Banx Sydney — Restaurant in Sydney

I've recently dined here for lunch with a group of friends, and we won't be returning. I've sent my feedback to Banx's email, and I honestly I wanted acknowledgement of my feedback. However, after a few days, there was no response. My friend who had made the original booking received an auto-generated email, "Come back, try our new menu, and if you do, book through this link." Replied to that email about our experience and received a response within a day.

So here is my experience at Banx Sydney. First, I will mention that the manager did say they were understaffed during after it took 20 minutes to receive our drinks. I was unsure if he had meant front of house, back of house, or both. But I get it, there's going to be days like that and if so, then communicate that with your guests as soon as they are seated and show some empathy to your hungry guests who have no idea why they are waiting over an hour for their mains to arrive and why their entree plates are just sitting infront or pushed to the side whilst the front of house staff are chatting with each other.

Entrees - no complaints, food came out at a decent time, woodfire bread was thick, warm and toasty, buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto was decent.

Drinks - we ordered 3 cokes, we really just wanted cokes, and honestly, I did not think it'll take 20 minutes with 2 follow-ups to receive our cokes. We then asked for straws and received short straws, I thought that was a little silly. The front of house staff must not have realised. So I went to the bar and asked for straws for our cokes, was yet again provided short straws, and was told they had no long straws for the day. Ok.

Entrees were completed, empty plates just sitting in front of us whilst staff were either taking orders for other tables or chatting with each other.

Mains - we waited over an hour for our mains. No one came up to us to apologise for the delay or see why we have not received our mains. So we had to ask, and how did the staff respond? "What did you order again?" I'm sorry, but what?

Gnocchi with pork ragu - gnocchi was hard, pork ragu was salty. Not edible.

Pizza with Italian sausage and potato - the pizza base was the best part. That's all.

Barramundi - we had to spit it out. Honestly, I thought the fish was off.

In the end, we couldn't finish our mains, which is very unlike us. Paid for our meals in full and went down to the markets to put our frowns upside down.

All in all, customer service needs to be improved, and so does the food. I can't provide feedback on the back of house, but front of house I can. Since you won't reply to my email, I'll leave it here on Google.

Communication. Please communicate with your guests. They will understand, rather than constantly looking around or asking the staff how long their meals would take.

Clearing. After entrees are done, please clear the table. I know the team was understaffed, but if I was able to observe staff walking around and chatting. Then, they have time to clear the table.

Check backs. After serving mains, staff should do a check back on meals, this ensures everything is OK and allows another order on drinks and an opportunity to upsell sides or main.

Cleanliness. When setting up tables, please ensure cutlery is cleaned. We had forks which dried food on it, and water glass had lip stains on it.

Please also check the tables, as the table edges are starting to fall off. Sticky tape isn't going to hold them up for very long, but some super glue may do the trick.

My friends and I used to work in the hospitality industry and feel like all the above information is quite important, especially when it comes to food safety. So my friend provided the feedback of all the mains, especially the barramundi. However, it seemed like our feedback on the day was not...

2 stars because the food is good - kudos to the kitchen staff! Service is rubbish.

Went here with 2 kids. Ordered 2x spaghetti alla marinara and 1x spaghetti bolognaise. Received a pasta napoletana and one of the spaghetti marinara. Asked if the other one was coming. The waitress went to check, there was some whispered conversation, a walk over to the kitchen, some conversation with the chef. I (stupidly) assumed they had forgetten the order and was asking the chef to quickly make it. The kids finished eating and I still didn't have my dish. Called the waitress over, asked "is my dish coming". She didn't understand the question and looked very confused, saying 'magic?'. I repeated "my DISH, my dinner. I ordered 2 spaghetti marinara but we only got one". She was about to go order another one when I said don't bother, I just wanted to pay and leave. The bill came and I pointed out that they got the order wrong, I ordered the bolognese and got the napoletana (which I had let slide because the kid was starving), but also only one marinara. They said sorry and that was it. I paid and left in a cranky mood, hungry and frustrated.

Completely irrelevant to the food and ordering stuff up - the one male staff had a shirt that didn't quite cover his tummy. Maybe that's OK at a beach but in a somewhat expensive restaurant, it's a very unprofessional look.

Another customer called for that male staff's attention. He was busy at the till but instead of acknowledging her or at least indicating that he heard her and would get to her when done with whatever he was doing, he completely ignored her. She called again and was ignored again so got up to approach him. He crossly told her he would be with her in a minute. A good staff would have made eye contact and said 'I'll be with you in a moment' and finished their job, then go see to the customer. Outright ignoring someone is just plain rude.

Sloppy dress code by the staff, language issues, incompetent and rude service - we won't be going back for a long time. A shame because the food is actually nice. But will wait until they get new...

Banx is my partner & I’s favourite local spot. My parents were visiting so we thought this would be the perfect place to bring them! We were tossing up between getting the share menu or ordering a la carte, but my mum likes to try lots of different items so we just picked from the menu. We ended up getting 2 pizzas (Diavola & Banx Supreme), 2 pastas (Octopus Ragu & 16 hour Wagyu beef ragu) and 2 sides (Broccolini & salad) as well as a bottle of the 2019 Rosso Veneto appassilento. $$ - First off, the pricing is extremely reasonable for the amount of food we got. My partner said it came to about $180 for MORE than enough food for 4 and a bottle of really tasty red. 🍕- the pizzas were so delicious, they are wood fired and the bases are thin and tasty. The diavola was the fam’s favourite, the Banx supreme did get a little soggy but that’s to be expected when there are so many toppings. 🍝 - the octopus ragu was a stand out - the sauce was puttanesca-like, lots of umami & the octopus itself was tender & delicious. The wagyu had a really meaty depth of flavour, my only critique was that some of the pieces of meat were a tiny bit dry. The pasta itself is handmade, and it’s cooked perfectly al dente. 🥗 - the salad was a perfect palate cleanser, the dressing was a zesty vinaigrette which helped cut through the rich pizzas and pastas. The broccolini was a surprising stand out as well! It was cooked perfectly, and the simple garlic and chilli was just so delicious. Really brought out the natural sweetness of the broccolini. 🍷- the wine was great. I’m no sommelier, but it was an easy drink considering it was the most affordable red on the menu! 💁🏽‍♀️ - the service was impeccable. I think we interacted with 3 different ladies and they were all so attentive, knowledgeable and friendly.

TLDR; come to Banx. It’s a gorgeous location, great food, great service at a very reasonable price point for the quality you...