Oscillate Wildly

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

I had a very pleasant experience in this restaurant. We were greeted by the friendly staff as soon as we entered the restaurant, and they were more than happy to modify some of their degustation courses for my pescatarian diet, in fact, our menu was already printed for us to take home after the dinner.

The food was absolutely delicious and innovative! I do believe they specialise in subtle flavours. Every dish was a joy in my mouth, and the wines they suggested matched beautifully with the food!

The service was flawless, they made us feel so comfortable and welcome throughout the time we were there. The staff was very attentive and knowledgeable.

The ambience was great, being a small restaurant you really felt cozy and special. Being next to the Newtown police station reduced the ambience a little, but nevertheless the experience inside was lovely.

I would absolutely love to go back again!

Apr 18, 2012 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  8     

The food was innovative still delicious. The portions were not big but I was full by the end of the course. The matching wines were so nice with the dishes.

The service was one of the bests. Polite, punctual and friendly. It was a real "service". Overall, I had very nice experience at this restaurant. I would like to go back sometime.

Apr 06, 2012 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  2     

I was expecting a lot before I came to this restaurant (from the reviews here and food blogs+ One Chef's hat), but then I was So disappointed!

The food did not give me any "wow" at all. Instead, I saw every dish with some kind of green leaves/salad decorating (it is so boring to just see the Greens, why not some other colour variation)? They are lack of flavour too! I also don't understand why most dishes got some crunchy bits in them? any other combination that can at least give me a chance to say "wow".

Seriously, paying $100 for a dinner, of course you expect something that is not just delicious, but also with different combination of flavour, colour and textures. That is also what degustation/tasting menu is supposed to be, something creative, different from the usual dishes.

If the food is good, I really don't care about if it is crowded/noisy in such a small environment. For service, please pretend to be friendly 'thoroughly', don't let me see that you are pretending to be friendly but not succeed.

Apr 06, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

When food makes you smile, you know you're onto something good. When you remember the food, and particular parts of the dish, a month after you've eaten it, and you're still working out how they made it, you know you're onto something great.

The food here is experimental but all the flavours completely work. Its all plated beautifully and though initially, you think each portion is small, at the end of the night you walk out feeling completely satisfied ...and then some.

The service is easily among the best I've had. Warm. Attentive. Quick. Some may think the process of them describing the food or wine a bit much for them, but I think they presented it in a way that really interested me. They told you what characteristics a particular wine had, how this was achieved and then how this would go well with your next dish.

Value-wise, I think it was very reasonable. Like other reviewers have said, you could expect to pay up to and including double Oscillate's price for similar offerings in this city.

But like any of these types of offerings, you wouldn't go all the times, but I sure will be looking forward to the next time I do.

Mar 29, 2012 

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  10     

I feel embarrassed writing such a glowing review. To be honest I would give them 10 out of 10 for ambience too except the rather modest decor may not be high spec enough for some. For the 4 of us it was all perfect. The focus is totally on the food and service. Knowledgeable (with a deep knowledge of Australian and French wines they advised us for and against some of the wines we wanted to bring), friendly, curteous and attentive they hit exactly the right note for all of us.

Their food, though rooted in the classics, is highly imaginative and technical without being cute or tried for. And that is not to say that everyone loved each of the 8 courses. It was almost as perfect as that but one in our party found one of the dishes featuring hops too bitter. But that really only spoke to the desire of Oscillate Wildly to find the balance between classic, modern and cutting edge.

All 4 of us are quite accomplished home cooks who on occasion aspire to fine cuisine. We go to restaurants often to steal ideas to try at home. At OW, on most courses we bowed out of any attempt to replicate the dishes we were served. And as for value there are other much better known restaurants with 3 hats that promise a similar experience of culinary delight at more than twice the price (and from this writers perspective without the same degree of delivery).

And the best thing of all was that, while OW has been described along with Tetsuya's as the toughest tables to book in town, at the moment many seem to have given up trying and we were able to secure a table with only a few days notice! Congratulations to everyone involved in this triumph of a restaurant.

Jan 13, 2012 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  7     

Visited for a special occasion and had a great night out with some very interesting dishes.

This is edgy food, if you're picky or 'know what you like' then it may not be the place for you. Not every dish was a success for me but that's half the fun of eating at a venue like this and I could admire the skills and ideas of the chef even when the outcome was not great for me (I think there was one dish that each in our party would have been happy to skip but every dish was liked by most of the group showing how personal this can be).

The upstairs may be open by now which will provide some much needed space and hopefully the sound absorption is a little better upstairs. Our service experience was excellent, very professional without being stuffy.

It was quite a lot of money when including the matched wine flight (which showed how hard it is to match wine and foods) but this is not a place most people would eat at regularly so more than reasonable.

A great place to enjoy a special occasion with some foody friends. Not the sort of place you would take your parents (or at least not my parents).

Dec 31, 2011 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

There was more than enough food for me and for my husband, who is certainly not a small eater, we were stuffed.

Oscillate Wildly is simply lovely, it had really great and unusual combinations of flavours, without being too wanky about it. I ate things I would never ordinarily order on an a la carte menu (being a little conservative) but I'm so glad we had this experience.

We went on a Tuesday and brought our own wine (it's BYO Tue-Thur) but actually I wish we had ordered the matching wine instead as it would have been better to have tasted the food in conjunction with different wines rather than the same one for the whole meal, and it's not overly expensive.

I would more than recommend this to anyone looking for a special night out, it's not cheap but I think it's good value compared with other Sydney restaurants.

Dec 16, 2011 

4 Below Average

Food  8      Ambience  1      Service  5      Value  2     

Ate there on Saturday night. Was a bit disappointed with the seating arrangements- we were put near the door and as people walked through it felt like they were on top of you, which made the dining experience a bit annoying. Chairs were also uncomfortable.

Food and service was great. The only thing I would have to say is that the portion sizes were very small hence that is why you pay $100 for degustation menu. I had to ask for more bread and even then I was still hungry (had to go home and eat more). This was quite disappointing.So make sure you go after having had a big lunch! Also, my partner found a hair in his glass of wine and there was no offering that made up for that.

On the whole, really nice tasty food but really need to make portions a bit bigger or offer more bread. Not sure if I would go back.

Oct 17, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

Fantastic food and excellent service. Great value fine dining. Best value degustation in Sydney.

Sep 22, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Service  1     

Responding to Georgina J. to say that I have been experiencing the same problem. Trying to contact the restaurant is impossible. No one answers the phone. No one responds to messages left in the message bank which is sometimes full. Does not augur well if I want to go ahead with the booking I made ages ago and which I tried desperately to confirm over the last two weeks. 0/20 for service so far.

Aug 06, 2011