Courthouse Hotel

We have supported our local for a long time and thru covid ordered every week we have been happy up until recently with the how the take away option has all of sudden now just gone to basic and no options. Love the Parma and have let slide that for 3 weeks we received the wrong one for our take away. I'm so disappointed. That when I rang there was little to no empathy as well. Rant over: (

Hard to imagine a better rural pub lounge & dinner. Tons of simple food - some of the better calamari I've eaten in Victoria - and the salad dressing (!) is noteworthy. Really good service; attentive, courteous, unobtrusive.

Nice, food and friendly service, only issue we had was an allergy that they couldn't help with, which usually not an issue.

New mangement. Went for Sunday dinner. Food was great, staff friendly and helpful. Will go again.

On a day's outing in the country this was the only pub we found that was serving lunch. The girls here were awesome. The menu is huge. I had the slow roast lamb shoulder and it was delicious.

I've Just enjoyed the best pizza I've ever eaten, and I've had my fair share of Pizza's before. It was the Wood Fire Mexican Pizza, Just Delicious. Service was great and very clean. Five stars all round

Just finished a take away Parmi from here - incredible. Super juicey, chips nicely seasoned, delicious salad dressing. 10/10

Have Always, over Many Decades, regardless of who was Licensee, had Excellent meals & Service from the Courthouse Smythesdale.

Great pub, CC and Dry on tap, wood fire keeps the room warm on a winters day. Lovely staff, excellent food. Well worth a visit for a feed and a couple of cold ones.

On my partners birthday we both ordered beef & reef & after one hour of waiting we seemed to have reminded them we had a meal coming. Fifteen minutes later we received a tough warm steak, six canned shrimps, 4 strips of calamari & peas & carrots. A very disappointing meal for $42 each. I'll wait for a new "chef" before I go back

Great atmosphere, a real asset to the local community, but please-please-please do something about food service times, 60 minutes delays are becoming the reputation.

Food was great, staff are friendly, (except for the man making the coffee, can be a bit rude under stress).

Beautiful building but very ordinary decor inside. Meal was also very ordinary. Friendly staff.

Great service, cozy warm, relaxing atmosphere, beautiful interior and the meals were delicious. We loved our visit.

Stopped in last week for a good counter meal and it’s the first time l have been there, let me tell u absolutely scrumptious, staff were great, friendly polite. Overall just a nice country pub will delicious meals, not too badly priced either so if you are in the area drop in and have a meal.

Good food, great staff and they support a local winery and a local brewery. Well done. Recommended.

The food and service was great. We hadnt been there for awhile but we were impressed. We will be back.

A must try is the Kentucky Bourbon Palma, delicious. My wife had the Shoulder of Lamb & equally delicious. The staff are brilliant & very professional. Thank you Dan & Jo

Greeted by Jo during the day (for a sneaky pint) we booked in our meal for the night.

Welcome and service. On arrival we were greeted by Jo (again) and Kim (hilarious mask by the way) with some great country hospitality who got us signed in, to our booth and then had a laugh.

The place: a beautiful pub from the 1800’s you’d find in this area. With bar and bistro set up (make sure you book as it’s popular with the locals and the strays like us alike). Extremely clean environment and facilities, comfortable seats and even some friendly locals who greet you with a big G’day when you walk in.

Food: the extensive menu has every staple pub meal (parmigiana, pies, fish and chips and calamari) but the difference here is it’s all homemade and you’ll know what I mean when you eat here. We ordered the gnocchi, fettuccine and chicken, the kids chicken nuggets and I had the pie. To be honest we couldn’t fault a thing, just wonderful homemade, hearty and flavourful dishes. As corny as it sounds you can taste the love in every dish. Price wise the meals are below standard pub prices but the flavour certainly exceeds standards pubs.

Overall: from chatting with Jo and Kim, through to the feel of the old pub environment and the beautiful culinary experience we can’t wait to go back. Make sure you try here next you’re in Ballarat or the region as it’s only 10 mins out of the major centre and most definitely worth the short drive.

To Jo and the team, you’ve just jumped into our top three pubs. See you all again soon.