L’etoile Restaurant & Bar

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

My husband and I have dined here on many occasions. We just love it! I usually stick to what I know when I go out. Here at L'Etoile I always try something different and I'm always surprised, the food is just yum. Service is excellent. I only wish my French was better than what it is.

Feb 17, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

Went with a couple of work friends on Saturday night. Was pleasantly surprised that Manu the Head Chef was there and cooking. We were seated at the backyard covered outdoor area which was light and airy, as the restaurant inside was quite dark.

The food were nicely done and delicious, as one would expect from this type of restaurant. But the service was what really impressed us. Our waiter and waitress were very nice, and we got the idea that they actually enjoyed working there!.

The young waitress, France (yes, that's her real name) was very helpful, friendly and welcoming. She even persuaded Manu to have his picture taken with us. Overall, it was a good experience.

Jan 17, 2012 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Ate at Létoile tonight for my birthday. Experience was fantastic from beginning to end. Enjoyed every mouthful of food, thought the service was great (thanks for complimentary champagne and candle in dessert!). Good value for money and can't wait to dine here again soon. Highly recommend.

Dec 17, 2011 

7.8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  9     

Loved the food particularly the chicken liver salad and the lamb rump. Cocktails were good though not lavish. Overall a very enjoyable night.

Dec 11, 2011 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  8     

Fantastic french food! A cut above bistro fare with some delicate flavours and techniques. The chicken terrine, quail and beetroot salad entres were excellent. The creme brulee with rhubarb jam at the base was delicious! Wine list has enough French regions covered to go with any dish. Service was fair, but would have expected fresh bread and butter on the table while we waited some time for our first course. We'll back for the wine and food!

Nov 09, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

Took my partner here for his Birthday. We had a perfect night. The staff were friendly. The setting is romantic and perfect (we sat out in the courtyard) and the food was superb. Simple but gourmet French cuisine, fresh and perfectly cooked. At $195 for two people including wine and bread I thought it was really well worth it.

Oct 06, 2011 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  7     

Onion tart with goat's curd for entree was great. Beef cheek for main was smallish, but was full of flavour and was definitely filling. Creme brûlée for dessert wasn't anything special but was still good.

Service and ambience were both great and exactly what you would expect from this type of restaurant. Overall, I would definitely try it out again for a romantic, summer evening dinner for two.

Sep 26, 2011 

6 Average

Food  6      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  5     

This was my second visit to L'etoile, and I found it to be much less pleasurable than the first.

The ambience of the restaurant is wonderful, and we were seated in the outdoor terrace which is beautiful. The restaurant is also positioned at the Five Ways in Paddington which is a wonderful part of Sydney.

Unfortunately, we had a few issues with our visit. Three separate servers were constantly visiting our table, giving it a glance, and walking away. This made us very uncomfortable. Sometimes 2 appearing within 60 seconds of each other. This may have been caused by the biggest confusion of the night: the table salad.

We'd ordered a salad for the table, which came out during entree. The staff were utterly perplexed about taking it away after we had insisted several times that we would like it to eat with our mains. It then took 45 minutes for our mains to arrive, possibly because the salad was unfinished (even though we told both servers to please bring the mains.) They were very confused and the language barrier didn't help things.

My main of beef cheek was uninspired. It was a very large, bland piece of beef with a dark, bitter sauce. I, and others in my party that ordered it referred to it as "grandma's beef"

My dessert of jam doughnuts with rhubarb and gingerbread ice cream was exactly as it sounds. I was hoping for a modern or French take on jam doughnuts, but alas, it was much what you would expect from Donut King. The gingerbread ice cream was wonderful, but was literally melting before my eyes and I wasn't able to have it with the doughnuts. There was a general mood of disappointment with the desserts from others in my party.

I don't think I'll dine here again, unless invited, although I do enjoy the location and atmosphere.

Sep 08, 2011 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  5     

We were in search for some French food and we found this place in Paddington. A party of four headed into the city, and found a nice cozy hidden away restaurant.

Ambience is nice, the wait staff are friendly and service is good too. The food was extremely well cooked, the quail was magnificent, but I have to say the beef cheeks were a tad bland. Don't worry too much about dessert. They are well prepared and presented, taste good too but it was not the exclamation mark to finish off the night that I expected.

Be prepared to open your cheque book. Wines are very good, but with a hefty mark-up. And I still can't understand why these high end restaurants, owned by the Sydney elite, are still incapable of removing those annoying "10% surcharges for Sundays, public holidays etc" even though they are strictly not legal unless they supply separate menus.

Overall, if you consider yourself to be part of the Sydney elite, go for it. The food is enjoyable, you have a great selection of wines and if you have plenty of cash to splash around, they certainly won't hesitate to take it from you. If you're not, I struggle to see the value for money.

Sep 06, 2011 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

We had dinner a L'etoile last night and it was fabulous. The service was personal and very good. The food was terrific - fresh and beautifully prepared. Every detail in the presentation of the meals was lovely and the entire experience was exceedingly pleasant. We will definitely be back!

Sep 02, 2011