It's Easter Friday, or Good Friday as it's also known, and Forresters has just opened. It's Five pm and I'm here with the crew of Kirby Magazine for the big prize draw. One lucky badgeholder is going to walk away with over $5000 tonight. Of course, there are a lot of members. We know some folks have badge numbers up over the 2000 mark, so we do a quick bit of math. drawing a number every ten minutes means you can draw only 144 numbers in a full 24 hours. This could take some time. In fact it takes only four or five attempts to find a lucky winner. Ensconsed as we are near the pool table, it becomes apparent for the first time that really it's in utterly the wrong place. The constant flow of folks backwards and forwards between the garden bar and the main bar (and of course the nearby toilets) means it's impossible to play pool once the bar fills up, so we just settle into some solid drinking and tomfoolery instead. This being Easter, of course, we end up in a crisis at closing time - no bottle shop sales (apart from a rumoured open bottle-o at the Coogee Bay, miles away), and most of the 24 hour places are closed too. Makes you wish we lived in a more secular society, eh? Anyway, a good time was had by all, despite the crush, proving that Forresters isn't JUST about five buck steaks. Oh, and my previous comments about the bar staff shortage, well, tonight the queueing wasn't so bad as we expected, so maybe it's improving?
review by: Jason

Forresters is a busy spot. It seems to be the evening haunt of choice for a surprisingly large proportion of the local under-30 population. Is it the $5 "steak or chicken" specials? is it the decor? (which in the bistro are has a feeling of Van Gogh meets Escher in my opinion). Is it the service? well, it's probably not the service. on our most recent visit the front bar was brimming with about 15 queuing punters and..... one barmaid. A bit of a queue I think you'll agree in view of the fact the place was pretty full and doing a very brisk trade in the kitchen. It seemed a bit of an anathema to us. After all, $5 steaks can't have a very high profit margin. Surely the loss on the food is designed to be recouped at the bar? Oh well. Never could fathom hospitality managers...

To be honest, the problem here is not the staff's fault - they're usually run off their feet - but when we've visited in a quiet spell, the staff members have been friendly, courteous and capable. Just understrength on busy nights.

Anyway, back to the pub. It's spread over three floors, is decorated very much in a 'chrome'n'wood' standard in the front, with the bistro being far more casual, but retaining the smartness. To the left of the main pub and in front of the bistro is a small canvas covered 'courtyard' with palm trees and gates open to the outside world. A narrow verandah runs around the outside and is very popular, but in our opinion is too close to the busy Foveaux street to be truly enjoyable.

Our summary? go there for the cheap eats, Enjoy a few drinks. Take the slow service into account and start a new round before you've finished the old one and you'll be fine.
review by: pubguide staff