Maestria Restaurant & Bar by Cedrus — Restaurant in Sydney

Dear me… I can tell this place used to be amazing but they’ve lost their way. So many easy little things that could be done. Lots - LOTS - of faded and dusty fake flowers, which would have once been great. Furniture stored and stacked right outside the windows, so we had a view of the inside of a portable bar. Get rid of the flowers, get an enclosed storage area for the furniture, embrace the beautiful Indo furniture vibe, throw some scented candles around, LOSE THE HIP HOP - the music is not there to please the staff - give everything a good scrub and you have a beautiful boho environment. The bones are excellent. The service was kind of well meaning but sooo scattered, we were basically ignored in a largely empty restaurant. It was 23 mins from when my guest arrived until we got a menu, and there was no one around to flag down. A lot more to detail but all that is needed is a service rhythm, and a good waitress as I would swear the lass in the apron has never worked in hospo before, and Ive worked in the industry or adjacent my entire career. The food. For goodness sake. The watermelon salad: this was well past its best, prepared at least the day before- you know when the edges are soft, like leftovers from a BBQ? And the mint was just a garnish plonked on top, not scattered throughout, which fell off as soon as the waitress walked away, but as mentioned there was no one to mention this to. Lamb cutlets burned and well done - I don’t mind a char, but this was past that- and I specifically asked for them to be pink. Steak was the same. Lady fingers came out of a packet. After we finished and were ignored for a full hour!! We asked for desert, and were given a menu. We couldn’t find desert… there was scrambling and searching by the maître d and waitress, until the server came over and said “oh, sorry, no desert tonight”! Blimey Toilets were filthy. Honestly, if it wasn’t a once in 5 years catch up with a friend from opposite side of Sydney, I would have left, but at least the conversation was lovely. Alsi the live music was beautiful, she had a gorgeous voice, but unnecessary on a Friday night. Saturday or Sunday afternoon would be much better- and take a leaf from the singers book on song choice, perfect 🙌 I’d also add there was a kid screaming - actually screaming to compete with the singer, not upset, and the staff had no idea how to deal. It...

The food here is terrible! Whilst the presentation of every dish was aesthetically pleasing, they all lacked flavour and quality.

Items that we ordered: Crudo kingfish 1/5. The serving size was appalling small, 6 tiny slices for $24. The kingfish tasted very fishy and bland, it definitely was not fresh, which really only highlighted the fishy taste. We did not even finish the dish as it felt off putting to eat.

Rockmelon Prosciutto Bruschetta 1/5. This was so dry, there was no oil, no butter, no seasoning on the bread at all. Basically it was just prosciutto, piled on a slice bread with a thin slice of rockmelon.

Butterfly King Prawns 1/5. This was the first dish that actually had some type of flavour, I would of given this 2/5 however based on the price $24 for the size of the prawns, this lost a star.

Truffle Mushroom Pasta 2/5. It was slightly bland, not terrible but nothing stood out either.

Fish Tacos 3/5. The restaurant ran out of flatbread for the taco so they substituted this with lettuce. Surprisingly, the tacos was tasteful. This dish was probably the highlight of the dinner.

Striploin Steak 1/5. The steak came out quite grey, it was very hard to chew and had no flavour. The steak was nowhere near tender or juicy, just tasted old and tough. For $42, it was definitely an absolute disappointment.

Venue atmosphere - we chose to sit in the outdoor area which is a very nice space, however half the restaurant was booked out for a wedding, so there was music coming from the speakers from the wedding side as well as music from the DJ that the restaurant organised for the general public so it was just absolute chaos. This made it so noisy and you couldn't even hear the DJ properly. It doesn't make much sense for the venue to host a wedding function and to also have public dinning all in one confined space. There was no partitions to seperate the sound, so you're just sitting there listening to two different styles of music playing at once in one space.

The entire dinner cost $260 (we did order 4 cocktails which cost $100). Hands down, this is the most disappointing dinner experience I've had especially as it was also the most expensive meal I've had in Rhodes.

I would not recommend this place for dinner, it's probably an okay place to go to have a few drinks but it definitely is not a place to go for good...

Kitchen was a let down for an otherwise amazing experience. I took my mother here for their Mother’s Day event, the venue, layout and food was delicious.

However when booked for a set menu event that ran from 11-1,

First Course: arrived an hour later at 12, we had to prompt and ask for the “upon entry champagne”. The food was delicious and well presented.

Second Course: came an hour after that at 1pm, we were waiting for a good 30-40 mins post finishing the first course before a staff member acknowledged we were waiting. When it did arrive it came without cutlery or plates.. had to ask to this of the staff..

Third Course: At 1:20 this arrived… and incomplete, Again it was without cutlery or plates, and incomplete so we had to ask for the missing food items (that everyone around us received in various forms.. the table directly beside us was also missing items and then plate shared with the other table beside them who received all items but extra quantities (both tables of 2) When our cutlery was bought out we asked for the coffee/tea that was meant to be part of the event. And was advised by the staff they could get it. However it would need to be takeaway… because it was now after 1:30…

The next function attendees had started to arrive and were being seated outside in a waiting area because most of the 11-1pm booking guests were still eating …mind you the tables surrounding us were also receiving their dishes at the same late time as us.

There was a group of 3 that arrived at the same time as us who had not booked in. However as there were tables available they were able to be catered for which is great… but. This unplanned / unhooked group. Received all of their meals (as per set menu as that’s all that was in offer today) before ours & had finished and left while we were still waiting for our 3rd course to be sorted,,, ordinarily this wouldn’t be an issue… except I’m confused as to how a group who had not booked in was able to be catered for ahead of a pre booked and paid group?!

The kitchen & overall service really did let this restaurant and function down today which was disappointing. Because other than that. The food when it did arrive was absolutely delicious & well presented, the location is quite a hidden gem! As you wouldn’t even know you were in the middle of a business district within Rhodes the...