The Empire Hotel

Hosts weren't available to check-in so I got a young guy who struggled with the task and babysitting a hyperactive nephew. The nephew was palmed off onto me whilst uncle showed other guests to their room and, had to pee!! I kept junior amused for what I deemed unnecessarily long, then finally was shown to my room. $117 per night for a small room with no mini fridge or tea making facilities, no television, an oil bar heater that didn't NEAR heat the room enough (mornings in Deloraine were dipping to -2°c) and a semi open ensuite with the shower virtually over the toilet!! There were tea, coffee, cereal and toast making facilities in the communal dining room, which I chose not to use as I'm not comfortable sitting a one big table sharing my breakfast with strangers. There were a couple there early on, and I enquired as to what their room was like? They just stared at me for an extended period then asked, "What's YOUR room like?" I stared back and we agreed that there was no reasonable response. Overall, this could possibly be THE worst hotel experience I've encountered.

Empire Hotel - Deloraine Classic Country Pub Modern, clean and comfortable rooms. Meals were tasty and served by a lovely open fireplace. Breakfast was basic but good. Hosts were friendly and informative about the region. Good value. Would stay again.

We have had a terrible meal and experience at the Empire Hotel in deloraine. My daughter was served a tahini cous cous salad with avocado and I had fish and chips. The avocado was soggy and brown (see pictures) and the cous cous was stodgy. The chips were undercooked and swimming in grease. I ate most of my fish and chips and didn't intend to complain about them as although poor, they were edible. However my daughter was unable to eat more than a couple of spoonfuls of the salad. We debated whether to comment on the food but as it was so awful we decided that the staff should know. The salad was 23 dollars and was not of an edible quality and we thought that it was unreasonable to charge this price for an inedible dish. . We expected an apology however what we got was a male waiter / supervisor who was extremely confrontational and condescending towards myself and my daughter. He agreed that the avocado was brown and soggy (see pictures) but stated that it tasted the same as green ones. He suggested that my daughter didn't understand what she had ordered and asked whether she had had tahini before. He talked over us both and when we tried to explain why the food was so bad he wasn't prepared to listen. He just kept challenging my daughter about her food choice stating that she hadn't understood what she had ordered. He seemed to suggest that somehow it was our fault. He would not listen to us, talked over us and behaved in a bullying manner. He was charming when he introduced us to the hotel but clearly did not know how to deal with problems. He suggested that if we had complained immediately then he may have removed the soggy avocado and replaced it. He did not understand or in fact listen to us when we tried to explain that the whole dish was poorly prepared. In the end we paid as we just wanted to leave the restaurant as we felt that this male supervisor was just being condescending and rude. My 20 year old daughter left upset as she had felt bullied by him. I suspect that he would not treat 2 male guests in the same way. We were staying for 1 night at the empire Hotel where this restaurant was. This completely spoilt our experience and we just wanted to leave the hotel as soon as possible. The hotel itself is run down and shabby. However the rooms are only 99 dollars and we were not expecting luxury. This rate included breakfast and when we came down to the self serve breakfast room at 8am there was no bread left. I looked for a member of staff but reception was locked and no one was around. The orange juice had also gone with only apple left. I did not want the sweet cereals available and we therefore left without breakfast. We hated our stay here. Fortunately our other stays in tasmania have been good.