Jenn P.
Yelp
For our first night in Sydney, we decided to make reservations at Cafe Sydney. We arrived for our 8PM reservation and were seated promptly in a desirable window seat over the harbor. The view was spectacular and the restaurant itself was very pretty.
The first thing that bothered me happened nearly immediately. Our server came over to greet us (she was nice in general) and went to put my napkin in my lap. I was holding my DSLR camera in pieces at the time, so I had to fumble around so that she could essentially do this task. I also always find it quite embarrassing when servers do this; while it may be proper etiquette, I find it rude.
Secondly, someone else came to take our drink orders, as the place was clearly packed and understaffed. He asked my mother first, then went across the table to my father, THEN to my brother, and then said, in a condescending tone, "Anything ELSE for you?"
I'm well above Australia's legal drinking age. As a two year veteran of the service industry, I really don't care when someone cards me and understand that they're doing their job. But you don't need to belittle me. Not only that, but if you aren't sure how old everyone at the table is, why not just go in a circle and card as necessary?
Anyway, I made a comment about this, and he proceeded to launch into a fairly unprofessional and equally condescending speech about the necessity of identifying people, which showed flat out that he didn't understand the issue. He then stated that he was a MANAGER, which was hilarious. Totally destroyed the good vibes.
Our server came back to take our order, and then yet another individual came to deliver our drinks. He wasn't sure whose was whose, and also messed up how many of each there were. He seemed new and was also really nice, so it wasn't a huge deal, but only three of us ordered drinks. When you're paying ~40$ average for a plate of food, you want the little details to be correct.
I split two entrees with my father - the John Dory special and the swordfish entree. The John Dory was served with tomatoes, two small quail eggs, potatoes, and capers. The swordfish was servers with olive cream, tomato jam, capers, and a lemon dressing. Both were EXCELLENT. They were both very tender. I preferred the swordfish, but only marginally. The swordfish was like butter, and the tomato confit was delicious. The quail eggs served with the John Dory were absolutely perfect.
After we ate our entrees (please keep in mind, we were coming off small apps at another place, so we did not order apps here), we all looked at each other - everyone had finished their dishes, but we were all still hungry. At ~40$ a plate, I was surprised at this. I don't think I've scraped the plate clean all vacation thusfar, nevermind left a place hungry. Our total bill came to roughly 200$, and we went for ice cream immediately after.
In conclusion, the food and the view are both good here, but for a pricey restaurant, I found the service to be lacking.
