West Ryde Hotel, West Ryde

LOVE THE PARMA HERE ! <3. West Ryde Pub is a humble local pub who have been around for ages.

West Ryde Hotel is located on Victoria Rd in West Ryde. After a bit of a hankering for pub food, I headed there. There's a few different areas to the pub. There's an outside beer garden, a male dominated pub front and a bistro area where you see a range of couples, families and groups.

West Ryde Pub is best known for the "cooking your own steaks" deal where they provide the 260g steak, you cook it and you can get your side of chips, salad and sauce for $12. Otherwise for $22, you can get the kitchen to cook it. It can get a bit crowded around the BBQ area so I'd head there a bit early from 6pm onwards if you want to cook your own steak. I was quite tired that day so I decide on ordering something else on the menu.

I see a few people with chicken parma and am immediately tempted. I order the chicken parma ($22) with a side of salad and on a bed of chips. The parma is a reasonable portion and the chicken is topped with a thick tomato flavoured sauce with cheese.  The salad is a thick mayo heavy slaw and the chips are well seasoned. The parma is a very decent meal and went down very well with a beer. A definite recommend.

During the recent school holidays; sometimes they have deals on the kids meal. On this occasion, the normally priced $6 kids meal of Hawaian pizza and chips cost $3. This should please the little ones!  Great value and family friendly.

I came back another time and tried the steak sandwich with a side of chips ($18, above photo). It's a generous portion and is quite average. I'm not sure if I'd order this again. The steak was a thin and very chewy. The chips were good. I'd stick to the chicken parma.

The cheese burger ($18, below) was equally underwhelming. The meat pattie was plain and may have needed more salt.  I was thinking of that chicken parma. The bread on the cheese burger and the steak sandwich wasn't pleasant to eat. I think it was because the high ratio of the bread to the fillings. You feel like eating thick doughy bread and that was the last taste impression your mouth got rather than the meat or fillings. The chips were good. Def order the parma over the cheese burger or the steak sandwich.

Overall, I've had a mixed experience when it comes to the food. My first experience with the chicken parma and the kids meal was great. My second experience was OK. Food and drink prices are typical of a pub ($20ish for a main, $8ish for a beer/spirit with a mixer) and the decore is relaxing.

I'll have to come back and test out the cook your steak deal.