Bennelong — Restaurant in Sydney

Being known by Peter Gilmore reputation, however this restaurant is not worth your next visit. We went there on Wednesday night, food was average, 6/10, actually frankly speaking, the duck dish was the highlight, one of the best duck I had so much, but the portions, i mean seriously that is the potion for main course ?! I remember we ate Quay 2 year ago (same executive chef with Bennelong) with 8 course menu, the quail dish we had have the same portions with this, or Bentley or Tetsuya we just had this year with 7 course and 8 course all the portion are bigger than this (FYI: this is portion for 3 course and they charge 190pax for this much of food). I am an Asian chick, who barely eat anything whole day to keep myself skinny but still cannot stand with the portions here. But that was not the main point, the SERVICE was absolutely TERRIBLE. Only highlight is the host gentlemen who was welcome us on host desk is the only one who show interaction with guest. Our section waitress is a lady who just came once to took order then left, never came back to ask how was everything. Noone said happy anniversary or ever mention even that is why we were there (except host guy), but the ridiculous thing is we saw other table got petit fours or even with candle well-prepared. But that is fine, people forgot sometimes, if only that I already not write this bad reviews. More than that, we finished our 3 course meal within 2.5hr, being waiting for someone to come and pour tap water for 10 mins, being wait for main course almost 50mins, being wait for dessert 30mins. I mean come on, we had 8 course in Tetsuya's for 2.5hrs with wine pairing as well and for Bennelong was just 3 dishes and go home, is that nessesary to take that long? The table next to us impatiently asked them "how long for our main course" twice while we still kept our mouth shut and wait. Not even apology for us for being wait that long or even them. They had lots of staff but none is give guest good experience. Also, when we were so hungry waiting for main course, we had asked for more bread to have while waiting, there is a lady with a pixie hair wearing a dark blue vest with shirt was say "sure" and she was literally roll her eyes, like we are crime who did something wrong when we just ask for more bread. She came back bring the bread, and I said no need to put plate for me, only for my partner, but she still throw it in front of me, no respond and left (yes it was throwing). Just a side story but when we were in the bar have some cocktail and cheese plates, 1 guy just came and took 1 chair from our table for other guest without saying sorry or anything (this is fine-dining standard?). And when we were paying the bills for the bar, the bar waiter was literally BEGGING for tips, even when they havent even prepared table in restaurant for me to sit. I have been always give tips wherever I go to dine at any places, but please dont be desperate for it. I think Bennelong should focus on training your staff to behave better. This is the worst service ever that I...

Bennelong is Sydney's Premier dining experience, in every way. Dining inside the iconic and architecturally acclaimed Sydney Opera House in the World famous harbour with a stunning view of Sydney another icon - the Harbour Bridge. A site of historical significance, for Australia's first people, the Indigenous Australians, more specifically the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, occupied this site. Bennelong, an Aboriginal man to befriend the British, lived in a house on the point that this restaurant stands today.

With a menu by famous chef Peter Gilmore, 5 star food and service, it is a restaurant you must go to at least once in your life. Whether you are a tourist to Australia or simply dining for a special celebration, it is the perfect venue. It is upscale dining, and with that an expensive price tag, but highly worth the cost.

The interior of the restaurant is equally as impressive as the exterior, an open restaurant with space on a grand scale with high ceilings, it is a sophisticated place to dine.

Service is impeccable with staff on hand to answer any questions, fill up water and were extremely professional and attentive, whilst unobtrusive and make it an excellent experience.

You don't normally hear much about the cocktails here, with so much focus on the food, but they can't be missed, with an excellent combination of flavours and theatrics to their presentation. An extremely plentiful wine list, by the glass or bottle and a sommelier to provide advice, your food can be perfectly matched.

3 course menu for $130, you can select a combination to tantalise your palate. We were in a large group so had the opportunity to try many of the selections. It doesn't matter what you pick, the options demonstrate great technique and developed flavours and you will be sure to have a delicious dish. In terms of entrees, the salad of young beetroot was a pop of colour on the plate, with horseradish, cultured cream, leek roasted fermented rye and rhurbarb pickle, you'd covert meat lovers to vegetarian in a second.

The main dishes of a full roasted Dory on the bone with roasted turnips and native coastal greens, this was a garden on a plate. Meat lovers, don't fret, the slow cooked beef cheek or suckling pig will satisfy your fancy.

The piece de resistance of this dining experience are the desserts. What more could you want than an Australian classic, the Pavlova, presented as the Sydney opera house itself. They also have the layered chocolate cake, made famous by its appearance on masterchef which is presented as a spectacle with hot chocolate poured on your dessert, giving way to the centre like a sink hole. Consuming all that chocolate, you'll certainly go home happy. Cherry lamington a and mille feuille, make sure you try them all.

This restaurant truly ticks all boxes; great service, great food, great drinks and a a stunning location, add this to list...

"The could've been amazing that went bizarre due to unprofessional service" #LDfinds #LilyDawis

F&B: ☁️☁️☁️☁️ Service: ☁️☁️ Ambiance: ☁️☁️☁️☁️☁️

The food's great though a tad heavy. Had to take several clouds off service coz so bizarre the sommelier and several wait staffs were opening bottles drinking while on the job in plain view from our table facing the vino prep area 😅 so we were quite disturbed by it coz we were affected, sommelier was rushing, haphazardly pouring out (our bottle's) double the amount to our glasses so he could go back to his little party

There was also choice of 2 courses or 3 courses that night, either we do all savories or last course with dessert/cheese. The males in our group opted for all savories, which should come one by one but all came out at once despite clear instructions.

It was then I had to speak up saying, "why the rush, this is a second seating and we had no opera to catch..." (the feeling we got was as if they wanted us to finish early so they could close up early and party amongst themselves, it was disappointing coz we looked forward to Bennelong so much). Things got a bit better after that but their drinking on the job continued so we were still uncomfortable till the end but determined to still have great night within our group.

We felt so bar for chef/owner/manager of Bennelong, hope they read this and could take steps so it doesn't happen again.

Now on the vinos, it's pointless having a great wine list if the delivery wasn't on point. After the earlier mishap and through our subsequent order of vinos, we seemed to have earned the respect of the sommelier who then hovered around our table eager to please. Beyond our 4 full bottles, we also had by-the-glass upon his recommendation. We also had 2 single malt Sullivan's Cove (not pictured), which in contrast to the precisely measured presentation at Tetsuya's, we were presented with the already poured whiskeys, no bottle sighting either. My group agreed the amount was only 1/3 of the Tetsuya's serving.

Chef, please look into how your fine wines, aperitifs, digestif service being delivered to diners. As this was by far one of the worst we had this year. A great shame because your savories and desserts (the creme brulee vs mille feuille was divine!) courses were up there with the best.

*This review first appeared on my instagram account @LDfinds, Trish the manager of Bennelong reached out to me on instagram private message. She was respectful, apologetic and thankful. Let's hope what my group experienced were just isolated incidents and won't...