The Light Brigade — Restaurant in Sydney

What a shame for such an iconic rooftop view. First time visiting and probably the last. Even though I just moved into the neighbourhood. Beautiful building, and the front-of-house staff were lovely.

The food was honestly some of the worst I’ve had at a Sydney pub in a long time. We were a group of 4. Ordered a couple of small mixed plates to share, planning to follow with burgers. Told everything would come out at once — apparently the kitchen can’t stagger dishes? We were the only table in the venue at opening. Surely it’s not that hard to hold off cooking a burger for 15 minutes when there is no other dockets. I've work in Hospo and managed restaurant and also dine in many Pub. it's not that hard you just "don't care"

Then the food arrived… and it was disappointing and sad just to look at to say the least. (Pics) But give it the benefit of the doubt and tried it. Calamari was like rubber bands, polenta chips were fried to death, and the $32 double patty burger was so overcooked it was dry and tough — usually a sign of poor-quality meat or bad cooking.

We spoke to the manager, who was understanding. Not their fault, but someone in the kitchen either needs training or retirement.

We spent $140 on food and left most of the food that the manager removed after we spok. At that point, even just a round of drinks or a bottle of wine (who is about $20 cost price) as a goodwill gesture would’ve made a difference.

I rarely leave bad reviews, but for a Paddington pub, this was seriously...

I was initially excited to go to the light brigade as friends had spoken highly of it, but I have to say I was disappointed. My friend and I chose to sit on the rooftop and were greeted by an employee in a pink jumper who was staring at her phone, not the best look. We proceeded to the upstairs area and asked about the happy hour - we were told it was downstairs only and upstairs was instead half price cocktails. I ordered a $14 cocktail. I was then asked to pay $12, and I asked the blonde girls working there... “but it was $14?” This blonde girl, wearing dark sunglasses, began laughing at me and pointed to the very bottom of the menu where in tiny print, it read that at happy hour cocktails were $12. I found that awful, I felt judged and very unwelcome that her and her friend were laughing to each other about me. We sat down for drinks upstairs... there was no atmosphere, no music, just an upstairs drinking area with rude employees. Having been rorted for a drink, we proceeded downstairs where the happy hour consisted of 3 types of beer and house wine... uncompetitive to say the least. We sat at a table only to notice it hadn’t been cleaned and was covered in scraps of food and grease from whoever sat before us. We ordered nachos and sweet potato fries... the fries were good I will admit, but the nachos were almost cold and were stone cold within only a few minutes. I definitely wouldn’t return or recommend this place to anyone... but above all please work towards hiring better...

This place is the pits.

Always has been, always will be.

Despite this, a bright eyed colleague thought it a good idea to check out the new rooftop bar. After entering the venue we were immediately shaken down by a heavy handed (albeit short) security guard, this was at 4pm. After extended negotiations the staff allowed us to add our group to the door list, as long as they could be vetted first by the venues overly enthusiastic bouncer.

Eventually, our group of 15 staff were allowed onto the roof for a few drinks. Time for a few beers. Whoops, none of the staff at this pub know how to pour a beer?! Despite the astronomical price ($12.50/pint) we closed our eyes and tried to enjoy our insipid ales.

What a view.

All too soon the rooftop was closed and we were marched downstairs to the original bar. Whilst sitting in a booth with a colleague, the same heavy handed (petite) security guard aggressively started accusing my co-worker of being inebriated.

At this point she was on her second glass of Pinot Gris.

In response I attempted to explain that he had mistaken her for another women of Asian appearance, as we had both noticed her enjoying possibly a few too many upstairs. At this point the stocky bouncer was enraged, he snatched my fetid beer and marched us both from the premises.

In a suburb saturated with reasonable places to eat and drink, the above experience does not bode well for this...