Waterloo Hotel Commercial Road, Fortitude Valley, Queensland 4006

"I had the Monday chicken parmigiana and I'm glad I did. It was truly amazing. The building itself has a lovely old world charm about it however it has been upgraded and modernised. Now it has a lively bright atmosphere. There's the usual accoutrements of an Aussie pub with TV screens and a healthy well-stocked bar. There's plenty of seating to choose from to enjoy a meal either in one of the plush seats by a window or on a long table with a tribe. The staff were okay. Great location too. On a main street corner near a new but established café society area. That's why I like Waterloo Hotel. It's a nice blend of old and new."

"Local pub with pool table, pokies, big screens for sports. Some decent choices on the pumps plus a pretty great food menu. Excellent singer on when we went in on Easter Sunday. Friendly staff. Quick service. Nice atmosphere."

"Came for some pub grub, and that’s what we got. Nicely cooked rump steak, with pepper sauce and chips my partner had a buttermilk fried chicken burger. Food was great, I ordered a whiskey highball, which was delicious and staff were friendly. Men’s toilets water pressure needs to be fixed, it’s hard to wash your hands & venue needs to be de cobwebbed but otherwise very comfortable."

"Update: just had a three course meal for two. Garlic bread was spot on. The barramundi was served with rice and curry which all were the best I could ask for. Pork belly was average and broccolini was really nice. Three course finished with an amazing brownie served with ice-cream and salted caramel and chocolate on top which was the best part of experience today! This makes me changing the review to 5 stars. Old review: A little bit above average quality so couldn’t give it a 5 star!"

"Unfortunately, we chose the night of a football final to dine here, so we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Waterloo was packed, with most patrons having come to watch the football on gigantic screens. That made it noisy and hectic. We had hoped for a quiet night at a pub, enjoying a nice meal and cold beer so it wasn’t exactly what we’d bargained for, but of course no fault of the venue. But good on them, because this place is clearly popular with the locals, who all seemed to be having a good time eating, drinking and watching football. And it’s not hard to see why this place is so popular, because the food is of a high standard, the app makes the ordering process fast and easy and if you add to that professional staff who are polite, friendly and helpful, and quickly deliver food the table, you can enjoy a pleasant experience here. I’d love to come back, but it would hopefully be a quieter weeknight when we can really enjoy it, and soak up the ambience of this place. As it was just my wife and I dining, we stuck to a fairly simple ordering protocol of a beef burger, onion rings and a “green bowl”. That all cost us 56 pesos for food and 9 for a schooner of XXXX, which is fair value for what we had, but really just goes to show the extent to which our little Aussie peso has become a worthless piece of paper. Think of that: 65 pesos for a glass of beer, a burger, a salad and a bowl of onion rings. That's what happens when you reduce interest rates to zero and turn on the money printers like there's no tomorrow. But we were impressed with the food. The green bowl had wholesome and nutritious ingredients, like avocado, cream cheese, leeks and celery. Unfortunately my beef burger was too raw for my liking. Now I can understand people wanting a medium or a rare cooked steak, but undercooked mince? No thanks. We took it back to the bar counter, where we were told that that was how they cooked it here, but to their credit, the fab staff kindly prepared me a fresh burger, with the meat beautifully well cooked to perfection just the way I like it. And it came with a little serve of crispy chips. The onion rings were perfect round creations, with fresh onion in a crunchy batter; the ideal complement to the burger, chips and green bowl. We both enjoyed our meals. Serving sizes were just right: not too small to leave you feeling hungry afterwards, or too large that you feel overstuffed. Perfect. And I love the retro ambience and feel of the Waterloo with low mood lighting, and elegant timber features. It’s a huge place with multiple dining areas, some with bar style seating on wooden benches with wooden tables, some more formal with long communal tables and upholstered chairs in a carpeted, lounge room-type area. Strangely, even though we had made a booking and received an email confirmation, staff had no record of it, so we ended up at one of the communal tables, in the outer dining area. But that actually worked out well, as there was only one other couple at the table and we were away from the loudest noise from the game. Given that it was so full that night, parking was bound to be a problem and we struggled in the car park just behind the venue. There aren't enough spaces, and many are reserved for other businesses in the area, like the First Choice Liquor store and the Aqua Gym. Also, it was hard to read the writing on the ground, and to figure out which spaces were designated for patrons of Waterloo. In the end, out of frustration, we simply parked in a space marked for First Choice customers. I think the venue needs to make it clearer where their customers can park. But despite the few negs I have enumerated here, there are enough positives for us to plan a return visit. Being a member of "The Pass", the recently renamed Aust Venue Co’s rewards program is a further inducement to wanting to return as one can earn points and redeem them for meals and drinks at any A.V.C. venue."