Dean & Nancy on 22 — Restaurant in Sydney

I had high hopes for Dean & Nancy on 22 after reading so many glowing recommendations. I made a reservation on Thursday 11 September for my son's 21st birthday celebration for Saturday 13 September at 5.45pm for a group of five. The venue was chosen specifically for its advertised atmosphere, views, and quality service, and with the expectation, clearly stated on their own website, that bookings last 2.5 hours. The party arrived at 5.55pm and enjoyed their starters and mains, which were good. However, at around 7.00pm, barely over an hour in, just as they were about to order dessert and drinks and settle in for a birthday chat, the waiter abruptly informed them they had to leave as the table was needed for another booking at 7.15pm. When my son mentioned they were about to order dessert, the waiter simply repeated that they had to vacate the table. Not only was this extremely disappointing, but it also felt dismissive and frankly rude. The group didn’t argue, they paid the bill ($373.82 for food only, excluding drinks and dessert) and left, clearly unwelcome. For a venue positioning itself as premium, this is completely unacceptable. Additionally, when making the booking, we were asked what the occasion was, yet there was absolutely no acknowledgment of the birthday, no small gesture, not even a mention. That only added to the lack of care shown throughout the experience. This resulted in the group having to struggle to find another venue for dessert and drinks on a busy Saturday night, not an easy task. What should have been a memorable evening turned into a frustrating one with a sour aftertaste. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Dean & Nancy. The service fell well short of expectations, and the actual experience did not match the image they promote. For the price point, you expect far better, or at the very least, professional and courteous service. Zero stars...

Hi Sabrina, I’ve attached photo evidence clearly showing both drinks were served before 6pm, Martini at 5:34pm and Wine at 5:51pm. When we told the waitress that the wine was served before 6pm, she completely ignored us. We didn’t realise at that time that we actually had these photos proving it.

Your response denying this despite clear evidence is honestly unacceptable and very disappointing. It feels like you’re trying to dismiss our experience rather than take responsibility.

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Deeply disappointing experience. We came here for pre-drinks to celebrate our 13th anniversary, hoping for a lovely evening but it turned out to be one of the most frustrating experiences we’ve had in a long time.

This was the second time we’ve been charged incorrect prices here. During happy hour, martinis are $15 each, yet we were billed $50 for two. The waitress apologised and brought a corrected invoice but then I noticed the Chardonnay was charged at $36 instead of the $12 happy hour price.

When I raised this, I was told the discount didn’t apply because the wine was served after 6pm, not when it was ordered. I clearly remembered placing the order around 5:45pm and later confirmed from my photo timestamp that it was actually served at 5:51pm.

My wife didn’t want to argue anymore and just wanted to leave, so we ended up paying full price for the wines. I still felt compelled to speak up because it was clearly wrong, but by then the mood was completely gone. Both of us left upset, our anniversary dinner completely ruined.

It’s heartbreaking, because this used to be one of my favourite bars. But the last two visits have been absolutely disappointing: wrong charges, poor handling, and a complete lack of hospitality.

I can no longer recommend this...

Dean and Nancy was on our must visit list from the day we saw it advertised. Unfortunately, due to pregnancy and later lockdown, it took us a while to get there.

We made our visit just a few weeks ago and we believe this is probably the best bar we’ve been to in Australia. Timeless, classy, sophisticated and fun to be found o the 22nd floor of the Adina hotel. This place is high class, where customers sit in booths overlooking the city skyline and CBD below. The ambience is amazing, and has a playful feel to it all. There’s a piano occupying the centre, a jazz singer and even bar staff tinkering to the tunes with their bottles.

Brought to us from the Maybe Sammy team, the cocktails are just as good. They have curated an amazing list – featuring gin, pisco, rum, coffee to name a few. My cocktail even came with a matching tub of hand cream with the aroma of my drink.

The food was wonderful. On our small tabletop we managed to fit our drinks and a quick bar snack, as well as dessert. There are much larger plates too, from the land and garden. We opted for some little things such as nuts, olives and the Kingfish sashimi. The sashimi was lovely and refreshing dressed with smoked soy, apple, shisho, pickled ginger, a seaweed cracker and wasabi mayo. We followed up with the passionfruit bombe Alaska, a huge dessert that was so tasty - ,ade with a passionfruit sorbet, chocolate sorbet and coconut praline, and of course the torched Italian meringue.

We recommend booking since the place is small and you want to guarantee yourself a table here. Book early evening, watch the sunset, grab some food and drinks into the evening. It is an all round amazing experience. It is pricy, so save for a special occasion. But it’s...