Sunny Harbour Seafood Restaurant

3 Below Average

Food  8      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

I have dined here for yum cha several times and the food has been reliably good. The service, however, has gone downhill quite considerably. I don't mind broken English, but rudeness and being ignored is unacceptable.

On my most recent visit our bill came to $61.96. I presented my credit card and upon the waiters return was handed my receipt for $73.00. My waiter informed me that this was a 20% charge for credit card use. This was the first mention of such a charge, which surely can't be legal. I declined to sign for this charge and said I would rather pay in cash.

After a 20 minutes wait and much discussion(mostly in chinese) a senior staff arrived and assured me that my card would not be processed and I could pay in cash. Guess what? The card has been charged and I am still trying to rectify this! This ridiculous completion to the meal definitely will deter me from dining here again and raises questions about possible tax evasion. Not Happy!

Apr 18, 2012 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

Only been to Sunny Harbour for the dinner trade, namely for the lobsters when they're on special. The food is average and usually lots of asian families gather for dinner to have Chinese meals. We had various traditional/usual dishes and all were eatable.

Read more on my blog

Mar 19, 2012 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

In nearly 40 yrs of living in Sydney, this is the Best place for yum cha I've ever been to. Go nearly every week. Might see you there on a saturday morning.

Jan 16, 2012 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

We reserved a private room on the top floor. The food was fantastic and fresh. Anything with prawns in it stood out for us. Staff were attentive and although there was a language barrier at times, the staff tried hard to help us and they did a fantastic job overall. The final price for 11 guys including 3 or 4 beers each was about $40 each. Fantastic value.

Jul 26, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  2      Service  1      Value  1     

Obviously good value if you are from the chinese community as it was full of chinese nationals. We were the only westerners. No menu offered to us in english. We asked about the yum cha (whether there were many steamed choices? We were lied to, to get our business. There were only 3 dishes offered to us that were steamed!

The menu was in chinese and so were the price listings. We thought we were paying a $50.00 set price for 2 (this was on the ticket we were given) I gladly accepted some dishes to try, understanding it was a set price!? It wasn't! They were not interested in my polite pleadings. Each waiter said they didn't speak english until I asked where do I pay? Then I was promptly escorted to the checkout.

Our bill was $92.80! and we were there for approx 30 minutes for a quick lunch. Later I noticed the price of our very small lemon, lime n bitters... $7.00 each and $9.00 for the final LLB where I asked for a bigger glass! No prices advertised. The checkout said "its $92.80 but for cash just $81.05!" After messing up the mastercard transaction by deducting the amount twice and then devoiding, my female partner felt sorry for me and produced the $81.05 cash... yes I promptly paid back!

To top off the experience we were extremely rudely spoken to by the staff at the exit downstairs, when I politely brought to her attention the confusion with the $50.00 for 2 offer I thought she had written on our ticket. She continued with her rude, abrupt and demeaning speech "Don't you know its yum cha? of course you pay for each item and not set price!" Its a shame it was my first yum cha and most definitely my last at Sunny's Harbour Seafood, note no harbour in hurstville!

To top it off I checked the receipt and there was an itemisation of an amount of $11.76 (kitchen T1)I can only assume this is a type of tax they think they can charge in oz? This was the difference between the cash or credit charge bill! my quick calculations say this is an approx %15.00 surcharge for card use! I guess so they can keep their cash economy going! Don't go unless your chinese!

Jun 24, 2011 

6.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

We went to Sunny Harbour after also reading it was voted no 1 for yum cha. However, we had dinner here and it was a night or highs and lows. We were seated promptly (without a booking), but orders were not taken that quickly. Although this is an Asian restaurant, there were a few problems with speaking English and communicating. We ordered the steamed prawn dumplings for entree.

We were not overly impressed, the dumplings were too doughy. We got the Mud crab in Ginger and Shallot, which was the highlight of the meal. As you would expect the crab was brought to our table live for our approval before cooking. We couldn’t fault this dish, it was tasty and delicious! We had a scallop and vegetable stir-fry which was a generous serve and also enjoyable.

Our rice never arrived, however, we were still charged for it! Only $2.50, so nothing to be to disappointed about. We didn’t wait a long time for our meals, but general service was a let down. I don’t think Sunny Harbour is very concerned as every table was full of Chinese which speaks for itself (we were the only non Asian diners). We would go back based on the outstanding Mud Crab.

Jun 14, 2011 

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

This place was voted No 1 Yum Cha restaurant in Sydney by the Sydney Morning Herald's head food critic last year - he must have been in a different place to the one I went to this weekend. The three of us sat down just before 1pm on the first floor near the balcony. The food was okay, but absolutely nothing out of the ordinary - there didn't really seem to be much choice on the trolleys at all. I suspect a much better time is to be had if you can snag a seat at the other end of the room by the kitchen. All in all, it was okay - Sydney's No 1 Yum Cha? No.

May 15, 2011 

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  9      Value  8     

Went there for Yum Cha today and as usual was warmly greeted by the Maitre d who is very good at her Job. She makes the wait for a table seem pleasant. The food was quick and fresh and every bit as good as Chinatown restaurants.

Feb 15, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

I wish I didn't come here. Pretty much the worst yum cha place I've ever been too in Sydney with appalling service (and I'm Chinese so believe me when I say worst). There wasn't a variety of food around because they were busy so I couldn't order my favourites. They keep passing the same food over and over again. The food didn't taste great and wasn't properly prepared. The rice skin of my Har Gow was too soft to handle with skilled chopstick hands.

Service was really bad too. When we finally got a table after 1/2 hour, some random people, without any waiting ticket, just sat at our table. Instead of rightly giving the table to us (because we had the waiting ticket), the manager decided to give the table to the other group because they had 6 people and we had 5 which was quite rude. Considering that it would mean that my 87 year old grandfather would have to wait longer.

Feb 06, 2011 

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10     

I'm Chinese and love yumcha. Just rating the food: Amazing yumcha! Why? They have the freshest prawns in the har gau anywhere in Sydney. Best tasting dim sum that I've come across. They must have high turnover in food or other places serve stale dumplings. Revisited before Christmas, still the best in Sydney. Ask to be seated on Level 1 not Level 2 Siberia.

Feb 04, 2011