Hurricane's Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Sydney

We are returning customers from before COVID. My brother wasn't keen to try new places so we came for his birthday dinner on Sunday. We were so disappointed (and sick!) from the experience that he regretted not letting me pick another restaurant.

It was expensive and definitely not worth it. We had 4 people and spent $460. None of us were satisfied. We could have spent the same amount for fine dining or fresher food in the food court, and we won't get sick.

We ordered 3 entree and the mushrooms were too salty for my liking (but that's not a problem). We ordered a Caesar salad, the ribs and the seafood platter ($230). We later added a bowl of chips which was very small for $10. We didn't look in details because that was our usual order. Some differences from the last time we visited were: no chips with the ribs, no mussels or other grilled seafood, no rice with special herbs, no garlic butter sauce. We were like, ok, maybe inflation etc etc. so we weren't going to write a negative review about it.

The biggest problem was: the seafood was not fresh! The prawns and lobster were mushy!! I suspected the pork ribs were also not fresh because I have a sensitive stomach so I had diarrhoea for the rest of the night. You can't tell (or we aren't expert enough in ribs to tell) because there were so much sauce on them. I ate the most pork ribs, followed by my brother. I heard my brother also had an upset stomach but not sure how bad.

The service was average until we decided to give them feedback when we paid. We told them about the differences from before and the seafood wasn't fresh. The owner/manager's response? He told us that they bought the business 3 years ago. The menu has been changed then and it was written on the menu, implying that it was our fault we didn't read it properly. As for the seafood, he said the ingredients were fresh and they needed to be cooked for a long time, implying that we couldn't tell the differences between seafood that were overcooked and not fresh. He did thank us for our feedback but there was no sorry, which you would expect, at least a "I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the food/ have a good dining experience".

Nothing wrong with the atmosphere because it was not even a quarter full. We did suspect why when we used to have to queue up to come in.

We would never return again and would not recommend...

I don’t usually like to post negative reviews but sadly, I feel like Hurricaines may be at the end of an era at the top. Or at least in a flat period...

We went for our 5 year Wedding Anniversary (with our 2 kids in tow!), I was particularly excited for the once famous steak and ribs as we haven't been dining out much due to the increase in cost of living. We arrived, greeted with smiles and the service from the young staff was pleasant (but not without a few forgotten items and repeated requests) but that wasn't our issue. I ordered the sirloin (medium well) and ribs, and my wife ordered the sirloin (well done). Both sirloins were hard and dry, the ribs were ok due to the buckets of bbq sauce. What really got me though, is while we understand the economy hit everyone, the servings seemed a lot smaller, with no sides and much higher prices... With the food not outstanding, this left a bitter taste in my mouth (pun intended?). In addition to this, the kids' meals had all of 20 hot chips each and 2 deep fried chicken "tenders" that were too crunchy for our little ones 😢 We politely got through the meal and thanked the staff as we know how hard this line of work and the service/hospitality industry is.

This feedback (hopefully) can remind us of an age old thing when it comes to hospitality and the restaurant business - great food is recession proof! Higher prices shouldn't come with less food and lower quality. This is a recipe for failure and the possible downward spiral of the once great brand and once looked-forward-to dining experience that is the Hurricanes restaurant chain. I'm hoping this is not...

Very disappointed. Had to wait for 15 minutes to order, and then only took our drinks and starters order. Expensive meals (mains 30 to mid 50 each, ribs 64, seafood platter 225). Starters were nice - garlic bread and garlic mushrooms. Eventually ordered our mains. Our table of 4, two mains were served, then 10 minutes later, the other two came. I said something to the waitress why serve two m was when the others weren't ready. Ours were cold by the time the other two mains arrived. Suddenly the manager came. Must be a regular occurrence. Manager came to apologise, said they were busy with a big group. Sorry? That's not our problem! Offered complimentary coffee. So, they saved 12 bucks, as only 1 out of 4 of us drank coffee. My Chilli Chicken Burger for 24 was very ordinary - it was very dry, and nothing like the description. Two whole leaves of iceberg lettuce. My baked potato was burnt! Awful presentation. Beef cheeks were nice, my friend said. Pork ribs were tender, according to other couple, but served with overcooked sweet potato fries.Then they cleaned the dishes away while two members of our group were still eating! Which was odd, as they hadnt bothered taking the starter dishes away before bringing the first two mains.The presentation for all was ordinary. Vinyl tables, no placemats. Seats are uncomfortable. We had to ask for forks, as only one out of the 4 of us had a full setting from the time we sat down. I, for one, will not go back here. Too expensive for poor service and...