Arms Length — Restaurant in Sydney

Ambience good although a touch pokey / tight for space. Some food good - raw tuna and Wagyu entree. Prawn toast okay. Crumbed fried burrata no good (cold inside, doughy outside) and steak frites no good - the sauce was way too sweet. Fries great though, wines excellent. Service... Original service was very friendly, but said we can only stay for 1.5 hours for a 6pm booking. Which was not told prior or on website from my memory, but I could be wrong (I feel 2 hours is more acceptable). But I said fine, no issues. Then at 7:05pm, they said "we NEED the table back in 10 minutes but we can move to another table". We were almost finished our last drink. I said "we were told at the start 730, which we didn't object to, and now you're making us move at 715? I'd rather stay here until 730 please and we'll go". The waiter then said "well the other party is coming at 730" to which I said "you told me 730 at the start, can we stick to that please?" The waiter then replied "ok, whatever " and walked away. I feel if it were more apologetic and empathetic it could have been smoother, eg "look I'm sorry I know at the start we said 730, but the party is coming in earlier than expected, can we please ask a favour and you move to this bar table in about 10-15 minutes" vs "we NEED the table back in 10 minutes". The other waiter tried to smooth things over at the end which was nice. And of course - we moved to bar table about 725, finished our drinks at the bar table about 735, paid the bill at 740 and the table we were "told" to prematurely vacate was still empty when we left ;) I think if a venue is moving the goal posts on a customer (ie asking them to leave earlier) then you need to be very apologetic and polite in your language.

I...

First of all, the name may be Arms Length, but the staff are definitely not distant in terms of hospitality service or emotional support (a joke, LOL!) as they are friendly, warm, and attentive. I was served by Rosie, who had very interestingly decorated nails and pink coloured eyelashes, which is not something I’m used to seeing, but I thought “Ho hum!” and gave her a chance to change my mind, and she turned out to be one of the most lovely, caring, and well mannered teenagers I’ve ever met! She took care of my every need and found all of my various jokes funny — a great sense of humour! If you go here, I highly recommend starting off your experience by telling the staff an unexpected joke or pun :)

Also, the food was delightful. Having grown up with a debilitating eating disorder and chronic, clinical depression, eating is something I normally look forward to with about as much excitement as a sober circumc*sion. Arms Length changed everything for me! I ordered an olive and some pasta which I’m not sure exactly what it was, but it was delightful! I also ordered the steak, which is unusual for me to do as I am strictly vegan, but it just looked so good I couldn’t help myself! That was delightful as well and definitely tasted of meat. No complaints at all!

The alcohol is also very deliciouso (sorry, I can’t help myself, I’ve just been to Italy 🇮🇹). If you can’t decide what to get, the staff are super willing to help you by pointing out some drinks which pair well with your food. They DEFINITELY have experience with alcohol and I was very impressed 😊

Would recommend to absolutely everyone, except for those of you out there who hate quirky jokes, good food, and an emanating aura of...

I had high hopes for this restaurant, especially since it was meant to be a special celebration for my graduation dinner. Unfortunately, the experience fell short in several ways.

From the start, we waited over 15 minutes to be seated, despite having a reservation. When we were finally seated, the server informed us about the weekly pasta specials. This was confusing, as their TikTok and Instagram promotions suggested that the deal applied to the pastas listed on the regular menu—one of the main reasons we chose this restaurant.

Service throughout the evening was disorganised - although one waitress a taller blonde was helpful. We had to follow up on both our entrée and drink orders, and when our mains arrived, three dishes came out promptly while two others were delayed. After waiting another 10 minutes, we had to flag down staff, and those two dishes took an additional 15 minutes to arrive.

As for the food, the crab pasta was the standout—flavoursome and well-prepared. Unfortunately, the other dishes missed the mark. The ragu was a disappointingly small portion and arrived cold, while the weekly special had barely any pork, leaving it feeling more like plain macaroni.

The atmosphere didn’t help either. The restaurant was extremely busy and loud, with the staff visibly overwhelmed and difficult to get hold of. Small but important details, like the lack of toilet paper in the restrooms, added to the impression that the restaurant was not focused on providing a quality experience.

What should have been a celebratory evening turned out to be deeply disappointing. While I understand that restaurants can have off nights, this experience left me frustrated and...