Babylon Rooftop & Garden Bar — Restaurant in Sydney

My partner and I dined at Babylon Rooftop & Garden Bar for an early dinner on 25/10/2025. It was my first time, but she had been there before and was keen to bring me to try it. The venue is beautiful, the staff well-presented, and the service was quite satisfactory. However, the food was a disappointment for both of us.

We opted to order off the bar menu for a quieter experience. We ordered the Lamb kofte, Iskender sauce, herb yoghurt ($22); Batatta harra, fried potatoes, lemon harissa, toum ($18); Fattoush salad, celeriac, melon, purslane ($22); and Wood fired rump, iskender sauce, garlic yoghurt, sumac, onions, tomato, chillies, crispy bread ($38). The Batatta harra came out first, and it was not what we were expecting. We anticipated crispy roasted chunks of potato, perhaps similar to patatas bravas that you might get at a tapas restaurant. What we were served was essentially dressed up potato wedges - the same kind that you can get at any pub in Australia. Sure, they were tasty, but the description of the dish felt misleading - if it was described as "spiced potato wedges" or similar, we would have no issue, but ordering the somewhat exotic-sounding "Batatta harra" and getting potato wedges was a bit of a bummer.

However, the bigger issue was the lamb kofte - five two-bite meatballs - appeared noticeably underdone. Splitting one in half with a fork, the texture was slightly mushy and loose, and the interior was uniformly reddish (and it wasn't due to any capsicum paste). It had that loose, grainy appearance you would expect from partially cooked mince.

We ate one, and it tasted fine, but we were uneasy about it so I asked one of the waitstaff whether they thought the kofte looked undercooked. She took it back to the kitchen and shortly afterwards, we were brought a replacement serving of lamb kofte. Unfortunately, upon splitting one open, this batch looked a little bit less cooked than the first order. At that point, we didn’t feel comfortable returning the dish a second time, so we just ended up eating it. In retrospect, we should have sent the dish back and asked for it to be removed from the bill.

I will not be returning to Babylon, and this is what it comes down to - if a dish comes back to the kitchen with a concern raised of whether it was undercooked, the head chef should be ensuring that the replacement dish is properly cooked. Sending out a second batch that appeared less cooked raised a real concern that internal temperatures were not checked. If the lamb kofte was actually cooked as intended, that clarification would have helped. As it stands, the doneness of the lamb kofte raised a clear food safety concern for us and we regret eating it.

The fattoush and beef rump were fine.

It's a shame - I really wanted to...

Consistently terrible service despite great food

We’ve given Babylon at Westfield Sydney three separate chances, and unfortunately, they’ve disappointed us every single time. The common thread across all visits? Exceptionally poor service and a clear attitude problem from several staff members.

Visit 1: The service was the slowest I’ve ever experienced. We waited nearly an hour for food and had to chase basic things like extra plates for a shared meal multiple times. When we politely asked again, the waitress literally rolled her eyes and told us to get them ourselves from the bar. Absolutely unacceptable.

Visit 2: Same issues again. Drinks arrived after we finished our food (and we had only ordered a Sprite, ginger beer and an aperol spritz). When we raised it, we were met with more rudeness. A woman who appears to be in charge (dressed more formally than the rest) was especially dismissive and unhelpful borderline hostile.

Visit 3 (today): We only returned because a friend insisted as food does taste good. We were the first ones there at 12, we asked if there were open for service and they said “YES”, we placed our food and drink order at 12:10 via their barcode system. By 12:50 we still had nothing not even two Sprites. Meanwhile, large groups who arrived after us were being served. When we followed up, we were told the ordering system had gone offline at 12:15. So why weren’t we notified earlier? Why didn’t anyone think to check with customers who may have ordered via QR code? The so-called manager (lady in a formal-ish suit) again gave attitude, made excuses, and didn’t seem to care at all that people on lunch breaks were wasting their time. At this point we are obviously upset! I had to insist on a refund and was handed cash in $10 notes like it was a garage sale. I told her to refund me via the same method I used to pay “card”, she was so rude and responded not possible. I told her I don’t want $10 notes then she said she’d go check her office with so so so much attitude. She came back, gave me 50s and then finally she apologised. They offered to make the order but this was now 1pm and lunch break was over! So we literally wasted our lunch going there.

It’s a real shame. The food is actually good, and the space is beautiful but that’s where the positives end. Until they retrain or replace the current staff, I would never recommend Babylon. Hospitality is not just about the food. When your team is consistently rude, dismissive, and unbothered, you ruin what could otherwise be a...

I feel it’s necessary to leave a review due to the poor experience we had and how badly the situation was handled. I had booked the “Lemoncello Bottomless Brunch” advertised on their website, and I made sure to advise the venue a week in advance of special dietary requirements, as it was a special occasion, my daughter’s birthday.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the hostess, who showed us to our table and left a menu and wine list for us to look over. This confused us, as a Bottomless Brunch is a set menu, which is why you need to book in advance.

We were left unattended for around 20 minutes before I finally got a waitress's attention and asked if we could start with some drinks. We told her we were there for the Bottomless Brunch and would like a glass of sparkling wine and a Lemoncello. She took the original menus away and returned with a single-page printed menu titled “Long Lunch.” Again, we were confused, as the food and drink options provided were entirely different from what had been advertised on the Website.

We reiterated that we had booked the Lemoncello Bottomless Brunch, and she said she’d check. Then another staff member appeared, possibly the restaurant supervisor, but he never introduced himself. He told us they only offer the Long Lunch now and that we’d have to move to the bar area.

We showed him the website with the advertised Lemoncello Bottomless Brunch, but he looked at it blankly and said, “I don’t know why that’s advertised, we don’t offer that" He continued pushing the Long Lunch menu, and when I asked for the price, he didn’t know and had to leave to check.

By this point, over 40 minutes had passed, and the atmosphere had already put a damper on our birthday celebration. The staff were vague, unprofessional, and offered no real explanation. Despite the restaurant being nearly empty, with only one other table occupied, no effort was made to rectify the situation or acknowledge the significant discrepancy between what was advertised on their website and what was actually offered.We decided to leave and, thankfully, found a nearby venue within a minute’s walk that was friendly, welcoming, and accommodating.

I have since called twice and left two voicemails asking for someone to contact me about the experience, and no one has bothered to...