Haba Ocean Haberfield — Restaurant in Sydney

We WERE pretty happy with their service until this extremely poor experience. The quality of the food at this place has gone downhill in a big way in recent times. They used to serve good quality, tasty and filling food but that is far from the truth now.

We ordered four simple dishes to be picked up. Not only were the dishes only three quarters filled, they were filled with onions, on top of onions, on top of onions to “fill out the dishes”. (see the enclosed photos ). After we took out the meat and veggies, the remaining half of the container was mostly onions. We consolidated the remaining dishes and filled one full container with onions. As the photos show, all of the onions were from only 4 dishes. I understand that onions provide flavour etc, but this was going to the extreme and a blatant way to fill out the dish cut down on providing a quality meal that we paid for.

In addition the quality of the meats were of very poor quality, tough and a very cheap flavour to them. The beef was so chewy that even my daughter had to spit it out. We ended up giving some of the “not fit for human consumption”meat to our cat after we washed the sauce off. I swear to you, that even he was struggling to eat it and he is not a fussy eater. What a waste of good money.

Naturally we called the manager to complain and she was rather indifferent to our complaints, not making any effort to try and rectify the situation. This made us quite annoyed and we told her that we will report this to social media and let the public be the judge if they expect to be served in this same manner. Her answer to us was “sure go ahead everyone is entitled to their opinion.”

Well that brings us here. The fact that you are reading this review should start to set off alarm bells. I am giving you an honest review and advice to stay away from this place if you intend to have a decent meal. A once good restaurant which we frequented and in some cases was loyal to as well has treated one of their customers worse than a two dollar corner hotdog stand. Once serving a delightful quality meal has now resorted to using cost cutting measures such as cheap quality meats, Using cheap filler ingredients to make up the volume and Not filling containers as appropriate. What a shame…

We normally “suck it up” when we have a poor experience and learnt our lesson and not to ever go back and leave it at that. The sheer hubris of the manager on hearing our complaints this time brought me to write this...

They are only surviving because they don’t have any competition in Haberfield. The energy is heavy and spinning and staff don’t work in their own area so it feels like mayhem. We booked for a birthday dinner. No one lives in the area. I am from the East but we like to try new restaurants for family gatherings. We chose 2 fresh lobsters and they took 35 to arrive which was suspicious. They were undersized to what we were told they were. BIG RED FLAG right there. They added the weights together on the bill and charged as 1 item -VERY SNEAKY Singapore chilli could be eaten by someone who can’t eat chilli so you can appreciate it wasn’t great and the ginger and shallot was bland without flavour. The pippies in xo sauce was white in colour which is obviously incorrect as xo sauce is a chilli base so must be red/black. Tasted odd. The Mongolian lamb was all onions resembling chinese dishes that were served 30yrs ago. We were 80% through the mains and were told we had to finish as the table was being turned over. We were all SHOCKED!! We still had the birthday cake to come out. I responded by saying no one had told me there was a time limit when I booked or I would have gone elsewhere and was told that I was told upon booking. An Outright Lie!! We asked for the food to be put in take away containers and took the cake and bottles of sparkling water we had just ordered. On leaving I told the manager we would not return and she said “that’s ok”- the attitude was obvious - we just want your money not to offer you a lovely experience. That night we had 2 people itching and 2 thirsty all night and a couple coughing which are all allergic reactions to an overdose of MSG. Please read all this carefully before giving them your money. We gave them over $120 per head ( without alcohol) got ripped off on the weight, got underpar dishes and were thrown out mid meal so they could do it all again to the next unsuspecting customer. Haberfield needs a good chinese restaurant. Haba is not it We then drove 20 mins to cut the bday cut at someone’s home and finish the bday dinner and celebration as best we could after they threw us out without notice. Never happened to anyone I know and certainly should NEVER happen to someone trying to celebrate their birthday with family. Unforgettable Birthday for all the wrong reasons. Anyone reading this who thinks Haberfield needs a Good Chinese Restaurant - please please...

I had a really disappointing experience at Haba Ocean. Unfortunately, the food was underwhelming, and not long after dining, I developed a strong headache that has lingered into the next day. I can’t say for certain what caused it, but it’s the kind of reaction I usually have to MSG, and I’ve been feeling quite unwell since.

The service was also lacking. It was difficult to get anyone’s attention, and I had to ask multiple times just to get water. There were no napkins provided, and there wasn’t enough cutlery at our table. My children were served using IKEA plastic plates and cutlery, which didn’t feel appropriate for a dine-in restaurant. The tables were packed so tightly that it was uncomfortable and made it hard to move or ask staff for anything.

Overall, it was a frustrating and unpleasant experience that left a bad impression. I won’t be returning, and I would encourage others to consider...