Chula — Restaurant in Sydney

WOW WOW WOW WOW WOW! We have been 3 times (lunches and dinners) in the past year and each time has been a FANTASTIC experience across the board. I would give Chula a 5.5/5 if possible.

Presentation, service, and atmosphere are all amazing, with a cozy ambiance even on weekday nights.

Going dish by dish:

Charcoal Elotes - let's get the most underwhelming out of the way - nothing bad nothing amazing, just grilled corn.

Enchiladas rojas (chicken, verdes/green) - DELICIOUS, cooked perfectly and flavoured perfectly with a refreshing tinge of acidity - ordered on multiple occasions over a year and was great everytime.

Baja Tacos - one of my personal favourites - perfectly fried fish, paired with the acidity from the pickled onions to cut through the crispy cheese - again ordered multiple times over a year and was fantastic each time.

Birria Tacos - this was also pretty good - I personally prefer the Baja Tacos as the Birria Tacos was a little heavy but still delicious - recommended with the Consomme which added a little spice.

Last main is the Cochinita Pibil Quesadilla - also very nice - would be slightly monotonous if not for the Avo mousse which helped freshen things up.

The drinks: Pina mezcal margarita was ok. Angel on the beach was pretty good. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THE MANGO COLADA A THOUSAND TIMES!

Churros Sandwich: Quite good, they changed the plating for this over the past year and the introduction of more tart berries helped cut through the intense sweetness of the icecream and churros. Friend says 'VERY GOOD, BETTER THAN THE TRES LECHE'

Tres Leche: This exceeded expectations - based on the lack of photos/reviews mentioning the tres leche, I wasn't sure what to expect but I found it DELIGHTFUL! Balanced sweetness, moist cake, delicious pairing with an unknown fruit jam (mulberry or hawthorn tasting?) and fresh strawberries. I say "VERY GOOD, BETTER THAN THE CHURROS SANDWICH"

Very fairly priced...BUT...cheeky little advice......MAYBE consider bringing your own bag of cheese OR pop into the woolies nearby OR pay $2 per taco per person for added cheese......

Maybe not the most authentic mexican place out there but it exceeds expectations for 'Modern Mexican' Highly...

Dined at the restaurant evening of Friday 30th October with a group friends, we left the restaurant very unsatisfied. Ordered the set menu $55pp only to find out the food portions were very small. The fish tacos were very bland with no seasoning, fried fish that was not crispy, tasted like it was drenched in water for a few hours and then served on the plate. The chicken tacos were tasteless and tortillas were very dried out and not fresh, leaving our appetite empty. We ordered 6x$66 jugs of Margaritas which mainly were jugs filled with ice cubes, what Mexican restaurant serves classic margaritas with no salt rimmed glasses. Condiments served with the salt & pepper calamari were very small rations that could only serve 2 people, we had asked for extra sauces to ensure we can accommodate our group of 10, only to find out the restaurant would charge extra after the overall bill came close to $1200 for the night (including a $97 surcharge charge) which is quite ridiculous. To top the icing on the cake with the bad food experiences throughout the night, I had spoken to the restaurant managers to provide feedback on how the food experience could improve, expecting the restaurant to understand and be a little sympathetic (as paying customers) however just to receive a very cold, defensive and intimidating attitude response from the female manager disbelieving what I had to say, rolling her eyes and patronising smirk gestures.

Overall the restaurant experience was appalling, tasteless food and small rations, overpriced cocktails jugs filled with just ice cubes and rude restaurant managers. I would say this is the WORST Mexican restaurant in Sydney. If you want to get value for money and have a great dining experience, DO NOT go here. We definitely WILL NOT be recommending this restaurant to our family...

Really disappointing policy. Where can I start. My husband made a booking for 5 friends to join us for a birthday dinner. In his booking confirmation he was advised that a 10% surcharge and set menu applies for groups over 8, but we were going to be 7 dining. Seven of us came into the restaurant, sat and ordered our dinner. A short while later, a couple of friends who had previously told us they were not going to come as they had previous dinner plans told us that they had finished early and wanted to join us, but would just join us for a drink. We thought, great! They won’t be ordering food or causing more trouble or work for the chefs, which is what I assume the large group policy is all about. We were not asked to order from the set menu, which makes sense as only 7 of us were dining. We ate our food and went on our way. Imagine my shock when I get home and discover a 10% surcharge. The surcharge was because we had 9 people seated, despite the fact that we explained to the server that this couple would not be dining, they would just be joining us for a drink. The staff did not need to seat us on a larger or different table. We stayed at the same table we had with the group of 7, they did use two chairs as they would anywhere else at the restaurant, but for zero extra inconvenience we were charged, in my view unfairly. Edna, our server, was lovely. The food was good. The lack of flexibility and silliness in applying this policy however is extremely disappointing. I called the restaurant and explained, then followed up with another call a few days later. I was told that the director denied our request for a refund of the surcharge because at the end of the day, there were 9 people sitting at the table. Make of that...