Elements Bar and Grill Walsh Bay — Restaurant in Sydney

The food itself was good, but the overall experience with the entire restaurant cannot justify the $140 pp pricing we paid inc one drink pp and not including any desserts.

Front of house

It was clear the team is not experienced enough to run the front of house with efficiency and not able to create a welcoming, customer focused experience that one would expect with at this price point. The host, there seems to be 2 hosts at the restaurant, but it was difficult to tell as they also shared many other duties of the waiter, like serving dishes, clearing tables and managing other waiters. Their mannerism feels dry and matter of the fact and didn’t provide a welcoming atmosphere. And since they were sharing many other duties, they left many customers waiting to be greeted once the restaurant gets busy. The waiters/waitresses, they all felt uneasy and tense and quite understaffed. When serving they were hesitant at where to place the food. Looking around, the few waiters around weren’t fully sure which tables are which and there were food brough to our table that weren’t ours. At times there were food or sauces left on the table after a course, and we had to request it to be cleaned.

Food

For entre we ordered garlic bread, which was just very average and was $24 for 4 pieces. The rock oysters were extremely salty, and the presentation was strange to leave the shell enclosed. Steak tartare was good, if it was $20-30, but it was $42, it wasn’t wagyu or anything special and can’t justify the pricing. Buffalo calamari, was pretty good, the spicy tartare sauce was a bit redundant as the buffalo hot sauce was much better.

Mains

Rocket pear salad was a bit salty for some of the people but overall was nice and refreshing. Toothfish I personally didn’t have much, but my mum seems to enjoyed it and she finished it all. Sous vide beef short ribs was tender, but the barbeque sauce was overly sweet and generic. Tomahawk Steak, this is the big one and was supposed to impress us. Served table side, was able to get a good insta story out of it. The meat and sauces was good, comparable to any other steak house. We originally tried to order the 1kg Bistecca but apparently, the kitchen only had 2 x 500g which we didn’t want, so we changed to the tomahawk.

Sides

Grilled sweet cord ribs was great and everyone enjoyed it. Truffle steakhouse chips, there were plenty of truffle, only wished if the chips weren’t so thick. Portabella mushrooms was nice and had a great umami taste.

Dessert

N/A, we didn’t order any, partially because we were quite full, but mainly because by that time, the restaurant was quite busy, and we didn’t have a waiter around for a while and we didn’t well like waiting anymore.

Overall

The food was good but can’t justify the pricing, especially if you look at the overall service. If you were after a good steak and customer service, look elsewhere, probably Meat and Wine for a better experience. If you are after the waterfront view, then maybe...

I don’t usually write reviews however was so profoundly disappointed by this whole experience. Given that it’s a nice steakhouse, it was intended as a special birthday dinner within the family. The entrees came out promptly and once close to finishing, we were asked by our waiter Nicko if we were ready for mains.

Table was quickly cleared, and we were eager for the next round of the classic set menu. Due to the fact that the table was quickly cleared and we had were prompted for mains we were worried we had been a bit slow and thought perhaps the mains would be coming shortly. 40 minutes later we had watched patrons who had sat down after us have their meal and leave. After another 20 minutes (1 hour between entrees and mains!) we began to be concerned that perhaps something had gone amiss.

After a member of our group asked, we were assured that the mains would be coming out “within minutes”. This was not the case. We waited another 30 minutes, and a further four times of questioning before the mains actually arrived.

The issue was not the wait. It was frustrating to constantly be told “it’s coming out now!” And then waiting another 20-30 minutes. We would have appreciated and been fine with another explanation and honest timeline of when the food could be expected as we understand it can often be busy. However, it felt like we were purposely avoided, no updates provided when the promises of “2 minutes” remained unfulfilled and just constantly sidelined.

The steaks were underwhelming after a one and a half hour wait, cooked more to well done than the requested medium rare. Especially disappointing for a set menu which cost $133 per person in addition to the purchased drinks. I had also previously informed the staff who seated us that we were celebrating a birthday and would appreciate if candles/special celebration could be arranged. I was assured that a ?decoration could be placed on the individuals (prepaid) dessert. Unfortunately did not happen.

For such a premium price the bare minimum of being able to communicate with customers, place orders in a timely manner and good food just was not there. It was evident there was not enough staff to accomodate the demands of the restaurant and those who were there were so under the pump they did not communicate with each other.

Not worth going or...

Beautiful experience - amazing steaks, 5 star service, great vibe.

Had a group booking for 9ppl at 730pm.

Arrived at 630. Was invited in to wait for others to arrive. I was impressed that our table was reserved and set, ready and waiting for us to arrive 1 hour prior to our booking time!

Our waiter Johnny treated us with warmth and respect - tended to our needs. Offering sparkling or still water the instant we sat down, even pouring it in the glass for us.

I started with a water melon and mint mocktail - very refreshing $18

During the night our waiter (Johnny) would check-in with us regularly to make sure everything was ok, often refilling our water. His attentiveness was very much appreciated even though he was clearly very busy with many other tables.

Our meals took about 45mins to arrive at our table

When our food arrived I was given pepper sauce mistakenly instead of chimichurri - again our waiters (Johnny's) proactiveness kicked in. When all our meals were served he asked the table if everything was ok with our meals? He promptly got me the correct sauce.

When we were trying to take a selfie, our waiter offered to take the photo of the group.

I ordered the T-bone, and wanted chips instead of the parmesan and marscapone puree. Which they happily arranged. The T-bone was amazing. I could cut the meat by biting it with my front teeth - is how soft it was! T-bone With a glass of Pepsi and the delicious chimmichurri was $101 public holiday rates.

The ambient music volume was perfect. Loud enough to enjoy it during dinner, not to loud to drown out conversation.

Was worth it with the location being right on the wharf, the atmosphere, for a special night out. I would not be able to afford it every weekend but the food was so delicious I wish I could afford it everyday!

Next time I go there I'm gonna dress up and get the tomahawk steak. The people sitting next to us got it and it smelled delicious. The waiter sliced up the meat for them and served it.

I reckon 1 tomahawk could easily feed 2 people.

I didn't take photo of the T-bone, but I tasted my friends eye fillet and it melts in your mouth and she took a photo...