Kerrianna

Reviews

Restaurants, Modern Australian, Vegetarian, BYO, Citibank Dining Program

Overall 7.8 117

5.5 Average

Food 5 Ambience 8 Service 3 Value 6

I really, really wanted to like this place. It looks great. There's a good vibe. The reviews are fab, and a friend went two nights before we did and raved about it, so, perhaps, we were just unlucky. Our biggest complaint would have to be the over-attentive service, as three friends catching up, we didn't need to have to constantly dodge flailing arms topping up barely-touched water glasses, nor pay attention to unsolicited comments while we were in the middle of a conversation.

Even when I said, "Thanks, we'll pour the water ourselves," there were still people leaning in from all angles every five minutes, one waitress even tried to take away a wine glass while there was still a bottle and a half of wine to be consumed. Even less welcome were the seven or eight ants we counted on the table and the cockroach climbing the wall behind me. And as for the food, our order was taken wrongly, that's fine, it can happen anywhere.

Of the four dishes we ordered, three were mediocre and the other spectacular. The salt and pepper tofu was flabby and tasteless with a corn and sundried tomato garnish that just didn't suit it, the chat potatoes nice and crispy but nothing special, the haloumi perfectly adequate but who could ruin haloumi? but the mushroom tortelloni was divine. I would go again and I probably will but I'd strongly advise the staff to learn to gauge the mood of each table, rather than always diving in with intrusive, puppy-like exuberance.

Jan 18, 2008

Joe's Deluxe Café, Potts Point

Cafes, Serves Breakfast

Overall 5.7 8

5 Average

Food 2 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 3

I stopped here for breakfast early this morning; it seemed like a nice, friendly place and the waitress was prompt and professional, bringing my tea in double-quick time. I happily ordered the eggs florentine, thanking my lucky stars that my fave breakfast dish was on the menu. But the menu had failed to inform me that the spinach constituent of the dish was of the greyish frozen/canned variety, the muffin more like a cheap soft white roll, and that the whole kit and caboodle came on a bed of iceberg lettuce. I'm sure they do other dishes well (am I really...? Why would anyone not use fresh spinach?) and that those dishes are set at a more reasonable rate ($11+ for my fake florentine). My advice: just don't order the eggs florentine if you're a fresh-food lover.

May 16, 2007

Malaya, The, Sydney

Restaurants, Malaysian, Child Friendly, Child Friendly Highchairs, Licensed

Overall 7.2 265

5 Average

Food 3 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 2

A great first impression - friendly, accommodating staff, a buzzing atmosphere and that glitzy King Street Wharf vista but unfortunately, in the case of my selections, the Malaya proved itself to be yet another restaurant whose mains fail to live up to the promise of its entrees (tasty, spicy tofu and eggplant chargrilled in banana leaf - yum!). My vegetable curry was seemingly no stranger to the bain marie and the veggies were so mushy and overcooked as to be indistinguishable from each other. At the risk of sounding like one of the reviewers on this site who "would have been happier going to MacDonalds/Subway/Oporto etc", I would have been genuinely disappointed to have been served this at the local takeaway curry house. The roti was good, though.

Mar 27, 2006

Kuletos Cocktail Bar, Newtown

Bars

Overall 7 40

7 Recommended

Drinks 8 Ambience 6 Service 6 Value 8

Not an amazing venue - bit frayed round the edges - but great cocktails (try the Red Corvette if you like strawberries) and good value - a comfy, friendly place to start the night.

Nov 11, 2005

est., Sydney

Restaurants, European, Modern Australian, Fine Dining, Romantic and Intimate

Overall 8.3 222

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 8

What a wonderful experience we had here. Attentive, friendly and knowledgeable staff; delectable food; a veggie menu (what a joy) and the most divine dessert I have ever tasted (the chocolate bouchon - even writing the name causes a weakness in the knee). When to all this you add an exquisitely designed space that is at once inviting and sophisticated, you have a dining experience that is truly world class. I only wish I could go there every week.

Aug 12, 2005

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Member since 2004

Last updated on 1st Jun 2012

Reviews

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Displaying: 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

Rubyos, Newtown

Restaurants, Modern Australian, Vegetarian, BYO, Citibank Dining Program

Overall 7.8 117

5.5 Average

Food 5 Ambience 8 Service 3 Value 6

Jan 18, 2008

Joe's Deluxe Café, Potts Point

Cafes, Serves Breakfast

Overall 5.7 8

5 Average

Food 2 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 3

May 16, 2007

Malaya, The, Sydney

Restaurants, Malaysian, Child Friendly, Child Friendly Highchairs, Licensed

Overall 7.2 265

5 Average

Food 3 Ambience 7 Service 8 Value 2

Mar 27, 2006

Kuletos Cocktail Bar, Newtown

Bars

Overall 7 40

7 Recommended

Drinks 8 Ambience 6 Service 6 Value 8

Not an amazing venue - bit frayed round the edges - but great cocktails (try the Red Corvette if you like strawberries) and good value - a comfy, friendly place to start the night.

Nov 11, 2005

est., Sydney

Restaurants, European, Modern Australian, Fine Dining, Romantic and Intimate

Overall 8.3 222

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 8

Aug 12, 2005

Guillaume At Bennelong, Sydney

Restaurants, French, Modern Australian, Fine Dining, Hip and Trendy

Overall 7.7 196

6.5 Recommended

Food 8 Ambience 7 Service 5 Value 6

Great food, but service that runs the gamut from entertaining and informative to frosty and arrogant to downright inefficient - one does not expect to have to alert the waitstaff to the fact that one's payment has been sitting on the table for close to ten minutes, nor that one's water glass needs refilling (again). A little more light shed on the subject would also improve the ambience - mood lighting does not have to mean virtual darkness. It's perhaps a little churlish to beef about a place where the food is genuinely delicious and the view so amazing, but if this restaurant aims to place itself in the stellar company of Sydney's other world-class restaurants, it really needs to work on the lack of consistency in its in service.

Apr 07, 2005

Billy Kwong, Surry Hills

Restaurants, Chinese, BYO, Licensed, Serves Dinner

Overall 7 255

8 Recommended

Food 7 Ambience 9 Service 9 Value 7

This place came highly recommended and didn't disappoint. The seafood - which is the main reason we came - was fresh and fantastic with a superb range of flavours. There was a reasonable selection of tasty vegetarian food - another factor in choosing it - although to my mind the mushroom stirfry could have used more of a variety of spices; it was a little on the cloying side. Best of all was the unstuffy service, and the friendly buzz. It was pricey, for sure, but welcoming and enjoyable with very good food. Definitely worth it for special occasions with friends - and I didn't notice the chairs at all.

Sep 07, 2004