Public House Petersham

Love the atmosphere at Public House Petersham. The outdoor area is fantastic and the food is always good (great wood-fired pizzas). Just a heads up that parking is a challenge. You might have to park a few streets away and walk, as there isn't much available right out front. Worth the walk for the beer garden though! 🌿

Pizzas were tasty and fresh. Easy to order from the QR code. Nice to have a play area, although not sure why there’s a concrete ping pong table right in the middle where our toddlers kept hitting their head. Went with another mum and her 2 toddlers, and all 3 kept running outside from the play area, while supervised. There should be a mini gate to set the bounds. There’s no coffee machine and therefore no baby cinos nor coffee for tired mums. They had plastic cups but not plastic plates for our toddlers. The inside was so dark on a bright afternoon, probably why the kids were running outside. For a kid-friendly venue, it’s not suitable for the toddler age range. More suitable for mums with under 1 year olds who want to sit with their bub on the floor in the play section after a meal, or for older kids who get restless.

Casual Sunday lunch We grabbed a table without a booking sign. After we ordered food (1230) a member of staff walked past and placed a booking tab on our table for 1330 without talking or acknowledging us. We called them back to complain and in fairness they did change it for someone else’s booking at 1630. However food was a let down. Chicken Scnitty and a burger. Normally you get a choice of sauce for a schnitty but they only offered red wine jus. The schnitty itself was oliy and bland. We picked at half of it. Weird for a schnitty. The burger was ok but not anything special. The Two easy meals was quite underwhelming. Felt a little rushed and was not happy with overall experience. $80 for two plates and two drinks

I’ve been twice since the revamp and I really want to like it. The set-up is great and it has real potential, especially as a family-friendly venue. But unfortunately, the cleanliness of this place is a major issue for me. The parents’ room next to the indoor play area was absolutely foul. There were bugs and fungus gnats everywhere. I understand that damp environments can attract insects, but this wasn’t the odd fly, it was overwhelming. The nappy bin was overflowing and full of bugs, and the change table was visibly dirty, with loose dirt on and around the mat. It did not feel like a space that’s cleaned daily. I felt genuinely sick having to change my daughter in there. It also wasn’t busy at the time, so it’s hard to see how this could be excused. The food didn’t help. My chicken parm was pretty unpleasant. It had that texture and taste of meat that’s been partially microwaved to defrost and then cooked again. I could overlook average food. But when you position yourself as family-friendly, clean and hygienic facilities (especially in the parents’ room) are non-negotiable. Sadly, that wasn’t the experience we had.

What a beautiful space and what a shame the bland food and terrible service let it down. The kids had such a great time playing in the kids area we could actually converse but the staff didn’t want to be there and how hard is it to nail a parmi!?