Seabreeze Beach Hotel — Restaurant in South West Rocks

I booked Seabreeze Hotel via Booking.com. The location is excellent and the hotel itself is quite nice, but unfortunately our experience with customer service was disappointing.

I reserved a twin room because I was travelling with my 14-year-old son who needed his own bed. On the day of arrival, I was contacted by the hotel and told that due to refurbishment they could only offer us a queen bed room—or we could cancel. They offered a $20 voucher for the bistro as compensation, which I accepted. By the time we arrived, they had managed to arrange a twin room for us, which we appreciated. The room itself was very comfortable and felt new.

However, to reach our room we had to pass through a construction zone—ladders and materials cluttered the stairs and corridor. It seemed unusual and potentially unsafe to be renting rooms while construction was so visibly underway. The next morning, around 7 am, we were woken by the sound of power tools and construction noise very close to our room.

I went down to reception and requested a late check-out as a gesture of goodwill for the disruption. Initially they refused, but after insisting, they gave us an extra 30 minutes. I felt this was not enough, so I went back and asked if we could instead check out around midday or 1pm. They said no, citing room cleaning schedules. That led to a confrontation with a male staff member (possibly the owner or manager). He asked if I had received the email warning about the construction; I replied that I had not checked email while travelling, and only learned of the issue when the hotel called about the bed. I expressed that renting rooms amid significant construction felt unsafe and that a later checkout was reasonable given the inconvenience. He responded that he did not appreciate being “threatened,” and insisted that our checkout remain at 10.30am as originally agreed.

I ended the discussion by saying I would lodge a complaint with Fair Trading. Running a business myself, I know that looking after unhappy customers—even if it seems costly in the moment—can prevent far greater fallout from negative feedback. In this case, a midday checkout would have cost the hotel very little, but would have made a big...

This review is only about the service at the restaurant/pub, not the hotel itself.

Our experience here wasn’t great, unfortunately. When I went to order, the lady at the counter in the checkered shirt seemed irritated right from the start. She’d already been annoyed that one of our friends who ordered before us didn’t know where they were sitting, and when it was our turn, she was annoyed that we were sitting together but ordering separately. It just felt unnecessarily rude over something so minor.

Later, I asked another lady in a checkered shirt near the kitchen what kind of pizzas they make, thin crust, sourdough, that sort of thing. She rolled her eyes and said, “Did you not read the menu?” (which only listed toppings). When I explained that, she said, “I don’t know, it just comes out of that pizza oven.” I was honestly taken aback. Thankfully, the chef saw this and came over to help, and he was great, really helpful.

By that point though, I couldn’t shake how uncomfortable the whole thing felt. I don’t know if the attitude was because they were having a rough day or if there was something else going on, but as a brown person, it’s one of the few times I’ve genuinely felt unwelcome in Australia.

To top it off, when our food arrived there was a hair in the chips. We asked a staff member to fix it, and he picked it out with his bare hands and flicked it onto our table. My friend had to ask him to please just replace the chips.

The only saving grace of the meal was the mushroom sauce, that was...

Suggest you read all the reviews. I did not. Picked this since it was close to family. Really needs renovation. The bathroom was grungy and moldy. Carpet has bare spots in the hallways. There was a strong disinfectant smell that took 3 days of open windows to get rid of. They gave us one key at check in which has to be in a slot by the door for the electricity to work. The next morning my husband went out early to bird watch and couldn't get In without a key. I went out to let him in but then our room key didn't work in the one access door. No one would answer the phone and there's no after hours number so I sat on the steps in my pajamas for 40 minutes until another guest came out and let me in. Reception was not open at 8 so that contributed to the longer wait. Talked to them about the key and was told they are "in the process of updating all the keys". Supposed to come clean your room every 3 days but that did not happen. Again the very kind woman in reception apologized. There is no dish soap or sponge or paper towels so not sure how you are supposed to clean your dishes when cleaning is rare. Seems like something they should supply. Bring earplugs since you are over the pub. Pub food is mediocre and service extremely slow. I would not stay here again. Woman in reception is lovely but that doesn't make up for the...