Banchō — Restaurant in Sydney

I’ve been to Bancho twice before and once to Tokyo Bird, and those experiences were actually pretty nice.

Unfortunately, our most recent visit was disappointing. After being seated at a corner table, we received the wrong drinks (no big deal), so we politely let the staff member know. When the correct order eventually came, a female bartender with black hair slammed a drink down rudely and walked off without a word. It was abrupt and unnecessary. We’d never experienced that level of rudeness at a bar.

Things got worse when one staff member asked the three of us to move mid-drink to supposedly accommodate a group of “six," which turned out to be three. The space offered had two seats on a tight table, so one of us would have been left standing. Despite this, she kept pressing us. That same staff member later shared a laugh and gestured toward us with the group of three who wanted our table. It was unprofessional, to say the least.

At that point, we asked for the bill and decided to leave. I quietly mentioned our concerns to the staff member handling payment. I didn’t want to make a scene, but felt it was important to speak up.

It’s a shame, because staff like Elsie—who served us during a previous visit—showed real professionalism and warmth. But the lack of care this time, paired with no response to the email I sent afterward, makes it clear we won’t be...

l’m all about them drinks, ‘bout them drinks right now. Taking a totally different approach to mixology than Re, Banchō impressed equally as much, knocking out two showy whisky cocktails that centralised premium spirits.

Our night in the funky back lane, neon-lit bar opened with co-owner Yoshi Onishi behind the bar, sawing up those square ice cubes we all like so much. As the large block of ice diminished through his physical labour, he took us through the peatier end of their extensive whisky range. The highlight was the moist earthy peat in the fabulous Octomore 12.1 ($41/30ml) who grow their own barley and harvest peat next to the distillery. However if price is a limiting factor, the Ledaig 10-year ($16/30ml) from the Isle of Mull gives you plenty of smoky peaty joy (without the elegance and clean organic notes) for a fraction of the price.

The Smoked Whaler ($25) takes Hennessy VS Cognac, Woodford Reserve rye, sweet vermouth, honey water and bitters, and infuses them in a cloud of applewood smoke to wonderful effect. The Popcorn Blazer ($26) creates a stream of liquid fire that warms up Benriach 10-year Scotch whisky, Drambuie, popcorn syrup and walnut bitters, into a soft, pleasurable cocktail that makes you feel like you’ve watched a great movie and it’s now...

Update: They reply asking you to email them and then ignore you. So don’t be fooled that they actually care.

The hostess is genuinely the rudest person I’ve ever experienced in a service role. Listen to your other negative reviews.

We ordered 2 rounds of drinks and when we were half way through the second they asked if we wanted another round, when we said not right now, the eftpos machine was slammed onto the table and my friend was yelled at dismissively “5 minutes”. We hadn’t finished our drinks and had planned on ordering another round and suddenly were being told to leave.

I tried to speak to the waitress who seemed TERRIFIED of the what I can only describe as a monster of a hostess, and who was so apologetic for the way we were being treated. When I tried to speak to the hostess she was aggressive, dismissive and frankly quite scary. We didn’t finish our drinks we just ended up leaving, my friend in tears because of the way she’d been spoken to by that hideous person.

Your bar is so beautiful, and we often frequent Tokyo bird, but we won’t return here because of her, and it sounds like I’m not alone. You need to rethink her station and maybe put her in the alley way to scare off...