The Old Commodore Hotel — Restaurant in Sydney

TLDR: It's a shame that this place technically is our local. But I have no shame leaving this "Karen" style review. The staff are either confused, inappropriate or give off the impression that the Commodore is a very poor working environment. Don't have patience for a fourth visit. The ambience is ok but on the noisier side. Well done to those who've actually managed to have a pleasant experience here... looking at the other reviews it's pot luck.

Visit 1: We called to make a booking and were told they were not accepting bookings. So we walked on in soon after but were stopped at the door and told we had to have a booking!

Visit 2: We walked past with our dog one day and asked at the door if we could sit down for lunch. Waiter made us sign in and showed us to a table in the smoking area. You can't eat there! Had to leave as no other spots.

Visit 3: This time we actually did sit down and get to experience the hospitality. We'd looked up on the website at the daily special which was a Sunday roast and made a booking for 3. While taking our order, staff were yelling at each other in front of customers and getting distracted. As a result, I wasn't given a table number. To my disappointment I was told there were only two Sunday roasts left. That's fine, I ordered a salmon for me instead. I went back up shortly after to get my table number. Waited a solid 5 minutes in the socially distanced queue line (due to covid), but staff were just serving people walking past the queue up to the bar and yelling orders. When I finally had a chance to ask for my table number, the bartender smirked and replied "I can give you my number". Sorry, what!? I gave a courteous laugh, but that's fairly inappropriate. He then had trouble finding my order (not surprised) and said I hadn't paid. Showed him my bank statement. Turns out the bartender who took my order originally did not realise the Commodore doesn't do Sunday roasts anymore (despite telling me they only had 2 left?!?!), so my order had 2 x mussels (apparently the new Sunday special) on it instead. Wow. Lucky for the Commodore I found this out before the food arrived. The staff had no apology and even charged me the difference in cost for the meals we had to change due to there being no Sunday roasts. I should've just waited for the food to come out and I'm sure they would've swapped them for free since none of these problems had anything to do with us! If this wasn't already enough, I still hadn't been given a table number. So I double checked with the bartender and he said it was all good, as I pointed out where we were sitting. So, 2 dishes eventually came out to our table and then we waited for the 3rd. My partner watched on in amazement as the waiter placed her dish on the wrong table, people on that table touch the dish and call the waiter back as they saw it was wrong. Then the waiter brought it over to our table after it had already been touched by the other patrons. My girlfriend didn't mind but I don't think that's hygienic, let alone covid safe dining.

Disclaimer: I also ordered a beer but had no issues with...

Extremely disappointed with my experience at this establishment this past Saturday night. My friend was mistreated and borderline abused as the security staff humiliated him and intimidated him into taking items of his clothing off (which of course they have no authority to do but he obliged to because he was unaware of how wrong it was and was outnumbered largely by much larger men). The security accused him of having been taking narcotics in the bathroom even though this particular friend of mine is the most law-abiding, do good citizen I know and the very thought of drugs would make him uncomfortable. We had only been at the hotel for a short period of time for a friend's birthday 21st birthday function and nobody had consumed more than 2 or 3 beers so it wasn't like there was any drunkenness or raucous behavior involved in the incident. The security guards after having found nothing on my friend having illegally strip searched him then allowed him to leave through the exit that they had blocked off to him. He then rejoined us clearly quite confused and upset about the incident but relieved that it was over. We informed him that it was wrong that the security had done that and we scoffed over the accusation that our friend would have been doing something like that in the first place. The security then came and found our friend a few minutes later, interrupting the 21st speeches to take him out and then inform him that a regular at the hotel had taken a video of him doing cocaine and that this was no sufficient evidence for him to be kicked out. People asked for the video to be shown as to prove that what they were saying was true as we all knew that of course this was utter nonsense but of course they said that they didn't have to and threatened my friend saying that they would give him a 500 dollar fine for failing to move on if he contacted the police about how they had treated him. These men were rude and condescending and the way they lied and humiliated my friend is completely unacceptable. This put a dampener on the whole night and kind of ruined the celebrations which is a mighty shame. I really hope that the hotel looks into this and does something about it because besides from the security it was a lovely venue, the bar staff were kind and friendly and the place itself was very run. I fear that nothing will come of this complaint but on the off chance it does I hope that the managers of the hotel realise that their chosen security employees are letting down what would be a great venue and that this case is actually quite a...

I am outraged and extremely disturbed by the incident that occurred last night with my friend and the security guards that dealt with him. He was accused of taking drugs in the bathroom apparently witnessed by, as the security man described, "a regular punter" of the hotel. This was 'apparently' filmed by the man. How does one film someone when locked inside a toilet? It is also illegal in Australia to record someone without their permission. It is really sad and disappointing that my friend was targeted considering he is one of the most law abiding individuals you will meet. When I went outside to support my friend and listen to the security crew speak to him I was absolutely disgusted. Firstly we asked where was the video that was recorded and secondly we informed the security guards that strip searching an individual is illegal if you are a) not a police officer and don't provide the evidence to claim you are one, b) are not a police officer and do not state your name and station and c) are not a police officer and do not tell the accused the reasons for their search. This was a complete invasion of privacy and it would not surprise me if it was racially motivated. On top of this we said we would call the police and we got told my friend would be fined $500 for not leaving the premises. The treatment and disrespect given to my friend was unjust and I only hope the hotel management investigates this issue immediately. In the end my friend left the event and was told not to come back, for doing absolutely nothing. An innocent 21 year-old targeted for no good reason, with his rights disregarded and not considered in...