The Beach Palace Hotel Review

Review by Nastasia Campanella

When it opened in 1887, the Sydney Morning Herald called the Beach Palace Hotel “exquisite”. According to the paper, it was a “most elegant building, artistically arranged”. Over the years, the look has changed, but the popularity certainly hasn’t.

Back in the early 1980s, it was decked out in blue and gold decor, including silver stars. The outdoor area was complete with toy boats, swings and rocking horses. Over the years, there has been a couple of fights to have the building redesigned, restored, redeveloped into a huge shopping complex, put on the heritage list, taken off, then put back on again. Take your pick of political ploys to make money… they are all true. Fast forward to 2010, and you’ll now find a brilliant balcony to linger on with a sparkling wine. There are two restaurants and six bars to dance, dine privately, host a party or have a work meeting.

Food is traditional pub grub. They’ve got your usual bunch of steaks all for under $30, and a top chicken burger [$17]. By far one of the best chicken burgers I’ve tasted in a while, this one comes packed with a cajun breast fillet, tomato, lettuce, cheese, guacamole and chilli jam served with chips. We love the prawn salad [$22], and the pumpkin and feta pizza [$22], as starters. If fish is your thing, try the barramundi [$28], or the oysters and calamari rings too.

Drinks wise, there are all your favourites. Sure, big hotels aren’t generally the place for great cocktails, but the ones here aren’t half bad. There isn’t anything to rave about, but staff do them well. We enjoy a wine instead. A nice Wolf Blass Shiraz [$22] is the drop of choice for us and it goes down well.

There is a second dining area called the Aquarium, but it is a bit more expensive. Don’t think you’ll be paying $100 bucks per head, but when you compare it to the prices of the bistro food, yeah, it’s a little more. If water views is what you want though, this is the place for a meal.

The toys and swings have well and truly gone now. They’ve been replaced with beautiful ladies the size of tooth picks [yes, ladies in the east frequent pubs]. The boys are pretty into their sports and Friday and Saturday nights are great for a dance. There is a couple of spots to jive along to electro beats or old school favourites. Families don’t despair. You’re still very welcome here and with kid’s meals and friendly staff, there really is something for everyone.

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