Steel City Sports Bar

252 Townsend Street, Sydney
Really, everyone knows where it is.

For our last outing of the year, we decided to go to Steel City, which has been in business since like forever. Our readers will know that we do not hesitate to dine in bars - we are an adventuresome bunch. And as some of us in the bunch are a bit older, some of us have dined in different bars over the years.  So we can tell you with a wealth of experience behind us that the Steel City is a well-designed drinking establishment. As you can see in the photo, it is on one level; there isn't even a step up when you walk in. There is no falling down the stairs to the bathroom or yes, as I have, fallen up the stairs to the bathroom. In fact, there are no stairs to the bathroom. You can have a few and retain your dignity at Steel City.There is parking on two sides, many doors in case you have to leave quickly, a dance floor and a small stage for local bands. 

A large group of us met up on the Thursday evening and we ordered quite a selection of meals. Let's see how we fared!

Deep Fried Vegetable Basket

Members of the group ordered 3 entrees in total and in a truly generous spirit, we all tried bites of each dish.

This is the deep fried vegetable basket with a cupful of sour cream. Their batter was delicious, crispy and light, but the vegetables themselves were a bit spicy...just enough that you really enjoyed them, but reached for a glass of Whatever.

Thai Chicken Bites

This is the second dish that we all tried, although I have to confess that I didn't taste the sauce.  The member who ordered this dish said that it was very good.

I did enjoy the chicken bites very much - juicy white chicken meat in a crispy batter.  I didn't find these bites too spicy at all.

As you can see, the servings are large and you could almost just share a few entrees for a meal!

Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings

Steel City is well known for its wings and my heavens, I can well understand why. These wings are perfect. Can you imagine, a chicken wing that needs no improvement? 

They have lots of flavour, the texture is just right and there's no sauce left on your fingers or, God forbid, all over your face.

Again, you can eat wings, enjoy them, and retain your dignity at Steel City.

So now it's time to see what each of us ordered for a main course.  

Chicken Parmesan with Toast Points

This was one of the first dishes to arrive at the table and just look at it.

We found that Steel City offers large portions and very tasty meals.  Some of our dishes went back to the kitchen with food on them, not because we didn't like the food but because we were absolutely positively stuffed.

What could be taken home was wrapped up and I'm sure enjoyed later on that evening.

Greek Special

Two of us ordered the Greek Special and again, look at this serving. There is a lovely chicken kabob, Greek salad with dressing, home-made Tzatziki sauce, toasted pitas, and lemon potatoes.

I'll be honest - I dipped everything in the Tzatziki sauce. It was great.

Not so great were the potatoes - oooh just a tad too much lemon. Enough that my tongue curled and too much to finish the dish.

Hot Turkey Sandwich

And here you have the traditional Hot Turkey Sandwich, which two members ordered.

Yes, it was fabulous! The gravy isn't as good as what we had before on our travels, but short of driving to Seal Island, the gravy got rave reviews.

The fries at Steel City are good as well and you can see - you get lots of them.

Striploin Steak

Steel City is well-known for its steaks - what could be better than a tall cold beer and a steak?

This member ordered the 8 oz. Striploin Steak with fries and a side dish of onions. 

I hope you can see how juicy and tasty this steak was...in fact, my mouth is watering just posting this picture.

And there's another steak picture coming up!

T-Bone Steak with Caesar Salad

Yes, indeed the Grand Daddy of steaks - the T-Bone.  And no fries with this order; this member chose to have Caesar Salad with her steak.

And no problems here - every bite of this dish was enjoyed.

The Steel City's reputation as a good place to have wings and steak stands firm as far as the members of the UAG are concerned.

Fish 'n Chips

And yes, here we have a serving of Fish 'n Chips, which we were told was delicious.

None of us minded the little packets that were served with our meals - it added to the charm of the place.

But look at all the tartar sauce that came with this dish!  Considering the size of the portions, maybe they found people were asking for "more please!"

Quesadilla with Fries

A quesadilla is a funny dish in some ways - although it's made up of basic ingredients, we find that they are never the same.  Each restaurant serves their own style.

Steel City serves an excellent quesadilla - the member who ordered this dish really enjoyed it. 

Our readers will know that we are just a bit fussy about our tea service.  Our experience on our last outing (the restaurant's name will not be said out loud) was atrocious and we were nervous in case we were in the midst of a Bad Tea Streak.  

How nervous were we about ordering tea at Steel City?

One of our members actually arrived at dinner with her own Timmies! 

So what happened?

Well, it worked out surprisingly well, when you consider that we were sitting in a bar and tea may not have been part of their bartender course.

The tea was served in a drip-proof pot, with a small cold pitcher of milk and a good-sized mug. The tea was hot and tasty.

And so, with everything going well, we asked about dessert.  Now, this is when where we were did effect our meal...there was only one dessert on offer.  Most members were not that keen, but two of us opted to split a dessert just to see what it was like.

Deep Fried Cheesecake

We loved it!  Yes, it is Deep Fried Cheesecake and look at that presentation - we're in a sports bar and they got it right with the dessert. 

That's a hot crispy crust with a vanilla cheesecake inside and then they drizzled enough chocolate and caramel that there was enough to have with each bite.

Well, you can just imagine how thrilled we were to enjoy our entire meal after our last outing. No Bad Outing Streak here! 

Just before we end off our blog for another year, I have to tell you dear readers that it's just been a wonderful year. Our group has grown in numbers - we are averaging 10 or so members at each outing. And what a nice group of people! Every outing, even The Bad One, was fun. And look above, one of the members who couldn't be there with us on Thursday evening sent along a Christmas card to wish us all the best in the New Year. Let us extend her wishes to each and every one of you as well - may 2015 be a good one! Happy Outings to you all!