Ivanhoe Hotel Manly — Restaurant in Sydney

July 2025 I'm here after the renovations. Place looks really good. The ground floor is pretty much a sports bar - which suits me down to the ground. Nice big hi-res screens. Here for the Wallabies/Lions game. Place is busy. They should've known there would be a good crowd. Five games of footy on tonight, yet where are the staff to cater? Have waited minutes for service which should be 'right there'. 33 people in the smoking area, and hard to find someone at the bar. August 2023 I'm a semi regular - come down and visit Mum on weekends. Service is not exceptional - especially for the prices charged. $$9.30 for local beer (VB, New, etc.) Cold glasses sometimes need to be asked for. Was much friendlier when Damo was on the floor. He knew the regulars, and was very personable. A King. Always remembered people and their 'things'.

It seems to be, if there is any excuse/reason to increase prices, they will. E.g.- over Easter, they put the surcharge on all days, not just Good Friday & Easter Monday.

Money making machine. Go elsewhere (not the Steyne - same company, I've heard).

Food: standard, a bit better than normal pub fare - no complaints there. Food is delivered quicksmart with good grace.

Have you ever heard the term 'the fish stinks from the head down'? Management (everywhere!) stuff things up. You don't see them on the floor - for love or money - I'm not talking about bar managers, they do the day-to-day stuff. How would they know what is going on? The good staff are applauded by patrons. The bad comments to staff are not reported (by staff who have screwed up).

If anyone has seen Myles Barlow 'Review' - I give the Ivanhoe 2 stars. ADDITIONAL... Australia Day 2025

The security fellow manning the door of the sports bar bailed me up a couple times and made me go through the main entrance (once). I was on the Corso having a smoke each time.

Fair enough, but it seemed he was doing it only to me. Others could walk in to the sports bar door he was guarding without question, barring age checks, which he was right onto. Good stuff there.

I was not intoxicated any more than others (and there were a few way worse!). I certainly was not wobbly. He let me in the last time. I was reticent to go back outside to smoke, so I thought about going to your pokie area. I didn't. I don't want to be forced to do that.

Perhaps he doesn't like people going out for a smoke. Maybe a local got in his ear. Perhaps a family member died from smoke induced cancer. I don't know. Anyway, I felt victimised. I felt like he singled me out for no good reason. That's the big thing. Usually, it's a good experience at your venue.

I am in Manly every 3 weeks or so visit my aged mother, and patronise your hotel when I am in the area - I spend a fair bit when in your establishment (bar and pokies). A lot of your (excellent) bar staff know what my poison is, so sometimes I attend the bar and get my regular without needing to ask. As they say, 'a nod's as a wink...'.

I don't like the atitude I got from this guy. He seems like some 'blow in' bouncer. I can't recall seeing him before. Perhaps he's one of your regulars. Maybe I've been lucky to dodge him. All your other security people are great and personably.

My experience tonight was pretty good overall except for this fellow.

I'd suggest monitoring his customer service. Obviously he's on camera as I am. Does he normally work the doors at street level or just do night club? But saying this, he will probably now target me once (if) he is made aware of this post. Which I don't want. Please handle it in-house.

He may be a fair man, overall, and doing his assigned job, but I believe I did not get a fair deal from him.

I do not want an apology from him, nor to meet him. Just for him to be fair with all of YOUR customers.

It has taken me well over two hours to write this. That's how much I feel about tonight. Obviously, I would not take the time, or put pen to paper like this, if I didn't feel passion and want a fair deal for...

WORST EXPERIENCE, VERY RUDE STAFF, ABSOLUTELY NO MANNERS!!!! Came here for lunch to celebrate my Birthday, what a bad decision this was. Bar staff are VERY UNFRIENDLY and RUDE from the moment we walked in. One of the dishes we chose for lunch was the curry, upon ordering we asked if it’s possible to get some rice to have with it as it wasn’t on the menu, they said yes that is possible as an add on, hence we were happy to order this dish with rice, not without. Who offers curry on a menu with no rice??? After the meal was cooked, one of the staff who had attitude from the moment he approached our table and yelled “who ordered the curry”. He explained in a very rude manner as it's Sunday, they don’t serve rice on the weekend, he didn’t even apologise that the staff member who initially took our order made a mistake by saying we could have rice when this wasn't the case. He offered garlic bread or chips to have as alternative which we did not want. I requested to have sweet potato chips as alternative, he then insisted for an extra $3. I’m sorry buddy but you offered a compensation option that we don’t happen to like and when we requested for something similar which we do like, you want us to pay an extra $3 for a mistake that originally started from your end!!! You are the one who should compensate your lowsy $3 as we ordered the dish based on your staff advising you had rice, and because you did not have the rice you want the extra $3 from us for an option that didn't happen to be on your freebie picklist that you personally chose. YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE IS BELOW AVERAGE AND SO WAS THE ATTITUDE YOU PRESENTED, THE WORST I’VE EXPERIENCED. Come to think of it, I should have proceeded with a full refund and not given you the satisfaction of our business after this experience. I even requested to speak to the Manager, the Manager apparently advised that he agrees with charging the extra $3 and told his staff member to advise me of this, the Manager didn't even have the decency to come and speak with me direct to resolve the issue, how unprofessional. Learn how to be nice to people, it’s not hard, and if you stuff up on someone's order, you fix it at your cost that's called manners. Staff here are very short and sharp with their communication, very unfriendly, even when we gave compliments on the pub’s presentation etc, they weren't interested. Would have given NEGATIVE 0 star rating for this experience if I could, plenty of other pubs in area who will appreciate your business, highly recommend to...

We had the most scrumptious salt and chilli squid. The squid just melted in my mouth. The chilli aioli was absolutely to die for. I can report that my Dad loved the sauce so much, he grabbed it and drank the rest of it, even though the meal had been finished. The salad was tasty, with a nice tangy dressing for the leaves, cherry tomatoes and corn, which was a unique touch I appreciated.

The jugs for the drinks are an absolute bargain. We got a massive jug of Lemon Lime & Bitters that was coolly refreshing and perfectly satisfied all four of us.

The service was top notch - all our questions were clearly and concisely answered. They even modified our meals to suit our dietary requirements and double-checked to make sure the order was correct.

The atmosphere was pleasant, with a cool breeze, simplistic yet satisfying decor and upbeat background music that uplifted even the pickiest of music connoisseurs (aka my parents).

In the next two photos, you can see the Korean Chicken Burger (gluten free bun) and the Ivanhoe Burger. We leveraged the Wednesday special to get $10 off each of these. My Dad called his Ivanhoe Burger ‘the best burger I have ever eaten’, and at 77, he has certainly eaten a lot of burgers in his life.

The Korean Chicken Burger was truly splendid and filling. It was beautifully crispy, the cucumbers and slaw nicely complemented the warmly melted cheese and the other ingredients. The chicken is so yummy. The chips were hot, crispy and overall stellar.

The tomato sauce was so good. It wasn’t too salty. My wife and Mum shared a Scotch Fillet 300g steak that wholly filled them up. They even gave a mushroom sauce to die for, and the steak was perfectly medium. They even customised our order to have chips and vegetables, a Goated staple from the RSL menus. The vegetables were well seasoned with just the right amount of salt and pepper, not overpowering the other flavours.

Note that there are no longer pizzas on the menu, which I loved in the past. But the meals that are still there are all absolute bangers. Burger connoisseurs should come every Wednesday.

10/10, would happily...