The Bower Manly — Restaurant in Sydney

If you read the reviews on here, there is a consistent failing of staff / service vs food. I had a mixed experience. Food was good but not great value ($24 for the Vietnamese salad which didn’t leave me satisfied).

My one star service review really goes to the table seating system, which led to my guest and I being berated and quite honestly never wanting to come back again. The seating is nothing short of chaos - you order first and then have to swoop like a vulture to find a table before your food arrives. Plenty of large tables said “reserved” 45 minutes away, despite the enormous queue of people waiting for a table. It’s actually really stressful, and the opposite of a calm serene scene you’re hoping for at such a venue. Amazingly, we were given our table by a fellow customer who must’ve taken pity on us after we tried and failed four times to get a table. There’s was no suggestion we had to give up our table for a reservation when we sat (if we’d known we would have amended our orders to something lighter). Not long after our food arrived, we were told abruptly we would have to give up our table in 15 mins as a waitress pushed a “reserved” sign onto our table. My guest and I were pretty confronted since the food was late and we had no sign of a reservation before she arrived. About 15 mins later, as we’re still halfway through our meal, a somewhat more authoritative young woman approached us and quite aggressively said “my colleague told you a number of times you will need to vacate and there is a sign saying the table is reserved.” Despite the fact she was wrong (her colleague only came by once only) I was fed up by this point. We didn’t finish our food and left.

I do want to mention the lovely young lady serving drinks who offered to substitute a cocktail for me with a very pleasant, service-oriented attitude. To her and the other young ladies waiting - thank you very much.

To the owner - you seriously need to fix your seating system. It...

We really enjoyed visiting for a quick light breakfast and refueling before continuing to walk around magnificent Manly.

The initial interaction with a waitress left us a bit non plussed, but after that everything was really good.

It's an amazing place to stop, great views, good snacks, brilliant banana bread and I'd hppily visit again if in Manly.

And finally, because I often do, something that makes me smile. This is not about the place I'm reviewing, but I did have egg on sourdough (which was excellent(

Why can’t you tease egg whites? They can’t take a yolk.

How I Mark I may mark differently to some other reviewers, some might see this as harsh, others may see it as fair. But here's how I look at it:

5 star - WOW. I want to go back and look forward to doing so. They delivered everything expected and more. The 'more; is normally about the service or attitude of the staff. 4 star - GOOD. They delivered everything I wanted and a bit more. I recommend them and would go back. 3 star - OK. They delivered what I expected, I would go back if I needed to, although don't currently plan on doing so. 2 star - Not very good. I didn't get what I expected and the service wasn't good. I don't recommend this place. I might get dragged back here, although will always try to avoid it 1 star - This was rubbish. on't go there, I certainly won't go there again. I didn't get what I wanted, the people were unhelpful and I didn't enjoy...

Happy to say I'll never be seeing the new owners of bower again after being laughed at by the staff and publicly humiliated. I can not eat egg yolk. I kindly asked for them to remove the egg yolk prior cooking. I paid near $70 dollars for my breakfast. They said you can remove the yolk once we bring it to you. I explained to them how simple it was to separate the yolk three staff laughed and said once more “ you can remove it once we bring it out “ I asked not to worry about it and simply refund my money and ill take my business else where. They said “ okay we will do it” I explained I have already been laughed at in front of the restaurant and would just like to leave with a full refund. They also tried to sting me for this. Nothing was eaten or served i had to show them the transaction to be fully refunded. The service was unprofessional in so many ways. I will never go back to the bower under this new management and staff ever again! The local corner coffee shop down the road were incredible and will take my business, my friends and family there in the future. I can confidently say i was nothing but humiliated and shamed upon for the Bowers lack of efforts and customer service, it really is not worth the view! Absolutely terrible customer service...