Silver Wattles — Best Restaurant with a Casino Hall
Ask anyone on Queen Street and they’ll tell you the same thing: the old scale room never really stopped weighing what mattered, it just swapped butter for cards. Silver Wattles opened in a former produce store where Gippsland farmers once queued to have their cream cans weighed before the co-op truck came through, and the kitchen still keeps the same early, honest hours the farmers did. Six felt tables fill most nights with five hundred, euchre and crib, while the dining room next door runs a short seasonal menu built on the district’s own produce. A table for dinner and a seat at the cards are booked separately, so you can come for either, or both.
What do you do with a building that once weighed half the district’s butter? At Silver Wattles you turn the old scale room into a card parlour, keep the loading dock as a deck for tea, and let the smell of fresh bread drift through from the kitchen most evenings.
The building went up in 1911 for a produce merchant, and the iron scale that gave the room its name sat by the front counter until the 1970s. We kept the counter, the wide doorway built for cream cans, and the pressed-tin ceiling; everything else is new.
Five hundred and euchre fill three of the six tables most nights, with crib and rummy on the smaller ones near the window; the house deals for anyone who asks, and chips are worth points only, nothing more.
1911
The year the produce store went up on Queen Street
Six tables
Felt, chips and a house dealer most evenings
No wagering
Chips count points only, never cash
From the kitchen
A Short Menu, Built on the District
Silver Wattles’ kitchen keeps to eight dishes or fewer, arranged simply — something to start, a main, a pudding — all built on what West Gippsland’s farms are sending that week.
Gippsland lamb shoulder is the standing favourite on Fridays and Saturdays, slow-roasted and served with a potato and leek gratin; the rest of the menu leans on the same paddocks — pumpkin, silverbeet and a cheese board from small dairies within thirty kilometres.
Dessert is usually scones with jam and cream, or a sticky date pudding that outsells everything else on the menu most weekends.
Gippsland lamb
Slow-roasted shoulder, potato and leek gratin
Cheese board
Small-dairy cheeses from within thirty kilometres
Sticky date pudding
The kitchen’s best seller most weekends
A look inside
Silver Wattles, Room by Room
House rules
Six Rules Every Guest Keeps
Eighteen and over only, no exceptions, and ID is checked at the door on busy nights.
Nothing here is played online — every hand is dealt in person at 42 Queen Street.
Chips mark points only; there’s no wagering and no cash prize for any table.
There are no poker machines and never will be — Silver Wattles keeps to felt and cards.
Table bookings for dinner are separate from a seat at the cards; book each one on its own.
Quiet is kept after midnight in the back lounge, for guests who’d rather talk than play.
Life at Silver Wattles
A Few Things Guests Ask
Who deals the cards at Silver Wattles?
A house dealer works most tables on weeknights; on busy Saturdays regulars often deal for themselves once a game gets going.
How late does the house stay open?
Doors usually close on the felt at half past midnight, later on Saturdays, though the tea room tends to empty out slower than the card parlour.
Is the kitchen open every night?
The short menu runs Wednesday to Sunday from six; the tea room stays open a little later for anyone who’d rather sit with a pot of tea than a hand of cards.
Can I just come for tea and a look around?
Yes — the old scale room and the back lounge are open to anyone who wants a look, no seat at the tables required.
The year at Silver Wattles
Six Seasons on Queen Street
Season
On the Tables
In the Kitchen
Early Autumn
Five hundred fills all six tables as the nights turn cool
Pumpkin soup returns to the short menu
Late Autumn
Crib nights grow, regulars settle into their usual seats
Lamb shoulder becomes the Friday standard
Winter
Doors open earlier, the tea room busiest of the year
Sticky date pudding outsells every other dessert
Early Spring
Rummy and canasta tables fill on weeknights
Fresh greens replace the winter roots
Late Spring
The friendly poker table runs most Saturdays
Cheese board grows to five varieties
Summer
Windows open, cards run later into the warm evenings
Menu turns light, salads and cold soup
The felt
Casino Hall: Six Tables Under the Old Roof
The scale room runs the length of the building, its iron roof trusses still visible above six felt tables set for five hundred, euchre, crib, rummy, canasta and a friendly poker table with no buy-in.
A house dealer works the room on quieter nights, and regulars keep their own seats without anyone saying so out loud. Nothing here is played for cash — chips mark points, nothing more, and nobody leaves better or worse off than they walked in.
Doors close on the felt at half past midnight most nights, later on Saturdays, and the room empties slowly over tea rather than all at once.
Five Hundred
The house favourite, three tables most nights
Crib and Euchre
Smaller tables near the window
Friendly Poker
No buy-in, chips for points only
Find us
Silver Wattles, 42 Queen Street
Address
42 Queen Street, Warragul VIC 3820
Phone and Booking
+61 3 5623 4187 · house@silverwattles.com
Email
Doors open Wednesday to Sunday from six, with cards running past midnight most nights.
Silver WattlesWeighed. Dealt. Kept.
Warragul
seats1 to 24
tables6
house dealyes
age18+
The old scale room
Six Tables, One Ticket to the Evening
Every guest at Silver Wattles takes a numbered ticket at the door, the same way farmers once queued to have their cream weighed. Keep the stub — it’s yours for the night, worth nothing outside these walls.
Book ahead
Reserve Dinner or a Seat at the Tables
Dinner tables and card seats are booked separately at Silver Wattles, so let us know which one you’re after — or both — and we’ll hold your spot for the evening you want.
By entering, you confirm you’re 18 or older. Silver Wattles is a card room and kitchen in Warragul, Victoria, open to adults only.
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