Reminiscence Restaurant, Italian, Tapas Cafe Wine & Whisky Bar — Restaurant in Sydney

We chose this place because we liked its atmosphere, people seemed to be having fun so we gave it a go. We were welcomed by a nice girl that asked us if we had a reservation, since we didn't, she gave us the option to sit at the bar which is what we wanted originally so the first part of this visit was already a win. She brought an extensive menu with a lot to choose from both food and drink wise. I went for the jalapeno and mango margarita because, how couldn't you. It was a win. If I didn't have to be focused the next day I would have dived in, but since that wasn't the case, I needed to show strength and sip it as slow as I could. This was fantastic, I truly enjoyed the experience of each sip. My boyfriend ordered a riesling and had the same dilemma, we both chose to behave and moved into the food. As I said, the options are great, we could have ordered it all but since we haven't yet won the lottery we selected what was most attractive to us. We were not in a rush so we took our time to read the menu properly and thought that ordering something basic could help us to get things moving. Next minute, the House Baked Bread with Cultured Butter, Dukkah and Smoked Salt arrived. OMG there was nothing basic about this, it was just delicious. The Swedish have a word for things that are "just enough" and this was that, all the ingredients matched the dish in its unique way, a total "lagom". I could have sat on this all night but the palate was already awaken so we needed to move to the next. Hello Za'atar Lamb Rib Cutlets and the next 5 ingredients. Beautifully presented this lamb was yum. Being a Chilean, I get very picky about the way that meet is cooked but this was a 10. My boyfriend loves lamb and every time we go out he orders it. For him to say that it was delicious is a lot since he will probably come back as a lamb in his next life given how much he has consumed in this one. I could compliment all the ingredients on this dish but lets assigned a star to it so I can make the point. The next dish took a while to order since the staff was busy. Bear in mind that every person that entered after us had a reservation so this place has its fans. When we could grab the attention of a second girl (I must say she didn't look overly happy and her costumer service was borderline average hence the -1star :/) we asked for the Lemon & Dill Fried Lobster Dumpling. I am gonna make this one short: Y U M. At this point our happiness levels were raised to a healthy green zone and we were having a great night. My boyfriend wasn't going to leave without trying at least one of the dessert. He is a chocolate groupie so he chose the Textures of Chocolate dish. Once again, presentation was fun, inviting, pretty and well thought (high fives to the chef, seriously). We ate it slowly as each element had its unique groove. We asked for the bill and left feeling really impressed and grateful for the experience. If we ever go back to the area we will make sure of stopping by and try any other dish on this menu, the food arrived quite fast after ordering so overall this kitchen is...

TLDR: bad service. Rude and unwelcoming. Food caused runs and near vomiting (food poisoning?) later that night. Going down hill already.

So the first time my partner and I went it was quite good we had a lovely guy taking care of us and food was great. Drinks were slow as it seems the bartender didn’t know how to make the majority of the cocktails listed as she seemed new. They were fairly underwhelming.

This time tho…. Wow how sad. It’s been a few weeks since the last time and this experience was horrid in comparison. We were treated like we shouldn’t be there. When being seated we were given options and when my partner said the choice we’d like the guy barely acknowledged us… very odd, my partner had to repeat himself twice and ask “is that okay”…. Before getting even a response or seated. My partner forgot his phone in the car and was gone for about 10 mins of which I waited to get just a MENU to look or maybe order his drink and mine as I knew what he wanted…. They didn’t bring one so I had to ask the bar tender who then brought us menus.

Similar situation with ordering. We were honestly about to walk out. Till again the bar tender realized while serving people who had arrived after us at the bar that we hadn’t been seen for even a drink order yet. So asks someone to go take our order after asking if we’re ready to order. Then who I assume was the manager in grey clothes not black like everyone else comes over with the most gross attitude. No friendly attitude at all. Seemed as though he had a stick up his ass to be completely honest. We felt completely unwelcome. Took our order and didn’t bother to ask any questions necessary before coming back to clarify later.

Drinks again were fairly slow and underwhelming. Food was seemly great till my partner woke up with the runs and near vomiting in the night. I’m okay but the only thing different was he got the pork and obviously I didn’t try it so we’re fairly sure that’s the cause.

We’ve been to MUCH nicer and fancier like up the rd Arrana fine dining also in Springwood. Much more fancy and we were welcomed and had a very nice fun time and experience.

So basically I’m confused why we were made to feel like outcasts and we shouldn’t be there. I made a booking we weren’t walk ins but again they weren’t busy, especially in comparison to our first time visiting.

Sad to see how down hill the service has gotten and food also seemly after only a few weeks. We spent around 120$ for the experience and would have probably spent more like the first occasion if we had felt welcome.

They also basically started closing an hr earlier then it says they do while we were still sitting there they didn’t offer desert or last drinks, not even a bill just felt again unwelcome and as if they wanted us to leave so...

Reminiscence is a beautiful venue with some great options for food and beverages. Unfortunately tonight’s experience was not great. I tried to order some of the more expensive red wine from the menu, after asking for 4 different bottles of the higher category wine on the menu, I was informed that the each of my requests were out of stock. This is not typically an issue for me or my partner. The main concern was that the waitress informed us that the wine was out of stock due to COVID shipping issues. Every wine I ordered was Australian grown which should not be affected by a pandemic that ended 12 months ago.

When we did receive our 5th option, the red wine had been refrigerated which was not ideal.

The first 2 tapas were absolutely amazing. The roast lamb with pea purée was beyond belief and the king prawns were exquisite.

The following tapas were sub-par. The lamb ribs and pork belly were plated beautifully but were incomparable to the initial dishes.

At the conclusion of the evening we were uninterested in tipping due to the initial wine confusion and food inconsistency. Upon reading the bill, I discovered that we had been charged for the most expensive red wine ($280) when the wine we actually ordered was only $82. The menu displayed a 2018 Red but was actually a 2020 shiraz.

I do not believe that this overcharge was international by the staff. I I do think that an upper class restaurant should resolve the issues of menu inconsistency and wine stock concerns at a minimum.

I do hope that ‘reminiscence’ can grow and change as I believe the concept of the venue is valuable to the mid-mountain demographic. I hope that next visit resolves the initial concerns as I would be a...