Rowers On Cooks River — Restaurant in Sydney

Booked for a group of 20 (plus) people including kids for NYE... we stated we needed space for a pram when we booked. At NO point were we told that kids weren’t allowed on the premises after 10pm. We walked in, ordered food, ordered drinks, ate and started dancing and then @ 9.40pm we were approached by what appeared to be the manager who told us that kids needed to leave before 10pm. We were never told at the timing of booking NOR when we walked in of this. And then being told just before 10pm we had nowhere to go at that time to celebrate new year with our family and friends. At no time were we told that kids were not allowed after 10pm until we paid for and ate our food and drinks. VERY SNEAKY if you asked me. They even called the cops who turned up at 10 mins to midnight to kick us out. Completely unnecessary and beyond devastating. Completely ruined a night with family and friends ... some who travelled interstate to spend the evening with us. I will never recommend this place to anyone. The way they treated us was appalling ... not too mention doing it on NYE. Your staff and establishment completely ruined OUR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION!!!! You even had the audacity to request the rookie cops to escort us out 5 mins before the midnight fireworks! How dare you! Please do not give this business your hard earned money. The service is appalling and the food is average. But most importantly any establishment and/or its management that can treat people so inhumanely should not be rewarded with further business.

AMENDED/UPDATED: I cannot seem to reply to your reply … so I have amended my original comment instead, I never disputed that this was your company policy HOWEVER it should have Been noted on all our promotional material for the event - no mention was made anywhere … I have all the photos to verify this (as we would have chosen a different venue altogether) Been shared with us AT THE TIME OF BOOKING or at the very least WHEN WE ALL ARRIVED with children NOT at 9.50pm once we had already paid for dinner and spent a fair amount on drinks. Where can a party of 20+ go at 10 minutes to 10pm on New Years Eve?

Also, I feel strongly the need to correct two comments made by you that are factually INCORRECT NO ONE from our party was abusive to the police officers upon exiting … in fact the Police Officer that responded to your Manager's call wished us a Happy New Year as they (and we) were leaving and sincerely apologised for needing to enforce your Manager's request to have us leave before even seeing the fireworks as they felt this was (and I quote) 'pretty poor form", and Our party all left before seeing the fireworks because your Manager requested the Police Officers to do so … so no one could have thanked your Manager for "letting us stay" as no one got to see the fireworks let alone the end of them … which is (let's be honest) what New Years Eve is all about)

So, as I expected, in your reply, you have taken no accountability nor responsibility for ruining what should have been a wonderful night with family and friends who travelled far and wide to be together that night NOR acknowledged that your promotional material for the event as well as your communication on the night (when all families arrived with children) was not clear nor transparent.

As I mentioned the entire situation was handled poorly by your establishment as well as the Manager you placed in charge on the night … who exhibited no leadership skills whatsoever and even told mistruths to the Police Officers …...

My family regularly goes to Rowers for dinner and drinks, the quality of food is inconsistent, however we like the view and it's the only local pub. However our visit will stop from now. On 06/04/24 my husband and I took our newborn and toddler to rowers, my husband and 2 kids were stuck in the lift, I tried to press the button to call the staff for assistance and told him mh baby and toddler stuck in the lift with my husband, his was yelling at me in the intercom told me he need to finish what he was doing. My family was stuck in the lift for a period of time which caused distress to my baby and they were crying in the lift, so my husband told me to call again. This male staff yelled at me again and said I told you I need to finish what I'm doing first. He finally arrived and yelled at the lift tell my husband what to do. There were numbers of people waiting and witnessed the whole incident. Soon as the door finally opened, instead of checking on how is everyone, he yelled at my toddler and accused him for touching the emergency button and blocked the sensor. And then explained to his new arrival guests that the lift wasn't working, everyone was holding up was my family's fault for touching the button, not because this place was not equipped with staff who should be assisting guests. Our pram was bulky and touched the button by accident. But the lift is that tiny, it can't even fit a pram and a young family. My husband said so you don't care about babies stuck in the lift. He yelled at us and said it's not his problem. This male staff is Caucasian appearance in his 50-60s, midium built. He doesn't seem to be friendly towards to Asians, during our last visit at rowers we were seated by a staff, soon as we sat down and my husband went to get the menu, he came and told me to move to the very back,so the pram won't block other people. The whole place was empty, we finally sat the kids down, it's very inconvenient to move them again, if we were a hazard, perhapswe shouldn't been located to where we sat in the firstplace. Soon as my husband came back, he was all friendly. We will never return to Rowers again. Just to write a review, let people know this place is not family friendly. If you are unfortunately being an Asian, you might get treated differently, your kids will get yelled at for the things they didn't do, by this...

Had the worst experience at Rowers on Cooks River! I would not recommend anyone to go here for an event. I organised my event with the Events Manager, Tara Adamo from the start of the year. Everything was running so smoothly until the night of my event, 9th of November.

When I got to the function room, the staff informed me that the AC stopped working overnight. I had over 100 guests attending my event, and was in complete shock that the venue did not notify me of this situation. I called Tara, who said she would make herself available on the night, given that she was not working that night. She spoke to me on the phone and advised that there wasnt anything she could do. I asked if they had a back up plan, example, provide a fan etc? However Tara said that I could bring my own as they do not have any. At this point, I was frustrated and upset both at the same time as my guests were about to arrive. I asked Tara that I would not make the full payment given that the AC is not working. Tara’s exact words were “If you do not make the payment, then I will cancel the event. I will ask the staff to close the doors so your guests cannot enter”. She threatened to cancel my event because I asked for a discount due to their mess up. Unfortunately, we had no other choice but to pay the amount on the night, as her staff continued walking around with an eftpos machine demanding for payment to be made.

On Monday morning, I brought this up with Tara, and she told me that upper management called in sick, therefore, she would speak to me tomorrow. Tara did not apologise to me for the way she handled herself on Saturday night. This morning, I finally received my refund, however, save yourself the headache and do not go ahead with this place to organise your event. It was an absolute joke, my guests ended up leaving early as it was unbearable to have 100 guests in one room and no AC.

Absolute joke, I did not even receive one email acknowledging what I went through, not even an apology. Disgusting and unacceptable service! Not to mention, they stuffed up my 7 year old cousins meal, who is...