Fig and Olive Mediterranean Cafe Shisha — Restaurant in Sydney

I usually don’t write reviews, but the experience my friends and I had at Fig and Olive for a surprise birthday party was disappointing enough to merit one. We arrived at 7 pm for a party of about 20 people, only to find that the setup was completely inadequate. The tables were spaced far apart, and we had to get up and merge them ourselves. Despite this inconvenience, we remained patient, even as the waiter was still organizing tables when we were supposed to start the event at 7:15.

Things only got worse from there. We placed our orders at 7:30, which ranged from pizza and Thai food to chicken schnitzel. I specifically requested a grilled chicken instead of a schnitzel, with BBQ sauce on the side instead of mushroom sauce due to my lactose intolerance and broccoli allergy. It wasn’t an outrageous request, just a simple substitution that I’ve never had issues with at other restaurants.

Unfortunately, our experience was far from smooth. The Thai food and pizza took 45 minutes to an hour to arrive, and those who ordered schnitzels waited even longer. By the time the schnitzels came out at around 8:30, the sides like salad were still missing or arrived much later. My order, however, didn’t arrive until 9 pm—and it was completely wrong (also everyone was done with their meals at this point). Instead of grilled chicken with BBQ sauce, I received a dish soaked in mushroom sauce over mashed potatoes and broccoli—both of which I cannot eat due to my dietary restrictions.

At this point, I was so disappointed that I politely declined to have the order corrected because I couldn’t bear to wait another hour and a half for food and that I would not be paying for this meal. My brother-in-law behind my back went up and kindly ordered the correct dish for me, which took another 45 minutes to arrive, and even then, it was served haphazardly with the salad ending up on the other side of the table. And THEY made him pay for it too prior! Ridiculous!

To add insult to injury, my almond latte with honey took another 45 minutes to arrive, and it tasted like cardboard with no trace of honey. Australia has excellent almond milk; there’s no excuse for it to taste this bad.

While the pizza and Thai food were decent, and the shisha was enjoyable (although we had to repeatedly ask for the coals to be changed and they NEVER DID), the overall experience was frustrating and disappointing. The service was almost non-existent, the food was mediocre, and the wait times were ridiculous. To top it all off, the restaurant was cold, with only one heater that didn’t even work because they had run out of gas.

We didn’t make a fuss during the event, but everyone at the table experienced the poor service and disappointing food. I genuinely hope Fig and Olive takes this feedback seriously and improves their service, because I won’t be returning based on...

Leaving this review because if they change a few things, it might be a place worth visiting again.

First thing I noticed was the cook raising her voice at a waitress because there was a item ready to be served and was apparently on the serving window for 5 minutes. That really made me feel uncomfortable. If there are any issues that need to be addressed, it shouldn't be done in front of customers.

Change the pictures on your menu to match what you serve the customer. We ordered 2 kid's pasta; picture was of a plain tomato pasta sauce on some Spaghetti. They brought out 2 adult sized penne pastas with olives. The female manager came to our table asking if they were ours (another thing you need to work on is knowing what food goes to what table). At first we said yes until we realised it has olives and looks much like a pasta an adult would eat, not a child. Told them, manager said it is the kid's pasta (not friendly at all), we said we wanted a plain pasta as shown in the picture. They came back with the same pasta this time in 2 SMALL bowls....I don't know if they were hoping we don't realise its the same pasta (they left a olive behind) or there was a misunderstanding on our part? We ended up keeping the food just to avoid an awkward situation and ordered the food again, explaining exactly what we are after, the waitresses was friendly and understanding, the female manager was not. However, the male manager came over and he definitely has some customer service skills which the female manager lacks. We also ordered 2 peach ice teas which in the menu looks like a nice refreshing drink served in a glass with ice and mint leaves, instead we got 2 small Lipton ice tea bottles with each costing $5. If I knew that's what we are getting for that price, I wouldn't have ordered it. Anyway, burger arrived, bread was absolutely cold to the touch. The ribs and steak were ok, chicken pizza tasted good but definitely overpriced for the size. Near the end of our meal, manager came over with a frappe asking if it's ours (seriously, come out with a system so you don't have to ask the customer if a item belongs to that table), we said no but the look on her face made us feel as though we are in the wrong and should apologise to her; so the female manager definitely needs to work on her customer service skills (and from other reviews, others feel the same). The actual restaurant is really nice, the waitresses are friendly and the male manager is also nice. The food definitely needs to improve especially costing...

Got told that if we have a booking of more than 15 we must order a set menu. Fair enough. We were supposed to be 14 people. Otherwise the option was to have part of the guests in the dessert and coffee section and the other part in the other section. Why would I split my gathering? How does that make a massive difference? I got a phone call the day before my booking where I was told that I need to "understand it's Friday, Saturday and Sunday" that they make their money. I am a customer, the days you make your money is not my concern. If I'm bringing guests to your restaurant and if the restaurant is almost empty while we are there, how does that stop the business from making money? You would have gained 14 happy customers who would've kept returning. (When my guests arrived, the table wasn't ready because apparently I didn't confirm the booking). Somehow a 15th person turned up. The male manager said it was ok and we could order what we wanted. So few minutes later when I asked for the menu, the female manager (who I had spoken to on the phone) says to me "we had a deal" (now that we are 15 people it's supposed to be a set menu). My response was "I didn't mean for it to happen like this, and the male manager said it was ok". Her response was shocking. "Of course, he's not going to tell you to leave". Who says that to a customer? Then we have an error on the receipt. One of my guests ordered an eye fillet steak which clearly writes that it costs $34. The receipt says $39. And the response to that "the system is correct". We don't see the system. We see the menu. "Aussie customers give 100$ tips". So why not make a customer happy and give them the price on the menu? Sauce is part of the meal. We didn't ask for extra sauce. We got told we are hard to please. I said I am never coming back. They just lost 15 customers. I left the place in tears. Shocking customer service without exaggeration. We were not demanding. We ordered, ate, wanted to pay and leave in peace. Instead, from the moment I got there, and especially after hearing "ofcourse, he's not going to make you leave", my evening was not a happy one. McDonalds has kinder service. The customer is always right. We did nothing wrong. Even when I was complaining she cut me off. I was insignificant. They were right. That's all...