ESQ Bar + Dining — Restaurant in Sydney

We travelled to Sydney from regional Victoria for a foodie holiday. This was the first bar we tried after researching before we arrived. What a disappointment it was, to be greeted on a Thursday night by the concierge only to be told, because we had no booking, we couldn’t be accommodated. This was despite the restaurant appearing quite empty. The concierge waffled on about how they had a booking for 30 who were taking up the space of 40, and also said astonishingly, we have five seaters available but we cant really give you one of those … ( we were a group of three) again this was despite two groups of three seating at five seater tables right within view and earshot of the front desk where we stood. Just as we were debating whether to come another night or just cut our losses, one of the close by groups of three got up and we said to the other waiter who was standing by, is this table available? He obligingly said yes and prepared it for us. We ordered drinks and snacks. The drinks were fine! In one of the food snacks (a soft cheese dish) however, we encountered a sharp piece of oyster shell. It wasn’t even a seafood dish. We mentioned and showed it to one of the the waiters who just shrugged her shoulders. When we got up to leave the talkative concierge came over again and said, any normal night we welcome walk ups, normally we’re not busy between 8 and 10pm, the theatre crowd has gone, and just kept talking as if to justify initially turning us away, when we didn’t want to hear about how good they usually are. I could not fault the waiter who was dressed in a business suit, but the concierge in his Steve Irwin meets scoutmaster outfit complete with Akubra hat, just looked like he’d be more comfortable handing out sausages for the Boy Scouts at Bunnings. To top off the whole experience, just before we stood up to leave a large cockroach scuttled across the floor from under our table to the next. The better dressed waiter was about to stamp on it but saw me watching him and thought better of it, so off it ran. And so did we. (Not before paying though!) Sorry guys, you need to work on your welcome. The ambience of the place deserves so...

Cancelled a booking at another restaurant to try this last night. The front of house person was exceptional as was her colleague who was the sommelier. The bar and wait staff were appalling. Initially I ordered 2 glasses of French bubbles as was celebrating a long awaited catch up with a girlfriend. I noticed the staff seeming to have difficulty finding the bottle but was busy catching up. When we decided to stay and ordered a bottle I then discovered it was NZ sparkling. Actually really good but not what I thought I was drinking! We then moved to a table and ordered the sharing dinner for 2. It seemed to take forever for the first course to arrive. When we questioned the wait staff it turned out they had forgotten to place our order. The young lady was apologetic stating she had a headache and it was her first night. Sorry not interested. We then called the assistant manager over and he was equally unprofessional stating they were new and getting the hang of things. Normally I’d be really supportive but by this time I was well on my way to being well cut……. No food + bubbles. Not a good combination. The young couple sitting next to us ordered the same share menu and left after the first course as were unimpressed by the bowl of ??? Wait staff could not tell us what it was either…. They were out for their first night 9 months post first baby. I really felt for them. What I remember of the meal were steamed carrots round cut like my granny did … and just as uninteresting. Lamb…. Was ok not memorable. Fish same. Cabbage equally unimpressive. Deserts delightful but difficult to fail raspberry sorbet and a chocolate cake/mousse combo. Beautiful space and ambiance two fabulous staff and the rest forgettable!! The restaurant was possibly a 1/4 full. So being busy...

After seeing all the great reviews of this place, I decided to take my family there for dinner to welcome my brother and his girlfriend’s first visit to Australia last night 8th Feb 2024.

The lady at the front gate was very friendly and took us to the table. I was thinking to myself - we gonna have a great dinner here.

The atmosphere was great! There’s live music, spacious dining area, not too crowded which is perfect.

However what’s turned out to be a very disappointing experience is the poor service we received. Our table was served by a French waiter, he took the order, but failed to ask us how much we’d like to cook the $140 rib eye steak, also did not ask us to pick a source out of 4 choices. What’s worst is the antipasto entree we ordered end up served at the same time as the main courses! When I ask why the entree was served the same time with main, the waiter just said “I’m sorry I just thought you guys want it to be served at the same time, but do you enjoy the food? (Trying to change the topic)” when I asked why we were just given a peppercorn source coz he didn’t ask us to choose? Another guy couldn’t answer the question at all. I didn’t complain further but of course I’m very disappointed with the poor service we received.

We waited for almost an hour until the food arrives, during this time I had to ask for water to be served at our table.

Towards the end of our dinner, clearly me and my brother are still eating, 2 waiter came out of nowhere and start collecting our plates. Even my mum who doesn’t normally eat in such kind of restaurants found it very weird and rude the way they do so.

Would not recommend or...