Italian Bowl, The

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

This place is supposed to be a casual dining for quick and fresh pasta and cheap. This place has been our favourite pasta place in Sydney, however, I must say in the past few years, they have been increasing their prices regularly and size of the dish has also gone down little bit.

As a result, this is no longer a cheap pasta lovers place. You would be spending fair bit of money in such a small quick, casual dining place. I think pasta here is more expensive than the recent pasta restaurant opened by Jamie Oliver in Sydney CBD.

However, their pasta is still nice, fresh and flavorsome. Though it is busy, if you are willing wait for 10-15 minutes, you would be served and get your food quickly.

We love marinara with extra chili, garlic bread, greek salad, tiramisu, arrabiata here.

Response from Management:
Hi it's Jenny Owner of The Italian Bowl.

We appreciate your feedback and appreciate your positive comments you have very good taste as the Marinara is one of our best sellers. I would like to object to some of your points though ie;

Increased prices for only some dishes have only gone up 2 times in the 6 years of trading and only by $2. Most of our suppliers have gone up every year if not 2 times per year. Our prices are very competitive and reasonable.

Our portions have stayed the same and at no time have we decreased the portions.
I have been to Jamie Oliver and the atmosphere is great, the food was ok but definately more expensive than ours and I believe our pasta is more tastier. You could say I am biased but I know my products and they are fresh daily and the recipes are traditional home cooking not modernized which I personally don't fancy.

Jamie Oliver is a great chef and tv star but for authentic Italian I believe we serve it best. He has his ratings but like you said we have our queues and our customer flow can be 400 customers a day so I think most would say our place is still the place to get reasonably priced good quality pasta.

Thanks again and I do hope you visit us again.

Jenny

Apr 08, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  9     

Great place to get a bite before hopping into the Dendy Cinemas. Great value. Solid and familiar items done really well.

Response from Management:
Thank you for your feedback. We hope we continue to please you on future visits.

Thanks,

Jenny Director

Mar 03, 2012 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Wow. Amazing food! What a great place to eat, quick, reasonably priced and always an interesting theatrical like atmosphere. The staff are always friendly, an seriously people, unless you have never been to newtown in your life, then you have absolutely no right to complain about the space. It's loud, it's squashy and sure you might be knocked constantly by the surrounding diners and staff but it's newtown and we love it! Went there the other day, had my usual favorite, siciliana, exquisite as always. Having worked in hospitality before, I think it would be difficult to find a cleaner or more efficient kitchen set up. Keep up the good work guys!

Response from Management:
Thank you very much for your review. It is really nice and comforting that there are people that will take the time to write positive feedback when it's deserved. Your descriptions are spot on and well put. It is very much appreciated and I hope we continue to please you.

Thanking you.

Jenny
Director

Feb 18, 2012 

6 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

My original review in October 2010: I stumbled across this place the day it opened and I've been stumbling back once a month since. If you want a consistently quick, fresh, tasty and reasonably priced pasta meal this is your place. You'll be in and out before you know it and will be satisfied and full. Give the specials a run which are usually very tasty.

Update February 2012: I went here recently and the staff were the same but boy oh boy has the quality of the product slipped. I tried my regular seafood marinara with fettuccine, the serving bowl was smaller, the food serving was smaller, the quality of the seafood was average, basically the seafood consisted of a few pieces of chewy calamari and 2 small prawns. The garlic bread had also changed to a smaller serve.

Come on guys if you keep this up your regulars will stop coming. I used to visit fortnightly but have no interest at the moment, hopefully next time will be a better experience.

Response from Management:
Hi, 



I am disappointed to here your review, however criticism sometimes can be constructive. 



I would like to object to the fact that our portions are smaller, this is not the case, we now have 2 sizes but our regular is the same as when we opened. Also our quality hasn't changed, we use same suppliers and deliveries are daily, so our produce is fresh. Seafood at the moment is dicey and at times some types of seafood cannot be ordered, however, usually it's fine and again we use the same supplier. Our garlic bread serves are also the same size as when we opened and are in fact larger, however, if you didn't get our rolls on that day it is possible we ran out and served you another type which are only used as back up. 



Our prices have increased for some dishes from when we opened by $2 a dish. Considering it’s been 6 years and our suppliers increase once if not twice per year, I think this is reasonable. Also, our dishes, quality and service are very competitive with other similar restaurants. 



I do hope you return and give us another go and anticipate you won't be disappointed, however if there is a problem, please mention it immediately to the manager whom I am sure will rectify it. 



Thanking you.

Jenny
Director

Feb 09, 2012 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

We felt like pasta so just thought we try this place since its always busy! It was very very fast, we have to say that! Our pastas were average we have to say, the siciliana missing something, really overpriced with just a few eggplant pieces and the rest really only napolitana sauce! We enjoyed the chicken green peppercorn, it was nice!

What we have to add is, the service was just horrific! The woman at the counter in the beginning was more talking to the other girl staff, telling her to count the money twice next time instead of serving customers! We found that its Quite rude to do that in front of us! The girl who was doing the table service kept coming to clear our plates but we weren't even finished! We told her twice! The third time she just took our plates, my partner was still eating a piece of bread (it was in his hand)! That we found quite rude as well!

All in all it's overpriced and I don't think we will be back, the service was just too much of a let down! Improve your customer service guys!

Response from Management:
Hi, 



My name is Jenny, Director of The Italian Bowl. 

I am very disappointed in your review, however it is necessary for any business to accept and action constructive criticism. 



Firstly, I would like to say that our staff are trained to give full acknowledgement to customers at all times, however, it is likely that at the time of your visit the staff member may have actually been training another staff member and it is necessary to do this at time of trading. 



Secondly, our products are fresh produce and the cost of living these days are very high, however I do not agree that our prices are unreasonable. I have been to many dining places and for the quality, portion sizes and efficient service, I say our restaurant is well in competition with other businesses. 



Thirdly, our restaurant is fast passed, however, in no way are our staff to push customers away once they are finished, let alone before they are, so I do apologise for this if this was in fact the case. 

I appreciate you did not receive the treatment that you should have, however this is a very rare case, as we have mainly only had positive feedback and this is proven by the amount of customers we serve on a day to day basis. 



I would hope that you would try our restaurant again and if you are dissatisfied, please speak with the Manager on duty and they will attempt to resolve the matter. Please mention your review and my name, Jenny, if there are any problems, if you do choose to have another go. 



Thanking you. 


Jenny

Dec 19, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

Everytime we're driving down King St, we see that this place is always busy, so decided to give it a go.

Service was pretty fast given how busy it was, but to be honest, I've had better Spag Bol at Victoria Plaza in Chatswood. Their Boscaiola was pretty good though. Serving size was pretty small, but nevertheless filling. I'm glad I didn't order a large size as $19 is a bit too much for a plate of spaghetti and a dollop of sauce on top.

Response from Management:
I am Jenny, Director of The Italian Bowl. I appreciate your feedback, however, am confident our portion sizes, prices and customer service reflect great competition amongst other similar restaurants across Sydney. Our restaurant is small and there are a huge amount of customer flow on a day to day basis, so the service has to be efficient and fast. 



Also, our bolognese is one of our top sellers and am disappointed that you didn't rate it as well as I think it should be, however, there will be days in any restaurant that the food differs and maybe the day you went was that day. I do apologise for that, however I would like it if you could try it again. 



Thanks for your nice words for our Boscaiola. 



Thanking you. 


Jenny

Nov 12, 2011 

6.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  7     

Pasta is tasty, decent meal for the price although extra $7 for an upsize feels a little steep.

Response from Management:
Hi, it's Jenny, Director of The Italian Bowl.

I would like to show our appreciation for your review and would like to add, though, our portion sizes and quality reflect our prices and I believe our restaurant is very competitive with similar businesses around Sydney.

Thanking you.
Jenny

Sep 13, 2011 

7.8 Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  3     

What can I say about the Italian Bowl?. Well they make brilliant pasta, it may be well overpriced but it's worth what you pay. It's a very small venue and it's very crammed, I really think they should move out of that little corner and find somewhere bigger on King Street. I generally get take away from there, I've only ever eaten there once and I don't like being crammed in the wall whilst trying to eat. It's not somewhere to take the girlfriend, if you're going to do that, just get take away for the both of you.

Response from Management:
Hi,

It's Jenny, Director of The Italian Bowl.

We would like to show our appreciation for your review.

Thanking you.
Jenny

Aug 23, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

Food was fantastic however it would help to increase the size of the restaurant. Great value and friendly staff.

Response from Management:
Hi,

It's Jenny, Director of The Italian Bowl.

We would like to show our appreciation for your review.

Thanking you.
Jenny

Aug 05, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

Great food in a great location, little ambience (altho loud kitchen staff's yelling at each other can be a visual entertainment extravaganza! Recently their prices have gone up, making them less competitive with the other Italian Restaurants but their friendly and quick service does still raise them above the bar. Perfect to pop into after a movie next door at the Dendy Cinema. Recommended.

Response from Management:
Hi,

It's Jenny, Director of The Italian Bowl.

We would like to show our appreciation for your review.

Thanking you.
Jenny

Jul 14, 2011