub atmosphere in the bar set apart from the dining room. Sure they serve up some great local beer, cider and wine. And sure they have Tuesday night pub quiz. But still I find myself ticking all of these ‘pub asset’ boxes as I sip on a pint at almost any other pub nearby.
This brings me to the realisation that the answer to my absence from such a good venue is the fact that the location of the Terminus Hotel just isn’t that good. I also realise that I have to do away with my crappy ‘pub asset’ list and start up a new agenda. I am now writing down all of the places I need to go to more frequently. Item number one — The Terminus Hotel.

I reckon geography plays a large role in the identity of this pub. The Terminus Hotel is exactly that — it occupies the no-man’s-land just beyond the 86 bus terminus and is nestled amongst the end of Hoddle Street, the beginnings of High Street and the split between the Epping and Hurstbridge train lines. It sort of takes a lot of that on board in its personality — neither here nor there, a patchwork pub that doesn’t really feel that comfortable in itself.
The food here is great (try the burger) and they pride themselves on a changing seasonal menu that utilises in-​season local produce. The beer selection is pretty good also (they have Mountain Goat on tap, which is a good thing) and the staff helpful and generally fairly amiable folk.
It’s odd, then, that this place just doesn’t feel right in some way. Perhaps it’s the clientele? Maybe the décor (a bit sterile)? I think it’s the location and the part that’s played in the pub’s development within itself. Whatever it is, there’s something that could be a lot better about the Terminus.

The dining room gets packed here, which is obviously a good sign of being fantastic with food and good service. The last time I was here I just ordered the side of chips but they were cooked perfectly and the serving was huge, I couldn’t finish it. They take their food very seriously here, if you want a great steak, come here. Don’t fluff around with the other pubs.
The main bar also fills with people young and old. The Terminus is one of those pubs you can imagine yourself re-​creating episodes of ‘Cheers’ to. A place where everyone knows your name…
Definitely appropriate for a Sunday afternoon session, but if you’re in a different mood, the the beer garden hosts hilarious free bingo on Tuesday nights. So best get in early and get yourself going with those fancy marker things.