We've been coming to Charles Dickens for over nine years. It's hidden in a basement on the corner of Elizabeth and Collins but worth looking for. They have a good selection of beer and good food. You can't go by the potato wedges for a light snack.
You can't really ask more for a inner city pub / hotel. The pub food is good at pub prices and lots of choice at the bar. Good for watching sports.
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The Dear Luncher has mixed feelings about the ol’ Charles Dickens. A frequent visitor over many years, mainly for football and pints, it has been at least 4-5 years since the last visit. So when friends suggested a bit of a session and lunch there recently there was admittedly some cringing going on in this little brain. In the past, the food was always fried and awful. The taps limited to a stock standard set of unremarkable beers, compared to some of the other British/Irish pubs in the vicinity.
So for this return, the expectations were low. Real low. But The Dear Luncher was heartened from the get-go to see quite an eclectic range of beers now available, both on tap and in can or bottle format. Starting at the menu, it was a depressing affair. Just about everything was deep fried. The things that were not deep fried, well, it was just too hot of a day to order them. So it was left to order steak, which is certainly always a good fallback option for the Secretary of Steak. The eye fillet was the most expensive steak on the menu, so this was what was ordered.
You know what? This eye-fillet was tremendous. Clearly things have changed at this establishment. The wait was long, but it was soft, tender and cooked exactly to specification. Even the salad was …. great. Usually these pub salads are a dire affair, not this time.
Pints of Balter XPA were gulped down while visiting, a very serviceable and sessionable ale.
The Charles Dickens Tavern proves that even if you’re ugly on the outside, you can still be kind of beautiful on the inside. Just like The Dear Luncher.
3.5/5.
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