Sittella — Restaurant in Herne Hill

Consistently great food, and of course, the view is just so beautiful too!

I come to Sitella every few months and I must say that the quality and food have not changed.

I was here again on the weekend and I want to share my very detailed experience. My partner and I decided to take a three course set menu that was $68.50

We had a bottle of red and I also took a glass of white wine separately.

Let's start with complimentary Bread - it was nice and hot, however could have been cooked a little bit more so it doesn't taste as doughy.

Seafood soup - it would have had a slightly less buttery taste and be a little bit hot but overall it was 4.5 out of 5.

Lamb and Spinach Tortellini - the tomato sauce tasted a little watered down and because of the colour one could have thought that it was a tabasco but of course it wasn't. Overall 4 out of 5.

King Snapper - it was sooo goood! one thing that could have made it even better if it was a little bit more of the fennel risotto on the bottom but the portion was quite good and I was going to a dinner in four hours so I could not push myself to finish it.

Beef - I haven't tried the beef but my partner commented that it was a little bit on the medium rather than the medium rare - however it was very good.

Complimentary vegetables were a nice and refreshing addition to the meal.

And lastly, deserts, well, I tried both Sitella's Strawberry and French lemon tart and I cannot say that I was impressed BUT I am not a vanilla or lemon desert person so I much rather prefer chocolate so I cannot be objective judging these two - you would have to discover it for yourself.

So if you are looking for memorable meal in the Swan Valley - I definitely...

Not worth a visit.

Walking in you will find Sittella is in a lovely setting but the building is desperate for a renovation. For example one of the ladies toilets inexplicably has a shower in it. The whole place looks a bit cheap and dated. Next thing is the service. We booked and requested a table on the terrace and were told they would try. When we arrived we were told the terrace tabled were all booked “months in advance” which would have been nice to know at time of booking. We watched as one of the coveted 8 seater terrace tables sat empty from 12:00 until 2:30 when 4 walk-ins were given it.

Next is the service. We sat down and were given menus. We ordered sparkling white which arrived and was lovely. We had that and ordered food. We had our starters and a bottle of white. We then sat there with a table full of empty glasses and empty wine bottles for 30 minutes before anyone attended us. The empty sparkling glasses sat on the table for the entire meal - about 3 hours. Our mains arrived and we still had no wine. There did not seem to be enough servers for the clientele. Every time we wanted something we were looking about in vain for staff.

I have uploaded a photo of how our table looked for most of the meal - empty glasses, empty wine bottles, no food.

The food is fine, but in the context of the setting and the service it’s not...

Had a great time at sitella. We went along for my mum's birthday (Saturday 9th October) and originally got seated between the two toilets in the main room. The main room was also very noisy. Fortunately after asking for somewhere else we were given a table in the nest which I'm assuming might be the function room alongside the main venue. Lovely and quiet with a breeze and sunshine, beautiful setting overlooking the winery. Service was amazing, we had a slightly older blonde women whose name I can't recall (sorry!) But her service was impeccable- super polite, knowledgeable, good timing with requests, orders, really made our experience. Thankyou! Food was delicious, portion sizes plenty, and presentation was beautiful. A fair amount of variation on the menu and even on the set menu which made order from that an easy choice. Nothing hugely stood out to me as a star dish, except maybe the duck entree, all dishes were relatively contemporary australian/french feeling. Simple and tasty. Drinks were expensive but tasty, showcasing the swan valley, coffees were good. Didn't feel rushed or hassled at all. Overall a really great experience that we will remember. My only qualms were that I'd specifically asked if happy birthday could be written on my mother's dessert via email, and had it confirmed. And this did not happen. Cannot fault...