Oceans Bar Coogee, Sydney

Inspired by its waterfront location Oceans Bar Coogee Beach is a contemporary bar and lounge venue that prides itself on serving a superb premium drinks selction and fresh, delicious food amongst a welcoming atmosphere.

From relaxed day beds and shimmering lounges to elevated indoor and outdoor seaside al fresco dining; Oceans Bar provides the perfect setting for any event.

User Reviews of Oceans Bar, Coogee

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Displaying: 1 - 10 of 42 reviews

7.5 Recommended

Drinks 8 Ambience 8 Service 8 Value 6

Here are a few suggestions to improve the dining experience here:

Increase the size of the print font on the menu so that people over the age of 50 or short-sighted diners can actually read it.

Improve the lighting: The dim lighting might be romantic and restful, but it makes it even more impossible to read the menu.

Keep the doors closed on a cool nights. Doors flung wide open to catch the sea breeze may be ideal on a hot summer’s night, but it’s chilly and draughty on a blustery autumn night.

Get the seating sorted out. You basically have four choices, none of which are too appealing for a family group of five. You can either sit at uncomfortable high bar stools huddles around a little table or at a huge country, style kitchen table which has place for about 10 people but is too big for an intimate family dinner.

Or you can sit counter pub style which is great for solo diners but not for groups. And there are also soft leather couches which are useful for meetings or lounging around but impossible to eat a meal like that. We eventually settled for the least of the four evils: the round table with the high bar stools.

Starters should come out before mains. Don’t bring everything together, because that defeats the purpose of ordering starters. To be fair to these guys though, the menu describes the starters as “snacks and sharing plates” and doesn’t actually use the word “starters” (I know because I checked it online)! Okay so maybe ask diners if they would like the “snacks” before the mains or if they don’t mind having everything brought out at the same time.

Coffee should be served hot not lukewarm.

On the plus side: Service is prompt, helpful and polite. You pay and order at the counter and then collect your food when the buzzer goes off. I guess everything is prepared ahead of time and simply micro-waved as within 10 minutes of ordering our meals were ready.

Serving sizes are generous. You can easily get a table, at least on a weeknight. On the Monday night that we dined, there must have been only a handful of other diners, as you can see from the pics.

Convenient, safe location in the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Coogee Beach. Toilets are clean, well stocked and easy to find. If you can get over the chill and the uncomfortable seating, the atmosphere is rather nice with views over to Coogee beach and the place has a relaxed and laid back feel to it. Acoustics are fine and no-one will rush you out of here.

So to the food: Five of us dined and we paid $142 for five mains, a shared mezze plate and a shared serve of green veggies. (Drinks and coffees extra.) All the food was fresh and tasty. My lamb pizza was nicely flavoured with tender lamb and plump, red cherry tomatoes on a thin, crusty base. The cod fillets were delicious, although that serving was a tad small.

The mezze plate which was intended as our starter but ended up as an added shared main (because everything came out together), comes with Spanish chorizo, arancini (fried rice balls coated in breadcrumbs), seared halloumi (goat’s cheese), marinated olives, tzatziki and a few slices of white bread rather grandly described as “wood-fired”, whatever that means! At $25, it was a bit expensive but it had some interesting offerings although I found the halloumi a bit salty.

I think I may yet find it within myself to go back, perhaps, on warm summer’s night. And I’ll study the menu online before I go!

Mar 28, 2012

artforartssake
174

4.5 Below Average

Drinks 6 Ambience 5 Service 4 Value 3

Went for some food and cocktails. Food was ok and the cocktails nice. However, it was very expensive. It is a nice looking place, however, we encountered unhelpful staff. Better value places in coogee.

Feb 03, 2012

misterchef
8

9 Highly Recommended

Drinks 9 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 9

Came here on a Friday night. The pizzas were good and music great. Good bar staff and excellent outside area to chill. I hear Sunday lunchtime is the best to hit this joint.

Aug 08, 2011

silver surfer
35

4 Below Average

Drinks 4 Ambience 7 Service 2 Value 3

This place used to be great, now the service is poor at best with rude management and overpriced food and drink. Atmosphere is still lovely but based on how the management treats their patrons I won't be returning again.

Jun 17, 2011

Sottens
1

8 Recommended

Ambience 9 Service 7 Value 8 Food 8

Food in the bar area was excellent, and the live musicians, Alisa and Sam, on Friday nights are exceptional! Very good value as there is no cover charge and they are very talented. We have been several times, and hope this continues into the new year. Well done!

Dec 17, 2010

MicheleD
1

8.8 Highly Recommended

Ambience 8 Service 9 Value 9 Food 9

Yummy food and a great place to hang out near the beach. Pizzas are awesome too best I've had from bar that is for sure. Cocktails are pretty good too.

Nov 06, 2010

sarahmcinnes79
6

7 Recommended

Drinks 7 Ambience 7 Service 7 Value 7

Came here for a work function. The pizzas were really nice but a little on the small side. Drinks nice and good cocktails. I didn't pay so cannot really comment on value but work said it worked out quite well. Connected to the Crown Plaza but has a separate entrance.

Mar 01, 2010

Elissa80
20

7.8 Recommended

Drinks 8 Ambience 9 Service 7 Value 7

Noisy, loud, young, fun, corporate. Good food, small portions. Service lacking on a busy December Friday night. Loved being outside under the umbrella's overlooking Coogee Beach.

Dec 14, 2009

Dicey
26

8.5 Highly Recommended

Drinks 8 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 8

This is a great place to sit and watch the world go by on the edge of the Coogee main drag, out of the way of the weekend crowds. We've eaten here on a Sunday lunchtime on a couple of occasions, each time has been a pleasant experience - this Sunday was possibly the best.

We were greeted by polite and enthusiastic staff, who served our drinks to the table from the bar and make recommendations on the best pizzas on the list available. We had a garlic prawn pizza, calamari and a green salad. The pizza was a good size with plenty of prawns and salmon, must have been good as I didn't get to try it! The calamari was deep fried, which personally isn't my favourite, but I didn't check before I ordered and it was fresh and tasty so no complaints.

The salad leaves were fresh and the dressing tasty, although watch out for the red onion (again personally not a big fan). The wine selection is good and the service was excellent. If you want to avoid the crowds on Coogee Bay Road but enjoy the view, this is a great spot.

Aug 27, 2009

hippo304
5

8.8 Highly Recommended

Drinks 9 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 8

Oceans Bar is one of those places that is great for having a few quiet drinks and catching up with friends. The atmosphere is great and you don't have to talk over disappointed loud music. They have a great cocktail list and choose of beers, and the food is quick, easy, well priced and delicious. They also have tables outside so you can sit and look over the beach whilst chilling out.

Would recommend Oceans to anyone wanting to go out without the hassle of crowds and pretentious bar staff.

Jun 28, 2009