Prairie Hotel

Destination outback pub … but when you get here the car park is full of cars and the pub is weirdly gastro … mechanise shop and shiny beer brew set up (although I read they don’t actually brew their beer 🤷‍♂️). Still, the drive here is great and the building is fantastic. The food is where we were let down. We ordered: - haloumi … not exactly an outback classic but it was great. Highlight of our food. - kangaroo tail … in a sweet and sour sauce … very tasty but too sweet and a bit 🤷‍♂️ - feral mixed grill …. This is the house specialty … and pretty much why we drove there. I’m very sad to say … give it a miss. It’s small and expensive and not good. The kangaroo is delicious but two tiny tiny tiny pieces. The emu rissole is nice but dry and nothing says “emu”. The camel sausage is just five spice. With a couple of glasses of wine $160. Would I go again? Yes if it was at the end of a drive. No if it was the point of the drive. Either way I wouldn’t order the fmg again which is very disappointing to say.

What a fantastic 2 night stay at this welcoming lodge! The staff were all outstanding with amazing service.. Thanks to Ellie, Millie, Becky and Charlotte who made us feel so welcome. Fun, friendly and remembered our drinks, our names etc.. our room also so comfortable with fluffy towels, amazing comfy bed and beautiful toiletries. Food was delicious and atmosphere both in the bar and out by the fire was exactly what an outback holiday should be! We will be back!!

What a beautiful lunch experience. Food, beers brewed on site and South Australian wines were all excellent. Staff welcoming and helpful. The hotel has been lovingly renovated and the long table where we ate is a great spot. Artwork in all the eating spaces adds great ambience. So worth the effort getting here for the experience.

What a gem. Colse to nilpina for a wonderful fossil experience. Fabulous food and a craft brewery. Yep. All at Parachilna in middle of Flindes Rangers. If you ar up that way at least drop in for a drink and a look at the eclectic art on show. Super clean and v friendly.

We really enjoyed our two nights at the Prairie Hotel, having only been lunch visitors previously. We wouldn’t hesitate to go again or to recommend others do the same, but it’s no ‘budget motel’ so the comments that follow are proffered with that in mind as it wasn’t quite 11/10 for the price paid! We thought the decor/design of the rooms and common areas was lovely and very well suited to the environment BUT we were pretty amazed by the ‘dear old’ bathrooms that are very much in need of renovation as they are stuck in the 1990s….the hairdryer mounted on the wall was almost stuck in the 70s! Definitely bring your own!! With all the talk of the great new renovations that have occurred, we were somewhat surprised that it wasn’t anything to do with the rooms themselves, just really the front bar etc. The bathrooms don’t look ‘rustic’; they just look unsatisfactory for the higher end boutique outback retreat that Prairie is striving to be. Our room was very spacious and comfortable though and we had no qualms other than that bathroom aspect…except maybe that the key locks are impossible to jiggle!! It’s a unique place to stay now that it isn’t open to other guests in the evening for meals unless you are accommodation guests, so when you sit on the verandah for sunset drinks you really feel it’s YOUR Prairie Hotel, which is so so nice. Also nice are the staff - in fact wonderfully enthusiastic and engaging and chatty too, if that’s what you seek. Food wise, we felt mixed. The evening snacks in the bar before you move in for dinner are fantastic - exactly the fun, unique and imaginative morsels that slot in with the ‘feral food’ attraction of the place. Amazing emu pate, kangaroo tartare, camel (instead of duck) pancakes etc etc. All sooooo DE-LISH!! But we questioned whether it was really good enough not to have any choice at all for your included entree, main and dessert. The servings were plentiful and quality enough, and we do understand the cost model rationale for serving a set menu to everyone, BUT even a choice between two main course options, or offering a cheese choice instead of sweets (e.g. quandong pudding and rum baba desserts were just too heavy for us) would have been appreciated when dining at a hotel that is pitching itself as a foodie destination. The beetroot entree one night was really beautiful though. Oddly, we were brought warm plates so that we could share the dishes, but they came out so far ahead of the food that they’d gone cold by the time we ate, rendering the heating useless! Breakfast was perfect. Just the right amount, and wonderful coffee! Do yourself a favour and take a walk along the railway line to see sunrise on the range before brekkie…..ahhh the Aussie bush! It’s a real treat to experience it as guests of the Prairie Hotel.

High quality contemporary Australian food, friendly service and an iconic venue worthy of well traveled and discerning guests. Our lunch was well presented and delicious. You will pay city restaurant type prices here but it’s food of genuine freshness, creativity and quality with a local connection that’s well worth it. The bar and beer garden (the dirt road out front!) are also well done and worthy of a stop for a coldie and or a burger. But if you can do the lunch in the bistro it’s a unique and memorable experience. Accomodation is available here which is the only way you’ll dine for the evening meal, to ensure guests get the very best experience of an outback gourmet dinner. This is something we’d love to try next visit. Shout out to Alice for her great service on our visit.