The Imperial at Clifton — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

3 lads from Sydney decided to seek a "pub with a wood fire", as an alternative to our planned bushwalk from pennant hills to hornsby. It was always risky, as we had never been to the Imperial and were relying on internet info only. The day before, I called a number of venues in the 90-120 minutes range train ride from town hall, and the only place which answered the phone was the Imperial at Clifton. I enquired about the fireplace (was it a woodfire or gas) and about the beers on tap. The young-sounding lady on the phone answered all my questions and reserved us a table (upright, bar style) near the fireplace. Leaving town hall just after 9am, we arrived around 10:40. We got off the train at Scarborough and could see the Imperial a short stroll along the clifftop from the station, perched right above the ocean, so we were very much encouraged 😄👍🏻! When we arrived, we saw what a delightful space it was, and though our table was right there in front of the lovely, log fire, we were immediately drawn to one of the tables by the windows, overlooking the coast and water. I'll cut to the chase. The whole experience was perfect and the real reason for this review is to complement the staff, especially Isabel. When we arrived and asked if we could change tables, Mitch, the young man behind the bar, couldn't have been more obliging. One of our party is gluten intolerant and when he queried Isabel about the GF options on one of the dishes, she went out of her way to verify ingredients and accommodate his needs. Throughout the arvo - and we were there for over 5 hrs and many beers! - Isabel was simply everything you'd expect from a professionally trained, upmarket dining venue hospitality individual, though you rarely find them, even in the city! The food, view, venue and service, everything was wonderful. Kudos to the owners/management who have done such a great job blending an historic pub building, into a contemporary dining venue of excellence, and putting together a team without the stuffiness and BS found elsewhere. We'll certainly recommend you and visit again. Cheers!🍻🏆 By the way, we had the "Seafood Feast", which at $149 isn't cheap BUT it was delicious and it was ample for 2...

DO NOT BUY GIFTCARD. POOR MANAGEMENT. I was recently gifted a $150 giftcard to use toward the Imperial. We have frequented here before for breakfast, but decided to try it for a casual lunch, thinking this would be a great opportunity to use my giftcard, but I WAS WRONG. Because we had a giftcard we were unable to order from the table (note they don't have table service), and instead needed to wait in the queue at the bar each time we wanted to order. We were then told that we had to present the giftcard before ordering and had to use the ENTIRE $150 IN ONE SEATING. I asked to speak to the manager, as my husband & I did not want to use the entire credit as we were there for a casual lunch - as the imperial is an elevated pub, not 5 star dining. The manager then went on to list the restaurants in which he is a "member" of that have the same policy (do I care?), and refused to allow us to only use a portion. He said I should have read the T&Cs of the giftcard, but who on earth reads T&Cs beyond expiry date. So rather than enjoying a casual lunch we were forced to do maths at the bar ordering: two cocktails, seafood platter, burrata salad, prawn roll, chips and a brownie to go. This + 10% Sunday surcharge left us with $3 leftover, which we left. Even the barstaff agreed on the stupid policy (who were very helpful in helping us try to spend our credit). The dumbest part, if we had been allowed to just spend $100, we would have enjoyed ourselves and come back a second time most likely spending another $100 and the restaurant would have come out ahead. Imagine you had travelled to the restaurant wanting breakfast, didn't drink alcohol, eating solo, not paying 10% surcharge - why on earth would you have this policy? The Imperial lost two customers yesterday and anyone else who would ever ask us about this experience. Again,...

I’ve been to this venue a number of times. The building and heritage restoration is really stunning. I’ve had some nice lunches and good cocktails in the past.

Today I visited and we ordered breakfast. As it was bought over to the table the poached egg slipped off the top of the mound of food on the plate and onto the table.

What was shocking was that the waiter then proceeded to pick up the egg with his hands and placed it back on the plate! When he noticed our faces in shock he said ‘I’ll get the chef to fix this up’ and took the plate over to the serving area, in full view of our table and I watched him explain what had happened to the chef.

I was expecting the plate to be taken away and to be provided with a fresh dish, but instead the chef picked up the egg with HIS hands and repositioned the egg back on top of the plate and placed a piece of micro greens on top. The plate was back on our table immediately without an apology. I was so shocked and my dad was disgusted and didn’t eat the egg.

You have to pay up front when you order and I’m wary of sending things back after hearing what kitchen staff might do to subsequent meals if you complain so we said nothing. The fact that both the waiter and the kitchen staff both though that ‘solution’ was acceptable is disturbing and disappointing.

The food was dry and tasteless and the plates and coffee cups sat on our table until we left, which was more than an hour after we had finished eating. Overall very poor service for a $60 breakfast.

I won’t be returning...