Marcel Bar and Bistro — Restaurant in Sydney

After my initial Booking Challenges at Marcel Bar and Bistro as per review - that for some reason would no longer come up? Which is questionable iteself. We attended and I must say the Cocktails were amazing. Well done. The passion x.s was something to come back for. The food however was slow to come out, which seems to be a common occurance reading other reviews, and the food was rather dissapointing from the set menu. We had limited options that did not offer variety for everyone at the table, some options were so specific to a persons tastes that few people could actually enjoy the overall menu. The fermented vegetables could honestly clear a room and should taken off the menu. The Burrata was lovely. Snapper ceviche - I wonder if King Fish would have been a better choice here. Snapper is cheap and is not really a 5 star option. The Wagyu Carpaccio was drowned in peppercorns that if you were not a peppercorn fan, you just skipped this item and alot of us missed out here. King Prawn had no real taste and for half a prawn per person - we were left hungry and needing taste in the next item. However the Calamari was overcooked and dry. The Yellow Squash was just left in the bowl - it made a lovely table decoration. The Jack’s Creek Black Angus T-bone was finally the taste and the quality we had been expecting, but all other pictures in reviews had gravy, or a jus, and we just recieved meat with fries. The Mixed Leaf Salad well - enough said. Fries were OK. They were fries. The Petit fours were hard, tasteless and left us wondering what were in the pictures of other peoples desserts in these other reviews, ours reflected the local bakeries day old petits. Not what we had on offer, and I wonder what happened with the dessert overall?? I would not be back for the set menu anytime soon. And I was left sorry that I cancelled with the other resteraunt we would have attended, should the booking lady not have called back, but I am giving 2 stars for the T-Bone and the cocktails. I might try again because others are saying its great, but I will certainly stay away from that set menu - and will update my review once more after that... I hope when I come back, it is a more...

We stayed two nights between 6 - 8th April and couldn't fault anything about the hotel or Marcel restaurant. We got upgraded to the Junior Suite Room and it was very clean, modern & spacious.

The reason for our stay was our Baby Shower taking place at Marcel on level 1.

Askhay (F&B Director), Arun (Restaurant Manager on Duty), Kelvin (Bartender) & Jette & Sudin (Floor Staff) all provided exceptional 5 star customer service throughout the duration of our event.

Specifically, the team went above and beyond to ensure all our needs were met. Our picking / buffet station was topped up in a timely manner and all our dietary requirements were catered for, including the kids menu. Shout out to the kitchen staff- the food was so delicious and all our guests couldn't stop raving about the tempura prawns, arancini balls & scones! We also loved the food offering suggested by Akshay as it provided an array of items under savoury & sweet- perfect for keeping our guests' bellies content!

We had exclusive use of the venue and this was absolutely perfect for what we needed to host our party of 80+. It was important that I had a space where we could freely decorate against the venue's modern and elegant interior, and to complement the space with the florals (@flowersbypili). We absolutely loved the different areas that we could activate & style, including the entrance marble table, the lounge area & serving marble station at the back of the venue.

Overall, I highly recommend the service offering and friendly staff exhibited by the team at Marcel, as well as Pullman Penrith Sydney.

Thank you once again Akshay for making our planning process as smooth as possible! We can't wait to...

We tried the Grande Tasting Menu ($125 pp) and, honestly, left very underwhelmed.

The rosemary focaccia arrived with the oysters. The oysters were fine, what you’d expect, but the focaccia was the real surprise. The piece was tiny, about 10cm by 4cm, two bites for me, one for my husband. Considering focaccia is probably the cheapest element of the menu, the portion just didn’t make sense, especially next to oysters. I’m not expecting a full tray, but the size felt disproportionate and stingy.

The burrata itself was good quality, but the ingredients it was paired with didn’t work. They were weak and bland, nothing that added flavour or contrast. Overall, the dish fell completely flat.

The flank steak looked great for the photo, but in reality it was disappointing, dry on the outside, lacking flavour, nothing memorable at all. It wasn’t clear whether it was the quality of the meat or the way it was cooked, but it gave the impression of a piece that had been well cooked and then left to dry out for half an hour before reaching the table. The sauce, however, was excellent and did its best to make up for it.

The seafood risotto was inconsistent. We were two couples and received two plates. Ours was overly salty, but the other couple’s plate was perfectly balanced. That shouldn’t happen in a set tasting menu.

The broccolini felt almost raw , extremely hard, not enjoyable to eat, and both couples left the plate practically untouched.

We did enjoy the 2-for-1 promotion running in August and had a lovely night thanks to the ambience, timing, and the waiter’s excellent service and attention to detail. But if I had paid the full $125 per person, I would have been extremely...