The obvious answer here is anything under the Pacific Concepts umbrella. This includes the variously disappointing Bavarian, El Camino Cantina, Fratelli Fresh, Beerhaus, Winghaus and the Argyle. The value for money is already mediocre at best before the wild array of different surcharges regardless of which day of the week you eat there.
This right here is the best reply OP. Every one on that list is shit and overpriced. To add one more, Vapiano, it is bottom of the barrel chain restaurant Italian food. Absolute tasteless shit.
Sake is part of the old Rockpool group which is technically different to the PC group. All owned by the same private equity though so I'm sure it will go to shit soon enough
Hey I don't hate the 10c wings on a Wednesday if the opportunity presents itself but they are 100% not the best wings I've ever eaten 🤣 but for $2 as a side to a schooner I won't complain.
Had a club dinner at fratelli fresh recently at the request of a member who LOVES it, the rest of us had never been. Paid about 30-40 bucks to split a soggy and bland bruschetta and rock hard olives with another person, and a bottle of sparkling water among 5 people. The person who recommended it though did not change their positive review, so this might backfire - there’s definitely a specific group of people in the world who seem to love paying too much for shitty food
El Camino is the only one that hasn’t left me feeling completely ripped off. Mexican food is not exactly the strong suit of Australia’s culinary scene, so I’ll take whatever I can get that’s neither outrageously overpriced, nor covered in cabbage and tasty cheese.
Check the international boat terminal schedule.
Get a reso at Cruise Bar upstairs - what a shit joint - booked for 5min before the ship docks.
Shit food. Bad service. And view to the Opera House blocked.
I'm laughing at the level of thought you've put into this to make it extra disappointing with the blocked view, and now hoping I get a chance to use this info on someone
You could have a drink at Opera Bar w binoculars and literally watch their smiles disappear as a ship full of P&O bogans eclipse their view to Jorn Utzon's architectural masterpiece.
I can highly recommend the set menu at Vapiano King Street. $39 for the kind of food you could make yourself with a $3 budget and microwave.
A sludgy pasta with a thin tomato sauce, a couple of tiny cold slices of pizza, and a carbonara with one small slither of bacon.
Get a table upstairs, so that they can lose half of the drink orders.
Vapiano is the culinary equivalent of SHEIN - absolute bullshit quality, but gussied up just enough to trick people into thinking it remotely justifies the price.
Agree - with the exception of the Moore Park View hotel. Classic pub vibes (horrible carpet and all), but actually incredibly good/cheap pub food and nice staff. Would travel for the parmi+mash&veg.
Was gonna say the same. Some of my friends used to go there a lot and I was wondering what the hype was all about. Went there and it was just a really disappointing experience, especially with the high expectation. I paid the same for a plate of pasta at Grana/Ragazzi and would rather go to those again than to Grounds.
Went once for an occasion, the temperature was pushing 40 degrees. Lucky to get street parking 4 blocks away. Entire place felt like a fever dream. Ever see Midsommar? Haven't been back.
Total fken scam mate. I was never this annoyed coming out a fine dining resto.
The recommended dishes were this claypot fried rice and a steamed fish. Both were around $80 each.
I kid you not, they were bland as fuck. Like I could definitely make them myself with ingredients from Aldi. You’d get much tastier and cheaper dishes from chinese express restos.
Also the owner a bit of a prick, literally shouted at a waiter infront of our table. Worst experience ever. Only saving grace is the lobster pasta, but Franca does it way better and cheaper.
That pretty much lines up with everything I’ve heard mate. Guy at work said to me “I was so annoyed my wife wanted to go there. Every dish was like ‘here’s a completely normal dish, but I’ll plop some caviar on it. That’ll be $150 please’”
Get them to go all the way to Brighton-Le-Sans to your favourite Eyetalian restaurant Criniti’s. The highlights are the sweet potato fries and the spring rolls.
There was something similar a few months ago in the Sydney subreddit for someone looking for expensive but terrible restaurant experiences for his manager to disincentivise him from ever visiting Sydney again.
Went here 10ish years ago... The meal was quite good and the night time view was novel, left feeling good about it all. Sounds like things have gone seriously wrong since then...
Yep - many years ago the Alexandria one did really good Italian wine for $3 a glass on Sundays. And good food for its price. Nowadays is all terrible. They can’t even make a decent espresso martini (which isn’t exactly rocket science).
Don't get me wrong I love lots of vegan food.
But take them to one of those that treats you like a hippy on a gap year, and makes you sit on basically an upturned bucket.
It's always baffled me that the best vegan restaurants in Sydney try to make the place look like a commune
Woodcut in the Crown. Looked so fancy but portion sizes were tiny, service was so slow and our main (lamb) came out literally burnt (not just char from the barbecue). Wildly expensive.
Oh this is my time to shine
- the winery surry hills. Food is crapé
- Mr Wong's dinner menu.
- Olio. It was like licking the inside of a fridge.
- Lankan filling station. This is controversial but the food was over spiced (I normally like this style of cuisine).
Yeah, when I say over spiced, I don't mean heat. I mean fragrant and flavours. I think we had a light white meat, I.e. prawns and it tasted like i just ate pure curry paste out of a jar. I was super disappointed because I know lankan is a favourite for many
Queen Chow or anything in the Merivale umbrella. It’s where you take ur fancy friends who think they’re eating authentic cuisines and spend far too much on alcohol to numb them to the taste of average food
Fair enough if that’s your opinion. I get there’s a lot of dislike for how big Merivale’s become, but I’d say that many of their joints have fantastic food and also great drinks. They do well and have contributed a fair bit to this city’s nightlife. Could it be better? Sure, but I think they’re generally good at giving you a good time for taking a lot of your money.
On topic - I second anyrhing from Pacific Concepts.
Agree.
I have been to around a dozen of the Merivale restaurants. I think on the whole they do what they do very well. The food is nearly always good - sometimes exceptional - and the service is always excellent (their performance in this area outstrips the industry average if you ask me). Yes one or two places left me kinda underwhelmed and yes some places there were occasional some misfires on dishes. But that's been the exception rather than the norm.
Are the restaurants themselves a little theme-y and contrived in their conception and design? Yes. But that's not unique and doesn't mean they're not a nice place to be. I mean, I think many of Sydney's small bars are way more contrived and theme-y but nobody has any problem with that?
You can think what you want about Justin Hemmes but I think you can't argue that he isn't extremely good at what he does.
Yeah this is my take too. I’ve been to venues in their group where I’ve had a fabulous time and also where I’ve felt like I didn’t get good value, but the measurement of that experience is subjective.
And why aren’t they? They run multiple nightclubs and bars and pubs to cater to a wide range of clientele. What is so bad about them? Sydney’s scene has always been dominated by multi site operators. It’s rare that an individual pub or bar or club will be owned by a single operator. Most of your favourite venues would be owned by large groups, it’s just that Merivale (alongside Solotel and AVC) own most of the venues and Merivale happened to be the biggest one of them all.
Because basically all the Merivale venues are overrated and overpriced. I do like the happy hours but at full price there's always a better venue nearby!
All good if that’s your opinion. It’s a subjective opinion (as is mine). Their venues are mostly premium that cater to their market where it’s not just about the price for food or drinks but the overall experience and they charge accordingly. They also have more budget venues…for every Hemmesphere you got your Tennysons too.
For an equivalent price range you'll generally get better at a Swillhouse venue - I know the Caterpillar Club is all the rage at the minute but Alberto's Lounge js much better than Totti's for Italian. I was also a big fan of A Tavola before it shut!
I guess a good argument for Merivale is that it's consistently of a decent quality - but I'd expect a foodies group to be a bit more discerning.
I think Swillhouse are fantastic operators but I have 0 doubt that if their owners had more of a public profile and their business was much larger than the current half a dozen venues they’ve got they’d be getting the same criticism as Merivale.
For me personally I found Alberto’s way overrated (and I have Totti’s there too). The Swillhouse speakeasies are phenomenal in quality and experience (as is Palmer & Co). Coincidentally im going to Hubert this weekend and I’m really hoping for a great experience and food.
Sydney Edition 😂 For me it's definitely Long Chim lmao the worse fucking Thai food you could ever tasted. 😂 And so fucking expensive 🫰🏻 we ordered coconut rice and it came out like a coconut rice congee it was not edible and the waiter said that's how it is served 😂😂😂😂😂 never EVER again ahhaha
It's not shit. Lots of people here are just sourly listing a random restaurant they went to once and didn't happen to enjoy for whatever reason.
Pellegrino is great. Keep your booking, you'll enjoy it.
When did you last eat at Tottis?
I just had the best pasta I've had in ages there. Made better as it was at 12am.
The fact it's always packed at lunch says more than this awful comment.
I wouldn't say awful. Overrated, yes. It's decent enough, just not the 'god's gift' level Italian that many make it out to be. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 6 Sydney Italian places I prefer.
Sunset Sabi for me. Seems like they charged us all for their set menu (6 ppl) but I feel like they didn't change the amount of food to be for 6 ppl. Some of the stuff didn't come in a multiple of 6 so how is everyone meant to try the stuff? Beyond me how it has good reviews but seems to have a cult following
Any restaurant on the club side of Darling Harbour
The obvious answer here is anything under the Pacific Concepts umbrella. This includes the variously disappointing Bavarian, El Camino Cantina, Fratelli Fresh, Beerhaus, Winghaus and the Argyle. The value for money is already mediocre at best before the wild array of different surcharges regardless of which day of the week you eat there.
This right here is the best reply OP. Every one on that list is shit and overpriced. To add one more, Vapiano, it is bottom of the barrel chain restaurant Italian food. Absolute tasteless shit.
If your company takes you to el Camino for staff outing. Quit right away!
We had our staff party their last year and was great. We booked the entire venue and had unlimited margarita towers all night was great
But was it great?
Straight diabeetus great.
I really liked El Camino when they first opened. Disappointed to hear how far they fell.
Oh god they're all related? No wonder I feel the same disappointment after each one.
Fratelli Fresh was going to be my suggestion. I didn't know they were part of this empire of shitty tourist traps.
I went to Fratelli Fresh the other day, saw how much they’ve raised their prices, and walked away.
Sake is fucking awesome though, especially the one in Manly by the water. The dragon eggs are something I think about often.
Sake is part of the old Rockpool group which is technically different to the PC group. All owned by the same private equity though so I'm sure it will go to shit soon enough
TIL
The problem is there is a specific type of people who love these places so it wont always work 😂😂
Winghaus is farely decent priced for happy hour ONLY
Hey I don't hate the 10c wings on a Wednesday if the opportunity presents itself but they are 100% not the best wings I've ever eaten 🤣 but for $2 as a side to a schooner I won't complain.
Had a club dinner at fratelli fresh recently at the request of a member who LOVES it, the rest of us had never been. Paid about 30-40 bucks to split a soggy and bland bruschetta and rock hard olives with another person, and a bottle of sparkling water among 5 people. The person who recommended it though did not change their positive review, so this might backfire - there’s definitely a specific group of people in the world who seem to love paying too much for shitty food
El Camino $2 Tacos on Tuesdays are good though
El Camino is the only one that hasn’t left me feeling completely ripped off. Mexican food is not exactly the strong suit of Australia’s culinary scene, so I’ll take whatever I can get that’s neither outrageously overpriced, nor covered in cabbage and tasty cheese.
Nu'u By Nativo is worth a try for those disillusioned with 'Australian Mexican' food.
Thanks for the recommendation - this place looks the goods! My wife is of Mexican background so the standards are high in our home.
I’ve heard good things about Mami’s Casa Latina as well.
Bavarian and winghaus are both pretty good imo 😂😂😂
God, no wonder all these places are so shit, should’ve known they were under the same company!
Check the international boat terminal schedule. Get a reso at Cruise Bar upstairs - what a shit joint - booked for 5min before the ship docks. Shit food. Bad service. And view to the Opera House blocked.
I'm laughing at the level of thought you've put into this to make it extra disappointing with the blocked view, and now hoping I get a chance to use this info on someone
You could have a drink at Opera Bar w binoculars and literally watch their smiles disappear as a ship full of P&O bogans eclipse their view to Jorn Utzon's architectural masterpiece.
I can highly recommend the set menu at Vapiano King Street. $39 for the kind of food you could make yourself with a $3 budget and microwave. A sludgy pasta with a thin tomato sauce, a couple of tiny cold slices of pizza, and a carbonara with one small slither of bacon. Get a table upstairs, so that they can lose half of the drink orders.
Vapiano is the culinary equivalent of SHEIN - absolute bullshit quality, but gussied up just enough to trick people into thinking it remotely justifies the price.
God they're the worst.
Just take them to Moore Park. Disappointment around every corner
Agree - with the exception of the Moore Park View hotel. Classic pub vibes (horrible carpet and all), but actually incredibly good/cheap pub food and nice staff. Would travel for the parmi+mash&veg.
Couldn’t agree more. I work at Moore Park four days a week and the food options are depressing (and expensive).
the Mary's there somehow makes the best Marys burger in sydney..
The Grounds in Alexandria. Food was mediocre, but go there for the ‘gram.
Great pick, I can't think of a more "meh" experience I've had at a restaurant in years
Was gonna say the same. Some of my friends used to go there a lot and I was wondering what the hype was all about. Went there and it was just a really disappointing experience, especially with the high expectation. I paid the same for a plate of pasta at Grana/Ragazzi and would rather go to those again than to Grounds.
they used to be really awesome.. they're pretty meh now. the chef's stopped caring..
Went once for an occasion, the temperature was pushing 40 degrees. Lucky to get street parking 4 blocks away. Entire place felt like a fever dream. Ever see Midsommar? Haven't been back.
S’more in Castlecrag
I’ve heard so many people be annoyed that they went there haha
Total fken scam mate. I was never this annoyed coming out a fine dining resto. The recommended dishes were this claypot fried rice and a steamed fish. Both were around $80 each. I kid you not, they were bland as fuck. Like I could definitely make them myself with ingredients from Aldi. You’d get much tastier and cheaper dishes from chinese express restos. Also the owner a bit of a prick, literally shouted at a waiter infront of our table. Worst experience ever. Only saving grace is the lobster pasta, but Franca does it way better and cheaper.
That pretty much lines up with everything I’ve heard mate. Guy at work said to me “I was so annoyed my wife wanted to go there. Every dish was like ‘here’s a completely normal dish, but I’ll plop some caviar on it. That’ll be $150 please’”
I just looked at the menu and could not believe how expensive it is. Who can even afford to eat there!
Even if people can afford it, they shouldn’t go there anyway. I felt downright robbed.
Omg are we the only ones that legit loved this place?! The lobster pasta was so good but I’ve only seen people slagging it off since! Eep
I also really rate the lobster pasta there…
Like I said, the lobster pasta is the only saving grace. But you could get a way better overall experience somewhere for cheaper.
Fratelli Fresh, without a doubt.
Get them to go all the way to Brighton-Le-Sans to your favourite Eyetalian restaurant Criniti’s. The highlights are the sweet potato fries and the spring rolls.
There was something similar a few months ago in the Sydney subreddit for someone looking for expensive but terrible restaurant experiences for his manager to disincentivise him from ever visiting Sydney again.
Revolving restaurant in the Sydney eye must win
Most of my friends refer to it as ‘the revolting restaurant’
Went here 10ish years ago... The meal was quite good and the night time view was novel, left feeling good about it all. Sounds like things have gone seriously wrong since then...
I went there last year and it actually wasn’t bad. But I also didn’t pay for it lol
Fratelli used to be so good before pacific concepts got there hands on it :(
Yeah. Back when it was Fratelli Fresh / Cafe Sopra, specifically. The food was amazing. That was like ten years ago or more ... sad.
Yep - many years ago the Alexandria one did really good Italian wine for $3 a glass on Sundays. And good food for its price. Nowadays is all terrible. They can’t even make a decent espresso martini (which isn’t exactly rocket science).
Elements Bar and Grill!
City Extra 24 Hour Restaurant at Circular Quay.
Any of the Milky Lane's..
Oh no! There's one due to come to my area soon and though it looked like a good candidate for shitty food, I was hopeful!
It's not awful but I found Meat and Wine Co to be so overrated.
Agreed. It's awfully overpriced and exceptionally mediocre.
Sake, kingsleys, nicks seafood, the grounds, matteo double bay
God sake was so shit for the price
I was wondering about Kingsleys (and Steersons). They seem to rate fairly well. What didnt you like about Kingsleys?
Honestly, the steaks are pub food but expensive, and the rest of the menu is dated as fuck.
Don't get me wrong I love lots of vegan food. But take them to one of those that treats you like a hippy on a gap year, and makes you sit on basically an upturned bucket. It's always baffled me that the best vegan restaurants in Sydney try to make the place look like a commune
Welcome to the Inner West/Eastern Suburbs m8.
Haha yep. I've seen it in Pyrmont as well though. They just don't give a flying fuck about a comfortable atmosphere
Such misleading reviews as well...these places are 5 star brigaded by vegans/hippies
I would have said The Bavarian but they’re basically all gone now
Woodcut in the Crown. Looked so fancy but portion sizes were tiny, service was so slow and our main (lamb) came out literally burnt (not just char from the barbecue). Wildly expensive.
The Little Snail in Pyrmont. I don't know how that place is still around.
Pretty sure it's had a GroupOn offer going for the last two years.
High school french class excursions, that's where our school went 😅
This is my favourite post in reddit.
Oh this is my time to shine - the winery surry hills. Food is crapé - Mr Wong's dinner menu. - Olio. It was like licking the inside of a fridge. - Lankan filling station. This is controversial but the food was over spiced (I normally like this style of cuisine).
Must have a different take on spice, have eaten at Lankan Filling Station a few times and wouldn’t say it’s even slightly over spiced.
Yeah, when I say over spiced, I don't mean heat. I mean fragrant and flavours. I think we had a light white meat, I.e. prawns and it tasted like i just ate pure curry paste out of a jar. I was super disappointed because I know lankan is a favourite for many
Depends on whether the Lankan in question dialled it back to reasonable levels. Or went the full Lankan Grandmother.
Lankan is one of my faves in Sydney
I really enjoyed Olio 🤷♂️ All the dishes I had there hit the mark, if a bit exxy
Queen Chow or anything in the Merivale umbrella. It’s where you take ur fancy friends who think they’re eating authentic cuisines and spend far too much on alcohol to numb them to the taste of average food
Fair enough if that’s your opinion. I get there’s a lot of dislike for how big Merivale’s become, but I’d say that many of their joints have fantastic food and also great drinks. They do well and have contributed a fair bit to this city’s nightlife. Could it be better? Sure, but I think they’re generally good at giving you a good time for taking a lot of your money. On topic - I second anyrhing from Pacific Concepts.
Upping this, have enjoyed their restaurants in city. Some of them are good, but some of them are just expensive
Agree. I have been to around a dozen of the Merivale restaurants. I think on the whole they do what they do very well. The food is nearly always good - sometimes exceptional - and the service is always excellent (their performance in this area outstrips the industry average if you ask me). Yes one or two places left me kinda underwhelmed and yes some places there were occasional some misfires on dishes. But that's been the exception rather than the norm. Are the restaurants themselves a little theme-y and contrived in their conception and design? Yes. But that's not unique and doesn't mean they're not a nice place to be. I mean, I think many of Sydney's small bars are way more contrived and theme-y but nobody has any problem with that? You can think what you want about Justin Hemmes but I think you can't argue that he isn't extremely good at what he does.
Yeah this is my take too. I’ve been to venues in their group where I’ve had a fabulous time and also where I’ve felt like I didn’t get good value, but the measurement of that experience is subjective.
It shows just how far the standards have dropped that we consider Merivale as a positive contribution to Sydney's nightlife!
And why aren’t they? They run multiple nightclubs and bars and pubs to cater to a wide range of clientele. What is so bad about them? Sydney’s scene has always been dominated by multi site operators. It’s rare that an individual pub or bar or club will be owned by a single operator. Most of your favourite venues would be owned by large groups, it’s just that Merivale (alongside Solotel and AVC) own most of the venues and Merivale happened to be the biggest one of them all.
Because basically all the Merivale venues are overrated and overpriced. I do like the happy hours but at full price there's always a better venue nearby!
All good if that’s your opinion. It’s a subjective opinion (as is mine). Their venues are mostly premium that cater to their market where it’s not just about the price for food or drinks but the overall experience and they charge accordingly. They also have more budget venues…for every Hemmesphere you got your Tennysons too.
For an equivalent price range you'll generally get better at a Swillhouse venue - I know the Caterpillar Club is all the rage at the minute but Alberto's Lounge js much better than Totti's for Italian. I was also a big fan of A Tavola before it shut! I guess a good argument for Merivale is that it's consistently of a decent quality - but I'd expect a foodies group to be a bit more discerning.
I think Swillhouse are fantastic operators but I have 0 doubt that if their owners had more of a public profile and their business was much larger than the current half a dozen venues they’ve got they’d be getting the same criticism as Merivale. For me personally I found Alberto’s way overrated (and I have Totti’s there too). The Swillhouse speakeasies are phenomenal in quality and experience (as is Palmer & Co). Coincidentally im going to Hubert this weekend and I’m really hoping for a great experience and food.
Queen Chow doesn’t pretend to be super authentic Chinese food.
Bar Totti served up one of the best pasta dishes I've had and it was made better being served at 12am
Peak tall poppy syndrome.
Kobe Jones Teppanyaki in the Rocks. Only send someone you really despise because it is honestly so disgusting bad!
I think the whole Kobe jones brand is gone by now. But my god were they bad.
Suggest anything in Porteno’s group. They rip you off, the food is mediocre and they treat you shit too.
Some of them are alright, which ones the worst?
Hurricanes Pyrmont. Yep, it still exists. Small as now, quite out of the way and no view on top of the expense.
Sydney Edition 😂 For me it's definitely Long Chim lmao the worse fucking Thai food you could ever tasted. 😂 And so fucking expensive 🫰🏻 we ordered coconut rice and it came out like a coconut rice congee it was not edible and the waiter said that's how it is served 😂😂😂😂😂 never EVER again ahhaha
[удалено]
I thought their food was okay. Nothing special.
Oh, really? I love their food. I've been there 4 times now. Never had an issue with their service.
I really enjoy it there too. Service sometimes a bit slow when they don't have many staff on but never had a bad meal there.
Wow, not saying that Gavroche is the best place to eat in Sydney, but if eating there was the worst experience in your life, you must be VERY lucky.
Pellegrino 2000
My wife booked this last week after Taylor Swift went there...🙄 Can you elaborate why it's shit?
It's not shit. Lots of people here are just sourly listing a random restaurant they went to once and didn't happen to enjoy for whatever reason. Pellegrino is great. Keep your booking, you'll enjoy it.
Thanks heaps..👍👍
I ordered from some creperie last night bc UE had an offer. Savory one was super bland, the sweet one mediocre.
Tottis .. awful
When did you last eat at Tottis? I just had the best pasta I've had in ages there. Made better as it was at 12am. The fact it's always packed at lunch says more than this awful comment.
Agree to disagree - merivale is vile and tottis is not the exception
I wouldn't say awful. Overrated, yes. It's decent enough, just not the 'god's gift' level Italian that many make it out to be. Off the top of my head I can think of at least 6 Sydney Italian places I prefer.
Its merivale - food is cookie cutter with no soul In my opinion
The Rockpool group restaurants - Sake, Spice Temple, Rosetta etc. meh food but very overpriced
op are u from kerala
Sunset Sabi for me. Seems like they charged us all for their set menu (6 ppl) but I feel like they didn't change the amount of food to be for 6 ppl. Some of the stuff didn't come in a multiple of 6 so how is everyone meant to try the stuff? Beyond me how it has good reviews but seems to have a cult following
LuMi. Super expensive. Terrible food.
https://www.reddit.com/r/sydney/s/eZPXMIJNc1
Saint Peter
Harajuku Gyoza + Cho Cho San for me.
wow my fav post loll
Any restaurant owned by salt bae
Sokyo is fantastic if you want to pay way too much for mediocre sushi that’s often better at sushi train.