The Victoria Hotel, Footscray

The Victoria Hotel (also has a sign saying Hart's Hotel) is on Victoria Street, just near Middle Footscray Station.  I have been past it a million times and wondered about this place.  It is a lovely old building that doesn't seem to have been altered much over time.   My hopes were raised when I saw some specials on the chalkboard outside that mentioned lentils, a diverse menu perhaps?  


The Thursday before the long Easter break, The Bloke gets home from work and suggests dinner at the hotel.  Nice work.  

The dining area is a pleasant wood-paneled room, neat and tidy.  

On each table, slim white ceramic vases hold carnations.  They look sweet and old school, very comforting.


I order the rissoles with mashed potato.  The dish comes with a gravy boat so you can decide how much, if any, gravy you want.  The rissoles are large, moist and tasty...and filling.  I have two.  The mashed potato is okay, I want it to be brilliant, hopefully just an off-mash night.  The side of steamed vegetables is great.  Perfectly steamed broccoli and a chunk of baked pumpkin under the vegetables with some cinnamon on top, divine! 

Rissoles and mash $9.00

Steamed veges

The Bloke orders the T-bone steak with chips and salad.   (I am too busy eating and forget to take a photo pre-eating of the steak).  I have a taste of the steak, very nice and the chips are crisp; The Bloke is happy.   The salad is excellent, crunchy salad vegetables with not too much dressing.  Complimentary white rolls are served with our meals too.

T-bone and chips $16.00

Salad

The Victoria Hotel feels like it is a million miles from the city.  It felt like one of the country pubs I went too when I was a teenager.  We had warm and friendly service from the women at the bar and in the dining room.   There is a kids menu too.  A little girl was wandering around with a silver dish filled with a scoop of ice-cream and some chocolate topping.  There are vegetarian options also.  The night we went there was a pumpkin lasagne with pesto sauce ($11) and some vegetarian minestrone soup with garlic bread ($6).  The menu is quite large and such good value.   

As it was the night before Easter, the usual Friday night karaoke was being held on Thursday night.  After eating our meal, we moved into the bar to watch the football on the TV.  We also got to see the karaoke master "Macca" get the night going.  Glen Campbell, Elvis and Roy Orbison got a fair work-out.   Macca came over to us later later in the evening to encourage us to participate, maybe next-time and maybe after a few more beers!  Thanks also to Luke and Jack who successfully beat us at the pool table, a number of times!

The Victoria Hotel is a surprise packet.  A friendly local pub, with good food.  

The Victoria Hotel

43 Victoria Street

Footscray 

Ph 9687 7581