Public Dining Room Balmoral — Restaurant in Sydney

I’ve always known about Public Dining Room and have seen how it overlooks Balmoral Beach but had never been until recently for my husband’s birthday.

I booked him a surprise lunch and we ordered the following:

Drinks Balmoral Thyme La Señorita Rosa

Snacks Wagyu Beef Tartare with chardonnay and Dijon dressing, mango, caper, prawn cracker Spiced Soft Shell Crab with toasted brioche, apple, gem cos, ginger aioli, bonito

Small Plates Pan Seared Scallops with lemon pea puree, horseradish creme fraiche, mint, jamon powder Leaves & Heirloom Vegetables Sauté Mix Mushrooms with confit garlic, caramelised apple vinegar, pistachio praline, parmigiano reggiano Straight Cut Chips with burnt garlic aioli, smoked sea salt

Larger Plates Grasslands Eye Fillet with truffle & mushroom puree, caramelised carrot, fungi, confit shitake, rosemary, red wine jus Spaghettini with pesto alla genovese, king prawns, preserved lemon confit ocean trout, king edward potato, green beans, garlic

Dessert Valrhona “jivara” chocolate mousse, raspberry coulis, cherries, coffee crumbs Affogato – vanilla bean gelato w/ espresso & frangelico

Our cocktails were refreshing and extremely fitting for a lovely sunny day overlooking Balmoral Beach! The Balmoral Thyme is a generous-sized cocktail and lasted all throughout our meals whereas the La Señorita Rosa was much smaller but more potent.

Our snacks were such a beautiful way to start our meals. Both the Wagyu Tartare and Soft Shell Crab were presented beautifully, with the former looking like a mini terrarium! Both were flavoursome and delicious. Would definitely order it again!

Our scallops were then served with the sauté mushrooms and the fries. The scallops were delicious and the sauce that came with it was elegant and very complimentary. The mushrooms were tasty although I choked a bit from the vinegar hitting my throat. The chips were standard chips, nothing too special aside from the fact that they were served in a huge bowl which was good! It was strange having the sides come out first before the mains and we had to ask for the mains to be brought out soon as we were quickly filling up on the sides. We should have told the waitress that the mains were to come out after the scallops and then the sides to follow the mains as I remember she mentioned the sides were to come out prior to the mains. I think it’s an issue with the way the menu is structured as it places the sides above the mains and we ordered from the top down.

The steak was cooked to perfection for medium rare. It felt as though it had been slow-cooked and pulled apart easily and was very tender. The truffle and mushroom purée was a real highlight along with the other vegetables on the plate! Everything had its place. The Spaghettini was our least favourite dish of the day. The sourness from the pesto was a little off-putting after a while. Not a dish we would reorder nor recommend but the seafood on there were standouts. The prawns had an extremely Umami flavour and were very tasty!

The chocolate mousse was served as a thin and long bar instead of in a glass as I had expected. It was tasty and I loved the biscuit base although it was a little smaller than expected. The Affogato was very generous in the large glass the vanilla ice-cream was served in although an Affogato is pretty standard, with no real skill needed to make this dessert.

Reflecting on our experience at The Public Dining Room, it was a gorgeous dining experience with the waitstaff all extremely attentive and professional, with food and drinks that were served at a very fast rate! I loved that we didn’t have to wait long for each course. Sitting right up at the window made it even more special as hubby and I could people-watch and enjoy the gorgeous water views. The ambience makes you want to stay for hours on end just for the views. One of the highlights was when we went to settle the bill, the staff knew we had TheFork’s Yums voucher without me having to mention it first!

We’ll definitely...

Awful Management - A Joke of a 5 star 'fine dining restaurant.

This is the same feedback from my Tripadvisor page -

As locals we know its a venue for special occasions only as its labeled as 'Premium Dining ' and the prices compliment the status.

We decided to give it another chance after our Valentine's Day disappointment a few years ago...I did a review here. My wife made the reservation and informed the staff that we were celebrating our anniversary.

We arrived and were seated at a table overlooking a big tree....yet there were many vacant tables. with lovely views of Balmoral Beach. As we walked in we saw a family having dinner in their beach attire and slippers. It was obvious that there;s no dress code for this 'premium venue'.

Why bother presenting the daily specials menu only to then apologise that it is 'sold out' ..a mind boggling fact as it was only 6:30pm.

We felt rushed as the waitress was hovering for us to order the beverages and entree. The meal was brought out within 5 minutes of us placing our order....this was clear that it was premade hours earlier.

The mains was the same...a tasteless seafood pasta with a few prawns that still had the black gunk in it. My chicken was 2 slices of 'white meat' that was a toddler portion but with the 'premium venue pricing'.

The long black coffee was bitter/sour and I did not drink it.

We had a group seated next to us who had their own 'BYO beverages' for a 'premium venue'...they got louder with more wine consumed. This was the final straw and we decided to ask for the bill and leave.

Icing on the cake....when the waitress noticed I had not entered any tips selection on the payment machine...she became blunt and walked away without even saying thanks nor hope you had a pleasant dining experience....'premium venue'.

This will be our last time we ever give this 'premium venue' our business.

Its really a glorified 'food court' with the beach next to it.

• and for our honest review , the shameful management wrote back with a damning condescending reply....never once denying the issues that happened on our visit. The reply proves the lack of professionalism and zero accountability.* Well like i said...what do you expect from a zero dress standard 'food court' run by thick skin thugs.

PublicDiningRoom, General Manager at Public Dining Room, responded to this review Responded 2 days ago Hi Ganesh,

We take reviews very seriously, that is of course if they are warranted. On taking a closer look at your profile, we notice that you have indeed written many reviews, most of which are not favorable and quite damaging to the venue you dined at. We also notice that it was Valentine's Day 2013 when you last visited us and surprise, surprise, another damming review. We feel sorry for your next 'victim' and suggest that perhaps you look at dining at home more often - then you will only have yourselves to blame for poor service, food,...

We celebrated our daughter’s wedding at Public Dining Room, Balmoral beach, in March, 2018. It could not have been a more stunning, perfect location. From the minute we visited to plan the reception we were made most welcome. We knew we were in good hands when we met Paula, our wonderful event organiser. Her experience and focus shone through. Paula’s attention to detail was incredible and every detail was perfect on the wedding day. Our guests were so well looked after by staff. Everything just happened unobtrusively with no fuss. The food was superbly presented and exceptional, steaks perfectly cooked to taste, hot food was hot and served on warm plates, presentation of each dish meticulously detailed. PDR offered a choice of three dishes for the entrée and main course and our guests could not believe that this was possible. On the recommendation of the sommelier the wines chosen were top class and, included in the beverage package, non-drinkers were very well catered for including beautifully prepared lemon, lime and bitters on request which is well above ordinary soft drink. The level of service was exceptional, even superbly catering for our vegetarian and vegan guests-they were blown away with the standard of their dishes even to special, individual vegan desserts. A lovely touch was that the next day the bride’s Aunty and Uncle went to collect her sunglasses that were left at PDR. Staff recognised them and invited them to have a complimentary coffee on the house - this was a very much appreciated and most unexpected personal touch. Thank you PDR and Paula, a lovely, lovely lady, for an AMAZING wedding reception. We can highly recommend this beautiful venue with their wonderful staff. We can also highly recommend the following people/services that made this day so special: Lavande Designs (Rachel) for the most magnificent flowers (at the end of the evening the flowers on the tables were magically beautifully wrapped in bunches for guests to take home) Couleurs Studio (Kiera) superb photography Petal Met Sugar (Angela) the best tasting, most beautiful wedding cake Belle Fleur Chocolates (Cindy) for the prettiest, yummiest bombonieres Impression DJ’s (Drew) the best music that had everyone up dancing-great fun The most beautiful hair for the bride and bridal party by Rhiane Schroder Perfect makeup by Sanaz Fakhra The most magnificent wedding cars from ‘7th Heaven Wedding...