North Sydney Cellars

User Reviews of North Sydney Cellars

Displaying: 1 - 10 of 23 reviews

1 Not Recommended

Service 1 Value 1

Have been here often for a glass of wine before dinner. Tonight we ordered 2 100 ml glasses of red wine. Waitress brought 2 small carafes and glasses. When we went to pay we were told that we were given 200ml glasses at a cost of $38. I'm not in the habit of measuring my wine glasses and had no idea but they insisted we had to pay for the waitresss's mistake. I won't be back and certainly won't be recommending this place any more. I could have had a bottle of the same quality wine at the same price with pleasant service somewhere else.

Sep 02, 2011

Ann K.
1

4.5 Below Average

Food 8 Ambience 5 Service 1 Value 4

Met two friends on Friday afternoon and had some wine and cheese platter. All was going well until 5:30pm when the waitress wanted us to leave - she needed the stools and table for a prebooked party at 4:30pm. My friends had arrived at 3pm and were never told the table would be required later - an omission on the waitresses part. However to have a waitress argue with you in public and shout at you that you are not listening to her is unbelievably bad service. When my firend complained to the manager he did nothing just said we should have been told - well we were not and still had a rude waitress telling us to leave. A little patience and customer service would have been great - they could have asked us nicely to move inside to a spare table and offered us some compensation for their error - no afraid not they had no management or customer service skills to deal with a situation where they had made an error. It is shame because the food and wine selection are good - maybe senior management can instigate some serious customer service training.

Feb 28, 2011

Julie D.
1

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 10 Service 9 Value 8

UPDATE Dec 2010 *** Again went here for quick lunch. It was busy but everything went well. Shared an antipasto with some lovely sangiovese wine. All excellent including friendly service when very busy. ***

Had lunch here. Need to book as popular. Both of us were in a bit of a rush and were served quickly and we got in and out in an hour as we needed. Both had salads with a glass of wine and both enjoyed. Followed by good coffee also served quickly. A very good choice of wine by the glass and bottle as you would expect from a cellar based cafe.

I like the casual bistro ambience of the place. Plenty of waiters seemed to be on hand and they were efficient. I can imagine they could run into trouble serving as it was very busy indeed. Priced as you would expect given the location. I enjoyed it and would also be happy just sit at the bar and have a glass of wine with a friend as well.

Dec 25, 2010

oze
47

7.5 Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

Simple lunch turned out to be a very good sandwich and excellent wine. Lingered much longer than planned but enjoyed the experience.

Sep 23, 2010

Steve5
14

3.5 Below Average

Food 6 Ambience 6 Service 1 Value 1

My husband and I thought we would stop into "Drink Better Wine" last Friday after a long week at work.

We walked in and asked if we could have a table for two the waitress looked at me blankly and said "how many of you?" (it was just myself and my husband standing in front of her,) I said "two" she then pointed us to a table with a grumpy attitude. I was ready to walk out then but thought "no give it a chance".

My husband ordered a glass of the Barossa red and I ordered a glass of the SA bubbles. When the waitress returned with our drinks I proceeded to questioned her as to why my glass was less than half full, she said "thats how we serve it" and walked off! I was left speechless and proceeded to drink my half empty glass of wine, 5 minutes later and much to my dismay I saw the woman at the table next to us being served the same wine and her glass was full to the top! We ordered our bill and vowed never to return.

Jul 26, 2010

Gabs Avery
2

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food 9 Ambience 7 Service 9 Value 9

We dined here on Saturday night and absolutely gave it the thumbs up! Thank goodness that a new idea has arrived in the lower North Shore and it really delivers! The food was absolutely spot on, delicious flavour combination using quality, fresh ingredients. The no mark up on wine approach is equally welcomed, we bought two bottles of wine for $38! Amazing quality for the price. The service was excellent, well informed and friendly (and I am not easily pleased on service!) We will definitely be back and recommend North Sydney Cellars (Drink Better Wine) to all of our friends!

Jan 26, 2010

nic&glen
1

7.3 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 8 Service 8 Value 6

I like this place, had a Friday lunch and was quite impressed. This place would be at home on any vineyard, yet it is smack bang in the middle of North Sydney. Comfortable relaxed atmosphere with a nice selection of lunch options, on the more expensive side but at least you are not fighting off the office hordes.

Service was knowledgeable and reasonably paced, and the option to buy bottles from the cellar with no BYO is a treat allowing you to sample something a little out of the ordinary. I can't imagine I would dine here too regularly, but for something a bit different from the usual bar menus in North Sydney I'd recommend giving it a try.

Jan 22, 2010

matthewjw
16

10 Highly Recommended

Food 10 Ambience 10 Service 10 Value 10

Lunch was great. The red wine risotto was perfectly complemented by a considered choice of shiraz, chosen by the affable staff. Compliments to the chef and the waiters, and whoever it is who chooses the wine. I found the service to be efficient and concerned about our experience there. All in all, a well run establishment. Thanks!

Jan 13, 2010

JBizzle
1

7.8 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 7 Value 7

Having read the review of this place in Saturdays SMH, we thought we'd stop by, as had driven past a thousand times and never realised what it was about..."Drink Better Wine" Amen to that. Being winos we were more interested in the wine list than food, which I think is what they are actually going for. Two (very passionate) waitstaff explained to us the concept of a wine bar at bottle shop prices and great food thrown in. Again, Amen to that. But don't expect to recognise a lot of the labels, these guys are wine geeks and know what's good.

We particularly liked the choice of buying a Quartino of wine, like a decanter for one! A value-added perk that I've rarely seen outside of Europe. Food was fabulous, choice of cheeses and fine cold meats to rival French brasseries. Absolutely loved the concept, what's more, they serve awesome coffee too! We'll be back.

Jan 12, 2010

willyweasel
1

4.3 Below Average

Food 5 Ambience 6 Service 4 Value 2

Lunched here on 1/12. Service wasn't great, had to seat ourselves at our reserved table. Antipasto was ok. Had the poached trout salad from the specials which had a ridculously small portion of trout, I would estimate about 30 grams at the most! The menu isn't extensive and they were also out of some menu items, so not a huge range of choice. The only thing this place has going for it is the wine.

Dec 02, 2009