Esplanade Hotel

The rooms are dated but priced accordingly and clean.
Service, food and location was great.

Had dinner in The Bistro last night, portion sizes were huge, staff were friendly. Very nice spot.

Great memories over this place/location during past summers.
Still very popular during warm weather/seasons, book in early to secure your tables.
Good return visit after a year or two since last stop off, food was good except for the Pizza being overloaded with cheese & we love cheese.
Drinks becoming expensive but still in line with other restaurants along the Adelaide metro coast.

At the restaurant: order a pizza for my husband and me. The service cashier, who toke the order, was rude and seemed extremely bore. The same girl brought the pizza to the table but not plates or cutlery. At my request for plates she brought little saucers. I asked again for dinner plates and cutlery. She showed her disgust for my request. The place was very dirty and the cakes seemed very out day.

Great food and portions, always clean, affordable menu, great service, smiling and kind staff, that is awesome! The pub is really good excellent coffee

Area is very dirty
Girl serving food was polite and friendly
Guy serving drinks was very rude and swore at me because he forgot a drink
Very surprised by this response

I asked for window seat because my Sister from the Riverland was in Town and they said couldn't promise.but they did provide and it was a nice surprise.we needed to see 4 seasons in one day.
The Staff are great.the food also fabulous.the view I would give it a 10.a very favorite place

Very helpful staff dedicated to good customer service. Highly recommend this venue for your next event or just a drop-in on your way past.

Really nice Cafe and formal dining area both with a great view of the ocean and the food is delicious

Stayed 3 nights to visit family for xmas.noisy at night but all the staff were extremely helpful and friendly.food good

Terrible to stay as a guest. Average meals.
My husband and I recently had a 3 night stay here. Upon arriving to check in, the car park was not only completely full, but cars were parked illegally, leaving very little room for cars to pass each other. My husband called to ask what we were supposed to do for parking and the woman said to park somewhere else for the time being. That was impossible unless we wanted to walk a kilometer back to the hotel - one that advertises guest parking. We waited with a car waiting behind us, until someone left and we got their park.
Checking in was average. Reception had standing room for 2, but the guy behind the counter had to come around to the printer so I left the room as we could not all fit there. Terrible set-up. He wanted us to check in using some form on the phone but that was a mess so they did it the normal way on paper. He took our car registration - they claim they have plate recognition to stop people staying more than the 2 hour period but they don't do anything about those parked illegally so I doubt they keep an eye on anything. He also claimed that the car park was full because of warmer weather, but there are only 32 car parks - they are supposed to be for those dining in the restaurant, those in the sports bar, those in the gaming area, as well as overnight guests. 32 parking spaces are not suitable for all of that, regardless of the weather.
The room was a studio double. As we were told at reception, it's just a pub and not the Hilton. I've been in pubs with better accommodation. The view out of the window was a part of the building. There was one curtain that didn't cover the entire window - the second curtain had been thrown in the very top cupboard. There was a chair on one side of the bed. On the other was an old dressing table missing the mirror. The air con unit was great. The ceiling fan was good. The shower curtain was white and very nice until you looked down to see a line of that yellowy muck along the bottom of it. The shower had the same. Obviously neither had been cleaned for a very long time. The door to the stairs down to the restaurant isn't marked clearly. It just has a "No smoking inside" sign. No exit sign. No stairs sign.
Despite the "no smoking" rule, we did encounter quite a strong smell of pipe tobacco while walking to our room during our first night there. Reminded me of my grandpa (no, my grandpa wasn't there!).
The tv didn't connect to the hotel guest wifi even though we used the password given to us at reception, so we used mobile hotspot instead. The tv was poorly located, with it being difficult to see during daylight hours due to the sun shining through the crack of the curtain that didn't close properly.
Meals in the restaurant were average. Beef schnitzel was actually the worst I've had at a pub. Nothing compared to the Pier at Glenelg or the Mawson Lakes hotel. The waitresses' service could be better. Never have we had a plate tilted and then dropped (yes, literally dropped) in front of us. My meal even moved as she put my plate there. I thought it was going to slide off the plate. The garlic bread was terrible, especially for the price. We ate there once and didn't eat there again at all during our visit.
I don't know how this place has such good reviews. I'm guessing people drink too much to notice how poor the place truly is. Overnight stay is only worth it if you don't want to spend any time in the room except to sleep. The room should at least have a decent view but it didn't even have that. The price was cheap but still too much for what's there.
For great food, head 20 mins away to the Pier at Glenelg for a much better meal for a better price with better service and better views. Or go a small way up from the Esplanade hotel to the little café 9n Jetty Road that has table service and awesome schnitzels and free table water! Beautiful café and great service at a great price. Honestly, both are 100% better.

Dissapointing menu.very basic yet prices didnt match the quality. Have been coming for years.feel standard is not the same.sorry.

Great food, good service. Can’t go past the $30 parmi and jug deal!

Exceptional service from bartender Oscar

Less than mediocre food, non-competitive prices, very average service and no parking closer than one kilometre. Lovely view of the sea from some spots.

It was all very average. I ordered the hot chicken wings, it was mainly crumbs, not much meat on them, there was not enough hot sauce to go over them and it wasn't very spicy, needed to ask for hot sauce which was just Tabasco.
Chips in everyone else's plate were tasteless, hubby and friend ordered the schnitzel which was okay but nothing special, although the gravies were nice. Friend ordered a medium steak and it came out mooing. Drinks took ages to be served, one was 'lost' and needed us to go and ask about it, only to be told, after it was paid for on the app that they don't have it. Staff were nice and friendly but didn't really show initiative until prompted.

(Edited after day of visit (originally 27th September) on October 7th, having spoken with assistant manager.)
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Originally visited on my Grandma's 100th Birthday on Monday 27th September, with family down from Queensland for brunch.
The cafe section must have been busier then usual or they were short on staff. As we had to wait a long time for our brunch, and even that came out in dribs and drabs. We had our drinks and hubby his breakkie yet still he was waiting for his smoothie. We did receive a quick sorry for the late drinks however that was rather flippant. But still did not receive hubby's smoothie. After he went in to ask about it, it was made up then sat on counter for 5-10mins. Again another quick sorry. The smoothie was really delicious though!

Hubby loved his eggs & his smoothie. I had a tea. Teens had milkshakes, my 6 year old had a milkshake too but they don't offer kids size ones, so I paid normal price anyway but in a smaller glass. It would be really good if you could add an option to the menu for this.
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On since speaking with the hotel's assistant manager I have edited my review and really appreciate the explanation given for the day in question with the offer of a complimentary brekkie for one.
Thank you so much, I look forward to my next visit at the Esplanade hotel.

Terrible service and below average food. Extremely disappointed with the managers excuses and handling of the situation.

Took 11 villagers for lunch today, not one bad word about the food, service and hospitality were Fantastic.

Very bad experience, pre cooked meals
As a result got food poisoning,
Never again
Pick up up your act!

What a horrible experience this place was for lunch on sunday
absolutely pathetic would be the best way to discribe this once great hotel

where to start pathetic service took an hour for food to arrive waitress were to busy to keep a handle on things definitely needs 2 more staff for lunch time floor

asked for a knife that never arrived yep shared 2 meals with 1 knife pathetic

never got asked if we like any table water
never offered any bread with lunch

and the food was extremly sub standard burnt pizza pathic parmi

this use to be a great place to go but now is becoming a must avoid and rather drive extra to the seacliff hotel for better food and service