Barangaroo House — Restaurant in Sydney

I came here on a Wednesday night, at 6pm, and it wasn't very busy yet, but by the time I'd finished eating around 8pm, the place was very much full. The security guard (?) at the door downstairs at the entrance to Barangaroo House was very polite and friendly, pointing me upstairs helpfully, which was great as I hadn't been before.

As soon as I entered the restaurant itself, I was greeted warmly by two hosts at the reception desk, and then shown to my table and offered water. I'm not good at all with names, so I've completely forgotten the name of the friendly waitress who looked after me, but she was a blonde lady with a British(?) accent, and she was terrific. She helped me choose a cocktail to start, taking the time to explain each one in detail to me. Then, she went through the menu carefully with me, explaining the ones that looked unfamiliar, and patiently answering all my questions about anything else she hadn't mentioned. Very patient, very helpful.

I ended up ordering half a dozen oysters to start, followed by smoked bone marrow, kingfish, marron, kangaroo, and then a berry pavlova and the chocolate caramel to finish. I also had the seasonal bellini, and the summer spritz to drink. The oysters were beautiful, but to be honest, there's not much work that goes into it; as long as they're fresh, it's all nature's abilities rather than the chef's.

The smoked bone marrow was definitely one of the highlights of my meal though. The marrow was just so melt-in-your-mouth buttery, I couldn't get enough of it, I didn't even use the bread it came with, I just scooped it up and ate it. The kingfish was okay, there was nothing particularly outstanding about the dish, and the salt bush that was used didn't add any depth to it either. The matron was another highlight for me, it was perfectly cooked, and the gratin added a richness to the subtle sweet flavour of the marron flesh. And the last dish before dessert, the kangaroo, was again yet another amazing dish. The kangaroo itself was cooked a little rare, which was perfect, as it left it tender and full of it's own natural flavours. It came with a red cabbage leaf, but to be honest, it could have done without, as the cabbage didn't raise the dish any higher.

Desserts were okay. I was told the chocolate caramel is made to look like a mini Barangaroo House, and that sounded impressive to me, enough for me to have ordered it, but when it came out, I was a little disappointed by how plain it looked. It was just a semi-sphere of chocolate, with two two rings, and some dollops of cream (?) in between. It did taste pretty good though, with the caramel inside being a nice surprise and a beautiful compliment to the rich chocolate outside. The berry pavlova looked very plain and simple too, but then when I cracked it opened, it looked a little more impressive, with a pile of berries on the top, and then when I cut into it further, the juices from the berries cascaded down slowly, creating a nice visual effect. However, the pavlova outside wasn't that great, it had no real taste, and I left it. The inside was much better, but I still preferred the chocolate caramel.

With my drinks, the seasonal bellini wasn't as nice as it was made out to be, it had a little bit of a slightly too tart taste to it, with a tiny hint of bitter aftertaste. The summer spritz was very good though, it was beautiful and refreshing, and tasted exactly like summer in a glass; it was so good I had to get three rounds.

The bill in total was more than I expected for a place like this, as it's not dine dining, it's more like 'sophisticated dining'. But I realised that my bill was a bit high due to all the drinks that were ordered; the price of the food itself wasn't too bad, definitely not cheap, but neither was the level of service provided.

For me personally, I loved it and I'd highly recommend it. Bea made a great first impression on me, and I was already eyeballing the menu and making mental notes on what I'd like to try next visit. (Probably the whole fish, or the whole...

I have sat and thought about writing this review for over a week now having never posted anything in my life. Honestly I am still numb at the evening we experienced at Barangaroo House which was an occasion to celebrate my wives 50th birthday along with 2 other couples. Barangaroo House was recommended to us by the concierge of a well known credit card company , previous recommendations have been superb. Firstly upon being seated our waitress was pleasant and well versed with the menu , that being the highlight of the night. Ordering drinks was difficult and our wait time for the first round of drinks exceeded 30 minutes. The second ordering of drinks was like a scene from Faulty Towers whereby the bottles of wine we ordered had run out as they only had one bottle in the restaurant of wine we ordered. this occurred several times. I must add the gentleman who i assumed was front of house needs a serious lesson on assisting staff in situations along with some insight into understanding clients frustrations. Yes , we are paying for the privilege of eating in your place of employment. An hour into the dinner entree's arrived , very tasty and made us all look forward to our mains. Between entree and mains any request to the wait lady was not well received. I began thinking perhaps she is on work experience and she has decided this type of industry is not for her. Onto the main. Seriously , main share plate of Tomahawk steak along with potatoes resembling hard boiled rocks , corn gratin that looked and tasted like a side serving at some low rated RSL Club and the magnificent green leaf salad of two different lettuce leaves assembled on a plate that I thought was kitchen waste. The restaurant was fully aware of the occasions and I would have thought desert was mandatory, not in the eyes of the staff as at 8 pm we were told we would need to vacate the restaurant by 8.30pm for the second sitting. Politely we attempted to order desert or partial desert for the 50th birthday only to be told we can't as there isn't enough time to serve us. The wait lady become rather petulant when questioned about this usual request for desert which allowed the front of house gentleman to intervene. It wasn't until one of our guest approached other wait staff about our simple request that we managed to get 3 deserts served between six adults. During our time at the restaurant a table of 12 or 15 young groovy young adults arrived and were seated adjoining our table.This table seemed to find the pulse of the front of house manager and some staff ending with our table being completely ignored. The last point that I make is our bill , firstly we were given another parties bill which I paid. Upon working out I was approached by the front of house manager to be advised he had issued another tables bill on our behalf and I would need to make good the difference. I have no issue with this occurring , I do take umbrage when the approach is made at the reception in full front of arriving patrons and security personal locked and loaded.................. Have a little decorum and professionalism about yourself , your employer and your venue. In closing a bill in excess of 2k for 6 people and yes we ordered quality wines fitting for the occasion is nothing short of grossly excessive. Unfortunate for all concerned as the location and the vibrant nature of this Sydney precinct is world class. It shouldn't be so hard to compliment a quality restaurant that goes hand in hand with the location, unfortunately Barangaroo House is not that establishment.

So I reached out and contacted the operators of the restaurant as requested by an auto email generated response. More than two weeks later zero response or contact from anyone at the Solotel Group. Good management starts at the top , little wonder that our experience...

Absolutely terrible service. Would not reccomend.

We went to Smoke Rooftop bar as our friends decided to have their engagement drinks here - terrible decision. Upon arriving, my partner and I were asked (by the security guard) to wait 15 minutes at the bar downstairs even though we explained that the engagement was upstairs and we were already running slightly late. We followed their instructions and returned to the security guard after 15 minutes where another security guard then instructed us to wait a further 20 minutes. No valid reason was given for this wait time except the security guard saying that he was required to abide by these instructions by management. My partner and I then found another security guard and voiced our frustration to her, who also could not help us. Finally we spoke to a bartender who spoke to the security guard and the security guard asked us to wait 2 more ridiculous minutes.

After being finally allowed upstairs, we found the area where the engagement party guests were seated and we were forced to remain in this closed off area - we weren’t even allowed to go out to the rooftop area and witness the view due to these ridiculous restrictions. What is the point of having a rooftop bar if one cannot enjoy the view it provides?

People cannot go and access the bar themselves, but instead need to wait for a waiter to attend their area/table in order to order drinks. In larger groups, a tab needs to be kept and you cannot pay for your drinks separately, causing much confusion when it comes to paying the bill. Terrible concept and I don’t believe this is noted anywhere on the ‘smoke bar’ website - the website creates such a beautiful illusion about this bar and does not mention any of these ridiculous “restrictions”.

The people that work at/manage this place need some serious improvement with their customer service skills and the bar would have so much potential without these silly restrictions. Will certainly not be returning until some...