Kootingal Pub: Menu, Opening Hours & Accommodation

Travellers searching for the Kootingal pub are usually tracking down one place: the Kootingal Hotel, a country pub with rooms at 20 Gate Street, about 20 km north of Tamworth. It runs a working bar, a bistro-style kitchen and budget accommodation, with rooms from AU$60 a night on the hotel’s own website. Lunch is served seven days from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm, and the independent reviews below fill in what the menu, rooms and atmosphere are really like.

Last checked: 2026-08-11

Address: 20 Gate Street, Kootingal NSW 2352, Australia · Phone: (02) 6760 5173 · Website: kootingalhotel.com.au · Key features: Garden, shared lounge, restaurant, bar, beer garden, accommodation with shared bathroom

Kootingal Hotel: key facts and specifications

The table below compiles the verified basics, followed by the full specification reported across the official site, Visit NSW, Tripadvisor and Booking.com.

What is on the menu at Kootingal Pub and what are the prices?

The Kootingal Hotel Restaurant is classified on Tripadvisor as bar, pub and Australian cuisine, with meal service built around lunch and dinner. The same listing flags vegetarian-friendly, vegan and gluten-free options, so the common dietary categories are covered.

The hotel’s official Eat page describes a bistro-style kitchen: lunch seven days from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm and dinner from 5:30 pm. An older version of the bistro-menu page on the same site listed dinner Tuesday to Sunday until late, which suggests the evening schedule has been adjusted over time.

Menu highlights

Because the official menu is not itemised online, the strongest food signals come from reviews. Localsearch’s Kootingal pubs listing points to “yummy pub meals” and great value for money at the hotel, and a 2017 Tripadvisor review praised generously sized meals, fair prices and prompt service even when the dining room was full.

Catering options

For functions, the hotel promotes catering from cocktail events to a full-menu service, with head chef Josh leading the kitchen. The VIP room gives groups a space beyond the main bar.

Price range (if available)

The only published prices are room prices: singles from AU$60, doubles from AU$75 and family rooms from AU$95 per night on the official site. On booking platforms, standard rooms average around AU$72–AU$88 a night, according to Tripadvisor’s hotel listing. For meal costs, recent review comments about generous portions and fair prices are the best directional signal.

The bottom line: expect straightforward Australian pub plates at honest prices, but the menu rotates and isn’t fully published online, so ask the kitchen directly.

What are the opening hours of Kootingal Pub?

The hotel’s official site is the most reliable baseline: lunch from 12:00 pm to 2:00 pm seven days, and dinner from 5:30 pm until late seven nights, per the Eat page. Visit NSW lists the same kitchen more conservatively, with lunch seven days but dinner only Wednesday to Saturday nights.

Third-party listings add more noise. Some localized Tripadvisor pages show the venue open from 10:00 am to midnight Monday to Saturday and 11:00 am to 10:00 pm on Sunday — figures that read as combined bar and kitchen hours. Yelp shows daytime trading such as 9:00 am–5:30 pm on weekdays, which is likely the bottle shop rather than the pub.

Standard hours

• Kitchen lunch: 12:00 pm–2:00 pm, seven days (official site)
• Kitchen dinner: from 5:30 pm nightly (official site); Wednesday–Saturday per Visit NSW
• Bar and bottle shop: opening and closing times are not published in the sources reviewed

Holiday variations

Holiday and seasonal changes are not documented in the sources we checked. Before a long weekend or a big Tamworth event, call (02) 6760 5173 or check the hotel’s website.

What to watch: the evening service differs by source. Confirm the dinner night before you book a table.

What is the Kootingal Hotel like?

The Kootingal Hotel is a working country pub with rooms, not a boutique stay. Visit NSW counts 11 old-style, clean and tidy rooms and recommends them for families, conferences or bike trips, while the official site prices them from AU$60 a night.

Accommodation

Rooms sit at the budget end of the pub-hotel spectrum: shared bathrooms, simple furnishings, low rates. Booking.com lists check-in from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm and check-out from 9:00 am to 11:30 am. One hotel-information site mentions on-site breakfast in the restaurant, a detail the official site doesn’t confirm — so it should be checked when booking.

Dining

Dining spreads across two indoor areas and a beer garden, according to Visit NSW, and Booking.com describes a single on-site restaurant serving Australian cuisine at lunch and dinner.

“Fantastic, relaxed, genuine country.”

A Localsearch reviewer describing the Kootingal Hotel

Atmosphere

Localsearch shows a 5-star local rating for the hotel, with reviewers naming the relaxed country atmosphere and the quality of service.

“Lovely eating areas, inside and outside.”

2017 Tripadvisor review, Kootingal Hotel Restaurant

The same 2017 review, titled “Best customer service ever!”, recounts owner Andrew driving elderly guests to the station with their luggage on his day off. Another reviewer calls the hotel a beautiful stop for families wanting a well-priced lunch or dinner, with swings and a grassed area for children in the beer garden. The hotel positions itself as a natural fit for after-work drinks, birthdays and social gatherings.

Strengths and trade-offs

The trade-off: you get a genuine, relaxed country pub and very low room rates, but shared bathrooms and a conflicting dinner roster come with the package.

Location and getting to the Kootingal Hotel

The hotel stands at 20 Gate Street, Kootingal, New South Wales 2352, about 20 km north of Tamworth. Visit NSW files the property under the Tamworth area — Kootingal is the quiet village, while Tamworth provides the services and events a short drive south.

Visit NSW’s listing positions the hotel as suitable for families, conferences, bike trips and short escapes — a stay where you park, eat, sleep and move on.

The implication: the hotel works as a practical base for Tamworth region travel, not just a local drinking spot.

Kootingal Hotel vs nearby alternatives

Kootingal’s social circuit is compact, and directory searches for pubs and taverns in Kootingal put the hotel at the centre, with the Kootingal Bowling Club and the Kootingal Cafe listed as nearby places to eat and socialise. Our research focused on the hotel, so we couldn’t verify the details of either alternative from primary sources.

For a bed and a meal in one stop, the Kootingal Hotel is the option we can confirm from official and booking sources. Travellers comparing similar country pub stays elsewhere in Australia can also read our profile of the Bindoon Pub Hotel and our Barmera Hotel Motel: Rooms, Amenities & Bistro Guide.

Why this matters: within Kootingal, the hotel anchors the pub scene; the bowling club and cafe are lighter-touch alternatives for locals.

Our pick: who the Kootingal Hotel suits best

Frequently asked questions about the Kootingal Hotel

Sources