Figtree Hotel

I travelled down from the Hunter to watch football, and with over five hours each way, staying in the Illawarra made sense. It was a great choice: the food was awesome, there were huge screens, and I watched the rest of Saturday’s games from the pub. I had a quick flutter and stayed the night. It was perfectly adequate for what I needed.

We waited over an hour and 15 minutes for our food, then the rump steak special was dry, tough and tasteless. The salad tasted as if it had been sitting for five days and was off. I’d asked for no chips, but more than half the plate was chips. Even as a cheap special, I expected the steak to be edible. Absolutely do not recommend.

We were visiting from out of state and didn’t know the rules. After we’d ordered food, a staff member came over rudely and demanded IDs. Some of us were 17 and others 21. Asking us to leave was no problem if those were the rules, but the way it was handled was distasteful. They also refused to refund the food we’d just paid for, and our friends had to stay behind while we left. Staff were unnecessarily rude and made no effort to resolve things.

The room was clean but very small, with nice white sheets. The air con and TV worked great. I had cold showers two mornings in a row, even after telling staff on two separate days. Finally, on my last day, I got a hot shower. Yay! There was road noise, and trucks tipped bins of glass bottles at 3am. Maybe that comes with staying at a hotel motel. You get what you pay for. I’d stay again on my own, but not with my wife.