Empire Bay Tavern — Restaurant in New South Wales

Looks very unassuming but was very busy on Australia day 2025, so we went in after a beautiful hike at Bouddhi national park.

We were blown away by how welcoming everyone was and how the bistro was so clean and comforting.

All patrons were enjoying themselves either inside or outside.

The fish of the day was flathead, so we both got the fish and chips, probably one of the fluffiest fish batters I have ever had, I would return for the fish and chips! The sticky date pudding was also very homely and the fresh berries were a nice touch, also not overly sweet.

Drinks were well priced and we discovered James squire alcoholic ginger beer.

The chicken parmy was very popular and the pastas and salads looks really good. The chicken parmy seemed to be the most popular dish, the burger was a special that day.

In addition, clean toilets, outdoor play area, lots of outdoor seating, plenty of parking and a bottle shop.

Overall a terrific experience and would gladly make an excuse to...

Visited this place with my family Sunday night. When purchasing a beer i asked if they had Carlton Dry on draught and the response i got from the barman was " can you see it ? " . Bearing in mind the bar is approximately 20 meters long with a variety of pumps set out along its length it would have been some achievement! whereas i would assumed asking the barman would have been a shrewd move seeing as he worked there!! Silly me. The response i would expect from him would have gone something along the lines of "no sorry only bottled , would you like a glass with that or can i suggest something similar on draught" and not just the already opened bottle shoved in my direction. He must have been having a bad day however probably might need to rethink his career choices. On a good not the food was very good and served by very nice staff hence...

The experience was pretty poor. Two of our party had eaten there previously and recommended it. This was before the place embarked upon renovations making it now seem like a cheap RSL club without poker machines. Upon ordering we were told it was a 45 minute wait for food. When it got to an hour we questioned the delay and we’re then told it was an hour and 15 minutes.

Not sure it this was a deliberate strategy to encourage patrons to order more drinks or if the kitchen really was overwhelmed.

It wasn’t worth the wait. The fish and chips were dreadful, over cooked and not sure what kind of fish it was. The steak was burnt on one side and raw on the other.

One of my co-diners commented it was poor pub food served at high quality restaurant prices.

Very...