Honkas Bar + Eats — Restaurant in Sydney

updated in response to Honkas

I understand the damage a negative review could have on a business and made sure to review the facts myself prior to leaving a review like this. I have seen the written communication and heard the verbal communications as my wife and I both work from home together for the past 4 months. I can see by your reply that you have a habit of jumping to conclusions because the new event she organised was a dinner for us and our two friends who helped organise at our own house.

Given the current climate with COVID-19, especially with locally run establishments, we are more than aware of how challenging planning events are in this time. While my wife and I honestly always try to be understanding, the lack of professionalism was not at all warranted. Hamilton our contact went above and beyond to be terrible through the planning process for the event.

My wife and friends were planning my birthday at Honkas as some of them had previous events there and all had given high praise for the facilities and food. Unfortunately this was not the experience or level of service that they received. I was not directly involved with the planning but was aware by the numerous email threads and text messages that there were some issues with communicating with Hamilton who was the event co-ordinator as he was unresponsive and at times required my wife to chase him up over several days.

When my wife originally reached out to Hamilton with COVID-19 in mind she enquired about whether it was possible to get a refund or change the date of the event if the event could not occur because of social restrictions in which Hamilton replied that both were possible. In the end we decided to cancel the event as the COVID-19 cases spiked in Victoria and clusters began appearing in NSW, we wanted to ensure that we did what we could to minimise the spread as well as the safety of our guests.

My wife mention that Hamilton didn’t seem too pleased that we cancelled at the event but I read it as being a stressful time for everyone and didn’t put any more thought into it. However when we arrived to pick up food for takeaway as a refund of the deposit was not possible which we completely understand, Hamilton was not only rude to my wife but extremely condescending. The pick up time was 5:30pm, but with some traffic and trouble finding parking we arrived at 5:48pm and the first words I heard from Hamilton was “It’s 5:50, you are late, don’t you think it’s a bit rude”. Even after my wife apologised saying that we had trouble finding parking, his response was “I even asked the chef to come in early for your order”. To top it all off, he concluded our interaction telling my wife that she was by far the most difficult customer he had to plan an event with. Again, we can understand that small businesses are under extreme pressure due to the lockdowns, but this kind of customer service, unproductive comments and unprofessionalism is unwarranted.

Minus the unpleasant experience with Hamilton, the food was great! The portions are on the smaller end of the scale so if you want to eat your fill definitely order more. Unfortunately due to the unpleasant experience from Hamilton I won’t be returning and will ensure that my friends and family won’t go back to this...

Octopus - overall a great dish although some of the octopus was slightly overcooked but it was extremely fresh. But the potatoes with mayo - They stole the show - it was perfectly done. Burrata - the injected truffle was kinda lost, I think it can do without it. Again the pumpkin was a standout - it was sweet and great flavour that is well combined with the burrata. Beef Tenderloin -the chef came out and asked us how we like it done and of course we said medium rare however, it came out more medium than medium rare which was a little disappointing but no denying the quality of the beef, it was excellent. The Gorgonzola sauce was a little overpowering and covered the natural flavours of the beef. Fettuccine King prawns - fennel and pistachio, what a great combination, marry that with fresh king prawns and handmade fettuccine - simply excellent. Lorenzo Pizza - we requested to add eggplants and they were happy to accommodate. And we were glad that we did ask to add that. The honey mixed with Gorgonzola cheese was - different and this time it was the honey that sort of overtook and the eggplant that we asked to add, balanced it out. The pizza base was excellent, could easily just have that and olive oil. Lol

Great service by the staff and excellent ambiance and atmosphere.

It’s a nice spot for date night😉

Since I just live near by, I would definitely go back and try some...

Had not the greatest experience at Honkas. A function was booked last week at the restaurant, with their being communication before the event for the food to abide with the dietary requirements we asked for (vegetarian meals and no peanuts). Leading up to the event there was no issue with this and were fine to altar the menu.

The function room was spacious and the first plates of food were delicious. However, the night quickly turned downhill when I suffered an anaphylactic reaction after there being peanuts in one of the dishes. The particular dish on the original menu said there were peanuts included, so it’s not like they weren’t aware of the ingredients in the dish, especially after communicating ‘no peanuts’ multiple times prior to the event. All they had to do was take these out and the night could’ve have been more successful, and the situation avoided as a whole. There is obviously poor communication between staff here because this shouldn’t have happened. There could’ve been far more serious affects.

Hopefully Honkas take their dietary requirements more seriously in future and a more positive review could have been left.

Also a special mention to Dee, an employee on that night who did a great job at conducting the event all on her own and making sure the rest of the group was satisfied, and the rest of night was enjoyable after the...