longreefhedgey

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

I visited Pony for the second time just a few weeks back. I raved about the food after my first visit but not this time.

Both times we have chosen a number of the small plate options. Everything on the menu reads really well and is clearly beutifully prepared. On my first visit all of our choices had that little something extra that either gave them subtlety and balance or ratcheted up the flavour. That was missing on my most recent visit.

The long bench table on the outside verandah does make it difficult for anything more than a group of 4 and does occasionally interfere with the quality of service.

Dec 04, 2011

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

Another good corporate lunch venue. I have been here 3 times now and the quality has been consistently good. It can get a bit loud and the service can be quite varied - even during the same sitting. There are some very good dishes to choose from on the menu and the wine list is excellent. At my most recent visit a few weeks back we chose to order only by the glass and we got to taste a number of excellent wines.

Dec 04, 2011

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

Yep, this place is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I've been twice now in the past 3 months and both times the food was top notch. And very well located for a business lunch.

The menu has some excellent choices. The Masoman Curry is right up there with the best I have tried anywhere. So is the salt & Pepper squid. The grilled scallops with crispy pork salad is exquisite. Duck pancakes that you prepared and rolled yourself showed a different touch.

The wine list is very good and reasonably priced but I'm not sure that the wait staff would have been able to provide any assistance with wine selections if we had needed help. There is a lot to recommend about this restaurant.

Oct 11, 2011

6.5 Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  6     

8 of us went for dinner on a Sunday night for my daughter's 18th birthday. We have eaten at Deck 23 a few times before and have been very pleased. Apparently, there has been a recent change of ownership. That was noticeable straight away with the service which was great. A very friendly waiter welcomed us warmly and offered our daughter a free pre-dinner cocktail as it was her birthday. The restaurant overlooks Dee Why Beach, it was a full moon and a lovely clear evening so the setting was excellent.

Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to Service and the Ambience. 2 of our group ordered a risotto which was only luke warm and another 2 ordered a large meat dish which was also only luke warm. We told the waiter at the end of the meal. He was grateful that we told him so he can take steps to correct it. The problem is I'm not sure that we will ever be going back to find out whether that happens or not.

Aug 29, 2011

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

29/8/2011 - Something has changed at Dragonfly. We have been twice now in the past 2 months and the food has definitely lost its sparkling edge. The Service and the Ambience haven't changed but the whole reason for coming here was the food so now.?

Our first visit to Dragonfly was one of pure expedience about a year ago when we first moved into this area. We have arrived without bookings a few times since and sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we don't. It is a popular place. We were amazed that we could get such imagination and variety, they combine fresh Australian produce with Asian flavour and subtlety.

The food is exquisite and their flexibility surprising eg: you can order one Qld scallop if you want to. We have now tried most things on the menu and still haven't found anything that has disappointed us.

We find the wait staff always very communicative and accommodating. The down side is the location. The restaurant sits right on the six lane Pittwater Road with about half their tables located outside, so the passing traffic is noisy. So Dragonfly isn't a place where we sit and linger and chat but it is excellent food and it is definitely one of our favourites.

Aug 29, 2011

6.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  7      Value  7     

I visited Pony for the second time just a few weeks back. I raved about the food after my first visit but not this time.

Both times we have chosen a number of the small plate options. Everything on the menu reads really well and is clearly beutifully prepared. On my first visit all of our choices had that little something extra that either gave them subtlety and balance or ratcheted up the flavour. That was missing on my most recent visit.

The long bench table on the outside verandah does make it difficult for anything more than a group of 4 and does occasionally interfere with the quality of service.

Dec 04, 2011

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  8     

Another good corporate lunch venue. I have been here 3 times now and the quality has been consistently good. It can get a bit loud and the service can be quite varied - even during the same sitting. There are some very good dishes to choose from on the menu and the wine list is excellent. At my most recent visit a few weeks back we chose to order only by the glass and we got to taste a number of excellent wines.

Dec 04, 2011

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

Yep, this place is a lot better than I thought it was going to be. I've been twice now in the past 3 months and both times the food was top notch. And very well located for a business lunch.

The menu has some excellent choices. The Masoman Curry is right up there with the best I have tried anywhere. So is the salt & Pepper squid. The grilled scallops with crispy pork salad is exquisite. Duck pancakes that you prepared and rolled yourself showed a different touch.

The wine list is very good and reasonably priced but I'm not sure that the wait staff would have been able to provide any assistance with wine selections if we had needed help. There is a lot to recommend about this restaurant.

Oct 11, 2011

6.5 Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  6     

8 of us went for dinner on a Sunday night for my daughter's 18th birthday. We have eaten at Deck 23 a few times before and have been very pleased. Apparently, there has been a recent change of ownership. That was noticeable straight away with the service which was great. A very friendly waiter welcomed us warmly and offered our daughter a free pre-dinner cocktail as it was her birthday. The restaurant overlooks Dee Why Beach, it was a full moon and a lovely clear evening so the setting was excellent.

Unfortunately, the food didn't live up to Service and the Ambience. 2 of our group ordered a risotto which was only luke warm and another 2 ordered a large meat dish which was also only luke warm. We told the waiter at the end of the meal. He was grateful that we told him so he can take steps to correct it. The problem is I'm not sure that we will ever be going back to find out whether that happens or not.

Aug 29, 2011

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

29/8/2011 - Something has changed at Dragonfly. We have been twice now in the past 2 months and the food has definitely lost its sparkling edge. The Service and the Ambience haven't changed but the whole reason for coming here was the food so now.?

Our first visit to Dragonfly was one of pure expedience about a year ago when we first moved into this area. We have arrived without bookings a few times since and sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we don't. It is a popular place. We were amazed that we could get such imagination and variety, they combine fresh Australian produce with Asian flavour and subtlety.

The food is exquisite and their flexibility surprising eg: you can order one Qld scallop if you want to. We have now tried most things on the menu and still haven't found anything that has disappointed us.

We find the wait staff always very communicative and accommodating. The down side is the location. The restaurant sits right on the six lane Pittwater Road with about half their tables located outside, so the passing traffic is noisy. So Dragonfly isn't a place where we sit and linger and chat but it is excellent food and it is definitely one of our favourites.

Aug 29, 2011

7.8 Recommended

Drinks  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

We were a group of 4 ariving at 6.30 pm for dinner prior to a show. The maitre d' and waiter both knew that we had to leave promptly to go to a show and their prompt service reflected that. It wasn't crowded when we arrived but it was certainly full by the time we left at 7.45.

The wine list was extensive with many European wines and the waiter certainly seemed to know what he was talking about because 2 of us asked for his help and got wines we had never tried before and they were both "just right". There was a fantastically presented seafood bar which we didn't try (maybe next time). Apart from the seafoood options, the menu is a wee bit limited. From our party of 4 we ordered spatchcock, fish, crumbed rabbit and steak with frites. All of these were very competently prepared and presented but there was no gee whiz factor about any of them.

Oh, but the desserts were just divine, definitely something to go back for. I ordered a dessert wine instead of a dessert and that was just divine too. The service was well above average with bread and water both replenished without request.

The decor is over the top but it's also just neat. We sat on the verge of the restaurant and the alley so we had no problems with noise but a large party of horse racing celebtaors arrived just before we left and that looked like it could get ugly. We will definitely go back again.

Apr 26, 2011

8.6 Highly Recommended

Quality  9      Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  8     

It was an absolutely superb dining experience. It was our first visit to Ormeggio and it followed on from a recent visit to the Sydney Fish Market where the Associaton of Italian Restaurants held an expose.

My wife and I took two close friends from out of Sydney. We wanted to share a special dining experience with them and we all loved it! A menu that smacked of regional fare and aroused our curiosity no end. A waiter whose looks the two ladies at our table drooled over but that same waiter is also the same person who won the admiration of the two men at the table with his knowledge of the menu and his willingness to ask questions of his guests to find out their preferences.

A sommelier who adopted exactly the same approach. So now you see why I gave 10 for Service. Ormeggio is an expensive dining experience but I have paid more in other establishments and received food, wine and service that were not nearly as good as what we enjoyed at Ormeggio.

Do yourself a favour and arrive before 7.30 pm in summer so that you can watch the sun setting over Sydney's middle harbour while you enjoy an aperitif.

Apr 05, 2011

5.5 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  5      Value  5     

Last Saturday evening was our first experience at Cavallinos and it was quite a mixture of contrasts. The restaurant was busy but not "chockers", the noise level was higher than normal but not nearly so bad as other reviewers have complained about. The welcoming service we got was very professional but it quickly fell away - we had to ask to order our food after a long delay. After another long delay we had to ask for a "hurry up" on the delivery of our antipasto plate - at that point the table next to us (who arrived after us) were already past their entree and on to their main.

The pizza menu was extensive but the rest of the main dish options were quite limited. We chose lamb and spatchcock and both were tasty and well prepared but neither seemed particularly Italian. The tiramisu and profiteroles that we shared for dessert were divine (maybe even the best we've ever had). We would go again if we had friends who particularly wanted to go there but we're unlikely to choose it again ourselves unless we heard that it had changed/improved.

Sep 27, 2010

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

This restaurant is one of the stalwarts of the Sydney CBD corporate lunch trail. I have visted probably 10 times with a number of different people and it's amazing how many people come here and simply allow the waiter to order for them. They have a number of house specials that just seem to get ordered every time I go there, seafood, san choy bow, rustt motor bike, wagyu beef, capitan chicken. The service is always very effective but sometimes they can serve too many dishes too quickly (as happened to me yesterday). I have never had a bad experience here and never had a bad dish either.

May 29, 2010

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  7      Value  5     

We visited on a Saturday night just before Christmas, that is a busy time in restaurant land and "the place was heaving". The staff are professional and the service overall was good and sometimes it was very good but it was slow at times. The menu has a good selection without being extensive but the prices are high. The portions are modest so you will usually need to go for the full 3 courses.

We were served an appetiser shortly after arrival and a sorbet between entree and main, two very nice touches, thank you! The wine list has a very good range but gee it was expensive. We attended as part of a group of 12 and the evening ended with some controversy when the bill arrived and a 10% surcharge had been applied because we were a group of more than 10. There was no mention of this when the booking was made.

In my view this is a special occasions only venue and definitely not for groups.

Mar 04, 2010