William Blue Dining

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  9     

Lovely food, beautifully presented and cooked to perfection. Had a lovely evening there tonight, and the service was great. Would go again in a heart beat.

Mar 15, 2012 

8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  9     

I have eaten in some of the great restaurants of the world and was incredibly surprised to find the food excellent, the service excellent, the ambience good and the value amazing. Thank you.

Jul 07, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

As previously stated, this place is a training college however don't be too concerned as the students are all very closely supervised by an experienced waiter. If you are the snobbish type, don't bother as the students are still training but I think this is part of the experience. Decor is nice, food is tasty and great value for money.

Jun 18, 2011 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  10     

If you're mean, or grumpy, don't go. This is so much fun if you are in the right mood, and the food was (mostly) great. Yes its a little functional, but the decor is fine, the thing that gives it its character are all the students who outnumbered the diners by 2-1. I also think we went at the beginning of the term, when they were still a bit nervous!

Sat with a group, looking at the menu, and the lady across from me asks "the snapper comes with puttanesca, what's that?" cue stunned look from studnet waiter, "I'm sorry?" says the strong accented waiter, encouraging a repeat. The lady repeats and still the stunned look, he shuffles off. We, being good natured, find this quite fun that he has no idea what this is. He returns to agree with someone’s suggestion that it might be like polenta. Which it isn't. He tries again and asks the chap running the place.

The food; my Chicken parfait was lovely, big serve. The Snapper with puttanesca, egg plant and whatever else was on the plate was by common consent, the best dish. The only let down being the hand cut chips which by my untrained palate, appeared to have been cooked several times as if part of some experiment.

Desert of the panna cotta type thing - can't remember what is was exactly (I had been drinking the red wine quite freely - it was nice the way the wait staff hold both bottles red / white in one hand and wave them at you to choose one) with some fruity substance was marvellous!

As it is a short menu, 3 choices per course, you won't get lost, but go with an open mind and its fun, and very good value! Service is naive, but attentive and fun. For any non foodies, puttanesca is as informed by J, as whores pasta / sauce. A rich tomato / olive / stuff from tins sauce. This may come as a shock, especially if you are looking forward to unblemished polenta.

Mar 05, 2011 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  10     

Had lunch and dinner here several times. Service was great, food was amazing. Extremely good value, just need to be patient with students as they are just learning, small price to pay for a great meal.

Jul 27, 2010 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  10     

Excellent service from inexperienced and unpolished but very keen and charming wait staff.

Jul 26, 2010 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

We are regulars at Billy Blues! The food is fantastic, the service is great and the value for money just can't be beaten. As a member I get a free bottle of wine when 4 of us dine, which makes for such an inexpensive night out. We try to visit as often as possible, one of our fave hidden treasures in Sydney dining!

Jul 22, 2010 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  10     

It is really first class food and so cheap, 3 courses for $29. They are all students and so are learning but I had no service issues when we went. The food even included duck on the menu! The entree was divine, the main fantastic and the dessert even better! Highly recommended.

Response from Management:
Thank you so much for your feedback. While things don't always go smoothly in our training restaurant, the experience is always excellent. I'm thrilled you enjoyed yourself, and the best compliment you could ever give was to recommend us to your friends. We are closed for the year now, but reopen in February 2010, with the new trimester.

Sep 07, 2009 

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  9     

We came here after a friend had recommended it, it's basically a room where students can practice their cooking and service skills, and on the whole they do a good job. The room is reasonably decorated, although the bright lights from the kitchen tend to overpower the room, and we were a bit miffed we were sat right next to the kitchen given the other tables didn't get filled during the course of the night.

Service was friendly and very attentive, the only odd part being the sheer number of staff there. I think a lack of english is the only thing holding some staff back, as the service itself was very good, with only occasional misunderstandings. The chowder entree was milky/watery, and too thin and flavourless for my liking, it needed to have some thickness and flavour. The souffle entree was pretty decent though.

I had the beef main with spinach cream, it was fantastic, not the best cut of meat ever, but well cooked and the flavour was excellent. The open lasagne left a bit to be desired flavour-wise, but the fish was apparently ok. Dessert we shared the choc fondant, and while I wasn't a huge fan of the amount of citrus accompaniment, it was actually pretty good.

The value is excellent, including drink prices (it came to $45 a head for 3 courses plus beer and wine), so I suspect we'll be back to try it again when the menu changes.

Response from Management:
Thanks for your valuable feedback. We change the menu every trimester (three times per year) and look forward to seeing you again.

Apr 06, 2009 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

Billy Blue Brasserie was a fine dining experience and I enjoyed my time there. It is also interesting to watch how the students of William Blue Hospitality College operate and work as a team, they obviously enjoy their time there which is clearly represented by the standard of food coming out of the kitchen.

My only recommendations are that they open the outside dining area to the public and rethink the interior design of the restaurant. Look out Sydney there is some true talent emerging at Billy Blue well done and I look forward to dining there again soon

Jan 02, 2009