Lovely little stopover on our trip down the west coast. Best priced powered spot we got for our camper in all of New Zealand and right on the doorstep of the lake and a nice bar with a roaring fireplace. Special shout-out to the great staff, especially Sarah who went above and beyond to post some belongings of ours that we left behind to Queenstown so that we could get it when we stopped there. Amazing spot run by amazing people!

Stopped in Sunday for lunch and beer Great service and prices chillaxed atmosphere. Got to be my favorite historic pub on the West Coast of the Mainland.

Great wee pub! The chips are the best I’ve had so far in NZ! Affordable grub and pints. Really lovely staff 😃🥰 good campsite out the back, would recommend to anyone travelling through the area as a stop off !

Cycled the rail trail and this was our end point. Treated ourselves to lunch here. Fantastic old pub that maintains its character and charm. Friendly service. Excellent fish burger with fresh Dory fish.

Beautiful pub with lovely people and the best food on the west coast. Beef Burger and Fish &Chips were delicious. Go there.

One of my favourite NZ pubs. Totally old school and the last bastion of non PC'ness. Great value buffet meals (Sun only during winter). Last Fri of every month is open mike night and a fantastic night

Winter visit to Ross and what a great experience! Jake you are such a credit to the Empire...so friendly, with the best attitude. You introduced yourself and shook our hands...these are the little things that count! Love this pub...we will be back!

The Empire has Sunday Buffets including pudding for $30 per head....beautiful food like my mum used to make.. Worth the beautiful drive down there, plus you can get drinks from the bar...

Thoroughly enjoyed dinner tonight at the Ross Historic Pub - friendly warm service, excellent food and very pleasant company. A really genuine West Coast experience not to be missed.

The place is very cozy, the food is delicious, and the service is wonderful. I'm picky when it comes to eating, I always have issues, I placed a special order and was delighted with the care, Jake took everything down perfectly and it came exactly the way I asked. Jake is very friendly and smart. Thank you for serving with love and excellence! ♥️

Best seafood chowder I have ever had. Friendly staff, very unique historic pub. Stop by and you will not be disappointed!

What I imagine a pub back in the day was like. Warm and friendly service and self service roast buffet. This is not a gastro pub or contemporary eating experience, this is a time machine (in a good way). Best value basket of chips in NZ - $5, massive and properly crispy. Always a not so guilty pleasure when on the coast.

If you are travelling on the West Coast, do yourself a favour and call into this gem in Ross. We were recommended the dinner here on a Friday or Saturday night, and so glad we chose to follow the advice. Jake (barman) made us feel at home straight away, providing excellent bar service, and so we settled in. Dinner was every bit as good as we'd heard about. The locals were friendly, and we ended up staying until closing time. Special shout out to Rachel, Mitch, and the lovely ladies in the restaurant who go above and beyond!

Historic Stagecoach Pub. Definitely worth stopping in for a beer and a look around if you are in the area. Oh the stories those walls could tell when the stage coaches stopped in.

A great West Coast hotel. Great food and beverages. A bunch of motorcycles were there on a Ronald McDonald house Teddy bear fund raiser. The band was humming and the proprietor opened up his big workshop museum across the road.. lots of cool stuff tk check out.

Loved it. Great food. Wonderful atmosphere and great hosts.

Excellent diner, in particular the seafood soup at the buffet (had two serves!). Perfect combo with a night at Ross Beach TOP10 Holiday Park.

Solid coffee, decent snack (toasted sandwich) and the staff there were solid people from what I could tell. The building is very interesting, will be back for one of the jam nights for sure. Also pet friendly with prior arrangement according to staff and very reasonable room rates.

We stopped to have a quiet drink at this historic pub. There was a guy playing a guitar and singing, and a few locals enjoying a drink. Unfortunately we did not feel welcome. We were given our drinks and told it's nice outside. We felt the bartender was being pushy as we wanted to stay inside. That meant someone had to stay by the bar. Inside there is an interesting array of artifacts from West Coast's passed and some entertaining photos.

A local watering hole where we found the people very friendly. We just dropped in for a drink when we had time to wait for an activity. There was a nice big log fire too.

The West Coast of NEW ZEALAND'S best kept Secret. The Empire Hotel is simply the best hotel, with xtra units, Camping Sites, . We hadn't been there for a few years , so made a plan sadly it was raining so we couldnt whitebait, but we went also to take in The Jam night,( 3rd Friday of each Month)wonderful locals whom entertained us after we had eaten our beautiful meal,best Seafood Chowder, smorgasbord main and their famous PAVLOVA!!!. The Host Mark and Paulette have been at The Empire for 35years, DO NOT PASS THRU ROSS 25k( south of Hokitika, with out either calling in or booking a night or two

Great hotel and pub and restaurant. Had a very nice cabin outside hotel. Food is legendary. Excellent buffet. Lovely chowder. Save room for roast buffet. Epic cooked breakfast. Really worth a visit. Nice hosts. Have to find a reason to go back. Will do trip up via Wanaka to Haast to Ross to stop there after first my first trip down the coast from Westport to Ross and back. Get the weather right and the coast is epic.

Out of towners stopped in for the buffet dinner. Was amazing and unbelievably cheap for adults. Kids are free or discounted. The place looked like most of the town was there, great atmosphere, fire roaring. This would be worth the drive even from out of town. Couldn't be happier and will definitely be back.

Real West Coast pub. We got caught in the rain on our walk around the old diggings and couldn't resist the lure of the blazing fire in this awesome old pub. The pub is very well run with a good choice of reasonably priced meals and a well stocked bar. Clientele was a great mix of locals and visitors all of whom were friendly and up for a laugh. Really enjoyed the atmosphere!

Called in for couple of drinks & to see inside pub, stayed for Sunday night roast dinner 3 course meal absolutely fabulous staff friendly recommend it a must do.

Great place. Love it and Marie. Third visit, have stayed in motor home at back of hotel twice. Will be back. I talk about it a lot to my friends

Fantastic place. Historic. Great food, great service. Full of history. The fireplace is amazing. Just go there it's brilliant.

Stayed here 5 years ago. Very friendly people, warm and welcoming. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and were happy to hear about the Sunday roast! We loved your pavlova and actually would love to have the recipe. Is there any way you can send it to us? Cheers, Ana