il Buco Kitchen — Restaurant in Sydney

My husband and I had been here before for lunch and it was great, but last night, not impressed at all. Table was booked for 7 pm, we asked for a window seat, as there were 2 free tables available, the seating hostess said no. She sat us next to a pole. The waitress asked if we wanted water and we said ok thank you, asked if we wanted plain or sparkling, we said sparkling, not expecting we were going to be charged $8.50 for it. Our food took so long to come out , our main was not enjoyable, no taste, the mash tasted like it was packet stuff, just mixed with water, my chicken, I couldn’t even see as it has so much cream and canned mushrooms in it. My husband ordered the Porchetta pork belly, but this was 2 slices of Roast pork , with mash potato and 2 pieces of broccolini, not what we expected. My husband works in aged care and his patients get better food than what we had. Our drinks took over 1/2 to come out, only because we asked the waitress what was taking them so long, she said that she didn’t have the order. We had also asked for a fettuccine carbonara to take away, but this was forgotten. We asked for salt and pepper, which we never received. We left half of our food and left. What. A waste of $173 The only nice thing we had was the dozen oysters. I don’t mind paying for quality but this was not nearly acceptable We ended up at Macdonalds on the way home.

Very disappointed, will not...

We booked il buco for our parents 50th anniversary with some family and friends. Wr opted for the $65 group banquet menu. I wad assured by the female manager Simone that there will be plenty of food including the pasta and main dishes all of which were sharing platters.

Although the food itself was tasty and the staff were friendly and helpful, there was some issues with the size of the dishes particularly the pasta, fish and meat dishes.

The pasta dishes: we had one dish between 4 to 6 people but the size was way too small espcially the ravioli which had about 10 raviolis per dish which meant each person received 2 to 3 max. The lamb ragu pasta had the same issue in that the dishes were way too small and each person received a bit of parpadelle and a couple bits of lamb. Tasty dishes but just way too small.

The fish dish: there was 2 or 3 small fillets of fish per dish per every 4 to 6 people. Again each person took a small slither of fish each. The steak: it seemed it was one piece of steak cut into small pieces to be shared between 4 to 6 people. Tasty dishes but way too small in portions. Luckily people filled up thanks to the pizza breads and the other starters including the aranzini.

Again although the food was tasty the dishes above just were too small in portions. To be perfectly honest myself and my brothers felt a bit embarresed infront...

We went into il Buco with high expectations because of all the positive reviews, but were disappointed for a couple of reasons and won't be in a hurry to go back again. The restaurant was over booked and they had put extra tables in the entrance area so when you entered though the front door you had to wait to be seated right beside a table of diners, gotta feel for them. Then we were shown to a table that was positioned in a walk way, so all night the diners and staff were squeazing past us on their way to the bathroom or the kitchen. Not great haveing people butts and other body parts brushing up against us all night. We had booked at lunchtime that day for 8pm and had asked for a romantic table for 2 at the window to celebrate our wedding anniversary. There was no mention in that call that the restaurant was full. An over booked resturant with inadequate seating to me equals greedy management and to top it off they served warm, average food. Their wait staff were good though. My mistake was taking a seat. Should have turned around and...