Funkatello — Restaurant in Sydney

We had booked a table from 5:30 to 7 pm for dinner, and arrived on time. I dropped my kids at the door at 5:32 pm and drove to park around the corner, then walk back so I arrived by 5:42 pm or before. We placed our order by 5:47 pm, right away, as it was a fast choice for me since I’m vegetarian and there is only one vegetarian option, easy. The reservation email insists that the table be vacated after the allocated booking time, which is a booking of 1.5 hours. Reasonable. We were heading to see Hadestown Musical at the Royal Theatre for a 7:30 pm start, so that was perfect. The waitress told us the food would take 30 to 40 min, which was alright for a 1.5 h booking. I thought even if it takes more than 40 min, eating around 6:40ish should be alright. But then it was 7 pm, 1.5 hours of wait, the whole booking, and the food had not arrived and was not ready… we had to leave without eating and starve through the show. They suggested take away which wasn’t ready anyway, and we seriously had to leave. Plus to eat where? During the interlude? At 11 pm? You don’t know people’s plans on the night and the next day to assume getting unplanned take away is the solution. People go to a restaurant for the experience. Now, the confirmation email indicates to inform if one has to leave early, but we didn’t need to leave early 🤷‍♀️. We planned accordingly to leave by 7 pm. I thought well it may mean a longer waiting but never did I imagine we would wait for the whole booking. The waitress said 30 to 40 min, I added 10 more in my head just in case, and thought that’s alright, we were happy, but then it went for 90 min!!!!!!! Please read that again: 90 minutes waiting, the whole booking. Then staff are trying to convince me is my fault (because I didn’t say I had to leave at the end of my booking at 7 pm, how funny), and adding that I should wait longer to take away my food, and getting irritated at me, when I had clearly stated we had to go asap. Ah, yeah… and I’m supposed to stay super happy and super cool about it all. Perhaps the confirmation email should indicate that it is likely for the waiting time to be extended beyond the time of the 1.5h booking, and therefore 2 hours should be the true preplanned time to attend the restaurant.

On top of that the manager comes up with an attitude, upset, as if he had any reason to be angry, how awesome. Instead of apologising, admitting the flaw, and expressing our one drink and entree would be on the house. The very least. So, good luck getting your food on time, actually, getting your food at all. I’m sure the food would have been delicious because the entree was indeed delicious. Unfortunately, if things go wrong somehow, don’t expect to be well treated. The manager will get angry at you on top of it all. Then the owner, who wasn’t even there, writes a review of an interaction about which he is biased as he did not even care calling me to enquire about it and solve the issue with some wisdom, and will write it is your fault, that you were the abusive person, because you should feel super happy, show a great smiley face to express your frustration to the fact that you seated for 90 min, could not eat and had to leave to be on time for your show. Luckily, Hadestown was so super-awesome fantastic that this ended up being...

!!!!! Worst dining experience so far…. It took almost 45 MINUTES for the super oily and soggy calamari ( my friend ended up feeling extremely sick, she went to the restroom to throw up) to be served and an extra ONE HOUR for just 1 pasta while we ordered 2 pasta to have it together, the 2nd one came out in 15 mins later, we wanted to cancel the side ( we waited for 1 hour and 30 mins) but they said it has been done already we were like are you serious. Totally speechless with the service, none of the staffs checked up on us, or gave us a heads up or say a single word, only approached me when I finished my drink and said sorry for the delay, do you want another drink….

It was my birthday, the dinner was ruined, we ended up taking uber home because it was too late. Not just us, everyone was frustrated cause the wait. We would never come back. Thank you !

Thanks for your detailed response. For some random reason we couldn’t reply back anymore. Here is our response:

Based on our records, we informed the restaurant about our swift delayed arrival, and we were assured that it was not an issue. Now, it seems you are using this as justification for the extended wait we experienced. If the situation was becoming unmanageable from your perspective, it would have been appropriate for management to inform us via phone or consider canceling our reservation, which we would have completely understood. Instead, we were only notified upon arrival that we needed to conclude our meal by 8 PM due to another booking, which we agreed to accommodate.

However, our experience was disappointing for several reasons. Firstly, waiting over 30 minutes for calamari is unusual, we finished the dish because we were so hungry and we paid for it. Furthermore, we feel it is unfair to suggest that we should have informed you when you did not inquire about our experience, provide updates on timing, or communicate with us at all. The pasta should have been served simultaneously, as we clearly stated our intention to have it individually ( we took turn to order with you when it got to the main, both started with” I gonna have….” when placing our order. Isn’t this a fundamental aspect of hospitality? If you contend that we did not communicate this, we must ask why this preference was not confirmed at the outset of our meal.

My friend was unable to finish her pasta due to feeling unwell after the entrees, prompting us to ask for take away box and leave the place. We intended to provide the most detailed feedback through a Google review to share our experience at your restaurant (Because we were exhausted by the dining experience and too disheartened to discuss it further, we made a concerted effort to maintain our patience, drawing on our background in...

Little hidden gem 💯💯💯

me & my partner will for sure add this restaurant to be one of our weekly dinner destination!

Price really affordable and we even think it’s too cheap for the quality itself 🥹❤️

• focaccia bread 10/10 ⭐️ For sure this is purely their own homemade focaccia as the texture just different with others and i just loveeeee how chewy the bread inside but still have lit bit crunch on the top (crunch that not to crunchy)

would you believe if i said this plate of focaccia bread only $4 / serve? Both of us really surprise :’) as the portion and taste itself!!

• spaghetti cacio E pepe 10/10⭐️ I love cheese so much that’s why I ordered this pasta but unfortunately my partner is not cheesy person! When this pasta came, my partner not hoping to much as he think it would be so salty and cheesy but guess what? This is his favourite pasta now!

I’ve been tryin quite few cacio e pepe around sydney but most of them end up “too salty” “too cheesy but pasta taste plain” or even just “plain” but this one really perfect!

Cheese not too much & the butter sauce also have flavour that brings up all together. And please don’t surprise if i said this pasta only cost $17!! Amazing

• Tagliatelle gamberi e pomodorini 3.5/5 ⭐️ It’s more to prawn with pasta instead of pasta with prawn for me. As you can see how big the prawns in the picture 🥹🤌🏻 it taste pretty tasty but just not that wow for us. For me, the sauce is just too sweet which is made this pasta become so sweet & also considering the amount of tagliatelle really small

Overall we loveeee this restaurant so much! Service also really good...