The Anchorage Port Stephens - CORLETTE

I am updating this review I wrote 6 years ago (5 stars). The restaurant is open again to locals after being closed for a long time. Our evening was a disaster. We waited 30 minutes for our bottle of wine to arrive. The guests from the hotel arrived after us and received their dinner promptly. Obviously they had a different menu to ours as they ate very different food. We ordered 3 mains: the fish of the day and the lobster. We received the mains at 9:20 even though we arrived at 7:30 only to find out one main was missing. The food was absolutely delicious so the chef knows what he is doing but the staff never checked on us or rarely walked past. I don’t think we will be going back for a very long time. It’s a real shame as we like to support local businesses and we live just up the road. The place was so understaffed and the waiters didn’t seem to know what they were supposed to do. This review is for the Galley Kitchen as the Flying Herring is very sadly gone. It was the best restaurant in town. The location is superb and the restaurant Flying Herring is outstanding. It compares with meals I had at Aria in Sydney. A little gem!! On the other hand, the Galley Kitchen is very average and expensive for the food you get. The view is magnificent and the waiting staff is very friendly.

Rooms: Nice place with comfortable numbers and Dyson's phenomenon. so pleased: Rooms: 5 Service: 5 Location: 5 Hotel highlights: Quiet, Kid-friendly, High-tech

Second time we stayed at The Anchorage and both times we experienced similar problems. Definitely will not be returning for a third time. Whilst we love the marina setting the Hotel items is not good. We booked the Master Suite, and on the first night found 2 live cockroaches in our room. We reported it to reception who were apologetic and told us house keeping will spray our room when servicing it. On the second night, we found another 4 cockroaches in our room. After reporting it again, we were told the property was fumigated the week before we had arrived and therefore the cockroaches were apparently coming out to die , funnily all the cockroaches we found were alive AND the first time we stayed at the resort there was also a cockroach problem that has apparently been attended to just before our arrival. We were charged $70 per child to sleep on a sofa bed that on the second night would not even open properly and the mattress would only rest on a angle. Reception came a tried to fix it but couldn 't, there apparently were no available rooms for us to be moved to and their resolution was to prop up the end of the mattress with pillows. So on the second night we were dealing with cockroaches and a angled bed. We went to dinner at the waiters were unprofessional and tried taking our dishes and drinks while they were unfinished. Each time we complained about the cockroaches, bed or anything else we were assured the manager would contact us and The Manager to date has not had the decency to reach out to a second time customer booking their best room. If you are looking for a quality hotel with clean rooms and customer service The Anchorage is not your place. Management does not care about their rooms, have no concept on what customer service is and definitely do not care about return customers

We booked the loft room for two nights at a whopping $750 per night. For this price we thought it would be sensational, but it wasn’t!! The view and location is definitely the best around, the room was average, a tiny little fridge in a cupboard, no utensils or anything for us to have some cheese and meat in the afternoons which we had purchased to sit and relax on our teeny tiny balcony!! We had one drink by the pool each which took almost 30 minutes to come. We also had two boats full of men drinking until 3am then they brought all their empties up to the bins with as much noise as they could, started the boats up and left, so if you want a quiet evening don’t get the water view room!! The room is definitely not worth the money, get a basic room and enjoy it just the same!!

Friendly and very attentive staff. A function of good selection and training. The Anchorage is and has always been one of our favourite short stay hotels to get away from Sydney. Rooms: 5 Service: 5 Location: 5