Scenic Hotel - Pub in Norton Summit South Australia

A half dozen car park spaces on gravel adjacent to hotel right on the corner, best to reverse in if you can as it is tricky to get out.

We sat outside on the balcony to enjoy the view. It was cold but blankets are provided and ceiling heaters took the edge off. The garden area with seating would be fabulous in summer for events.

Friendly staff, meals were delivered promptly.

I struggled to find something that appealed to me on the menu. I settled on the burger (I rarely eat burgers) and at $26 you would expect it to be pretty fantastic. It was cooked well, the patty was not dry and the pickles were tasty. The French fries were ok/average. We had to request and pay extra for tomato sauce & tartare.

I think for the location, style of menu and prices, there should be table service.

It was an enjoyable experience, I would return in Warmer weather for a wine or two.

If you want to eat at a pub pretending to be an 3 hat restaurant and failing badly then eat here.

Their saving grace in regard to the menu was an average but overpriced chicken schnitzel which was cold when it arrived at our table, the rest was at best rubbish and that is being kind

When the reservation was made the service person was made aware that it was for a group of eight motorcycle riders, as it is winter and cold we were dressed according to the conditions but
upon entering the establishment my friends and I were greeted with "Gee glad to see you dressed up for the pub"

Let me say this, the service, the food, environment and condition of your establishment do not afford you the right to treat customers so poorly.

At the very least try to be better people because there is no hope for the menu

One photo from their website shows how they normally serve steak tartare and the second photo is how my friend received his.

Don't charge 5 star prices and deliver 1 star service

We booked to have lunch at The Scenic Hotel, we had driven past the pub on many occasions and often wondered whether it stacked up.

The short answer is NO, keep driving.

The staff were very pleasant and happily moved us from a drafty unused fireplace to a much better table nearer to a working fireplace. Sad really because we booked ahead and requested a table by the fire and arrived 10 min early.

We ordered a variety of dishes to get a feel for what you'd expect to be good pub food (chicken schnitzel) and also some finer dishes that we thought would be a good test of quality (the daily special Prawn Dish, and Steak Tartare). We also had 6 oysters, a samosa entree and a bowl of thin fries with our mains.

The oysters were fresh but sadly the size differential between them varied significantly. The chilli sauce that came with them was straight out of a bottle and was disappointing.

Let's say thank god for the two slices of lemon.

My wife had the samosa and it was so dry you needed to drown it in the mint sauce to make it eatable.

The biggest let down of the meal was my wife's Chicken Schnitzel, it was crusty almost burnt at the edges, dry and chewy. Wow we thought they can't even get that right.

While the Schnitzel was a let down the maddest meal was the house speciality Steak Tartare - which we were told was served on a bed of smiths crisps (huh we thought that's weird but we were up for it). My advice is don't do it, they've taken a perfectly good piece of meat and put it through a mincer/blender and plonked it on top of a bag of chips. No shallots, no capers, not a hint of dressing or olive oil nope nada. But apparently folks travel miles for this dish - go figure.

That leaves us with our final dish the prawns, phew they were fresh and we ate them, but what was with the limp cabbage leaves they were sitting on. Just unappetising.

Hey the chips were perfect.

Btw, don't order the Gaminot 2022 a $34 bottle of wine that you'll pay $128 for and it was bordering undrinkable.

Delicious food, kind workers and the view is absolutely gorgeous! The burger is highly recommend! :)

We did the Mother's Day Degustation for 3 today . The amount of food served for the price charged was very poor . We were given the same amount of food for 3 people as couples got around us. There wasn't enough meat for 3 and there were no greens and the squash was very small server. The meat should have been scotch not blade steak for the price charged. The dessert was very small should have given one each . We paid a lot of money and left hungry and disappointed at the price paid, the quality and serve . One staff member was rude when I commented on the size of the desert. Don't mind paying $300 plus for 3 people if the size serves are adequate , the food quality was top quality. For that price each person should get their own dessert. Steak being scotch fillet. Very tight scenic hotel. Had a Very disappointed Mother's Day experience. Certainly will not be recommending this place. . Should have been better . Don't skimp on quality and size of meals. It leaves a very bad taste and spoils a special occasion. You need to be fair , you can't charge 5 star prices and give 2 star quality . We were not told at the time of booking we could not chose our own meals.