Adriano Zumbo Patissier

3.5 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  1      Service  8      Value  2     

Adriano Zumbo has begun to delegate his creations to his staff and no longer delivers the surprising delights he is known for. The presentation looks good though. If he doesn't do something about it he will lose all the good will that made him famous.

He is definitely a talented artist and there are few others that come close to him in Sydney but, unfortunately, they are employed at multiple hat restaurants. I used to purchase at least one cake every 10 days from the Balmain store but the last 3 were definitely inconsistent and not up to standard. The last time a young lady who I think is the senior staff insisted some raspberry delight was to die for, unique and absolutely her favourite. Turned out it was a raspberry flavoured cheesecake.

May 26, 2012 

3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  2     

Went to a small but very elegant wedding last week. We were all looking forward to the Adriano Zumbo Croquembouche wedding cake. Wow, this forlorn sad looking thing greeted us as we entered the restaurant. It was supposed to have flowers on it, they were missing, and it just looked very sad. Okay, it'd surely taste much better than it looked and it did, well the toffee was lovely and the custard filled profiteroles were delicious but the chocolate ones were just wierd tasting. I wasn't the only one. Everyone around me was expressing the same dislike for the chocolate ones. All-in-all very hit and miss and very disappointing for the bride. I have spoken to her and discovered that she has tried to contact Adriano Zumbo on at least two occasions and there has been no response. Not what you'd expect from such a high profile operation.

Mar 29, 2012 

2 Not Recommended

Food  2     

Sorry but I thought the macaroons weren't very good. Too sickly with too much filling that drowned out the meringue. I didn't actually finish it which is nuts for me. A fantastic sausage roll, I'd go back for that but I prefer french macarons done with the right proportions, I also have no idea why they are so expensive in Sydney, they aren't hard to make nor are they expensive to make. Have a go yourself people there are plenty of recipes online and we all now how to make a meringue.

Oct 16, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  6     

Macarons are excellent! Best I ever had, although I think it's not always consistent. Staff are nice and friendly, last time I went they handed me a macaron to sample.

Sep 13, 2011 

4.3 Below Average

Food  6      Ambience  3      Service  7      Value  1     

I'm very disappointed and feel I've been had... Masterchef is really no guarantee of quality but people are star struck and don't mind emptying their pockets for what I rate as 2 under par sweets shop.

Some of the flavours are questionable and don't blend in together, the presentation is top notch, masterchef grade but I personally never believed presentations deserve such a weight.

Ambience: it's a take away shop with barely enough space for 1 line... this forces the line outside the door giving the desired impression...

Service: the waiters have each a role and are very effective is getting your order as you slowly walk past the display.

Value: a shocker... $10 for a small rectangle, $2.30 for a 1 bite macaron... we paid over $70 for 7 items.

Sep 03, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  5     

I was disappointed this morning after my trip to Zumbo's to see that the size of the macarons and the loaf of sourdough have shrunk in size. After asking the shop assistant whether they were smaller the response was "they were experimenting" is this an experiment to make more money?

Jul 30, 2011 

5 Average

Food  8      Service  2      Value  5     

The line on a Saturday afternoon is just dreadful. To complete the transaction, it took 1 hour (of standing) from lining up to leaving the store. I counted steps in 15 minute increments. This is due largely to a completely chaotic ordering system clearly incapable of handling a large volume. The proprietor has every opportunity to do something about it, and if I were to be cynical, I would say he didn't because:

(a) it creates a bustling vibe - good look for business;
(b) people who wait in line for an hour are reluctant to buy only 1 macaroon - they will want to make their "visit" more valuable than that hence they will spend more.

The cakes are great, there's no question about it, but as a matter of personal preference, I don't think it's worth the time, nevermind the money. If you manage to sneak in during a quiet period, good for you!

Jul 29, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  1     

First time I came to Zumbo's after all the hype I received excellent service from a lovely english girl, unfortunately, the cakes I purchased just tasted of sugar and artificial flavourings, and were incredibly expensive. I guess being a 'celebrity chef' means you can charge ridiculous prices for really average cakes.

Then as a gift to my friend who wanted to try these cake I went to purchase some items for her birthday. The lovely service was no longer there replaced by incompetent inexperienced 'kids' who kept messing up ie dropping cakes on the floor, were arguing with each other and had absolutely no idea what the cakes were. That day I also happened to purchase a loaf of Rosemary and Olive bread which when I took home to eat bit on a pip in one of the 'pitted' olives and cracked my tooth open.

Having taken myself to the dentist only to discover I had cracked my tooth open, I rang the so called manager who was so rude and arrogant completely disregarded my problem. The next day when I went into Zumbo to talk the manager there 'some one' had put up a pathetic little notice stating there might be pips in the Rosemary and olive bread.. how convenient?

Needless to say I do not go to Adriano Zumbo stores any more and I recommend any one I meet not to either...

Jul 18, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

Went here a few months back and was very impressed! Came all the way from the mountains for a zumbo pig out! We spent around $100 and got to try many lovely treats. I really enjoyed "enter the dragon" (pretty sure that's the name)... it had some strange elements, like a coriander creme but everything tied together really well. His macarons were divine! Even the weird ones like satay, tried about 10 flavours and my fav would have to be raspberry licorice. We rocked up at open and thank goodness we did! It was packed within minutes. I was a little put off by the fact that they weren't set up by the time they opened, but the service was good. They were friendly, chatty and had a good laugh that we had planned to eat all our purchases then and there. As for value for money, it is get what you pay for... it is dear but when a cake has 12 elements to it then you have to take that into consideration. I often dream about his cakes. Adriano and his team are amazing. I will be back!

Jul 16, 2011 

3.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  2     

They say if your product is great, people will line up out the door. Unfortunately, with Adriano Zumbo's stores, the service is slow and the store area is very tiny so you force people out the door to wait. Nice trick, but it's really not fooling anyone. His products are nice but extremely expensive and the quality is starting to drop. You may think I'm being very negative but have a look at my picture and you'll see what I mean. This Macaron box holds 12. The last time we bought 12, they just managed to fit them in the box. However, as you can see in the picture, 12 Macaron's now leaves plenty of room. We bought 2 of each type so its not a small batch problem. The picture doesn't lie and its the last time we'll venture out to Mr Zumbo's store. BTW... The flavours were not as good as the ones we bought a few months back.

Jun 01, 2011