Criniti's Castle Hill

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

This restaurant had absolutely appalling service and sub-par food. The pizza had minimal topping and ordinary bases. The average price of a main was $25. Kids meals were $16! A ridiculous amount of staff wandering around with no service offered. We had to wait for food and drinks. Don't waste your time going here, a complete let down and hardly worth the money. They have no right charging those prices for the ordinary food and disgusting service!

May 27, 2012 

1 Not Recommended

Service  1     

Is it just me or do you have to subscribe before you can enter any Crinitis website? All I wanted to do was to have a look at their menu to help decide whether I wanted to eat there without undoubtedly receiving unsolicited emails from them. Great way to drive potential customers away.

May 26, 2012 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

Absolutely pathetic! all 3 crinitis are exactly the same except darling harbour has a better atmosphere. Castle hill is ridiculously slow, lack of service, lack of care, rip off prices.

May 22, 2012 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  1     

The ambience is ok. But I think most of that comes down to it being located in the busy piazza and not the restaurant itself. Food is boring and over-salted, and just to overpriced. I ordered pasta and it was drenched in oil. Simply, yuk!

Staff are also very slow and act as though they're too good to be working there. Was also disappointed that I had to make 4 different wine choices before I managed to get one that was in stock. I might have understood if I was asking for a rare Italian wine or something, but all my choices were readily available Australian and NZ wines.

In addition to that, my partner ordered the wagyu, they were out. Next a mozzarella salad but no mozzarella. Not the type of restaurant you go to if you actually expect what's on the menu to be available.

May 21, 2012 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

My son took his wife, my wife and myself to Criniti’s in Castle Hill on the evening of 12/05/2012 to celebrate my wife’s birthday (and Mother’s Day) on the 13th. Son and daughter-in-law have been to this Criniti’s before. The four of us have been to their Parramatta restaurant on several occasions. I have never written a review before.

I used the internet to try to ascertain if there is a BYO policy when I started to read the existing reviews and became a little suspicious about the similarity of many of the comments, especially when other eateries were named. I discussed the flavour of the reviews with my son, who was adamant that we should proceed with our booking and then decide for ourselves.

We arrived at 19:27 for our 19:30 reservation, which had earlier been confirmed via SMS/text. There were three groups in front of us in the queue, yet we were seated by 19:34. While we were waiting in the queue we heard the 'receptionist' turn away people who hadn’t made a reservation - politely.

The service buzzer on our table worked properly and within five minutes of its activation, we placed our orders. The place was jam-packed by 20:00 and the staff were obviously ‘flat out’. Our drinks arrived in good time and we got what we ordered, all with a smile.

The food took a little longer than we would have expected on a ‘normal’ Saturday evening because there were so many people (presumably some getting an early start for Mother’s Day) enjoying themselves. We ordered a pizza, steak and veal dishes as our mains, together with a reasonably marked up ($42 vs $19 from the winery) bottle of cab-sav.

I acknowledge the prices are not cheap, but consider the food represents great value for money. My veal with mushrooms was cooked to perfection, real ‘melt in your mouth’ stuff. We were all very pleased with our choices. My wife asked for a doggy-bag for two slices of her excellent pizza. Our waitress returned with the slices in a pizza box within minutes. Still smiling.

Three coffees and one Italian Hot Chocolate plus dessert were then ordered, and delivered promptly. Our waitress said she’d also bring a glass of water to accompany the Italian Hot Chocolate which “is very rich”. She wasn’t joking! This is a drink for chocoholics (like my son) only.

We left a little after 21:30 - completely satisfied and agreed with Arnie’s pledge that “Vee vill be baaaack!”

May 14, 2012 

3.3 Below Average

Food  3      Ambience  5      Service  3      Value  2     

It was the first time I had ever visited Castle hill Criniti's. After frequenting the one in Parramatta, I was disappointed with my dinner experience. The portions were decent sized, but the food didn't justify the price at the end. The ambience is nice but the service was quite slow. At the end of the night, we were full but I won't be rushing back soon.

Apr 22, 2012 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

For service you are instructed to push the button on the table. It took 25 minutes after first being seated to get a bottle of table water and glasses to be delivered to the table let alone drinks and food.

A hand was put in my face and I was told to "wait!" after being asked what I would like to order as his fancy hand held machine was slowing him down. The whole buzzer for service thing is a completely stupid idea as its incredibly frustrating when you do press it and it takes 20 minutes for your waiter to turn up then he tells you to wait another few minutes so then it's another 10 minutes later before you can order another drink.

They were really busy but I don't care! At $25+ for a bowl of pasta, Put More Staff On! When we booked (for 6:30) we were told we'd have to be out of our table by 8:30. This was a dinner I had organized for my staff to say thank you so I didn't want to rush. I wanted them to stay and eat and drink what ever they wanted.

Unfortunately, the service being so slow, disorganized and infuriatingly neglectful made us swear we'd never return.

Upon paying the bill, which took them 10 minutes to deliver and never returned to get my card, we headed down to pay. The cashier asked how everything was and I said awful. He smiled and I told him that I wasn't joking. He listened to my complaints then offered to take $70 off my bill. I said, "please don't because I won't be back whether you do it or not. I won't be returning" but he insisted.

We still only had a garlic pizza to share, 5 mains (pasta and pizza) and 8 cocktails. The bill was $360. - $70 and it came down to $290 for 5 people.
I don't mind spending money at restaurants but the prices need to reflect the quality of food but more than anything, the quality of service.

I do Not recommend this restaurant to anyone. Awful service! Buzzer or not!

Apr 21, 2012 

6.3 Average

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  5     

The steak was cooked nicely, although their medium is a bit on the rare side. The kebabs were fine, the chicken tasted better than the beef. The pasta tasted bland and boring. They need to make more of an effort on their pastas. The food is overpriced for what it is. We paid $185 for the four of us. We left very full but the quality of the food needs improving. Although it's at a great location and the staff were nice and friendly, the food isn't worth a return visit.

Apr 16, 2012 

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  7     

Big meals, decent service with tasty food! We had previously been to Parramatta before when really busy, we came here at lunch time which was much more relaxed.

The food is good italian fare cooked to order. Although nothing too fancy a pizza, pasta and dessert and we left here full and satisfied!

Apr 02, 2012 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Not recommended at all. Extremely overpriced and tasteless food. The service was appalling - they are very understaffed and the waitstaff have no idea what they are doing. This place is simply riding on the reputation of the other venues.

Apr 02, 2012