Del Punto — Restaurant in Sydney

Del Disappointo:

My partner and I used to come here alot and would rant and rave about it to everyone, even taking out friends to our new favourite location. Unfortunately we had to leave Sydney and we would spend days thereafter daydreaming about the next time we would get to come back.

When we finally came back to Sydney last year we wasted no time coming for a meal here. Unfortunately the menu had been completely changed and the 3-4 things that we did want from their new menu were unavailable that day. We were so happy to be back we just put it down to being busy and ordered whatever was available.

We gave it another go and booked again during the week for this evening(they even recognised us!) and I have to say that will be our last visit to Del Punto. Upon arrival we sat for 10mins before even being offered a proper drink. By then we were ready to order all of our food. We were handed a specials menu to which none of the food on it was actually available even though there were chalkboards on walls stating the same as the menu. Strike 1. We agreed the olives were the nicest dish we received. Everything else was sitting on a plate of spinach, bland, small and extremely overpriced. Strike 2. One of our tapas (Paella balls) inexplicably disappeared and had to be remade which we were happy to wait for, at the time I reminded the waitress we were also still waiting for bravas which she acknowledged. The PB finally came out when we had finished everything else and tidied it all up for them ourselves. Still no bravas after finishing that. Strike 3. We then AGAIN reminded the waitress of the missing bravas, she came back and in a roundabout way basically said they were also forgotten. At this point we both just wanted to leave. However I was very much still hungry as the portions were so small. So we waited, what arrived out was a bowl of tomato sauce with about 16 pieces of burnt potato in it. $17.50. It was very poor. Strike 4. Sharply after this we received another tapas dish as gesture of good will, which was appreciated. But it was too little too late and we did not want anymore food we wanted to leave. In all honesty I'm assuming it was someone else's cancelled order as while this was going on we actually began overhearing other tables complain about poor service and delays/forgotten food aswel. All we ordered was 5 little tapas and 2 of them were completely messed up. Service was very negligent also for such a small restaurant. What happened to this place? Massive improvements needed on service and food. Save your money folks because it's a very expensive disappointment. I write this in the hope the corrections are made and this restaurant is brought back to its...

This evening was my 5th or 6th time visiting Del Punto.

We always sit outside because we bring our dog with us, and we were happy to get a table tonight without a booking.

I firstly want to say that I do understand that it is a public holiday, and I did not have a booking, but this review is being made after several visits.

The food is undeniably delicious, as are the cocktails.

The thing that really ruins the experience is the length of time it takes for everything to come out. We received our drinks after 45 minutes (one was a beer), and that was only because I went inside to follow up, which sped things up.

Food came out after about an hour.

This type of waiting time has been my experience each visit, regardless of how busy the restaurant is. There are never enough staff on.

The waiter (who was always very polite) said he would give us or drinks for free to apologise for the wait, which was appreciated, but when my partner paid, they said they'd give a 10% discount instead, which was less than the original offer. Really disappointing.

If you have plenty of time, and aren't hungry at all, then the food is worth it. Not recommended if you have anywhere to be,...

The vibe outside the place (Randwick’s The Spot - what a hip hop happening location!), the vibe inside the place, the very professional and fast and precise service yet relaxed, reassuring and pleasant. And then the food arrives....the best yummy tapas in town. Don’t miss this place especially before or after a movie across the road. Book to be safe

.....and then....we went back there a couple of months later and decided to sit outside on the street and next to us were a couple of ladies who were already intoxicated. They were foul mouthing every sentence which made unpleasant. They made cat calls to a good looking male cop walking by! Can you believe it! But I understand that the owner can to control that. However, the fact they one of them smoked cigarettes at less then the 5 m required by the law and that they were kept being served alcohol, both is again the law and Del Punto can lose their licence. I suggest to the owner to remind this to customers, to stop serving alcohol to intoxicated patrons and to send them up to the Royal if they want to drink more.

Having saying all of that, the food was great and the wine list...