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The Guildford Hotel has been on the main street of Guildford (about a 12-minute drive from Parramatta) for almost 100 years and, prior to recent renos, it was a fairly no-frills pub – a place for a beer while watching some sport. Western Sydney hotel group Sonnel has recently developed the suburb’s only pub to make it more of a community-gathering spot, an inclusive place for families and the whole community. Their mantra is “community spirit and safety at the forefront, with a dedication to family values”.
The vibe
There’s a sports bar with pool tables and screens on the left-hand side of the bar as you walk in, and a big, welcoming bistro on the other side, lined with comfortable, family-sized booths – the perfect place to settle in for a pub lunch or a night out with friends. There’s also a cocktail bar section these days, designed by mixologist and distiller Peter Clarke. Yep, if you came here before the glow-up, you won’t recognise the place now.
There’s more dining room if you keep walking straight ahead, and everywhere you go, you’re greeted with colourful illustrations of a cockatoo – including in the beer garden, where there’s a mural painted by artist Nico Nicoson and students from Western Sydney Uni.
The service is a stand-out – super-welcoming, friendly, fast and attentive, beyond what you’d expect from a pub. They even happily charge my phone for me behind the bar while I’m there.
They also have comfortable hotel rooms upstairs, and it's open late (until 6am on Friday nights!).
The food
There’s a big focus on food at the revamped Guildford Hotel. The menu is all about pub classics done well (at reasonable prices). There’s a big grill section, spanning steaks, chops and ribs, but also souvlaki (lamb and chicken). There are the pub staples – burgers, schnitties, fish and chips – as well as seafood and pasta dishes, small bites, salad mains and lots of kids’ specials.
Some new additions to the menu include some big share platters – a seafood platter featuring prawn skewers, salt and pepper calamari, scallops, crispy fish, chips and fresh salad. And a BBQ platter: a 250g rump steak, lamb and chicken souvlaki, chicken wings, bacon, chips and salad. Both big feeds are $60 ($58 for members; you can become a member for free while you’re there by scanning a QR code) – and just $55 on Sundays.
We order a steak, the scotch fillet. My dining mate is fussy about his steaks, always orders them rare, and is often disappointed – not this time. It’s cooked to perfection, with the crosshatch sear marks and creamy tasting meat evenly pink and juicy throughout. You can choose not one but two sides, and he goes for the chips (golden and crispy and nicely seasoned) and salad (fresh green leaves, tomato, carrot and Spanish onion slices with a tangy dressing). My mate picks the dark, rich gravy, but there are plenty of other sauce options: jus, pepper, mushroom, Béarnaise, Café de Paris butter, chimichurri, mustard, tzatziki and sumac spiced mayo, esker old dark ale and barbecue sauce. The steak is a generous-sized (300g) grain-fed Riverina Grainge black Angus MB2+, and at $36 ($34 for members), it is incredible value (compared to inner Sydney standards).
I order the fish and chips – a boring choice, maybe, I’m drawn in because it’s snapper. Three soft, flaky snapper fillets are deep fried in a crispy tempura batter that’s spiked with flavours of lemon and dill. My chips are also golden and crispy, served with generous chunks of lemon and a deliciously creamy, tangy tartare sauce. (If you come on Mondays, you can get this delicious dish for a bargain $16.)
They also have $10 kids meals – though you can save your cash from Monday to Wednesday, when kids eat free from 5 to 7pm (one free kids meal with every full-priced main meal).
The drink
We mentioned some top food specials – other specials include a happy hour: from 3 to 6pm Mondays to Fridays you can get $6 house beers, wines and spirits, and $12 selected cocktails (yep, that makes me happy). In terms of the pub’s drink selections, they have all the usual pub faves.
Time Out tip
Get $16 lunches and dinners Monday to Wednesday: fish and chips on Mondays, burgers on Tuesdays (wagyu beef or crispy fried chicken), and schnitzels on Wednesdays – plus $17 rump steaks on Thursdays (if you’re a member).
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