Eathouse Diner

Great service, great cocktails and great food. Not too busy (on a weekday) but clearly popular and worth a wait. Awesome old fashion special and the crispy pork was great.

Dig the vibe, it’s 50’s slash extra kitschy and has some good ol’ American diner fare.
Came here for dinner and ordered the fried spatchcock, spaghettini, and house salad. I was a big fan of the fried spatchcock and spaghettini, they were both well made and tasty. I wouldn’t mind trying other items on the menu as well.
This place loses a star due to service… it’s kind of bad. It was hard enough to flag someone down to serve us, and when we asked for the bill they didn’t give us the bill until we flagged them down again (guess they misheard us) and then they gave us the bill to another table. After that was all corrected, we paid in cash and we didn’t get any change back. Mind you, it was only $ 4 but it’s the principle… if I wanted to tip I would have tipped, don’t just assume I’m going to tip. Where’s my damn change???

Great dinner menu of hearty delicious food. Ive had most of it now so would definitely need a menu update for me to go back again. Great atmosphere and cool vibe. Can get busy so fo early. Now open for breakfast — not as good as dinner.

Been here weekly for a long time and most of the times it is absolutely great and when it is not it is still good. The original duckliver pâté, the beef salad with lentils and tomatoes, the cured trout or crispy chicken, the highlights has been many! Recently the menu is a little lacking but still the best food this side of town by a country mile.

Good food. Maybe a little rich at times and also quite pricey (esp the wine list) so it’s more of a special occasion place than a can’t-be-bothered-to-cook weeknight venue for locals.

Awesome little place on a quiet Monday night. Fried spatchcock special came with a glass of wine or beer, and fries or a salad. Food was fantastic; crispy, yet juicy spatchcock went perfectly with the smoky dipping sauce. Ricotta, honey and almond cake with macerated apricots and fresh figs was to die for. Fast and friendly service too. This is a place that is fun and unpretentious, and could quickly become a ‘local’ if I lived in the area!

So it seems this place now take reservations, much to our ignorance thinking we can grab a table for 3 on a weeknight at 6pm HAHA. Clearly behind the 8 ball here.
The very polite waitress took our details and told us we’ll get a call in about 45mins time, which of course was fine given our thirst levels reached ridiculous so we popped into the wine bar directly opposite (only to be told they were also full) — seriously now? What’s going on in Redfern?
Finally, we get the call and by this stage we were STARVING, so we were pretty damn excited to order — that was until we looked at the menu — it was decent but nothing that stood out. We started off with the zucchini flowers and 2 salads (the fennel and the mixed leaf). I’d love to review the fennel salad but unfortunately, we never received it — HA even after asking for it repeatedly … oh well. Next were our mains. My friends ordered the Southern BBQ style beef ribs on a soft onion roll and I ordered the Cobia with zucchini and chats. The ribs were very tasty according to friend 1, and friend 2 thought the coleslaw was the highlight. I happened to sneak in a taste of the roll and YES, it was oniony and YES it was soft — I’d imagine the meat, coleslaw and roll combo would be ah-​mazing !!! The Cobia was tasty and cooked perfectly. I almost licked the plate clean, but was it because I was soo hungry? Or was it really that good? I can’t quite put my finger on why I was not floored by this place –wait time perhaps? 45min wait plus another say 15mins to put in our order then another 35mins for food? Was it the fact they forgot a dish we soo desperately wanted to eat. over and over and over again? Uninspiring menu? Who knows. It wasn’t a horrible experience though but would I go back? Probably not.

1^st of all, the food was good.
It wasn’t anything to write home about and during my girlfriend and my vacation through the United States, New Zealand and now Australia over the past few months, this place would be a prime example of that. In fact, it wouldn’t even find a mention in either of our personal travel journals we kept during the trip.
Actually, it found an ENTRY in our listings of the WORST SERVICE we experienced on our trip.
I understand that Tipping is not required in Australia, but yikes.
The waiter who seemed a bit disinterested in taking our order from the get-​go seemed less interested in
1.) clearing our table when our plates were empty and
2.) even less concerned about bringing us our check.
We waited for our check for about 20 minutes. Honestly, 20 minutes, no plates on the table, 2 glasses of water, waiting… waiting… until I asked aloud, «do we go to the counter to pay?»
I walked up to the counter and asked the waitress if we paid in this manner, and she said, «no, we will bring you the check shortly.» I went back to our table — mind you, this place is not very big, looked like it had about 10 – 14 tables max — and told my girlfriend that we were following the correct protocol.
Yet, 10 more minutes passed. Then 15… Two young travelers sitting there, trying to be respectful and understanding… until finally I asked the young dude waiter if he would please bring us our check.
Alas! Our check arrived.
$ 104 for
2 dishes, 3 glasses of wine and 1 small plate of desert.
Ok food.
Horrible service.
Not to be rude, but easily the WORST customer service we’ve had thus far… stretching from Illinois, Wisconsin, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, California, Hawaii, New Zealand and now Australia…
I think Eathouse Diner would be proud to know that they made this impact on us upon our travels.
Such an impact that I was forced to make a Unilocal.
Thank you Eathouse Diner!

Eat house is the kind of place I would like to open, home style dinner food with culinary flare. They have a lively atmosphere with interesting cocktails and a great selection of eats with a US dinner twist. Pork hock wins for me and braised Beef is always good too.

Why did I wait so long to try this place? I’m going to need to come here and eat the spicy ribs at least once a week just to make up for lost time.
We had such a nice dinner here the other night. Typically I’ll try to visit a place 2+ times before reviewing it to make sure I’ve gotten a good feel for a place. However, I feel like I can pretty confidentially stamp Eathouse with a 4-​star after our dinner here.
We had the Oyster shots and Ricotta balls for starters, and shared a jug of something with bourbon that was also amazing (however the name escapes me). However, the real highlight was the main — the spicy ribs with potatoes and a side of corn salsa. So delicious. Let me tell you, there aren’t that many places in Sydney that know how to do really good ribs and these guys definitely compete for some of the best ribs I’ve had around town. Drool.

My favorite place to eat! I’ve been twice now. The staff are friendly, I LOVE the style and atmosphere. Sydney needs more places like this! The food is yummy. We share so we can try everything and haven’t beed disappointed yet! Cocktails are amazing! My hubby and I are very particular when is comes to cocktails. LOVE IT. LOVE IT. LOVE IT.

While initially disappointed that Eat. House. Diner. wasn’t in fact an edible homage to the grandiloquent Gilbert memoir, I quickly got over it when they brought me a spicy tequila cocktail. With a cocktail monkey. I’ll bet they didn’t have cocktail monkeys in Bali, now did they Liz?
The menu was chalkboarded for all to admire, and while I did enjoy the tacky-​chic touches that made the venue pop in a way that only vintage tins and retro day-​of-​the-​dead kick-​knacks can, the mains didn’t shine quite as brightly and I’d hoped. The menu changes daily, but on our day we diner-​ed on spicy beef cheeks, mahi mahi, crispy polenta, crab, ricotta balls and mussels. The respective smaller starters were the definite stand outs. And while these dishes merely left us whelmed, I was pushed over the 3-​star edge by an oyster sangrita and the desserts, which in this case (for once) are not synonymous. To be fair, the aforementioned tequila monkey did some pushing as well.
While I’ll agree Eathouse Diner is showing cracks of a cultural identity crisis, (Mexicana/​Australian/​Americana/​Caribbeana?) these are all places I like. More importantly, these are all places that like to party, eat, play (love?) and know that the focus of any brilliant event — the party’s heart-​y if you will — is the kitchen. And I will.

Dear Eathouse Diner,
I think I’m in love with you.
I know this might seem strange as we’ve only just met, but I knew from the moment I saw your «eat here» sign as I drove past that there was something between us.
I’ve loved themed restaurants before, but none like you. None captured me both by the heart, the eyes and the stomach in the way that you did. A friend had told me about you, but I’d doubted him. «How good could a diner be?» I asked myself. Now I know.
He was so right about you. He knew that I would love your trailer-​park chic style and he could see us together — you with your collection of maracas and me with my love for your Golden Cobra coffee.
I want to tell everyone about you, about your lovely staff, the soft-​core pin-​up nudity papier-​mached over your walls, your amazing cocktails, delicious food (especially your tender, kissable beef cheeks) and your sweet sweet sugar (I will sleep sweetly tonight to dreams of your banana split). I want to scream it to the world, «My heart is a mess for The Eathouse!» But I’m torn — if I write your name across the sky will you still be mine?
I want to see you again. I want to sit on your quiet street and soak in your oh-​so-​cool ambience. I want to drink your ginger caprihina, I want to eat your smoked trout salad, I want to see that you’re busy but know that you still have time just for me. In fact, I want to always be with you, around you, inside you, eating you, drinking you, knowing you.
I love you.
Love Rachel.
P. S. I’d be willing to pay.

North American diner? Cocktail bar? Rustic Italian meals? The Eathouse Diner spread itself a little too thin, with food and drink results to match.
I’d heard good things about their philly cheesesteaks and was keen to test out such bona fide USA fare, but on arrival was met with a much more European menu than anticipated. No matter, as the selection was broad with plenty of tempting options. The braised beef cheeks fell apart at the faintest touch of a knife, but sitting atop just a cauliflower purée the dish could have done with some added colour. A fillet of barramundi was well-​cooked, but the accompanying cucumber and cabbage salad was lifeless and bitter. Finally, a sad beetroot salad used the tinned stuff along with a few chunks of processed, sweaty gorgonzola in a mountain of undressed lettuce leaves. Nonetheless, the enormous and absolutely moreish banana split was almost good enough to make me forget it.
The cocktails were equally hit-​and-​miss — a great mojito was joined by a watered down, fizzless pimm’s punch with a just a couple of lone mint leaves floating on top. With mains coming in at about $ 25 and drinks not too cheap either, our dinner was pretty overpriced considering the variety in quality.