Alfred Hotel — Restaurant in Sydney

Brutal honest opinion, pretty ordinary pub, ordinary prices, ordinary setting, ordinary drinks , but the thing which makes this place a one star are the security guards. It seems like they purposely selectively choosing who gets to go in or not based on how they feel at the time and not how the actual person response to their questions of (for example 'how many drinks have you had'. This place only gets busy with college students and admittedly sometimes college students do get really drunk and shouldn't be let in because they are so intoxicated (which is typical protocol for a pub or any venue which serves alcohol). That should be how it works however that is not how the Alfred hotel functions. They have overly arrogant security guards who selectively let some people in and some people not, primarily based on their appearance and not how intoxicated they are. There are time where perfectly fine individuals line up in their massive lines, wait hours and are prohibited entry due to how the security guards feel at the time. These security guards make ill-advised unjust decisions which are simply unfair and are based on how the security feels at the time of judgement, and not how intoxicated the individuals attempting to enter the venue is, which simply is unfair and unruly. I would say this place is simply a waste of time and a place filled with arrogant security guards who are unfair in their judgement of who is too intoxicated to enter the venue. If an individual is too intoxicated, fair enough they should be prohibited entry, but if an individual is fine, then the Alfred hotel security guards should not be able to tell that individual that they are not allowed entry. It's simply a systematic abuse of the power. How security guards feel at the time of entry simply should not be a factor of whether an individual is allowed into the venue or not. It should be based on how intoxicated the individual is. And that's not how the Alfred...

I've been to this place countless times – honestly, too many to count. But after what happened on April 17th around 9:10 p.m., I’m officially done.

I ordered a burger and paid $30 for my entire order, waited over 20 minutes, only to receive something that was clearly not fresh. The bun was completely stale – dry, hard, and clearly unfit to serve. After taking one bite and asking someone else at home to try it as well, I walked back to the venue. The round trip took me exactly 11 minutes. That’s how committed I was to giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Instead of an apology, I was questioned by the waiter about how much of the burger I had eaten and how long it took me to return – based on his own calculations. Even after showing him the exact time the charge was made to my account, he continued to question me about how much of the burger I had eaten. Then came the manager, who had personally delivered the burger earlier. After speaking with the waiter, she offered to refund only half the burger.

Let me be clear: I didn’t ask for free food. I didn’t ask for compensation. I simply wanted them to acknowledge that the food was not in good condition. Instead, I was treated as though I was trying to scam them for a free half-burger – one I didn’t even want.

Is this how loyal customers are treated?

Absolutely appalling experience. Poor food quality, worse customer service, and no respect for the people who keep them in business. Save your money – and your time.

This was a 5 starts review.... now...

One Star – A Masterclass in Poor Service and Lost Loyalty

We’ve popped into The Alfred a few times over the past week — in fact, this was our third visit in seven days. We’d been enjoying the atmosphere and thought we’d found a new local. Unfortunately, that illusion was shattered during what should have been a simple happy hour drink.

We walked in during happy hour, confirmed with the bartender that it was indeed happy hour, and ordered two glasses of sauvignon blanc while browsing the menu. No issues… until the bill came. Full price.

When we queried it, we were told that because we didn’t specifically say “house wine,” we were charged the full amount. So despite clearly asking if it was happy hour, and ordering accordingly, we were penalized for not using the secret code words.

There was no apology, no attempt to fix it, and zero regard for the fact we were repeat customers. The whole experience felt like a petty gotcha moment — not exactly the way to build a loyal customer base.

Needless to say, we didn’t stay for dinner. We walked out and took our evening (and our money) to a nearby pub where we were greeted warmly, enjoyed a bottle of wine, and had a lovely meal.

In a suburb spoiled for great pubs, The Alfred made it easy for us to choose somewhere else. We...