Bench Manly, Sydney

User Reviews of Bench, Manly

Displaying: 1 - 10 of 22 reviews

8 Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 9 Service 6 Value 7

No longer BYO which is a shame. The fajitas are about as good as I've had. Fresh ingredients and plenty of condiments. Staff are always friendly but service can be a little inattentive. Recommended for the fajitas alone though!

Dec 21, 2011

Jeremy S.
1

4.5 Below Average

Food 7 Ambience 7 Service 2 Value 2

Very very slow service. Had to wait for more than 30 mins to get our order. Not coming back. Food was average. Value - if we would not have to wait that long, it would have been of value.

Nov 20, 2011

Rhea T.
1

2.3 Not Recommended

Food 2 Ambience 5 Service 1 Value 1

4 of us dined here on a saturday afternoon just after 11am for brunch on 9th April, 2011. You order and pay for the food at the counter which I thought was pretty poor, well for Manly. This place looked just like a coffee only place so when our friends picked this place for lunch I was a little bit surprised to say the least.

Food: we all ordered eggs, 2 spanish omelette's, 1 x eggs on toast and the other friend just had a sandwich. Now you'd think these dishes were easy to make well apparently not. After about 90 minutes I looked at my watch thinking theres no way we'd be waiting that long but sure enough it was, so we complained twice and the food arrived 10 minutes later, im sorry but I did not realise it takes over 90 minutes to make eggs and a pre-made sandwich (with meatballs).

Overall the food was boring and bland. Will not be returning. Bench - stick to coffee only, leave the food to the people who actually run restaurants!

Apr 15, 2011

local81
'Good day for some warm sweet rice pudding'
51

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

2.8 Not Recommended

Food 3 Ambience 3 Service 3 Value 2

I went for a coffee here on Saturday morning. I ordered two coffee's, two milk shakes and two muffins. The coffees came out in good time and were good, but I had to ask 2 times for the milk shakes and when they brought them out they brought the wrong ones. Then I had to ask for the muffins. By this stage my coffee was finished. The muffins were rubbery and didn't taste fresh. It cost me $21 and I won't be going back. Shame as its in a good spot, they just need to work on their service and muffins.

Feb 22, 2011

Richard P.
1

7.3 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 7

If you fancy Fajitas then this place is fine. I would like the salsa to be more than copped tomato and the nachos were very average, too dry and not enough cheese, but apart from that it was nice. The frozen margaritas were yum but it was a cold night, so I need to return in the summer.

Jun 21, 2010

PJS
20

4.8 Average

Food 2 Ambience 6 Service 9 Value 2

We ate here this weekend, the nachos were awful, had a distinct muddy taste! Fajitas were ok, margaritas weak, we have eaten Mexican food in the US and Mexico so we know how it should taste, this was pretty poor in comparison, though service was great, but for the price won't be going back again.

May 12, 2010

BIG MUMMA
1

7.5 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 6

Went last night with a few girlfriends, good ambience with the live singer (who was very good), but quite loud, not the best romantic dinner. Service was fantastic (and the male wait staff are all very cute!).

The Chili Con Queso to start is a must, really flavoursome and super cheesy! We all had burritos, shredded pork (different but works), prawns and chorizo (divine), and Chicken (perfect flavour). With a glass of wine each and sparkling water, bill came to $105 which is reasonable.

Will definitely return, could be great for a big group.

Apr 22, 2010

iheartfood123
4

6.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 5 Value 7

Reading the other reviews I must have picked a bad night to try Bench because I found the service really slow and totally disorganised. The food was good, not the best mexican I've tasted, but everything seemed nice and fresh, was well presented and arrived piping hot. The main issue with the food was that even though the meals come with unlimited salads, toppings and bread, what we were given initially was totally inadequate for the amount of meat we ordered so we had to keep asking for it.

This was really annoying and totally interrupted an otherwise enjoyable meal. Also they were very slow to seat us and even slower to take our order and as we were seated outside on stools we would have preferred to eat a little sooner rather than later. However, all that said the food was good and whilst I'm not sure I would hurry back I would certainly go again as long as I wasn't in a hurry.

Dec 28, 2009

soxie61
1

0 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

7.5 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 7 Value 6

Pretty good, fresh mexican food in a really nice setting. Only thing is its pretty expensive, 7.50 for beers (imported), and sides are expensive. Got the corn chips and chili con queso ($13) and it was just melted cheese in a bowl! The fajitas are good with unlimited roll your own ingredients but still pretty pricey for mexican food
$85 for 2, not bad.

Nov 20, 2009

customer01
1

9 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 9

You would be lucky to find better fajitas and sangria in Sydney. Consistently good and you can order them take away. Its only open for dinner on the weekend which is a shame and no point going if the weather is bad but unbeatable value and ambience for a casual local dinner.

Oct 05, 2009