Empire Hotel

Hotel Description

Look, I’ve stayed at a lot of places along Parramatta Road, and honestly? Most of them are pretty forgettable. But the Empire Hotel actually surprised me – in a good way. When you first pull up, it doesn’t look like much from the street (Parramatta Road isn’t exactly Sydney’s prettiest stretch), but once you’re inside, there’s this warm, boutique-y feel that you definitely don’t expect. The lobby has this sort of heritage charm mixed with modern touches, and the staff at check-in were genuinely helpful – not just going through the motions, you know?

What really won me over was how they’ve managed to balance being a proper hotel with that neighborhood pub vibe downstairs. I mean, the restaurant and bar area gets lively in the evenings, but it’s not the kind of rowdy that keeps you up all night. The rooms are solid – nothing too fancy, but the beds are comfortable and everything feels clean and well-maintained. The bathrooms are actually pretty nice for a 4-star place, with decent water pressure (always a win in my book). One thing to note: if you’re a super light sleeper, maybe request a room away from Parramatta Road itself – it’s not terrible, but there is some traffic noise during the day.

The location is honestly better than you’d think. Sure, you’re not in the CBD, but you’re close enough to Leichhardt that you can walk to some genuinely great Italian food, and the bus connections into the city are pretty straightforward. There’s decent parking too, which – let’s be real – is half the battle in Sydney. I noticed a lot of locals hanging out in the bar area, which is always a good sign to me. It means the place has some authentic character beyond just being a spot for tourists. The whole experience felt relaxed and unpretentious, which is refreshing when so many Sydney hotels try way too hard to be trendy. For the price point and the solid 8.4 rating, I’d definitely stay here again, especially if I wanted to be close to the inner west without paying CBD prices.

Rooms

• Estimated price from: $129. Queen Room with 1 large double bed for Max persons: 2
• Estimated price from: $164. King Room with 1 large double bed for Max persons: 2
• Estimated price from: $194. Superior King Room with 1 double bed for Max persons: 2
• Estimated price from: $226. Deluxe King Room with 1 large double bed for Max persons: 2

Reviews

• Very good – Lisa from Australia – 13 July 2025 (8/10)

  Front of house staff were great.

• Beautiful old pub tastefully renovated – Corey from Australia – 13 July 2025 (8/10)

  Rooms are lavishly decorated and the entire hotel is beautiful. Also very spacious.
  
  What could be improved: Our floorboards squeaked pretty badly (not surprising given how old the building is!) and the hot water genuinely took about 7 minutes to come through (again, likely an old hot water system). Everything else was great though!

• Superb – Antony from Australia – 13 July 2025 (9/10)

  Nicely renovated boutique style rooms. Comfy bed. Handy having bar and food downstairs
  
  What could be improved: Shower Pressure could've been better

• Beautiful pub – Vanessa from Australia – 13 July 2025 (8/10)

  The rooms where absolutely beautiful. The staff went above and beyond for us
  
  What could be improved: We originally where in room 4 and it had no hot water. But upon telling the staff we were upgraded to another room with amazing hot water and where given a complimentary drink

• Superb – Ryan from Australia – 24 May 2025 (9/10)

  The hotel was spotless. The mixture of old and new was spot on. The bed could not have been any better and the music coming up the stairs well in the morning was such a nice touch.
  
  What could be improved: No hot water at all, we ran the hot tap for about 5 mins at around midnight and after that time the warmest it got was barely warmer than the cold tap so we couldn't shower, by morning it was not much better so a 20 second cold rinse it was.

• Superb – Neridacraig from Australia – 5 May 2025 (9/10)

  A tv aerial

• Other than the issues listed above we thought it was great . – Lauren from Australia – 2 May 2025 (8/10)

  Nice room , had a great feel to it . Bed was super comfy and would definitely stay there again
  
  What could be improved: Hot water for shower and sink took forever to come through . Needs to be addressed as the water wasted was crazy.
  Would also suggest a bigger or better positioned mirror , it was an awkward height and had to hunch over to use it .

• Great short city stay, clean and modern, plenty of street parking and restaurants close by – Kim from Australia – 11 April 2025 (8/10)

  We liked the welcoming staff. Our room was newly renovated and very modern, we were very impressed. Comfortable bed, nice big bathroom, very clean. Even though it's in a busy area we weren't disturbed by street noise. Plenty of street parking.
  
  What could be improved: I think there might be plans for a bathroom mirror which was missing, though as I said it was all brand new fit out, however there was a fabulous makeup mirror in the room. Also the rooms are accessed via stairs, didn't bother us

• Good – Jessica from Australia – 13 July 2025 (7/10)

  The room itself was clean and tidy
  The bed was comfortable.
  
  What could be improved: Not great if you want to get sleep. The people in the room next door were noisy and they spoke with their phone on loudspeaker at 11pm for almost 40mins and you could hear them speaking as if they were in your room.
  When I contacted staff to let them know, they took a while to reply but offered us to move rooms and by that time they had stopped .
  
  There was also an unnecessary sensor light at the entry way that you couldn't turn off so if you made any movements near it or got up, it turned on for 15minutes. There was also a bright light coming from the hallway which we needed to use a towel to cover. So unfortunately not the best sleep for us that night.

• Beautifully decorated – Gemma from Australia – 12 July 2025 (10/10)

  So impressed with our stay. Rooms were amazing! From the moment we arrived, everything was 10/10
  Had drinks in the front bar, then went next door to the Chinese restaurant for dinner which was delicious. Couldn't fault a thing. Will definitely be back to stay.

SURROUNDINGS

Facilities