Graze Willow Tree Inn

I traveled from Sydney to Gunnedah to watch the annual football finals with my adult son and decided to stop here for lunch. We had appetizers and were pleasantly surprised when we received a complimentary serving of speck and pea soup. Served in a large glass, it was so delicious that I would have ordered it as a main course. The T-Bone steak was also outstanding. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.

I have visited the Willow Tree several times and have always found the accommodation to be of a very high standard. I would recommend staying here. Normally, I enjoy the bar menu from the Grazer Kitchen, but during my last visit, the beef dish I ordered was quite disappointing. It consisted of about 60% fat, 20% bone, and only 20% meat. I mentioned this to a worker and showed her the excessive amount of fat on the plate. She simply responded, "I will let the kitchen staff know." Unfortunately, no one from the kitchen came out to address the issue. This was not the response I was expecting from this establishment.

I wanted to express my gratitude to the staff who worked during our Saturday evening dinner and Sunday breakfast. They were extremely courteous, helpful, and patient with our group of 14. Despite our loud celebration for a baptism, they handled it with ease. Our stay at Willow Tree was enjoyable, and the service was great!

On the way to tamworth we have booked here a jubilee dinner. we had high expectations of the bark (local angus bred) and were not disappointed by this aspekt. we started with the rinderbrasaola, which was beautifully presented with olive oil, lemon and...herbs. the main course that we both chose was the striploin (the large part of the T-bone) and it was also very tasty, tender and cooked exactly as ordered. also the jackettkartoffel was on the square. the roasted root vegetables, however, consisted predominantly of more potato and perhaps we should have said so. at $14 for the side my wife suggested that we go into business hovering roasted root vegetables and we can then buy our own pub soon! the weinlist was pretty good and not too expensive and I chose a 92-point (james suckling) catena malbec from Argentinia, which was perfect with the bark. the service was good and very friendly, but the young waiters might need some more training. the price was high for a rural location and probably not justified.

I have nothing positive to say about Graze and I felt ripped off after the experience. It wasn't busy when we were there for lunch. Service was slow but friendly at least (ok, so that's 1 positive). The food was expensive for what you get...both in terms of quantity and quality. The charcuterie board was 2 or 3 small pieces of ham, pastrami, a few pieces of smoked sausage/salami, parfait, tiny amount of sun dried tomato and flatbread for the $37. Volume-wise it was pretty disappointing for that price point. Then there's the steak. They charge $40/rump, $3/sauce and most sides run at $14. I don't mind paying the price if I get a high quality meal but when you charge that sort of coin you have to be spot on. Our steaks were lukewarm at best and mine was cold in the middle. I don't like doing this but I sent mine back and it returned marginally warmer. Obviously, we let the wait staff know but I also contacted Graze through the online enquiry and also gave them feedback. No response yet, so I assume they don't care.