Bootleg Social Lounge — Restaurant in Sydney

Bootleg is positioned as a vibing, boujee restaurant with good food & eclectic beats, price-positioned at around $15-$20 for an entree and around $28 per main.

We had a nice time at Bootleg but there’s some pretty big changes needed for the price point of the meals to match the experience rendered.

I’ll start with the pro’s.

wait staff are friendly and their service is fast The aesthetic is unique and interesting The beats make the environment feel lively although if you can’t ‘stomach’ electronic music this isn’t the place for you The menu offers some good variety of vegan Italian eats The food is presented beautifully serve sizes are reasonable Bar menu is exciting

The con’s Seating is awkward and way too cramped. The website encourages you to envision plush velvety chairs in a comfortable environment however in reality, our 2-person table was about 25cm away from the next table who were sitting directly next to us (ie no aisle between). Think: your entire convo is heard by the next table The food quality isn’t where it needs to be for the price. Pasta is not al dente, erring on overcooked and claggy. Most meals we tried were under seasoned and not balanced for flavour, primarily lacking the elements of salt and acidity. There’s little depth of flavour in tomato-based sauce dishes and a bland flavour and heavy texture to cashew cream dishes Cocktail quality wasn’t what I expected for the hype There’s a lack of innovation in plant-based solutions to traditional Italian food. I was expecting new flavours, ingredients and combinations compared with vegan Italian I’ve previously eaten OOH. This expectation was driven by the menu item descriptions and overall venue brand positioning

Overall I’d go again to give it another go to try some additional options but it won’t be somewhere I’ll regularly frequent or somewhere I’d...

I hate leaving a negative review to a new vegan restaurant but the food here is not just mediocre, it’s actually a shade below that. I know a lot of venues have staffing shortages due to Omicron, and I’ve tried to remove it as a factor in my review. But for transparency’s sake, there was an hourlong wait in between our appetizers and mains.

The highlights: Appetizers were pretty good. We ordered the zucchini flowers, arancini, and dough balls. I would give them all between 7-8 out of 10.

The good: GREAT vibe and decor, it was very lively on a Friday night.

The bad: All our mains were confusingly devoid of salt. We had to request a bowl of salt and by the time my table of 5 had finished eating, the bowl of salt was almost empty. We ordered their vodka sauce rigatoni, lasagna, and fried eggplant. I will say that once we liberally sprinkled salt on our dishes, the flavors really started to sing, so that’s an easy fix. The lasagna was weirdly a bit sweet, so it benefited the most from extra salt. The rigatoni was at least cooked to al dente perfection, but was just bland until I added salt.

The tiramisu was average; decent flavor but the texture was grainy.

Service I know was slammed but our waitress really missed the mark. She sat us in the very back and kept forgetting to check on us. We were served appetizers before she remembered to serve us plates and cutlery. We hadnt gotten our drinks yet and all the water bottles were currently in the wash so we had nothing to drink with our appetizers. She forgot an entire appetizer that I had to request be canceled after we had already received our mains.

Really hoping Bootleg can turn it around. It’s got all the foundations in place to make it a standout vegan restaurant in a fun neighborhood; it appears that there are just some growing pains to get...

I bought my dad a gift voucher for his birthday but ended up also going with him and my mum. The decor is really nice - the front has a black & white tiled floor with teal walls and a pink ceiling. The art and pink plates tie in nicely. It has an Italian feel but also feels funky, fresh and Paddington. There are other seating areas at the back, including a bar, a private circular table and a back garden patio.

All the food was phenomenal. We had the arancini, polenta fries (which were huge), kipfler potatoes, rocket & pear salad, pasta ai funghi, cacio e pepe and the tiramisu. I had the chilled red and dad had a yullis beer. We loved everything and can't fault a single dish. The presentation was also really thoughtful e.g. the plates and utensils, the napkins, the edible flowers on the arancini balls and the sauce and chives on the polenta fries.

The service was great, really effortless. We were served simultaneously by two staff. Both friendly, helpful, chill and seemed happy to be working there. Both were around just the right amount and very genuine. It's a hard thing to pull off, but they certainly did.

Overall this was a truly excellent and enjoyable dining experience. I live in NYC and it's a very competitive dining scene. It's not often I get to be truly wowed by a Sydney restaurant with service, presentation and unique vegan eats. It's rare to get daily handmade vegan pasta at an Italian restaurant (even somewhere like NYC). These guys nailed it. I'm sure my parents will be back. I definitely plan to return again on my next trip home.

Also if you're not vegan don't be deterred from checking this place out anyway. It's just great food, it is irrelevant that it's plant-based. All I would like to emphasize is that...