Founded by Matt Lobbe, the group consists of fines master Aaron Young, general larrikin Matt 'Brogdog' Broadbent, IT specialist Benjamin 'Peter Newman' Newton and editor Tom 'ice cream thief' Jonas. Each week they visit and review another pub in Adelaide.
This week, it was Port Adelaide's very own 'The Prince of Wales':
The Prince of Wales Hotel played host to this week’s steak night. Based in Port Adelaide, this is a pubs pub, offering quality pub food and a generously priced pint to go with it.
Our guests for the week comprised a special bunch of gentleman who, for years, have devoted a heck of a lot of their time to the Port Adelaide Football Club purely for the love of it. Known as ‘Dad’s Army’, Swervin Mervin (Merv), Alfie, Dale, Bobby, Johnny, Davo, and Goody (Dave) work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure that pig skins are pumped, guernseys cleaned, boots studded and drinks filled for every training and game. Unfortunately Al (Aaaaaaaaaaalllllllll) was unable to make it due to illness, while regular Medium Rarer Kane Mitchell was also busy moulding the younger generation into young running/goal kicking machines. It is important to note that this was some form of a homecoming for medium rare founder, and the ‘Prince of whales himself’ Matt Lobbe.
The night was off to a brilliant start with Alfie getting up 13 clams ($) on the pokies. He was quoted as saying “any win’s a good win, you know what I mean to say.” The ‘Dad’s Army’ fellas are always good for a story, so after everyone, except Merv ordered a steak (insisted on salt & pepper squid -. he’ll receive a fine in the mail!). We sat back and enjoyed Alfie spinning tales about his butchering days, Dale talk about anything and everything and Merv being a generally cheeky bugger.
The steaks came and went, with false teeth being removed and re-inserted, and free salad bars being exploited. The only issue was with Newts’ meal, which almost never came, giving the always-cruel judge plenty of ammunition for the ratings to come. A visit from the manager was an obvious and purposeful ploy to get the ratings up, and it appeared to work. There was no hiding the fact that ‘Dad’s Army’ were an easy herd to please, distributing regular 4’s and 5’s across the areas of value, vibe, quality and quantity. Merv even tried to dish out a 6 and openly stated that he was “easy to please” while Davo set Newts straight, calling him a ‘fussy bastard.’ In all the pub came in at 4 stars. There was no doubting the exceptional value, and friendly family vibe.
The food received a 3.5 star rating overall, with presentation being the only area receiving a less than average score. It was commonly noted that this was a whale of a feed. Lobbes ratings seemed to hit the nerve of several guests, and Manager Dave Banner mentioned that in future when Lobbes asks how his game was Dave would likely respond with something along the lines of “2/5, a bit undercooked and average value”.
In closing, the Prince of Wales nestles comfortably in our top 4 so far, doing mooooo-re right than it did baaaaaa-d. The highlight would have to be trying to get ratings out of Goody. It seems he’s as reluctant to give out his opinions as he is to give out a new pair of socks in the property room at the club….tight arse.
Pun o’ the week: One of our members was overheard singing a beefed up version of the classic S Club 7 track ‘Don’t stop moving’. It went like this:
“Don’t stop mooooving to the funky funky meat
Don’t stop mooooving to the chunky chunky meat
Don’t stop mooooving to the funky funky meat
Don’t stop mooooving to the S Club meat”
To book a table at The Prince, call 8447 1252.
