Big Stone

9 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

Went there a Wednesday night to celebrate a birthday. We had the set menu and it was fantastic. Great service, good attention to detail on all aspects, food presentation and taste was nice and clean. Highly recommended.

May 09, 2013 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

We went to Big Stone which is a fusion Japanese tapas restaurant. The restaurant was really convenient for me as it is a short stroll from North Sydney CBD.

The menu offers a good range of both Japanese and Spanish dishes. There were some innovative fusion ideas as well. The takoyaki ‘sandwich’ was delicious with the squid ball squashed between crunchy prawn crackers. Wagyu beef skewer was nice and tender. For desserts, the chocolate fondant was perfectly melting on the inside, and the matcha brulee nicely balanced with the lentil ice-cream.

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Feb 26, 2013 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  7     

What lovely service and atmosphere! Japanese service is always a cut above so we really enjoyed our anniversary dinner even though we were spending more than we normally would. We didn't love the food, however, the chocolate pudding was amazing! I would go back there just for that. And maybe next time try the paella. A nice experience.

Oct 28, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

Excellent food, super fresh, original dishes, terrific friendly professional service. Also funky, small modern atmosphere, even a little romantic. I've eaten at a lot of fine restaurants in Sydney, but this may be the best all around restaurant I've been to yet. Bonus that it's on the north shore on a quiet street. Try the white wine sangria and fish tacos... Amazing!

Oct 18, 2012 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

Our new favourite. Such a lovely little restaurant, so deceiving from the outside. I had mentioned it was our anniversary on booking, when we arrived we had lovely handmade cards on the table welcoming us and wishing us happy anniversary. The service was outstanding, so attentive, the food was wonderful. Loved the sake tasting selection as well as the edamame beans to kick off, all very lovely and we will definitely be back, and back and back.

Oct 13, 2012 

7 Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  3     

At first glance, the ambience of this place is beautiful. You are shown to you seat where there is a little Welcome card with your name on it. The service here is fantastic and always with a smile.

The thought of Japanese mixed with Spanish was what my partner and I were drawn to. We first started by ordering the Paella as it takes 40 minutes to cook, and then we chose a handful of tapas.

I can't remember what they were called, some type of potato balls (really tasty), Octopus balls (interesting, but nothing special) and the oysters which were recommended by the waitress.

For $18 you receive 3 small oysters. One had watermelon flavour, the other pineapple and the other apple. Beautifully presented, but the taste was just too weird for me. Nothing special and really didn't seem to complement the oyster which already has a strong flavour.

We then ordered a wagu beef salad which was absolutely beautiful. From the dressing to the melt in your mouth meat it was something I would definitely order again.

When the paella arrived, it looked amazing, surrounded by mussels and an array of seafood on the top. We may be a tough critic only just returning from Spain, however, this was so disappointing.

After waiting 40 minutes and for $34, it was the most bland thing I have eaten. Not a trace of any herbs, salt, pepper, anything to give this flavour. The seafood was obviously frozen as they did not taste fresh, but the killer was the flavour.

What a disappointment. Considering this is a Japanese/Spanish restaurant maybe they should take some time to master the art of spanish cooking. Once they do that, this place would be amazing.

Won't be returning unfortunately. For the price, we really did expect so much more.

Sep 15, 2012 

7.5 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  5     

First of all, this restaurant is quite unique. Spanish Japanese, unlikely friends, but it works just great. We loved this restaurant, we just felt a little bit let down by the value. It ended up being a $140 for 2 people when it really should not have been more than $100.

However, if you can afford to pay extra for something different, then I strongly recommend this place. We loved the Sangria and the Sake tasting plate. The kingfish tacos were sublime and the grilled tofu was superb. The only let down was the green tea brulee which did not live up to its description and the quality of all the other dishes.

Conclusions are that this is a fantastic restaurant that deserves a lot of patronage. If the owners are reading this, they need to review their pricing, for example, $20 Garlic Prawns for 4 prawns is just way too much, this should have been a $12 dish or less and was not better than some of your other $12 dishes. I hope this place succeeds.

Sep 08, 2012 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

Excellent! Went there on a bit of a whim. Great food, what a fascinating and interesting combination and really well done. Attentive but never overbearing staff. Will most certainly be back.

Aug 26, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Fantastic restaurant, food is brilliant -- very tasty and interesting. Service outstanding, anticipated our needs. I have never seen a restaurant offer a cane basket on the floor for each ladies bag and coat so not to have to leave bag on the floor. We were celebrating a birthday which was unknown to the restaurant but they bought out a lovely desert with birthday writing and a candle. This restaurant knows about guest service with a friendly smile. Very nicely decorated, giving a relaxing dining experience.

Aug 21, 2012 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

We were really pleased with everything at Big Stone. The food was great, the service was delightful and the bill was a very pleasant surprise. We had starters, and a variety of tapas and brought our own bottle of wine. The staff were superb, always there when you need them, and lovely genuine service. We are looking forward to returning and trying some more of the menu.

Aug 12, 2012