BART Jr. — Restaurant in Sydney

Have been to Bart Jr several times in the past and always loved the food and atmosphere.

I had not been back in about 10 months and I’m not sure if the place has changed hands or management - but this was a not a good experience and total opposite of past visits. Previously we had delightful staff and were treated to unique meals that featured original combinations of flavours with hearty portions. Not so this time.

The food was extremely average at best. The service was also poor with it being nearly impossible to get the attention of a waiter and the staff being mostly uninterested. At one point while we were still eating our last course, one of the staff went to change a light globe over our table which we hadn’t asked for and really interrupted our meal as he looked like he was about to fall off the ladder! The entire night we had waiters coming to our table bringing food and drinks we did not order and then looking very confused and frustrated when we said so.

The food took forever to come out and was very staggered. We were at the restaurant for over 2 hours for 4 dishes. We got restless between courses.

We ordered the olives and a calamari skewer for an entree. The olives were literally store bought Harris Farm Sicilian Olives and not particularly fresh ones either. My partner thought the calamari skewer had not been properly cooked through.

We ordered a cheese, asparagus and snow pea dish and was served on a lone piece of toast and was more of a brunch type dish than something you’d have for dinner. Not easily sharable - the meals were supposed to be designed to be shared.

We ordered Ocean Trout, which was served at room temperature, which is not right for fish. It tasted like it had been sitting there for a bit. The skin was incredibly tough. It was a very average pub meal at best, but by the time this was served (2 hours after we’d ordered our food) we just wanted to get out of there.

The worst offender was a slow cooked lamb shoulder pasta dish. There was barely two mouthfuls of lamb in a $38 main meal. We were sharing the mains and literally had no idea how to divide the meat because there was so little food. There was barely any sauce and the dish was mostly just pasta with pepper sprinkled with peas. This Is the first time in my life I have wanted to send a meal back to the kitchen - I'm not a picky eater. It took about 10 minutes to get the attention of a waiter about the food. We complained and the waiter went to talk to chef, they came back gaslighting us telling us that there was lamb in the dish and that it was designed to just dissolve into the food. “Not dissolve into not existing though?” I asked. We told her we had been to the restaurant several times before and never had food like this to which she shrugged and said “well we do like to change the menu to keep it fresh.” Really not good enough. She said she would discount the meal from our bill. At the end of the night we found she had deducted $6. At any other restaurant with good hospitality, they would have either removed the meal from the bill entirely or offered to bring us out a new dish or offered a round of drinks or something but $6 is just kind of insulting. Thankfully the staff at the desk agreed that it wasn’t acceptable and removed the item from the bill entirely but not after I had to awkwardly query the bill.

I’ve recommended this place to so many people over the last couple of years and I hope they didn’t have an experience like we did last night.

Mostly posting this as a warning to old customers who are thinking of returning. At a time where everyone is upping their prices, Bart Jr have kept theirs the same but at the expense of the quality of the food. This is never a good idea, especially in Sydney - where word of mouth...

Bart Jr was great, but it's now trash. We have been patrons since first opened, and have enjoyed many amazing meals and experiences with them - and with the sister restaurant around the corner when they were also operating there. Recently we had a few lackluster and possibly regretful outings at Bart Jr, but afterwards put it down to 'maybe they were having a bad day'. Anyway, tonight was terrible, and I was challenged on some feedback I shared about our meal. The staff checked in with us on the food, and this was a first time I gave a negative response. It felt constitutionally messy to do so, nobody wants to - it's a bit of a social dilemma - however the staff asked us, and it was bad enough that we felt we had to be honest. I was averse to eating this meal, I was also averse to sharing my thoughts to the staff, and they would have resented hearing it from me too. It's a bad situation. In hindsight I should have walked away - instead I was interrogated and then berated for my negative response. So to my point - if you are considering trying Bart Jr - save your time and money, stay home, or if you are seeking this form of dining i.e. al fresco, tapas, wine bar food thing - then I highly recommend Bar Copains - it's a very similar style, but far more authentic.They are located in Surry Hills on Albion Street. You will see similar prices across the board, but their quality, service, staff, menu, products, and atmos are are miles above where Bart Jr have now set themselves. So it's not all bad news because there are other great options close by.

IN RESPONSE:

Hi George

I appreciate your response.

The review I left wasn't because we had a bad meal, which it was. I only left this review because of the way it was handled.

A bad meal we would have forgiven, but the way we were treated by one of the staff members was wild.

When we came up to pay for the meal I was questioned on the legitimacy of my complaint, and then after that they doubled down by schooling us on how to order our meal. I felt attacked, when the only thing to discuss was regrets on the food and experience not being good.

The steak was bone cold and chewy. It was divided into six mouthfuls, we tried two each, and left a third each after agreeing it was inedible.

We told the staff when they came back and asked how it was, and cancelled the last of our sides. The timing of the sides which followed after the steak wasn't the issue. We wanted the potatoes and beans to come with the steak, but that didn't matter in the end because the steak was bad.

We didn't pay for the steak dish only, but still paid for a $90 meal, and walked away feeling pretty awful.

That said I do appreciate your reply, and we had always enjoyed...

A cacophony of sound emanates from Bart Jr. as we arrive. The bar, which has occupied a coveted corner spot on Redfern’s main drag for about seven years, is a lively space around knock-off time even on a mid-week hump day. Staff, across kitchen, bar and floor, seem pumped, with greeting, seating, wine and food all happening in record time. Influenced no doubt by the wine bottles on display on the shelves that line the room, we order the wine we’re seated under: the CRFT 2023 Grüner Veltliner ($82) plucked from their own five-acre Arranmore vineyard. It sees minerality and stone dance with acidity, coriander and unripe mango: perfect for cutting through anchovy toast ($8/each) where Olasagasti anchovies got a bit swamped by bright red confit tomatoes, Aleppo pepper and Bloody Mary butter. We took these single-person snacks as add-ons to the well-priced chef’s choice menu ($45/head) that actually lured us in.

Belying the price point by providing plenty of food, the daily menu kicked off with plump potato and Manchego fritters ($12) sitting in smoked tomato sugo. Fat fingers of foccacia ($7/2) are yours for the smearing with surprisingly spicy fermented chilli butter. Drag ‘em through a classy caramelised miso labneh ($24) if you need to pull things back. The strained yoghurt pays homage to the changing season with roasted beetroot, black plums, confit garlic, fried buckwheat and a drizzle of blood plum vinegar with its own hint of chilli oil. They don’t mind building a bit of flavour here. Little logs of seasoned sheep’s milk halloumi sit under blistered currents and toasted hazelnuts in brown butter, rosemary and honey. A nude-looking skewer of Bungalow pork loin arrives cooked through nicely with a stonker-you portion of crushed new potato salad. The spuds are tangled through green beans, baby tomatoes, kalamata olives and breadcrumbs (pangrattato) neatly taking care of all your food groups in an enjoyable...