Sorrento Hotel

Venue is nice but service and food are really disappointing (and IT is well overpriced…)
Plates look great, colorful and use a lot of fresh herbs… but taste is bland with A clear lack seasoning.
We tried multiple things: grilled barramoundi, gnocchi, chicken parma, rustic fries and i Would not recommend any of these.
Only the seafood platter was appreciated with live oysters, mussels and large prawns.

Good decent pub food. Eye wateringly expensive as is everything else down here.
Soooo much better than the Portsea Hotel

Where do I start? This place both accommodation and restaurant are overrated. We stayed for one night in the garden suite which overlooks the gravel carpark: S. On your way to the main entrance to reception you pass all the bins and kegs, which was interesting! Greeted by a not-​so-​friendly teenager on reception who offered to book us a table at the restaurant, but when we arrived later that night, we didn’t have a table! The restaurant is another story…
Accommodation, was OK. It’s basically a «fancy» motel. Our bathroom was mouldy — shower recess needed a good clean and there were cobwebs above the toilet. Pleasantly surprised by the Molton Brown shampoo/​conditioner however. According to the girl on reception, they don’t have room service either. Also don’t have WIFI!
Restaurant… when we arrived (through reception and bar part, it was tricky to find), we joined a queue and there were issues with bookings. The place also seemed run by teenagers, manager at the door was also very young and l seemed frazzled. As mentioned earlier, our «booked» table didn’t exist but they did manage to find room for us despite it being a full house. We were taken downstairs, to a table for two with a really depressing atmosphere. The waitress tells us there’s not table service, you order at the kitchen (upstairs) and the bar (near our table, downstairs). It’s basically a pub — not a restaurant. Table tealight was out, my setting was missing the knife. Lined up to order our meals and were served again but not-​so-​friendly teenager at reception! Of course she didn’t recognise us. Went downstairs again to order drinks at the bar, kid at the bar tells us he’s not serving drinks. We go upstairs and order drinks up there. We ordered oysters to start (fabulous, but only came with one fork) and the for mains 350g steak and a small serve of lambshanks (one shank). The lambshank, came with mashed potato and RAW cold spinach WTF. Mid-​chew I was stabbed in the gums on what looked to be a FISH BONE in my mash!!! I showed the waitress as she took our plates away and she said, «EWWWW that’s a bit worrying!!!» Shrugged, pulled a face and walked off. Such a weird experience!
Don’t stay here if you want a quiet relaxing night — revellers from the restaurant/​pub/​bar attached make a lot of noise making their way back to or through the carparks. Great if you’re planning on partying at said pub/​bar though! Eat elsewhere PLEASE!

This is a great place for families or groups to get together. It is a large venue and has a good menu without having too much. It is certainly interesting architecture of the day. The bar looks great given the views of the bay, but children are not accepted there.
I had the barramundi which was great. Portions were plentiful. We also ordered a bowl of chips for sharing which was gi-​normous, but in terms of quantity and the size of the chips. Very good though.
The kids were excited at ordering lemonade at the bar with Dad’s beer. Kids… go figure!
Bookings probably wise but not necessary on quieter days.

Higher quality coastal pub food including a paella which received deserved total respect. Very good calamari. Our experience revealed some holes in the service, mainly down to a few teflon-​coated individuals. However, the manager, who looks a bit like Prince and is very accommodating and entertaining, duly made up for those issues. I have been twice and would definately go back.

Food in the restaurant is really good pub grub with the downer being the Portsea prices. However it is worth it for the view.
Finish up your dinner and head next door to the bar which is brilliant on a Saturday night. There is always a really good pop-​cover band playing, and minimum one hens and one bucks there to celebrate. Dares, spilt drinks and fun times guaranteed.

The Hotel Sorrento does it all — it provides a variety of accommodation, food from breakfast through to dessert, spa facilities, a bar, a bottle shop. It also does corporate and private functions, has water views and offers trips to nearby golf courses and wineries. I’m exhausted just thinking about it.
I only visited the bar so I can’t comment on the other offerings. The bar is in the beautiful historic sandstone building and still has original features like the fire places, but otherwise the interior is functional by very ordinary looking. They have a couple of televisions throughout, apparently for the punters to watch horse races or other sporting events on.
Overall I the bar is fine for what it is, but I have one major issue. I know it’s horribly judgmental, but I was completely put off the presence of pre-​mixed drinks in the bar fridge — why are they selling them?! Are their bar staff incapable of mixing a vodka, cranberry and soda from scratch? Or do the patrons actually prefer the taste of alco-​pops over freshly mixed drinks? My poor inner-​city brain just can’t comprehend the sale or purchase of these drinks…