Friday 20 November 2009

Cafe Sydney, Circular Quay

Never have I regretted a choice of restaurant more.

I took my husband to Cafe Sydney to celebrate his 30th birthday. I booked weeks in advance to ensure we secured a great table outside to enjoy the view. Upon booking, and confirmation, I spoke to Cafe Sydney staff about the fact that my husband and I are both vegetarian. On their menu they have 2 veg entress and 1 veg main. This concerned me a little, but the staff at Cafe Sydney assured me that the meal would certainly be outstanding, and that they could also show us their vegan menu upon our arrival. The vegan menu, it turns out, was completely uninspiring. We took one look at pushed it aside.

We arrived at 8pm and were seated - the view is certainly breathtaking. We had a cocktail each and order a goat's cheese and spinach naan and caramelised onion naan to nibble on with our drinks. The drinks and bread arrived within 5 minutes - this is when we started to feel rushed. The naans were tasty, both the cheese and spinach naan contained zero spinach.. I dismissed it and sat back to enjoy my cocktail with my hubby, when all of a sudden the empty plate was snatched away and our main course was put in front of us.

My husband had the one and only veg main which was a spinach gnocchi with persian fetta and some other trimmings - it looked great on the menu, but as my husband said "was the worst gnocchi I've had in my life". I had two entrees as my main - the betroot and goat's cheese tart, plus the stuffed zuchinni flowers. My entrees were good, but the gnocchi was so lacklustre - it upset me that my husband should have to eat something out of pure hunger rather than enjoyment on his 30th birthday. With the portions so small and the gnocchi so bland, we ordered a side of fries. Yes, fries at Cafe Sydney... The fries arrived within seconds, and unfortunately, they were probably the food highlight for my husband last night.

The waitress came and asked us would we like wine with our mains.. but we had only just started our cocktails so I remarked that we would have loved some only we had only recently recieved our cocktails and were not expecting our mains so quickly. She just walked away.

As soon as we put our knives and forks together, our table was cleared and the ever efficient waitress asked us would we like dessert - fed up with feeling rushed, hungry and ripped off, we politely declined and asked for the bill. We ate, we paid, we left, all within about 30 minutes. We then decided to have some gelato at Circular Quay to try and salvage the evening (and to fill our growling tummies)! But we felt so sore and ripped off after our dining experience at cafe Sydney that the evening was utterly ruined.

Clearly Cafe Sydney does not give a s*** and are there to make serious money. I commend Cafe Sydney on their ueber-efficiency - get 'em in and get'em out. Incredibly expensive, very rushed, and ruined my husband's 30th birthday night out.

I apologise for the negative tone of my post, dear readers, however I just had to write this. I will dissuade every contact I have from dining at Cafe Sydney - vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike.


Ladybird x

Cafe Sydney on Urbanspoon

12 comments:

  1. Oh this is such a shame! As I mentioned in my post, I think it's good but not fantastic here but you shouldn't get this sort of service or attitude anywhere you go, let alone somewhere that charges handsomely.

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  2. thats shocking!

    are you going somewhere else to celebrate again? Happy belated 30th to hubby!

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  3. I would certainly write to them and tell them how appauling the service was. Being a top notch restaurant you would think their staff would make more of an effort.

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  4. Write to them. Don't wait. They need the feedback, and you and your husband deserve an apology.

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  5. Such a shame and agree with the other above, write to them. I've never been overly happy wiht the service there and sad to hear that it hasn't improved! :(

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  6. Thanks for your comments, ladies. I had been debating about whether or not to complain, but I have decided to take your advice and contact them.

    Will let you know the outcome :)

    Ladybird x

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  7. Hi everyone,

    It's been 3 days since I wrote to Cafe Sydney and have not received a response, or acknowledgement...

    Interesting.

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  8. Oh - thats so sad. Nothing worse than having your birthday meal ruined by the Restaurant.

    I'm glad you wrote to them - whenever I write a bad review, I always forward it to them - although there have only been a couple - I've never gotten a response either.

    :(

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  9. It's always a shame when a special occasion is ruined by bad food/service, although I'm glad the subsequent birthday party was a great success. (Am very envious of the cake, being a fellow Liverpool supporter and all.)

    Did Cafe Sydney ever get back to you?

    Z

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  10. That's horrible. There's nothing worse than having a special occasion ruined!

    I've had friends tell me that they also felt rshed and even had a hovering waitress- ready to remove their plates straight away.

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  11. نقدم لك خدمات تنظيف الخزانات من شركة تنظيف خزانات بجدة على مستوى عالي من الكفاءة والاحترافية، عبر تعقيم وغسيل خزانات المياه من خبراء ومتخصصون لنضمن لك حياة أكثر صحة ونظافة، تواصل معنا الآن. نقدم لك خدمات تنظيف خزانات المياه على أعلى مستوى، خدمتنا هذه هي عملية تطهير وتعقيم شاملة باستخدام تقنية نظيفة وصديقة للبيئة خالية من أية مواد كيميائية، وبالتالي نضمن لك عملية تنظيف للخزان دون ترك أثر أو طعم أو لون في المياه من خبراء ومتخصصين للاستمتاع بفوائد خزان المياه النظيف.

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