South Beach Hotel

Came here a while ago on a Tuesday and got the steak special. We had a choice of porterhouse or t-​bone, and it came with a garnish of salad and chips. My porterhouse was cooked exactly how I asked– medium rare, and the chips and salad were good! It had a nice pub atmosphere and good service. Overall I had a good experience at the South Beach Hotel.

The South Beach Hotel joins the list of resurgent pubs and bars coming back into their own after many years in the post smoking ban doldrums.
This is a place of many places — a crowded sports bar illuminated by by multiple blaring LCD screens, a narrow space facing the bar with cosy uppity tables, a traditional dining room, with a working and warm fireplace, and topped off with a massive enclosed beer garden space — with more massive TV’s.
The food is good but not great and the drinks list is heavy on beer and local wines — and a couple of nice imported wines for snobs like me.
But the winning thing here are the patrons — not a blue singlet or fluro top in sight. Just hot mums (and dads) with prams and toddlers, well turned out hipsters of both genders and big family groups.
On the Sunday we dropped in it was heaving and fab.
Its a great place to while away an afternoon and its our new Mrs Brown.

Great place for a beer but fyi it’s questionable if the roasted beetroot is actually roasted

Waiting for my friend who running late for our 8.15 dinner it was 8.20 he was 10 mins away. I rang the hotel spoke to an irish girl i told her i was waiting for a friend he was about 10mins no probs kitchen was still going i would be there in about 15 mins. I rang at 8.40 on my way there yeah no worries come in. Got to hotel 8.45 walked up to the bar said we wanted to grab food she handed me menus. Quick look all wanted a steak went to organise she shrugged her shoulders and said the kitchen was closed. Chef had gone home no food. what??? She didnt realise he had left not happy

Steak Sandwich — nice enough — not bad, just not outstanding. Good chips, nice soft/​fresh bun, pleasant salad, thin but tender steak not overdone… but not particularly tasty. $ 16
Feral Hop Hog was pick of on tap beers… $ 11.50 for a pint.
$ 6 for Glass of Brookland Valley SSB

Surprisingly disappointing meal here tonight — a simple fish and chips and calamari turned up half-​cold, dry and really quite unpleasant. Chatting with the next table over, we heard similar reviews. Guys, if you’ve got a new chef — get the old one back!

This is the place you want to go if you just literally want to have a beer and some decent pub grub.
The food is reasonably priced and the warm friendly ‘pub’ atmosphere is welcoming and the bar staff are really friendly. Although we had a mix up with our order the entrée/​starter was delivered at the same time as our main meals, we were not disappointed by our experience here.

The South Beach Hotel, formerly the Davilack, is reminiscent of the character corner pub of yesteryear. The 100+ year old visage sets the scene for what you would expect from a character pub of this nature. Cold beer, warm service, generous counter meals served in a casual yet upbeat environment fuse harmoniously with the South Freo surroundings. The back bar caters for the humble bar fly with quinellas and trifectas a plenty. You are able to catch local musicians entertaining the patrons a few nights a week in the front room of the pub, which caters for this incredibly well providing a cosy and intimate environment for Freo’s aspiring musos. Over summer, it is an easy place to take in sunsets over the fish-​mongers warehouses and indulge in wide variety of beers on tap and generous counter meals. Pub culture with a yesteryear feel — the way it should be experienced.