The often spoken about Belrose Hotel
The highlight of the Belrose Hotel is that you can have a meal while your kids play in one of the two play areas.
You can’t read a list of restaurants or pubs that are good for families without finding the Belrose Hotel on the list. It is extremely popular with North Shore locals. This does sometimes make it difficult to get a good table near the play areas.
Where is the Belrose Hotel
In Belrose 🙂 Belrose is a suburb close to French’s Forest on Sydney’s North Shore.
Address
The Belrose Hotel is found at 5 Hews Parade, Melrose 2085. Hews Parade is just off Forest Way. The hotel property is on the left hand side of the road after you leave Forest Way. The first part of the property that you will see is the Liquor Store, if you see that you know you’re at the right spot.
Parking
There is plenty of onsite parking. There is even moms with prams parking right near the entrance.
If you can’t spot the moms and prams parking, you’re not at the right entrance. Look for the sign that says ‘Bistro’ and ‘Playground’. I’ve included pictures below so you know what I’m talking about.
SIDEBAR: Just be careful when your kids run up to the entrance of the hotel as the doors are electronic and open outwards.
Belrose Hotel Features
Belrose Hotel Play Areas
Naturally the biggest draw card for families is the two play areas.
The bigger of the two play areas is for 5 – 10 year olds and the smaller is 0 – 4 years. There are signs on the gates entering both play areas which set this out together with a height chart.
We spent most of our time in the smaller kids play area which is pictured below.
One of the problems with the play areas is that it bigger kids take over the smaller area. The little kids get run over. A few times I had to pull my kids out of the play area until the bigger kids left.
Food
The kids pizza was delicious and my son’s chicken tenderloins were good too, not as good as the pizza and not crumbed which took a bit of convincing for him to start on. For me, I knew it would be impossible to eat so I settled on a cup of Grinders coffee.
We had great service with the staff being attentive and helpful. When I was in the play area with the kids they came to let me know that our food had arrived.
There are activity packs that you can buy for $1.50. I wasn’t aware if this so wasn’t able to include it in this review.
Bookings
You can’t make telephonic bookings from midday or on the weekend, you have to book online. If you are booking for a early dinner with the kids make sure to add that in the special notes section provided.
The first time we visited we rocked up without a reservation. This was foolish on our part as we were only able to stay for 20 minutes because all the tables were booked. I’ve now learnt to book online.
Bookings for early dinner are only for 90 minutes. The early dinner bookings start from 4:45pm. The kids playground became packed at 6pm. Aim to be there at 5pm so that your kids can get in some quieter play before it becomes too busy.