Feel the burn. FEEL IT! KEEP FEELING IT UNTIL YOUR FACE MELTS INTO YOUR EMPTY BEER GLASS THEN DRINK THAT FACEY GOODNESS! DRINK IT! POUR IT INTO YOUR MOUTH HOLE! Okay that went a little over the top but those are the emotions you experience at the Ghost Pepper Chilli Chicken Wing Challenge, which Palace Hotel originally did just on Wednesdays but now does every day of the week because it proved so popular. Here's how it works: pay $10, get 6 chicken wings slathered in either Ghost Pepper (easier) or California Reaper (harder) chilli, then eat them in 10 minutes and sit for 5mins afterwards with no drinks and you get a refund and your photo on the Wall of Flame. Sounds easy, right? Ohhhh lawdy no, no, no, it ain't. We lined up full of beans and hope. I love chilli so I thought it would be a cake-walk. They get you to sign a waiver. And give you gloves to eat with because if you touch your face with chilli on your fingers your eyes will explode and your hair will catch fire. We started to get nervous right about now. The wings arrived. They glowed like red uranium. One minute in and my entire head went nuclear. My nose started tingling, then throbbing, then quaking. The numbness spread into my cheeks. Tears were streaming down my face and I started coughing. Lights popped behind my eyes. And I wasn't even halfway through. Next to me James was sweating like a criminal in a courtroom. I tapped out three wings in and focused on trying to staying alive. The bargirl made me pour sugar on my tongue to cut through the acidity and slug milk. It helped, but ye cats, the burn. The deep burn. The staff were awesome, they made it super fun. Half an hour later when we'd cooled down I was ready to go again. I think I will. Just need to find some more victims to do it with. Hilarious experience, highly recommend. read more

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Buy a beer, take a seat, and let the hours drift on by. This place always looked busy on a Friday/Saturday night. However Sunday lunchtime calls for a different type of mood. Its the type of mood that believes Summer afternoons can last forever and the clouds just drift on by without the need to rain. The staff are friendly and polite. The glasses have a cloudiness to them, making you realise just how many hands have handled them over the years. When I sat down I had this feeling inside of me, it was hard to put my finger on what it was about this place. I was in the front room, whose doors face the corner of George St and Hay St. How could it look dirty but clean at the same time? So many years, so weathered. It just gives character to a place. Like an old homeless man who just had a bath. You know they are clean, but the deep grooves tell of tales long forgotten and buried in the sands of time. A schooner of James Squire, a pint of Quinness (I know, I know - why stout?) and a basket of shoestring fires - $25. For $8.5 you'd be hoping the fries to be decent, covered in gravy, something... nope, just disappointment. Save you're coins and just get McDonalds chips. These chips at the Palace tasted like they had given up on life. This place you can really settle in and feel comfortable here. Let an hour slip by, let ten. Heck grab a sleeping bag. No, scratch that. No sleeping bags, it's against rules and regulations. Darn OH&S. read more

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Good food good atmosphere. Very impressed for my first visit. Love the golden oldies music read more

Palace Hotel Sydney - First visit here and I'm greatly impressed with the food & service. Music is all golden oldies which makes it even better atmosphere wise. - Bars Near Me - Sydney, NSW

Talk about lipstick on an Irish pig. This pub used to be called Paddy Maguires, and before that Bridie O'Reilly's back when it was a great place to visit. I remember coming to Sydney Kings games at the Ent Cent, and then rocking in here afterwards with the rest of the crowd. The atmosphere was electric! That's all changed. It is now called the Palace Hotel... A misnomer if ever there was. This place has the atmosphere of a wet sponge. They do a $10 Schnitzel deal Mon-Fri, and also have a $4 schooner happy hour on Friday from 4-7pm, but I can't imagine why you'd come here. I've had the Schnitty and I wasn't impressed. It was dry and lacked flavour. I don't know what it is with the service in pubs in the Haymarket end of town, but the laziness isn't appreciated. Just because the bar isn't busy doesn't mean we have all day to wait for the service. If anything because we are the only people in here, we should be treated like royalty. I mean this is the Palace right? Then I am your King, service me accordingly! Maybe they are tired of the tourists who rock in and take an age to order, because they have all day. Maybe they are just bored with life and the weekday shift just isn't their taste. Maybe they are really just lazy, boring people with no taste? Whatever it is the service here is a suckfest. What used to be a haunt for me, will now be an avoidance. I can't imagine seeing me again in this bar anytime soon. Soz. read more

If I could give this place less than one star I would. I was accused by the bouncers while exiting the men's toilets that I had allegedly been using narcotics and was being kicked out at 10:30 on a Saturday evening, when in fact I was shocked and confused by the accusation. I was there for a friend's birthday and have never used narcotics in my life. Despite the fact that I was completely sober I was forced to leave by the incredibly rude security staff. This is a terrible bar anyway. Don't waste your time or money in this dive that treats their customers in such a way. read more

I guess for a pub it ticks all the right boxes. It has lots of seating. There's a bar. Their menu's are a bit confusing as there's stuff on the board outside that isn't on their menu's. I knew I should have opted for a $10 meal deal but I thought I'd be good and order a chicken salad. It came out with a lot of baby spinach and not as much roast pumpkin, chicken or any other vegetable in it. There was a lot of spinach. I had to go digging for the juicy bits. So if you like your spinach, get the chicken salad. Also the guy behind the bar mumbles - it was really hard understanding what he said. And the cups for the water were dirty. I'm not much of a princess when it comes to most things, except cups for water. Why can't they be clean? Is it too much to ask? But either way, the food was mostly ok and overpriced for a plateful of spinach. read more

I find it hard to rate pubs on Yelp because it all depends on what exactly you're looking for in your pub experience. For this one, I like that it is conveniently located in Haymarket, that it usually isn't very crowded, and that you can get Blue Moon here! Aside from that, probably wouldn't actively seek to go to Palace Hotel. It's fine for a drink but would likely come here out of convenience instead of want. That said, it's a place to get a drink so can you really complain that much? read more

The good: Decent for crowds The bad: Acoustics are all off. Can't follow conversation. You'd think music was too loud, but iy had something to do with the structure of the space. I've read more

Went for a drink with a friend yesterday and ended up having a light dinner. Ordered a caeser salad with prawns. It wasn't really anything special but it certainly wasn't terrible. It cost $6 extra to have prawns added to the salad, and I recieved 5 crumbed and deep fried prawns that tasted pretty good for pub fare. Also bought a bottle of house white wine which cost $30. It wasn't that great, but we drank it anyway because we're trashbags. $30 is a bit steep, but is expected when you add "CBD tax". The bar itself was nice. Not too loud and not very crowded. read more

Good selection of tap beers, especially James Squires. The food is nice, but heavily over priced for a pub meal. A side of veggies was $6, and was a couple of chunks of carrot and a piece of broccoli. When veggies don't come with a meal (a man can only stomach so many shoe string chips), I want more for my six bucks dammit! read more

Cheap bereies and bit of serenity. Nothing better than hoeing down a few cold ones with good company and the palace delivers. The outdoor section is now all no smoking which means you can watch the trams putter by and smash some coldies with your own crew of dead set legends. Gotta recommend it. The Food's also not bad! Get some chips into ya! read more

Look, it's not the worst pub in the city... We tend to go here occasionally because there aren't many pubs in Haymarket. But with sometimes flat beer, overworked staff and average food I wouldn't say that it's a must-visit. read more

OMG :) best meal in town. This place has been consistently great for many years. Nice atmosphere, huge food serving sizes, perfectly cooked, awesome thick shakes. Perfect pub food done right. Very handy before going to see a Show in the capitol theatre next door. Love this pub. :) read more

It's your average little pub and that's what you expect, however the food is over priced for both the quality and portion size. The service received from two bartenders and the bouncer was seriously subpar. Go up the road to one of the other pubs! read more

The Guy this evening with blond hair and pony tail not a nice guy. As he was filling my coke he sneezed. He covered his mouth with his arm then handed me the coke. I asked him if he would change the coke and he gave me such a look. Plus I could see him discussing this with other team members. I guess customers don't come first here. Can't believe he got offended or should that have been ok? Ruined my dinner experience. read more

Lunch special the biggest rip off ever! Seriously. Soft drinks are ridiculously over priced. Gen Y blonde in front bar is so rude. Food is ok but my blood boils every time I pay $4.80 for soda water. Yep, you read it. Soda water. Mongrels need their heads read. Get your act together and stop charging stupid prices for soft drinks. read more