Glasgow Arms Hotel

I recently visited the Glasgow Arms after visiting 1 year prior, and what a change! We tried the Smokey Mary new Menu and were so impressed, a must try in Sydney. It has definitely turned around since changing ownership. Great location, cracking staff and the food was awesome. Rooms were clean and beds were comfy. I highly recommend.

I was pleasantly surprised by this hotel! Although the entrance / reception is a little hard to find inside the pub, the room itself was great. An older building well looked after and very clean - I’m quite picky! Great amenities available in room eg water, bread, milk, toaster. My only negative was that my desk had no chair giving me nowhere to sit if eating. Bathroom is also a good size and clean shower with good shower pressure. A lovely gentleman helped me check in and went above and beyond which I appreciated. A little nosy on the road but didn’t mind too much, if people are eating outside at the pub they are quite loud. AC worked wonderfully!

Staff are outstanding in both professionalism and an easygoing nature in equal measure. Most particularly Cornelius the bartender and James the security guard. Two excellent conversationalists who are also very much on the ball. That helps create a very pleasant environment for a few slow ones on the weekend. They really make you want to stick around.

Stayed here for a stay and dash, great location, walls are paper thin so was hearing music till the early hours of the morning (stayed on a saturday night) - so was to be expected. Enjoyed a Parma was great quality and good portion for the price paid. Easy check in and check out, accidentally left my ring in the room when checking out and very very satisfied with the response from the hotel communicating what I had to do to get it back. Overall recommend for a place to stay!

This hotel room is located on the second floor above a bar, a gambling establishment, and a karaoke venue. It is also connected to an extremely old, crumbling apartment building. The music from the apartment (and other rooms) is particularly loud, continuing almost every day until around 4 am, making it nearly impossible to sleep. Consequently, I had no choice but to finish work early and rest for a few hours in the evening, before starting super noisy around 10:00 pm, all three days in October 2025. Furthermore, there is no separate front desk; guests receive keys at the bar or gambling facilities on the first floor. For reasons unknown, despite having a reservation and no other guests waiting, I was made to wait 20 minutes to check in. Just because it's cheap, you absolutely must not choose this hotel (or rather, this daytime nap spot).

A large venue which also has plenty of table outside undercover. I visited on a Friday evening when the karaoke was in full flow but it’s large enough inside to avoid if you want. There’s a varied food menu displayed on the screens near the bar, as well as plenty of screens showing the sport if you want to have a gamble while there. With so many different sections it does feel a bit of a mishmash but no doubt great for a night out for groups; worth considering if that’s what you’re looking for.

Friendly and accommodating staff and a pristine room and en-suite just steps from beautiful Darling Harbor, at a great price. Since my son and I were busy walking Sydney all day, these simple accommodations suited us, and our budget, perfectly. The on site bar and restaurant provided a comfortable wind down location for a beer and some pad Thai or chicken satay. Control expectations: the room was tiny, like a monks cell, but the beds were comfortable, the bedding was brightly clean, the shower had great water pressure, the place was quiet enough at night and the people were very nice. that was about all we needed.

Nice staff. Good food. Friendly environment. Happy customer. Highly recommend checking this place out!!!

Chicken & Sons in Chatswood is currently on hiatus so they've moved their services over to The Glasgow Arms Hotel in Ultimo, which is pretty awesome because that means it's closer to the CBD. There's a special going on right now called the Powerhouse Burger for $20, aptly named due to size and proximity to the Powerhouse museum. If you're hungry, get ready to chow down. This burger is pretty big, I mean just look at it. The beef was a great juicy medium rare. The toppings with Adam's special sauce was on point, and I really dug the burnt onion, but the bacon was slightly on the salty side. The milk bun was the biggest let down for this, as it was unusually dry and fell apart about halfway through. By the time I finished the burger I didn't really have a bun. Granted, it's a lot to hold for a bun, but one with a softer texture and taste would put this burger up there. Otherwise, great all around burger.

By the time I reached this pub I had ended visiting so many different places across Sydney that it was starting to get to that point where it was difficult to really see how one place stood out from the others, or more likely that I had visited so many really cool places, that the ordinary places were becoming pretty much boring. That was the case with this pub - it was boring. Okay, the staff were really nice, and there was a decent beer garden down the side, but beyond that there wasn't anything that really stood out about the place. As such I'd unlikely be paying it a visit again.

I'm not a bougie guy but I have to say I don't recommend this place. When you arrive it's hard to tell whether it's a hotel or a bar. It's a bar/restaurant first - then a hotel. The check-in staff doesn't work 24 hours. They literally leave at midnight or 1 AM. If you lose your key I do believe there is a way for them to come and unlock it but I gather you will be waiting for a while. The rooms were clean but there were two roaches in the trashcan in the bathroom. I brought it to the attention of the Manager (a heavy set white gentleman) and he seemed appalled. His Reply was "wow thats disgusting.. I'll have someone come up and spray". They didn't address my issue or switch my room. I would love to give this place a 1 star but its only saving grace was the friendliness of the staff. One young lady in particular made this place much better than the hotel itself. If you're on the fence and you can spend a few extra dollars go somewhere else. If money is an issue I guess get this place it beats a hostel for sure...I think.

Much like Glasgow itself, this place is a bit rough. I've never seen any trouble in there, it's just comes across as a bit worn down. I say there never seems to be any trouble, but that probably stems from the fact I've never really seen anyone in there (apart from Melbourne Cup day of course). I played poker there once, and there were a few, then they stopped that - at first I thought it was because there weren't enough people there, but then I changed that hypothesis to perhaps the staff were having to work too hard! It does have a bistro that serves cheap meals, but I won't review the quality seeing as I've never tried them. Oh, and the fact that it closes at 10pm every night, even Fridays and Saturdays, gives you an impression of how busy the place gets.

Quite a nice pub - quiet and out of the way. Friendly bar staff and nice and toasty inside. Would visit again!

I wrote the hotel several times before my stay requesting a late check-in. After 3 emails over 2 months, I finally got a response that they'd be ready for me. Orbitz also confirmed they'd notified the hotel. When i got there, they weren't ready and i had to wait for an hour for my room (after 23 straight hours of travel). They're difficult to reach since they have no official front desk and the shower had some mold but the staff is nice and worked hard to get my room ready once I got there. Plus, even though the room is over the bar, i found it to be very quiet. Do note though that room 3 has a leak - i left a note to notify them but be aware of the hole near the window if it's still there when you check in as it will soak your things if they're under it and it rains heavily. The complimentary breakfast is also bare bones but available round the clock which is nice if you need a quick snack. If you don't have special circumstances or need to get in touch with the staff outside of normal operating hours and you're good with no frills, you should be fine.

I'd been to this Pub a few times before when I was in Sydney for work. Just a place I could go to have a quick bet and beer. You'd seen more people around a dead snake. But I recently went back to watch the State of the Origin Game as I was in Sydney and it cold & miserable so thought I'd pop in and hopefully get a beer, have a meal and watch the game in the warmth. Well, what a surprise I got!! It is a different pub! I couldn't believe the difference. The Bar staff told me the Pub had recently been taken over and I have to say the changes are amazing because it was nothing to rave home about before. The Bar is light and renovated, the TAB is sensational and the food was bloody awesome! Tv's everywhere to watch the game and the atmosphere was great, it was packed! It was warm and inviting, you could talk, have a few beers, watch the game and best of all, they were serving Free Schooners from Kick off until first points!! I will definitely be coming back here when I'm visiting Sydney. Great little Pub!!