Holgate's Brewhouse, Keatings Hotel

Overall 2 - Food 2, Ambience 2, Value 2, Service 2

They brew good beer. However the food and beverage, and accommodation leaves a lot to be desired. The rooms lacked warmth and a certain amount of cleanliness. The food was very average. A cut of steak that looked and tasted worse than something from a supermarket. The fish and chips resulted in an ambulance trip to Melbourne, a denial of liability and an offer of a refund from the management ,which never eventuated, and a desire to never go near Woodend ever again. Daylesford is not far away and its venues rarely disappoint.   (CB - May, 2011)

Overall 2.8 - Food 2, Ambience 5, Value 2, Service 2

Overall a very disappointing experience, we will not be recommending this venue. The calamari was floury and tasteless, and of the nine main meals we ordered the majority were unpleasant. We braved it for desserts but again found they were lacking, The fig tart was okay in comparission, however the chocolate cake was dull and flat, with a strange concoction of cream mixed with lumps of chocolate and mandarin - more like a year 10 experiment than a presentation by a qualified chef! The service staff preferred to chat amongst themselves than serve at the bar, and the ordering of our mains was hurried. Such a shame as 12 months ago we had a good experience - never again!   (ck64 - August, 2010)

Overall 7.3 - Food 8, Ambience 7, Value 6, Service 8

Enjoyed the food it was terrific, felt a little cramped for space however. Table was too small for four patrons.

Service was good without being outstanding, used dirty knife on floor adjacent to table detracted from experience.   (July, 2010)

Overall 2.8 - Food 2, Ambience 5, Value 3, Service 1

Had booked the room with 3 course meal and breakfast.

Dinner consisted of some hot olives and ale bread. Bread was good but the olives were not - under the category of what were they thinking.

Main courses choice was the steak - ordered medium rare - cooked medium well. One of the steaks tasted like liver the other like grass. When this was mentioned to the waitress (term used very losely) she said it must have been the butter. Never had a piece of meat that tasted like grass before - can't say mmmmmm.

Then came the desserts. The choices were poor and we thought we had made the best by ordering the rocky road and the Macaroons. The macaroons were well made but the white chocolate sauce in the middle and sugar on top made them sickly sweet. The rocky road was very interesting - philo pastry shell, with marshmallows mandrin slices, sour cream, yogurt and chocolate sauce and cooking chocolate bottons.

The beer was quite good.

In the end I would never consider returning. They need to hire new staff and new cook then rewrite the menu to something well thoughtout.

Actually would be a good episode for the tv show Kitchen Nightmares.   (anthony - June, 2010)

Overall 3.8 - Food 8, Ambience 1, Value 4, Service 2

The meals and the beer were impressive but sadly the atmosphere and service was severely lacking to the point that there is no way I wourl return or reccomend it to friends

The entire establishment really lacked a 'pub' feel and felt more like a dining room in a rennovated suburban sports club, (yes we were on the 'pub' side rather than the formal dining section).

We all felt a rather uncomfortable, sterile and dissapointing ambience (which is the complete opposite of what a good pub should be!) which resulted in the consensus that it was fairly depressing place to be on a Saturday afternoon.

Service was lukewarm at best with no smile or personality to speak of (which is expected when counter meals are $25).

A conspicuous shortage of pint sized glasses (yes they did have some) also seemed very strange for a pub.   (Mikesmash - March, 2010)