Restaurant Lovat — Restaurant in Sydney

My favourite beaches restaurant. Great food, knowledgeable, engaged and slightly irreverent staff interacting with locals producing a fun vibe. Our preference is Wednesday mussel deal with a slab of sourdough and a decent glass of wine all for $25. This is a great bargain for my son and I but by the time my wife orders a cocktail a main from the menu, plus fries, a salad, dessert and another glass of wine or two the bargain costs $200! The place is usually full with 3-5 floor staff and lots of energy. This Wednesday we were seated by a new guy, 'Jack', who explained he has recently returned from overseas and intends to bring 'international experience' to the restaurant. 'He' has already changed some menu items and added to the wine list. Lovely. When the young lady took our order, we discovered the first change was no more glass of wine included in the mussel deal, which effectively increases the price by around 50%. The food was good and the waitress friendly and attentive, so I included a decent tip on my card with payment. It was as we were preparing to leave that I noticed we had been charged full price ($68) for two mussels, not the advertised $50. I approached reception and queried this with Jack. he reviewed my receipt in silence then thrust it at the young lady declaring 'this is your fault'. After a fossick around the till, the now very flustered young lady presented me with $18 cash and an apology. At no stage did Jack apologise, take ownership of the situation, offer an explanation or speak directly to me. I am sure the Lovat people have a plan, but the fact that only five tables were occupied and there was no vibe suggests to me that the uber cool 'international experience' option may not trump friendly interaction with locals. I doubt the young waitress will return after being hung out to dry by Jack and sadly, I may also be leaving this...

Our experience at the restaurant was extremely disappointing, largely due to the management's handling of service issues. While the young staff were delightful, they were clearly overwhelmed and unable to manage the situation effectively.

We ordered a tomato salad, but were disappointed to find that half of the tomatoes were green, yellow, and as hard as rocks. When we brought this to the staff's attention, they summoned a manager who approached us in a notably passive-aggressive manner, insisting that it was simply a colour issue. She eventually agreed to replace it with only ripe red tomatoes, but we felt belittled and as though we were causing a scene.

After an hour's wait for our meals, we noticed that our sides never arrived. We attempted to get someone's attention, but eventually gave up and requested the sides be removed from the bill. Not surprisingly, they still appeared on our final charge.

To make matters worse, we witnessed another customer send his meal back, only to see the two managers shake their heads in annoyance, as if he were the problem. It’s clear that these managers lack the necessary skills to handle feedback or to sincerely apologise for mistakes.

In summary, while the food itself was enjoyable, the way our issues were addressed made the experience unpleasant. Unfortunately, due to the poor service, we are unlikely to return. A significant improvement in service is...

Service was good, however the food could’ve been better. Zucchini flowers were a bit oily however were substantial in size so good value here. The kingfish was great. The gnocchi was a little underwhelming and didn’t really have much of a flavour or sauce, so was quite bland and it was a very small serving. The veggies were undercooked so were on the hard side. The broccolini was nice, the dressing was very different in a good way which was a nice surprise. The duck Ragu was quite a small serving and it was dry and there was no where near enough sauce to cover the pasta.

We were going to get 2x affogatos for dessert, but for $14 each they seemed poor value for money, especially when a shot of baileys or Francelico on top is only $3. I think the pricing for these items should be reconsidered with the ice cream and coffee shot starting at a lower price point and the alcoholic shots at a higher price point.

The tables are incredible pointy and sharp on the corners. The toilets were very clean.

We unfortunately wouldn’t recommend this to friends and family and so hoping this constructive criticism can be taken into account and improvements are made. The service was absolutely perfect so no complaints in...