miss pb

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  7     

Had dinner with friends last weekend. My entree of the tart was delicious, the pastry was literally melt-in-your-mouth. A friend had the Scotch Egg, something I hadn't seen for a long time, and from the fact that he'd had previously, assume that he enjoyed. My sirloin steak was a little over-cooked for my interpretation of medium/rare but the diners who had the fish said it was delicious.

I would have loved to have stayed for the dessert but will have to save for next time. Regarding comments about service, they must have taken to heart, as our waiter was effusively jovial almost to the point of irritating, obviously really trying to make sure we were not ignored or missing out on service!

May 10, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Quality  10      Ambience  5      Service  8      Value  10     

Is is no longer a Fine Food Store but a salad bar. Absolutely wonderful modern Asian salads served with flair. Nat and Ben provide wonderful fresh food at great prices (around $11!). As a side, they are really lovely people and treat their customers like long lost family. They deserve their success!
PS Small shop so limited, great take away.

Mar 23, 2012

5.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  8     

Had always wanted to try this restaurant and having read the reviews below decided to give it a go. Was a little surprised that the restaurant has very basic decor once you're inside. Anyway, after an initial shock went ahead and ordered. I'd had a hankering for San Chou Bau for sometime and decided that was the way to start.

The food here is pretty conventional. However, the San Chou Bau was absolutely gigantic in serving. We followed with Chicken Shantung which was full of coriander and piping hot. Lastly we tried the 'Bliss' signature beef dish, a bit bland for our liking. All meals served piping hot, which is something you don't get often.

Anyway, these 3 meals fed 3 adults (one of which hungry son) and left us with enough food to take away to feed another 3 adults! The bill for all this including BYO was just under $65. If you're hungry and want big servings at cheap (by Sydney standards) prices and don't mind that there is virtually no atmosphere and that the service is really 'delivery' without any fuss, then this may be worth a try, particularly if you have hungry children.

Jan 29, 2012

5.5 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  6     

Have been coming to this restaurant for over 20 years. So disappointing the last two times that it will be a while before I go back.

The food remains 'fine' but hasn't caught on to the lighter, fresher Thai food that is now available in other Thai restaurants. The last two times the service has been slow to the point of ridiculous, nearly an hour to get a mixed entree. Was heartened to see that we weren't the only table to get bad service as the table behind decided to give up and cancel the rest of their meal.

Don't know what was going on with this restaurant, perhaps, no-one was in the kitchen but hopefully they will lift their slippery standards of service.

Jan 08, 2012

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  10      Value  7     

Had dinner here last night with friends. The previous comments about the standard of service are right, the stafff really go out of their way to make the evening as enjoyable as possible. Some of us had the scampi, which was lovely though thought, perhaps, a little undercooked, just a personal thing.

Duck with figs (I don't normally like figs) was delicious and I'm told that the fish was perfectly cooked by my picky husband. My only disappointment was the cheese plate, not that exciting, again a personal thing. My only criticism is that the restaurant is very noisy, perhaps, the sound of too many patrons having too good a time!

Jan 08, 2012

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  7     

Had dinner with friends last weekend. My entree of the tart was delicious, the pastry was literally melt-in-your-mouth. A friend had the Scotch Egg, something I hadn't seen for a long time, and from the fact that he'd had previously, assume that he enjoyed. My sirloin steak was a little over-cooked for my interpretation of medium/rare but the diners who had the fish said it was delicious.

I would have loved to have stayed for the dessert but will have to save for next time. Regarding comments about service, they must have taken to heart, as our waiter was effusively jovial almost to the point of irritating, obviously really trying to make sure we were not ignored or missing out on service!

May 10, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Quality  10      Ambience  5      Service  8      Value  10     

Is is no longer a Fine Food Store but a salad bar. Absolutely wonderful modern Asian salads served with flair. Nat and Ben provide wonderful fresh food at great prices (around $11!). As a side, they are really lovely people and treat their customers like long lost family. They deserve their success!
PS Small shop so limited, great take away.

Mar 23, 2012

5.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  2      Service  4      Value  8     

Had always wanted to try this restaurant and having read the reviews below decided to give it a go. Was a little surprised that the restaurant has very basic decor once you're inside. Anyway, after an initial shock went ahead and ordered. I'd had a hankering for San Chou Bau for sometime and decided that was the way to start.

The food here is pretty conventional. However, the San Chou Bau was absolutely gigantic in serving. We followed with Chicken Shantung which was full of coriander and piping hot. Lastly we tried the 'Bliss' signature beef dish, a bit bland for our liking. All meals served piping hot, which is something you don't get often.

Anyway, these 3 meals fed 3 adults (one of which hungry son) and left us with enough food to take away to feed another 3 adults! The bill for all this including BYO was just under $65. If you're hungry and want big servings at cheap (by Sydney standards) prices and don't mind that there is virtually no atmosphere and that the service is really 'delivery' without any fuss, then this may be worth a try, particularly if you have hungry children.

Jan 29, 2012

5.5 Average

Food  6      Ambience  5      Service  5      Value  6     

Have been coming to this restaurant for over 20 years. So disappointing the last two times that it will be a while before I go back.

The food remains 'fine' but hasn't caught on to the lighter, fresher Thai food that is now available in other Thai restaurants. The last two times the service has been slow to the point of ridiculous, nearly an hour to get a mixed entree. Was heartened to see that we weren't the only table to get bad service as the table behind decided to give up and cancel the rest of their meal.

Don't know what was going on with this restaurant, perhaps, no-one was in the kitchen but hopefully they will lift their slippery standards of service.

Jan 08, 2012

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  10      Value  7     

Had dinner here last night with friends. The previous comments about the standard of service are right, the stafff really go out of their way to make the evening as enjoyable as possible. Some of us had the scampi, which was lovely though thought, perhaps, a little undercooked, just a personal thing.

Duck with figs (I don't normally like figs) was delicious and I'm told that the fish was perfectly cooked by my picky husband. My only disappointment was the cheese plate, not that exciting, again a personal thing. My only criticism is that the restaurant is very noisy, perhaps, the sound of too many patrons having too good a time!

Jan 08, 2012

6.3 Average

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

Took overseas visitor to Nick's Seafood Restaurant last night. This is definitely aimed at the Tourist Market as it's verey commercial. The service was enthusiastic and almost theatrical with little jokes. The food was plain - plain barramundi, plain snapper, plain prawns. Told that the fish was good though the prawns (butterflied with garlic butter) were cold and tasteless. The salad that came with them is not worth bothering about - some rather unpleasant, bland and non-descript dressing. I'm told that the white chocolate creme brulee with raspberries was enjoyable. A place to go for the view with people who aren't too worried about the food and are not put off by the commercialism.

Mar 08, 2011

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.3 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  6      Service  2      Value  1     

Alas, given this restaurant my last shot. Having been a devote for something like 20 years, under the present ownership I just cannot keep throwing money away on such a dysfunctional restaurant. Gave it one last try as friends had fond memories, but there reaches a point where you just have to acknowledge that they just 'don't get it' - and move on. This restaurant cannot get it's act together. Sad but true.

Jan 19, 2011

7.5 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  7     

Went there for lunch on a lovely sunny day. The parking is easy for us City Folk, the location great, we could almost see the goosebumps on the swimmers throwing themselves into the water. Service was friendly and helpful and the food itself was good considering that it is a Cafe and not expensive at all for the location. Will be back!

Dec 10, 2010

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  6      Value  8     

Went here on Thursday night with friends from out of town. Have been coming here for some years - though not regularly. Food, as always, was delicious and fresh - we ordered a beautiful crab dish with lots of crab meat, sitting on top of what appeared to be spinach topped with a yellow curry sauce. Other hits were the scampi with green papaya salad and a prawn stir fry. The setting is lovely - overlooking Pittwater - the only downside is as everyone has commented - the sometimes impersonal service. This time however, we were lucky and the service was warmer - perhaps they have read the reviews.

Oct 30, 2010

7.5 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

Went here with friends on Saturday night for what was a delicious meal. Our friends had been there about 6 weeks before and were remember by the wait staff and made to feel special. We turned up for the 8.15 pm sitting as I'm not a fan of 'sittings' and didn't want to be hurried. I also remembered as we drove over the bridge that I'm not really a fan of Vietnamese food, a bit late to think about that though.

Anyway, the food was more Nouvelle Vietnamese than Cabramatta Vietnamese. My husband, who is gluten intolerant, was catered for easily and without fuss. I'm 'slightly' difficult myself and found that all the dishes tasted as if they were prepared with the freshest of ingredients and absolutely delicious. My only complaint would be that we were seated next to the door and the wait staff and other diners were in and out all night long, so we had both the floorboards moving and the cold air through the doors coming at us.

I guess not everyone can have the best table in the place but I would ask for a table away from the door next time. The other thing that I found interesting was that they asked if there were any drivers and having identified, made a point of keeping track of how much wine they consumed. Great to see, as so often restaurant staff keep refilling glasses so often that it's hard to keep tally.

Thought that the food was reasonably priced for the quality, though the wine list is reasonably expensive at $65 for one the less expensive bottles. Will definitely we back and currently rate as one of my favourite restaurants, with delicious food and very good service.

Sep 03, 2010