Holy Basil Canley Heights — Restaurant in Sydney

Many of you rated highly for this restaurant, I used too as well. From my 4 stars rated to no star if possible. If you spare a few minutes you may notice how some other customers gets treated and their experience isn't as great as yours.

Great ambience, nice music, nice deco and super friendly owner comes out to greet you makes it hard to notice how rude service is, not all but by some? Or how a large group gets a booked table with empty restaurant? Or how others get waited on to clear the table even though they're not half way with their large quantity of food? Or seeing manager gets told how rude wait staff is and he ignores it? You won't notice any of it you ain't the one on my 8 people table.

Costumers selections. Editing this review as just had last visit 2 minutes ago after $260.50. 10 dishes, 3 sticky rices, 4 beers, 2 cocktails and a watermelon shake. 8 people got told to leave after an hour sat down, includes waiting time for foods because booking is arriving soon!? The girl was unpleasant and rude. Told us the table is booked! Whole restaurant was us first in and they gave us a booked table? Why? So 30-40minutes of eating time, asked can she clear the table!!? We still had tones of food to eat, 10 dishes including the $44 fried fish with mango salad. We were the first costumers and got set in next to the door. Bad place to eat and relaxed with families. Not a cheap eats if ordered 10 dishes to share like we do. Cocktails $18 not generous with alcohol portion, all tasted too sweet. As a Lao I didn't get a Lao hospitality. Won't ever return and regret taken friends and recommended to people. Advised manager and done nothing, he didn't seem concerns at all to our complaint, walked out very unsatisfied.

Family from Melbourne as a get together farewell before their trip end was not impressed. Highly don't recommend this restaurant. Lol asked for take away boxes to take home food to continue eating the rest and they complied! Forgotten our wines (Licensed and BYO wine only, but told we can't have our wines, taken from us can't have even beside us) gifts from family went back to grab them and the table we sat was clean and empty.

No other restaurants would kick you out before your meal is done. Never been treated this way with all the eats (Australia and far) we have experienced. I'm half Laos and Thai has supported this restaurant from start but no more.

Just chatted with colleagues apparently it happens to alot of others too! Got adviced we should not pay for it as they didn't mention before hand that particular table was booked and should have move us elsewhere. But again manager did nothing or even apologize. Last picture taken with the waitress eyeing us making cheers and demands to clear the table, table in view full table of food.

10/4/2021 After 2years not ever revisiting again reading owner's reply brings back the worst number 1 bad experience we ever experienced anywhere. We got treated so rudely but no apologies from his manager that day and the reply from him shows how he feels about his customers. After day 1 it opens until 2 years ago we supported his restaurant even after few bad experiences we continued to visit for date nights, taking friends and family over spending alot of money. We don't order a few things we always ordered alot, beers, cocktails and desserts. Last visit spent $260.

Highly NOT...

Very disappointed with the taste and terrible customer service. A friend told us that their portion is larger and the price is cheaper than the Parramatta branch, so we thought to give it a try, but the reality is, the portion and prices are the same and Parramatta branch taste better. When we were ordering and asked the waiter which are their most popular dishes, and he said "I don't know". So I looked at him and then said he likes the ox tongue himself. We ordered a Thai style noodle with chicken, the chicken portion is more than the noodle! you would think that is a good thing, but the chicken chunks are stuck together forming several giant meatballs! We then accidentally knocked over a cup full of coconut juice, and we told the waiter about it and his reply was " don't worry about it". We need to actually told him to bring some paper towels to clean the mess up, otherwise he just walked away. A few minutes later he comes back with a new cup of coconut juice, and we thought " that was nice, a free replacement drink", but when we were paying the bill, he actually charge us for that second drink, so we question the lady who look like the owner behind the cashier, and she said we need to pay for it because we knocked over ourselves, I said I understand that part and have no problem of paying the one we knocked over, but we didn't ask for a second cup and end up paying for it. Her reply was even more unbelievable saying that she will tell the waiter who served us, and her attitude was like they were doing us a favor! I can see why they have this attitude because they are so busy and popular, so they don't give a dame, but after tonight's experience, I really don't understand why they are that popular and certainly don't see why people are...

After reaching out to the restaurant in the evening to ensure availability for a party of seven, I received confirmation that walk-ins were accepted until 9:30 PM. With this assurance, we arrived promptly at 9:10 PM, eager to enjoy a meal together. However, upon entering, we were immediately informed that the kitchen would be closing shortly and were asked to place our order promptly.

Feeling a bit perplexed by the urgency, especially considering the information provided over the phone, I politely requested a few extra minutes to allow the rest of our party to arrive. Despite this, we were pressed to make our selections hastily. This rush left us feeling somewhat unsettled, as we had anticipated a more relaxed dining experience.

Adding to our disappointment was the quality of the food. The fried rice, a dish we were particularly looking forward to, was not up to par. The rice was undercooked, which detracted from the overall enjoyment of the meal.

To our surprise, as we were still savoring our dishes, a member of the staff approached our table with the bill, inquiring about our preferred method of payment. This premature gesture disrupted the flow of our meal and left us feeling as though we were being ushered out before we had fully indulged in the dining experience.

While we understand the need for efficiency, particularly on a busy Sunday evening, we couldn't help but feel as though our visit was overshadowed by a lack of consideration for our enjoyment. It's disheartening to have to express our dissatisfaction, but regrettably, this experience has left us with little desire to return to the restaurant...