Castle Hill Tavern

Who stole the playground from the Castle Hill Tavern?

Maybe I was just imagining that they had one?

When we moved to the Hills about 4 years ago I went to a local beauticians for some beautification. The lovely lass trying her hardest to make me look beautiful made enquiries into my personal life as only beauticians and hairdressers can. When she heard that I was married, she asked if I had met Mr Munch at the Castle Hill Tavern. I explained that we had just moved here, so no I hadn't picked him up at the Tav. She then went on to tell me how she and all her BFFs had met their prospective spouses at the Castle Hill Tavern.

So I've always been a bit dubious about the Tav, but it is near one of my favourite coffee shops in Castle Hill - Air Coffee - so I have driven past it quite a few times and I am 99.9% certain that I had seen a playground in their outdoor area.

Mr Munch was working from home one day last week and as a result I was running around like banshee trying to keep everyone happy and QUIET - not easy with two little boys full of testosterone. As some sort of reward Mr Munch said he would take us out to lunch - my choice! The caveats were that it had to be close by, he only had an hour to spare (obviously he hasn't realised that when you work from home no one will know if you slip back in to the office 20 mins late!) and it also had to be cheap. The Little Bulls had requested Maccas as they wanted to go to the playground as their reward for being so (not) quiet all morning. 

I decided to combine all of the requests and I came up with the Castle Hill Tavern - it was close by, it has lunch time specials and it had a playground (or so I thought). We arrived , found a park and as we walked in I noticed something missing - the playground! The enclosed outdoor area only had tables and chairs in it, no brightly coloured playground. As a result we had two very unhappy children who kept their grumpy faces for the whole of time at the Tav.

The Castle Hill Tavern has been around for a while and it is starting to show. By this I mean the place is a bit run down and in need of some TLC. The Tavern belongs to the ALH stable of hotels, they own a zillion or so pubs throughout Australia, including one of Little Munch's favourite family pubs The Ranch at North Ryde. Unfortunately the Tav is completely lacking everything that the Ranch has - except for the menu. The menu is exactly the same, with the same cute names, same prices and the same excellent range - some healthy, some not.

The little bulls shared a plate of Fly the Coop, aka chicken nuggets and chips. It was a smallish size serve, although it did feed our two easily, but for $9.50 with no inclusions I probably wouldn't order it again.

What I would order again would be the Chicken Caesar Wrap from the Mon - Thu Lunch Menu. The wrap and large serve of wedges was brilliant value for $12.00. I was worried that it may have been pre made, but it most definitely wasn't. There were large chunks of succulent chicken and a crunchy caesar salad packed into this very tasty wrap.

Mr Munch had the Burger from the same menu, he didn't rave about it, but it was a decent size serve and looked how a good old fashioned pub burger should look.

The above specials are only available for lunch Mon - Thu so if you are dining there of an evening or Fri/Sat/Sun lunch expect to pay up to $28.00 for your meal depending on what you choose. So it's not exactly the cheapest pub grub around town. Check the Tav's website as they quite often has special meal deals at other times during the week.

Because of the excellent value lunches during the week, the day we dined, the bistro was full of local business workers. There were a couple of other Mumma's out with their kids, and they sat outside in the enclosed area where I once believe a playground resided. There is only one high chair in the bistro so if you have a little one arrive early to nab it or bring your own portable one. There is plenty of room for prams and if you have little ones that like to wander it is best to sit outside. The ladies loo does contain a baby change table which makes me think that the Tav was once a child friendly venue.

Hopefully the playground is just off at the doctors for some repairs. If it comes back the Castle Hill Tavern will be so much more kid friendly. In the meantime The Tav, like all of us, after a few too many years of wear and tear, needs some beautification x

So tell me dear parents do you know who stole the playground?

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http://www.castlehilltavern.com.au/
25 Victoria Ave Castle Hill NSW 2154
02 9634 5300
Open 7 days for lunch & dinner

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