Gavroche Brasserie — Restaurant in Sydney

The Biggest Let Down In a long while! There’s only one word that comes to mind after visiting Gavroche and that’s “disappointment”. Rarely have I spent more than 400 dollars and left a place feeling so unsatisfied by what this kitchen managed to offer. Let’s start with the most basic the bread. For gods sake people baguettes are supposed to be served warm and crispy, not soggy and cold. It’s almost sacrilegious for a French restaurant to serve bad bread. It’s the first sign that this place has given up. Next Foie gras….. Farmers marked has better selection than what you serve. It’s cheap French supermarket quality. They also talked us in for some Caviar biscuits for 25 a piece. Probably the highlight of the meal but for a teaspoon serving on your biscuits it’s not worth the price. But maybe I should have chosen the one with the vodka shot to make the rest of the meal go down easier. Then it’s the Escargot’s, another underwhelming experience with pieces so small and overcooked that whatever flavor they had probably died out before removing them from the shell. Main courses next. Risotto, well it’s an Italian dish from Northern Italy so I don’t know if I can really blame them for the flavorless lack luster experience it was to eat it. It was supposed to be Truffle flavored, but came instead in a cheese flavor with a consistency closer to a microwaved option. Then we were off to a favorite of mine which is the mussels. A staple in any French restaurant along the riviera. To this date it’s the worst I have ever been served. Your flavor is not bad but when you get mussels that are already below serving size overcooked into 1/4 of the size you expected, then you know something has gone wrong. If this is your best then just don’t serve it. Say it’s out of season or out of stock. We also got some green beans on the side and a note to that is please just make it simple, it doesn’t need pickled onions. Some salt maybe some garlic that’s it. I was going to try their Crème Brûlée, but the quality of the food just put me off it. But please let me know if any of you had it and it was a god given experience that saved your meal. To the positive points. The wine was good. A bottle of Sauvignon blanc which was good balanced between sweet and dry. Price was around 140 but I didn’t pay attention to the name. Also the maître d was nice. To the restaurant. French food or any food is not rocket science to make. So grow a pair, find some passion or hire some talent. There is no point in serving subpar food at the level you...

We enjoyed an early lunch at Gavroche on a Saturday, and we have been welcomed wonderfully. It wasn't busy at that point yet so it felt like a private dinner for the 2 of us, making us and the experience feel extra special!

French myself, i was taken back to France with the music, the thick wooden tables just like we had at home, and menu with all those familar names.

My friend and I are keen on desserts, so we first decided which sweets treats we would get, and from that decided what to get as main dishes. The entrée size made it possible for us to taste several dishes without feeling too full, which is always pleasant ^^

We had: . Risotto with Comté and Truffles : 5/5 I'm usually not big on salt, but here because the saltiness came from the strong cheese, I didn't mind and it was excellent! Perfect balance of creaminess and density of the dish . Sourdough bread with butter : 4,5/5, there just wasn't enough of it (there would NEVER be enough of it) ;) . Scallops and leak gratin : 4/5 , one of these "entree size" dish, we have been told straight away it's not big but it was perfectly what we wanted / needed. Again, i loved the creaminess of the bechamel, while it being quite dense. The gratin gave that beautiful crumble texture to it, lovely! . Duck confit : 4,5/5, had a good crust on the skin, the meat was tender and juicy, properly cooked, the sauce complemented the meat well, the roasted potatoes were very crispy while still having fluffy texture inside . Paris-Brest: 4,5/5: my favourite pastry EVER and they nailed it! I'm not used to strawberries in it, and if i had to choose i'd probably wouldn't have them, but it brought a certain lightness to it, much appreciated in the long meal we had. . Fantaisie de chocolat: 4/5 an interesting array of textures with the creaminess of the ice cream, flufiness of the chocolat mousse and the dense brownie. Raspberry coulis complemented these really well. Brownie itself wasn't as rich and "chocolaty" relative to the ice cream and mousse, but overall a delicious feast of chocolate . Crème brûlée: 4/5: very creamy, with a top crust crunchy but not too hard, was the perfect final touch to our lunch.

Also tasted the cocktail 'Tour Eiffel' , which was exquisite (maybe too sweet for some, but the lime juice balances it just perfectly for us!)

Loved every second if this food experience. Didn't have this "i regret i ate too much" feeling, but we felt content until late in the afternoon and didn't need a big dinner that day. Overall beautiful experience, MERCI...

My friends and I received terrible service from this restaurant, in particular the blonde woman. From the beginning, she gave us attitude, was very rude in responses, and was unprofessional.

While ordering, I ask her if it’s enough food for us, to which she scoffs and rudely replies no this is nothing. I have asked this question to restaurants many times, who kindly tell us the portions are small to give us a heads up - which was all I was asking for, but instead she was condescending. I did not appreciate also being judged for not ordering drinks.

What was ultimately the killer of the night was, while serving us cutlery, the waitress proceeds to SCOLD us for not ordering enough, not letting them know in advance 1 person out of our 8 person booking wasn’t eating, that they had reserved the big table for our booking (?), telling us that we were eating for dinner not lunch, and asking us if we knew what a restaurant was and saying that it wasn’t a bar. Mind you this is in the middle of the entire restaurant, to which all other customers can hear and see.

Myself and my friend ask her if there a minimum spend for group bookings and she replies no. So what’s the problem? If there was an issue with how much we spent (which was $450 btw), that should have been stipulated in the T&C’s AND it should have been communicated a lot more professionally and nicely, instead of condescendingly. Her whole approach was demeaning and is not how you speak to customers. I did not see why reserving the big table for us was something we should be grateful for and it was crazy that she asked us if we know that Gavroche is a restaurant ??? I do not understand why she had such an issue with our order.

After this, the woman failed to give us our plates as she was avoiding us, and did not give us all our food together at the same time, despite the fact she asked us this specifically, and we had said yes. It was very difficult to get service after the whole thing.

I have worked in hospitality and customer service and I would NEVER behave how this woman treated us tonight. It was extremely unprofessional and rude, and it completely ruined our experience of eating here tonight. It made all of us very uncomfortable. None of us are confrontational people or want to make things difficult - this is the first time I have been treated...