Bare Witness — Restaurant in Sydney

Our friend recently had dinner here and told us about their beautiful mulled wine and live jazz performance. I love a good mulled wine paired with jazz! So my husband and I immediately booked an early Sunday dinner. We've never been to Bared Witness, and on arrival, we were greeted by friendly staff and guided to our table, not far from the band stage. The setting was beautiful and relaxed, and the waitstaffs were attentive but not in-your-face, always presented with a smile ❤ We asked if they had mulled wine, and the waitress said she put the order through right away as the popular beverage wouldn't last long. When I took the first sip, I could understand why; it had notes of cherry, perfectly spiced and felt like a sweet, warm hug. When I asked for a second glass, they were all sold out ☹ For our entree, we ordered their focaccia bread (fluffy on the inside and just the right crunch on the outside) and persimmon with prosciutto (a nice change from melon! and it worked nicely!). My husband had their lasagna totolo and I ordered their king prawn & scallops mafaldine for our mains. Both were delicious! The only letdown was the salad. We ordered the gem lettuce and I didn't feel the mayo complimented the orange and candied walnuts. The dinner was very enjoyable with the band playing in the background. The volume was just right. For dessert, we had tiramisu (a nice balance of liqueur, although a bit on the sweeter side) and kiwi panna cotta (very refreshing!), both house-made, and they were the perfect end to the meal paired with tea. We thoroughly enjoyed dining here! What a lovely gem in Rhodes with gorgeous water views outside and beautifully decored inside. I liked how the staff asked us how our dining experience was and what our highlight was. For me, the service was the highlight, on par with the mulled wine! The food was a lovely compliment, and so was the Jazz! Well done Bare Witness! We'll be back with...

Visited on Sunday morning (April 20th around 10am) and had one of the most unnecessarily frustrating experiences I’ve had in a café. I ordered an iced matcha with really less ice ,emphasized it twice. Either it wasn’t put through correctly by the person taking the order (who seemed like a manager) or it was simply ignored.

When the drink arrived, it was half full of ice. I politely mentioned that I had asked for very little ice. The girl running drinks responded with a condescending tone, saying, “That is less ice ,otherwise it would be full.” I clarified again, and instead of acknowledging the issue, she gave me attitude and asked, “So you don’t want it?” No apology, just rudeness.

She returned with the same drink, clearly just having dumped out some ice and not even bothering to top it up properly ,the cup was now half full with milk. I asked again, very reasonably, if she could top it up with more milk, and without a word, she grabbed it and walked off with even more attitude. Then the manager came over and asked, “Is there any problem with this drink?” as if the issue wasn’t clear. When I explained, his response was, “If I put more milk, it’ll dilute the taste.” I’m a barista myself ,I know how I want my drink, and I don’t need to be lectured on it after paying $8.

Finally, on the fourth attempt, I received the drink I asked for. The entire situation was completely unnecessary. What could’ve been a simple fix turned into a drawn-out and uncomfortable back-and-forth. I came in for a chill start to my day and left feeling irritated ,and frankly embarrassed, as it ruined the vibe of my date.

In hospitality, how you make people feel matters just as much as the product. I would never treat a customer at my café this way. Overpriced, overhyped, and full of unnecessary drama....

Food - Great flavour combinations, needed some mustard to counteract the sweetness in the burger. The steak, was brilliant and couldn't fault it. Service - Unfortunately terrible, quite frankly some of the worst service I've ever received. McDonald's Thornleigh has staff who are more interested in their customers. We weren't greeted at all from the walk between the front door to where we found a table on the far side of the restaurant. Found some menus and made our decisions (5 minutes tops), the place wasn't busy at all, with around 30 tables or more, 4 were occupied. We proceeded to attempt to acknowledge one of the staff, who made eye contact each time, then looked down and began to move onto walking around setting tables on the other side. I absolutely hate waving down waiters, a simple smile and eye contact shows a little more care, after my failed attempts I raised my hand again to the same waitress with eye contact and still, turned and ignored. Ended up hopping up and walking to the poor waitress at the front and asking her if it was table service, to which I was met with an extremely apologetic reply of 'Yes, I'm so sorry has nobody come to help you yet? I'll come straight over".

I'm not one for getting up and walking over to demand service, as it comes off as quite rude which is why I gave multiple opportunities to make eye contact and wave down someone instead. Please provide some training to the certain staff members, whilst who can set tables perfectly in an empty location, clearly don't want to asknowledge a customer who is attempting to not be a d*ckhead by: waving, flailing about, calling out or standing up to ask for service. I tried, I really did give the benefit of the doubt, and whilst the food was brilliant, it was definitely not a nice way to kick-start...