First Look: Hotel Sorrento Unveils Its Breezy New Dining Room

Hotel Sorrento’s distinctive limestone building was built in 1872. While much has changed over the pub’s 150-year-plus history, a constant here is that, come summer, the place will be packed to the rafters. New, though, will be the hotel’s suave new dining room, fit for 200 guests and now open after a major refurb.

Rob and Anne Pitt bought the historic hotel, which overlooks Port Phillip Bay, in 1981. They ran it for four decades before passing the operation to their children Bridget, Marcus and Myles Pitt, who have overseen a dramatic transformation of the property in recent years.

In 2023, the Pitts unveiled a luxe new accommodation offering, a guests-only pool and a day spa complex. A new rooftop bar opened in 2024. And at the end of 2025, eight additional hotel rooms, new conference facilities, a lobby bar and an open-air yoga deck rounded out a multi-year transformation by Six Degrees Architects.

A renovation of the ground-floor dining room and bar was “the last component in the puzzle” says Myles. “It’s the hardest – it’s the heartbeat of the business.”

The siblings had been “keen to revamp the dining room” for some time. “It was just a matter of taking our time, being certain about what we wanted and doing the space justice.”

The trio travelled to Europe, scouting restaurants and hotels in coastal towns for inspiration. They agreed they wanted the space to feel Mediterranean and approachable, and briefed Six Degrees on a space that would feel like a beach house.

“Something really relaxed and airy without being stuffy or stiff,” Myles says. “In a beach town, it needs to be the kind of place you can step into, right off the boat, in your boardies, covered in sand, but still be somewhere you can go for date night. The old model wasn’t conducive to that.”

The slick new fit-out by Six Degrees respects the building’s history, with plenty of exposed limestone and brick, as well as late Victorian ceiling details kept intact. But those who have been coming here for years – and some for decades – will appreciate the extent of the redesign.    

Curved dark wood fixtures, from the central bar to the backs of new booth seating, reference Italy’s famous Riva runabout boats. Table lamps in rattan and metal add ’70s-style flourishes. The space is brighter, and more daytime-friendly, than it was.

“We wanted to make sure you can rock up and have a beer and a quick bite with your mate or book a booth for your grandma’s birthday,” Myles says. “It dresses up and dresses down. We are a pub, but we’ve also got a beautiful chef’s table. Twos, fours, birthdays, hen’s parties – it’ll all be comfortable. No matter what the occasion is, this dining room can wear many hats.”

This is what was missing in the old dining room, he explains. And although the front bar was always there for a few beers and easy snacks, there wasn’t a place “to come and have a really casual drink at the bar and a beautiful cocktail”. The new bar in the dining room, flanked by leather-upholstered stools, is one way they’ve filled that gap.

Like the space, the food offering will have familiar elements and new additions. Pub classics remain – you can still get a chicken parma and fish’n’chips – but shareable, Mediterranean-leaning dishes are abundant on executive chef Beth Candy’s evolved menu.

Grilled king prawns are served with fermented chilli butter, and chunky local asparagus with macadamia cream. A raw bar offers up crudo of the day and oysters served natural or with a lambrusco granita. A market fish of the day will be cooked in the woodfired oven, and the steak offering has ramped up with four different cuts – including a Pitt family special-occasion favourite: eye-fillet sliced and topped with chimichurri.

On drinks, “We know that all anyone really wants is to come and have a spritz in the sun”, Myles says. They’ve put three versions on the menu: limoncello, grapefruit and elderflower.

For Myles and his siblings, the revamp marks a new chapter not just for the hotel, but for the family.

“Mum is retired now and Dad operates in a mostly hands-off role,” Myles says. “He’s still obsessed with the one-percenters. He’s the first to tell us if a light is out in the bathroom, or if a chair leg is a bit wonky. I think that attention to detail is something that’s going to be important for us. It will help keep the place running smoothly.”

Hotel Sorrento

5–15 Hotham Road, Sorrento
(03) 5984 8000

Hours
Mon to Sun 12pm–11pm

hotelsorrento.com.au