Alio

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

I really like the restaurant. The service was a bit slow, we waited around 5 mins to sit and more 25 mins for the main dishes. The entree was fabulous (Camembert fondue with a crispy homemade bread. Yum!). I had the prawn tortelline, it was a bit small but filling. My boyfriend had the gnocci which was was excelent .The wait staff was very attentive. Great restaurant!

Jul 23, 2009 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

We ate here for the first time last night after choosing the restaurant from Eatability. Very impressed. The service was friendly and efficient and the food was fantastic. A little noisy but not as bad as a lot of other places these days. Being BYO is a definite advantage.

Jul 12, 2009 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  7     

Had dinner here the other weekend with my partner and friend. Meal size is really small! However food was delicious. I had the Lamb Shanks (Well there was only 1 - so Lamb Shank) and it was great. I was satisfied. However my partner ordered a seafood dish which wasn't as filling (due to small size). I loved the bread at the start. And we shared 2 desserts which were good also. Might go here again (if I have money).

Jun 29, 2009 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

My partner took me to Alio for my birthday and we had a lovely meal with wonderfully attentive, friendly yet discreet service. We were attended to by 3 different wait staff over the evening and each was genuinely warm and informative. Some-one is doing something right in Alios as far as service is concerned.

Even on presentation of our Entertainment card for our 1 for 1 deal we were treated with the same respect as we had been on entering the restaurant and being asked if we'd like our coats taken away. My entree of potato pancake with Tas salmon gravlax with roe was sublime, and my 450 gram rib eye roast was cooked to perfection, as the 'medium' I had ordered.

My partner's gnocchi with ox tail ragout was flavoursome though quite filling, and her black angus fillet was again tender and beautifully cooked, even though she ordered it 'very well done', an order one always delivers with trepidation, in fear of kitchen staffs derision. Not so here. One of the better dining experiences we have had in Sydney in the last several years.

Jun 21, 2009 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Highly disappointing! We had been there before (3 yrs ago) and had a great time and had been looking forward to returning. Unfortunately, this proved to be an utter disappointment. We chose the $65 degustation menu and it seems like they have given up caring about the menu and are just trying to serve up food that is easy for them to make. The teacup of soup was a nice starter, the entree of salad was nice and we thought that it was off to a good start, that was the end of the good food.

From there the grilled salmon was overcooked, dry and tasted awful, the steak is cooked enmass and we had to ask the waiter if we could get the beef cooked to our liking (he told us that they just serve the beef medium as that is the most popular option), the chicken ballentine was mainly sausage meat and breadcrumbs and minimal chicken and the creme caramel had been overcooked to such an extent that there was a marked colour discolouration (the bottom was green/brown) and was served very similar to a cafeteria meal in slices.

They had obviously made a large flat plan of the creme caramel and served it up as is, thoroughly disgusting. We had complained about the mains and the waiter/waitress tried to placate us by inferring that they had never had any complaints and we were obviously the only people that had ever voiced any complaints in the restaurant.

Our opinions were not taken seriously and we were made to feel like we were being a pain for mentioning our dissatisfaction and ended up having a verbal altercation with the staff - not good on any front! I would definitely not recommend going here and especially not the degustation menu as it is definitely not up to par.

Jun 21, 2009 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

This is by far our favourite restaurant in Sydney for the best food, good ambience, great value and great service. We rarely go to a restaurant more than once but we can't stay away from this place! Don't miss the gelato between courses, the bread and olive oil, or the tuscan fries. All to die for!

It doesn't have the fancy views of many other great Sydney restaurants, but the food is consistently perfect, especially the steak which far surpasses many other prestigious restaurants that are charging far more. Not to be missed!

May 30, 2009 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

Every course on the degustation what a joy to eat. Great wine list. Have been many times and agree with the review below everything about this restaurant is fantastic. Good food, good price great service fantastic job Alio.

May 22, 2009 

5.3 Average

Food  4      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  3     

I was very disappointed in Alio, the experience our group of 6 had was well below expectations. There were some very fundamental mistakes made in the cooking and presentation i.e. pasta not cooked. Probably 4 out of 18 dishes we had were improperly prepared, not good enough at this (or any!) price point. There were bugs/insects on our table, the same bugs were to be found in the mens toilet, where they clearly have a waste disposal problem or cleanliness issues.

Service was quite good, our waiter knew his stuff but at times hard to get his attention. The only sticky on the wine list was not available and was substituted with a clearly inferior product, at the same price. I can't recommend Alio and won't go back.

May 09, 2009 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

Brought friends and families to Alio so many times for their Degustation. Too good to miss. However, we all made a mistake of finishing every single delicious dishes at the beginning, that we couldn't fit anymore near the end.

Apr 20, 2009 

3.8 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  5      Service  2      Value  1     

Just came back from this place and were hoping for a really nice dinner. How disappointed we are! "Specials of the day" are all a very smart rip off, what they don't tell you is that the special entree costs you 35 Dollars rather than the $18 all entrees that are printed on the menu. Further, we ordered some olives to start with which were listed at 8$ and we even mentioned that we wanted them "to share". They ended up charging us twice, a total of 16 Dollars for a few olives.

Food was quite tasty but nothing special at this price point and service was awfully slow and inattentive. All in all, a real rip off (I really hate restaurants that obviously fully on purpose try to hide the real price from you just to rip you off when the bill arrives) and therefore totally overrated. Won't come here again!

Apr 18, 2009