Is hotel dining finally having a moment in Sydney?

Hotel dining has never really been a thing in Sydney. Even some of our most luxurious properties could never quite nail their signature restaurants, and the only exceptions for many years were Gowings at QT Sydney and The Gantry (now PIER Dining) at Pier One Sydney Harbour.

And yet, that’s all changed drastically in the past few years. Now, you’ll even find acclaimed restaurants at hotels in western Sydney, and getting dressed up to go on a food crawl in a five-star like Sofitel Sydney Wentworth, or Capella Sydney, is more common these days than you’d think. Last year, I put together a quick and decisive list on Sydney’s best hotel restaurants, but having just a guide-style round-up doesn’t quite get at just how important a viable hotel dining scene is for a city with such wild ambitions as Sydney.

It’s about time, really. In cities like Rome, New York, Tokyo, Singapore and (unsurprisingly) Dubai, people get excited about dining at a restaurant. In Sydney, it can sometimes feel like a compromise, and it really should be the other way around. Four- and five-star properties are ambassadors of their city, and visitors who’ve been to any of the aforementioned would be expecting a lot from their hotel’s on-site restaurants.

Opening a four- or five-star hotel and having a sub-par or even average on site restaurant would be considered embarrassing in most cities around the world. It’s a norm in Sydney. And while there are plenty of hotel restaurants that are good, some even great, there are only a handful that are excellent enough to be considered standalone dining destinations.

I’d never say no to a dinner at Gowings. QT Sydney has done a tremendous job there. Similarly, Brasserie 1930 is essential, a lot of nice things have been said about Bar Julius at The Eve Hotel (I haven’t been yet), and most diners wouldn’t even recognise that one of Australia’s most dependable fine diners, Bentley Restaurant & Bar, is part of a hotel (Paradox Sydney, which was reflagged in July 2025 from the long-standing Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel).

Hilton Sydney recently remodelled its offering at its long-standing Glass Brasserie, refocusing on simple grill classics and restoring a certain standard that’s been lost in previous years. You can read Amy Hughes’ review of the new menu for a better idea of what to expect.

These are exceptions.

I remember heading over to the Novotel in Darling Harbour multiple times over the years because they could never quite get their restaurant concept right.

Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park has Sydney Common, which is big and beautiful with heritage windows pulling in the park’s leafy ambiance, but the food is unspectacular, despite having a chef’s hat from SMH’s supposedly discerning rating system.

Kimpton Margot has an appropriately grand lobby—one of Australia’s most beautiful, really—, but it’s lobby restaurant, Luke’s Kitchen, falls short of the hotel’s five-star mark.

There’s more. Park Hyatt is one of our signature hotels with direct views onto the Sydney Opera House. And yet The Dining Room by James Viles has always just been okay. The same can be said for the lavish Altitude Restaurant at Shangri-La Sydney, and Mode Kitchen & Bar nearby at the Four Seasons.

Hardly anyone talks about the food at The Langham (although, according to a fellow lifestyle writer, I need to try the prawn toast at Observatory Bar), Ovolo Woolloomooloo scores big points with an all-vegan menu at Alibi, but I’ve never had anything there that I’d eat again; and one can only hope W Sydney’s BTWN isn’t at all the unfocused mess it was when it first opened (to be fair, the current menu reads beautifully).

Are one-group dining precincts the way to go?

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by hotel restaurants before. When Pyrmont’s Hotel Woolsore 1888 was an Ovolo property (Accor took it on as part of their Handwritten Collection in 2024), the completely vegan restaurant and wine bar was one of my favourite under-radar places to dine. Accor has held onto the solid reputation; I ate there recently and loved it.

Paramount House Hotel would be a great place to stay because you’ve got AP Bakery on the intimate open-air rooftop.

As just-okay as Luke’s Kitchen is, Mangan has done a fine job at Luc-San, the signature restaurant for Hotel Indigo in Potts Point.

The best, however, is the holstic dining scene at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. Accor took a clever approach with this one, giving the reigns to House Made Hospitality so they could curate two restaurants and two bars for the hotel. That is, take care of its entire food and beverage program. To my knowledge, it’s the first time a high-profile hospitality group has been entrusted to handle a five star hotel’s dining precinct.

It’s worked. Exceptionally well.

Any good hotel with multiple restaurants and bars will, first and foremost, make sure those restaurants and bars each offer a different experience and unlock new parts of the hotel’s history. Success.

On one floor, you’ve got the circular Wentworth Bar with its highly sociable, mixed-use design and cocktails. Drinking here feels exclusive and appropriately ripped away from the rest of Sydney, echoing the space’s past life hosting celebrities and politicians from around the world. Walk inside and immediately turn left to get to Delta Rue, the hotel’s colourful French-Vietnamese hybrid with a generous menu that leans more heavily towards South-East Asian flavours.

Street level brings you to Tilda Dining, the design seamlessly integrated into the lobby with a simple two-area spread of tables and chairs. Nothing overly dramatic or themed, just simple and pared back to let the food do the talking. And it speaks volumes, whipping fresh Aussie produce into decadent dishes like the signature grilled lobster (half/whole), torn into chunks and threaded through pillowy mafaldine pasta that glows from the sheen of shellfish butter. It’s one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had in Australia.

Design is out, theatre is in. Gowings and a’Mare are both well-known for their dramatic tableside preparation and Tilda plays into that trend nicely. The lobster is carved up tableside, but the $39 bread and butter service also requires a bit of in-your-face flair. The restaurant’s most essential order always sits at the centre of any review, and rightfully so. The enormous loaf of AP saltbush focaccia is served alongside macadamia butter, buffalo ricotta, wildflower honey and wattleseed. The only thing missing, in my opinion, is some anchovies (I had a similar bread starter at New York’s Wall Street Hotel and the salty fish added a great deal of flavour).

Flavour profiles are smart at Tilda Dining. The kitchen team doesn’t attempt to turn the dial too much, instead relying on classic recipes and top-shelf produce. It’s a winner. There are many restaurants who try to keep things simple with well-sourced produce but can never quite stick the landing. Here, the kitchen doesn’t overwork indulgent dishes like the crab toast with seaweed butter, avocado and caviar, or the huge roasted king prawns with tomato butter and curry leaf. And the experience is all the better for it.

Bar Tilda gets similar praise from me with its wide, nomadic selection. The bartenders here are so uniquely passionate about what they do that leaving every decision up to them is the smartest way to play. True to concept, every spirit here is Australian, unfolding the story of local craft distilling through bold, native flavours and a cart that’s absolutely stacked with new-world whisky.

Hotel dining in Sydney: my thoughts

Sofitel Sydney Wentworth’s top-to-bottom redesign worked well for both prospective guests and locals. We’ve got two great restaurants, two fantastic bars, and a very comfortable luxury hotel that earns its five-star label. Shift over a few blocks and you’ve got Capella Sydney, both with its excellent grill restaurant and the gorgeous McRae Bar, injecting some elegance into our evolving luxury market.

QT Sydney and Hotel Woolstore 1888 are both notable for dining, and while there are more, by and large the hotel dining scene in Sydney is still a work in progress.

Hotels have (or least should have) that uncanny ability to coddle you with comfort and cut away the rest of the world. But only if each aspect of the guest experience is given equal attention. With our hotel dining scene picking up considerably, it’s looking like at least some of our luxury properties are starting to up their standards, and ours.