Gilhooleys Strathpine

Being a new member of the Strathpine community. Sarah and I haven't really had a chance to check out much of the local restaurants. So for Sarah's birthday yesterday we headed down to Gilhooleys. First impressions were not great. The smoking section was packed with a bunch of loud council workers (not that I minded that much, it is a pub after all). The main floor of the pub was a large empty concrete expanse. Almost as if the place was under construction. But looking at the many photos around the place, it seems like that was the look they were going for. The bar person also acted as the hostess, so we had to wait till they finished serving drinks before being shown our seats. We got a booth which was comfortable. Although we had to order our food at the bar. Strange considering we had to be shown our seats to begin with. I mean why bother with the 'wait here to be seated' sign only for them to disappear after seating you without taking any orders? The specials menu advertised a Chicken Parmigiana plus 3 vodkas or 3 beers for $14.95. Which was great, although since i was driving i went with the steak. Sarah had the lamb shanks. The food came pretty quickly, although there wasn't a great deal of customers eating at that time. Sarah's lamb shanks were good. Plenty of meat served on mash potato. My steak however was not great. For the second time in a few days (the other at the Victory Hotel) I was given a medium rare steak that was pink in the middle (good) but charcoal black on the outside. The whole steak tasted like it was cooked in a fireplace. I'm not sure if this is the new way to cook steaks in pubs. But it will put me off ordering steaks for a while. Anyway the accompanying chips were good. Overall not a fantastic experience. I give it 1 and half stars.