The Oaks Hotel

What better way to spend a Sunday arvo than a few beers with a mate, and a good Sunday roast.
The Oaks serves up a mean roast, with a huge serving of meat with all the trimmings. Perfectly washed down with a few schoonies of little creatures — which they have on tap here.
The place was pretty packed out with families whilst we were there (2pm ish), but we were able to find a decent table near the fireplace.

We had two different pizzas and liked them both very much, the service was prompt and friendly and the atmosphere very welcoming, days are more casual than evenings.

LOVELY, LOVELY Dinner spot! Not pretentious, just comfy, with really GREAT food.
We ate in the Bistro section where you can drink & eat at your own pace.
You order your food at a window, then pick up, no table service except they do clear the table. I had been told the steaks were the BEST in Sydney ~ can’t say it was, however it was excellent (I don’t give 5 stars, easily!!) Didn’t really think the potatoes were excellent, as I prefer mine more smashed, not whipped.
Make sure you have dessert, the CHOC cake was outta site!!!

Hands down was the best bar in sydney before new security turned it into north korea. Stop drinking your own koolaid oaks. Yall sold out !!! This bar is now awful.

If you want to spend a sunny summer afternoon to dusk sitting in the shade of a huge tree drinking wine or cocktails and eating some delicious pub food then you should definitely come to The Oaks! Or even if you want to catch a game in a sports bar or bring your kids to the bistro you should come here. It’s got something for everyone!
The food is quite good, maybe a little pricey but I don’t know what else to expect from Neutral Bay. Wine is pretty reasonably priced though. What I love the most is sitting outside and waiting for the fairy lights on the tree to turn on just as the sun starts to go down, it’s somewhat magical.
AND if you find yourself without something to do on Christmas Eve there’s always a big party here with good vibes and good drinks so bring a couple of friends and relax in the sun (hopefully cause you know Sydney in summer can be weird.)

What a great beer garden! I felt like you could have a wedding reception out there. We had tea here on Boxing Day and sat right underneath the oak tree. The hotel kinda wraps around the beer garden (it feels wrong calling it that) and there’s even a special spot in a veranda, poshish, corner where it’s kid free. The hotel does great steaks and we enjoyed some cocktails and food. I can see why this pub rates high. It was a great way to spend an afternoon right after Christmas Day

Having lived in the area most of my life I could be slightly bias. This bar is a gem amongst the North Shore. The food is ok but quite pricey for the quality. The real reason I’m drawn to this place is its huge Oak tree in the middle, which is a great area to sit under while having a beer and decent meal. So in short it’s a good all rounder albeit slightly expensive.

I love the Oaks, it’s a great local beer garden and sports bar. The food is pretty good, albeit on the pricey side and lately they have added some great beers on tap. There is a lot to choose from. They are slightly odd about spirits (no scotch on the rocks or anything on the rocks) and they’ve turned the lounge into a bit of a cocktail bar (no more DJ on Sat nights).
Recently there have been a few changes, one being that they now close at midnight on all nights. It’s a bit disappointing, but I think what is further disappointing is that they really start closing at 11. I don’t really like being told to ‘finish up’ when there is still 50 minutes left of the bar open, only have to have the hospital level bright lights come on at about 11:15. It’s a little rude to the patrons so if you are going to keep the bar close time as midnight, that’s fine but no need to start pushing us out at 11.
I still love the place and will continue to use it for weekend day drinking and watching sports (they are very accommodating about putting on my american sports), but don’t love these new hours!

This is a review of the bar and grill only.
I think my experience was a little tainted by the food experience but I will do a bit of a sandwich review and start and end with the good.
The outdoor patio is beautifully lit up with glowing white lights wrapped around the trees. It really sets a magical scene for a night out or a date. People were walking around and clearing empty glasses and dirty ashtrays very frequently which I haven’t seen much of in Sydney… here is where it turns for us though.
We ordered food and were told it would take about 20 minutes. After about 40 minutes of waiting we started to panic as we were going to see Magic Mike XXL and time was becoming of the essence because who wants to miss even one scene with Channing Tatum? Our pager said low battery so I went up and got a new one. Approaching the hour mark, when the movie was about to begin, panic set in. Fight or flight mode was upon us but what does one choose? Food that has been paid for or Topless men? We decided to go up and enquire about our food and it was sitting at the pass through but our pager had never gone off. As a former server who had to take orders, run food and clear tables I sort of expected that for a place where you get paged and collect your own food, they would get the whole see food come up, page customer thing down since they don’t have to do the other things. It was quite busy so I will give them that but instead of apologizing they just said that they quote 20 – 45 minutes which A) still is less than how long it took and B) was not what was quoted so C) is kind of irrelevant. There is this great thing I have noticed in Australia whereby no one apologizes or admits fault but just says something back to you like a random fact about quote times. We start eating and decide it is flight time and we are going to make this movie no matter what.
I go up and request take away containers, the girl says okay but proceeds to help other customers. She then looks at my not so happy face and turns to the kitchen guy to ask for them but he doesn’t hear her so as she turns away to help other people I just ask him directly. He takes a few minutes to look around and then tells me there are no lids and that it will be a few more minutes.
At this stage I am mad and tell him we’ve probably missed the beginning of the movie so never mind. I get to the table and my friend is not happy that I did not complete the take away container mission and decides to take matters into her own hands. She finds a wooden bowl thing somehow and starts to put the food into it when all of a sudden our Knight in shining armour, aka kitchen whites, comes out with take away containers with lids. He went to the trouble of coming to find us which I thought was great. Good work kitchen guy, good work!
We run to the car, I swerve in and out of traffic — in a safe and controlled manner of course, and we find rockstar parking. We run in heels (because you obviously wear heels for Channing, he is quite tall and it would be awkward otherwise) to the theatre and when we get there the girl tells us there are 20 minutes of previews and we haven’t missed it yet. We sit down having missed possibly only the first 2 seconds and the girls behind us comment on our amazing timing to which we reply «amazing, we had to get our food for take away but we made it.» We open our take away containers and enjoy some pretty tasty food.
We ordered the Fried Chicken Burger which was nothing special but the Mac n Cheese and Brussels Sprouts were delicious.
I would go here for drinks for sure and maybe for food at a less busy time. Even if we hadn’t been trying to make a movie I was starving by the time we got our food and would have been Hangry either way.

It’s an institution. Great outdoor beer garden and simple but good menu — traditional pub fair. Pizzas, butter milk chicken and mussels are the highlight.

Had lunch at The Oaks on Saturday 30^th May. This iconic hotel is one of the most efficiently operated and stylish hotels in Sydney. I ordered a medium– rare Scoth Fillet Steak with Salad and chips at $ 26. A quarter of the steak was raw hence it had to be sent back and recooked. My partner’s Chicken Fillet Hamburger at $ 18 was average but the meat was perfectly cooked. The place was packed with dinners and the chefs were under pressure. This was very average pub food. But the staff are helpful and quick plus the friendly atmosphere still made this an enjoyable experience.

Love this place. Lots to do and eat and drink. Came here in 2011 and cooked my own steak. They’ve remodeled so there isn’t a grill in the open any longer but you can still cook your own if you want. I would recommend having one of there great chefs do it for you. The pizzas are also incredible.
I recently had the Wagyu and the scotch fillet and both were great. Only 2 choices for sides, chips and salad or …
The range of beer is the best in the area, expensive compared to the U.S. but similar to other bars.
The main attraction is the outside area with the great Oak tree which is beautifully lit.
Several different bars downstairs and pokies and lots of unique billiard rooms upstairs. Signs say since 1885 so they are doing it well.
The only reason it doesn’t get 5 stars is the food service. Wait staff is attractive and friendly but you stand in line to order, then you get a vibrating pager, then stand in line to pickup your food. For $ 30 – 80 a steak I’m used to having a server take the order and put it on the table for you.
For a bar it’s 5 stars for food its a 4.

This place is huge! There is just about every kind of setting available at this establishment — relaxed casual sports bar, nicely dressed fine dining & cocktail room, beer garden, covered beer garden for rainy days, pool tables upstairs, etc. There is a huge oak tree in the center of the beer garden decked out in lights — one of my favorite things about this place.
This place is so big that it can get confusing and feel like a maze hopping bar to bar. The one annoying thing is that certain bars sell certain liquors, so if you want something in particular, you have to navigate your way to that bar. Good way to force yourself to get a lay of the land.
I like that their default schooner size is actually pretty large. Beers on tap & cocktails are around ~$ 8 – 9, specialty ciders in the bottle were $ 15. Perfect setting for birthdays and large groups.
Didn’t try any of the food but it look really good with adequate portions.

Came here as part of a mission set by my companion and was glad we checked it out. He’d had a great dining experience here a few years back.
From the front it’s not much more than the local pub with a hotel attached, wandered through the bar and couldn’t understand the fuss until we emerged in the courtyard where a giant Oak tree wrapped in fairy lights dominated the space.
Nice setting, but how about the food? We had a couple of appies, potato scallops and chicken tenders, followed by 2 pizzas, and a lovely chocolate molten cake, soufflé style. I would come back just for the potato scallops! Deep fried, beer battered, with a mashed potato consistency, talk about a winner. The lamb pizza had generous helpings of grilled lamb and arugula.
All in all a great place to dine in a casual, outdoor environment with good food. Portions are reasonable, so I’d probably just order a handful of appies next time we’re in town. However, to indulge in some appies, a main, shared dessert and a few drinks, be prepared to watch the bill add up. Oh btw, you order and pay at the counter and once your buzzer calls, it’s up to someone on the table to collect the goods.

Who can resist nice tomahawk steak?
Well, you can find nice range of steak here, and the tomahawk is one of them.
Good steak accompanied with crunchy potatoes and green bean, is worth to try for meat lover.
Some more at outdoor sitting, the have LCD light wrapping the famous oaks tree, will leave you happy feeling.

I’ll give this place 5 stars whole –heartedly because I feel it’s well deserved. I don’t venture out to Neutral Bay often, but once I saw a post about Oak’s Cabin Fever, I knew I had to go check it out. After all, if winter isn’t the time to stuff your face with delicious food and boozy hot drinks, then I do not know what winter is for.
The atmosphere at the pub was so nice, warm and cozy… it didn’t even really feel like a pub. Staff was super friendly and took their time to go over all the menu items with us, as well as the cocktails. We decided to order the truffled cheese toastie, bourbon, bacon and caramel popcorn, deep fried pickles with bacon aioli and the ‘pigwich’ (pulled pork sandwich). We also ordered the cocktail ‘nutty jam jar’ and a couple of boozy hot chocolates: baileys with hot chocolate and marshmallows and hazelnut, bacon and bourbon hot chocolate. Yes, the drink has a strip of bacon in it. And I loved it.
I just can’t say enough about the food, everything was off the charts delicious. The friend I went with messaged me this morning to say he was craving the truffled cheese toastie for breakfast and I had to agree that I have been too. The drinks were the highlight for me though… every bar and pub in Sydney should be serving boozy hot chocolate all throughout winter. Seriously. It would make the cold season way more bearable and fun.

Come to this place for great steaks (you can self-​cook them if you prefer, therefore coming for the atmosphere only), and great tap beer selection (they have Three sheets brew from the Lord Nelson Brewery on tap!)
Best time to come is during the week when its not as busy or early in the evening on weekends.

The Oaks — oh how you have changed with the recent renovation.
What’s changed?
— The top bar has a new fit out and more comfortable chairs
— The paved area around the tree has been re-​done — you can actually sit without a wobbling chair now
— You can cook your own steak, OR have a chef cook it for you.
For me, it’s the last point that is the single biggest change. The Oaks has won awards for the best pub steak in Sydney — and that is true, but if you cook a $ 42 steak yourself, it may turn out charcoalled. They don’t mind either way though — if you want to cook it, you can, outside under the tree.

I dunno how you can’t love this place!?! It’s got the lot, huge sunny courtyard, grill your own steaks, boutique beers on tap, and a killer mains menu. Including some serious mussels, a must try!
Sunday afternoons are usually very busy, which can be a bit annoying as hovering over your cooking steak isn’t the most fun while all your friends keep an eye in the table. But if you pick any other day, it’s awesome!

How is this joint only rocking 3 stars? There are some realllly high standards out there. Or, mine are abominably low. No, that’s unpossible. Ugh awful start to this review, but I’m throwing a hat filled with 5 stars into this ring a ding ding.
The Oaks is like 4 different pubs in one.
Old man sports bar? Check.
Huge bistro with pork crackling sitting within grabbing (and stealing) distance? Check.
Outdoor beer garden under giant oak tree laden with Chistmas lights? Check.
Upstairs area with pool rooms and secret rooms and other kinds of rooms as well as a smoking balcony? Check.
Young, dark, grope-​friendly nightclub room? You better believe check.
And you can walk from one to the other. In a matter of seconds. With a drink.
Seriously, what’s not to love? (A: nothing. There’s nothing not to love.)