The Meat & Wine Co Circular Quay - O'Connell St — Restaurant in Sydney

Date and Time of visit: (1) 2024 Aug 31, 5 pm to 7 pm. (2) 2024 Sep 09, 1 pm to 3 pm. Overall: 9.5/10, 9.5/10. Food: 10, 8. Portion: 10, 10. Service: 9, 9. Indoor Air Conditioning: 10, 10. Ambience: 8, 10. Location: 10, 10. Price: AUD50 to AUD100/pax (include gst) for 1 adult male and 1 adult female. Expected meal time 1.5 to 2 hours.

Recommended Dishes: Kangaroo Skewer, Pork Ribs.

Portion: More than adequate portion for the dishes.

Indoor Air Conditioning: The air conditioning was great, cool and comfortable. plus our food did not become cold quickly such that it affected the taste and experience while we ate.

Ambience: The restaurant looks grand starting from the entrance. The interior design, architecture and decorations are awesome, with splendid lighting, textured walls, plants, trees and a classy round fireplace. Even the toilet design was great. The background music was lively and not too loud to allow normal conversation.

Location: It is located within Sydney Central Business District, and is close to multiple hotels, attractions and shopping. Food Order on 2024 Aug 31: (1) Kangaroo Skewer - Juniper Berry Marinated Kangaroo Lion Fillet with Redcurrant Jus (medium by default), (2) Kangaroo Tail Potjie - Slow cooked tail, red wine, potato, spices, fresh herbs with yellow rice (Safari Menu), (3) Strawberry Smash, (4) Pinot Noir Barringwood. Total AUD140.

Food: My wife and I were happy to dine in this memorable restaurant once again after so many years. The Kangaroo Skewer served at Meat & Wine Co was the reason I started to try beef steak since 2016. This dish still blows my senses away 8 years later. I highly recommend the kangaroo skewer for those who have their reservations on beef steak. I find this dish different because it does not have the intense gamey flavour in some beef steak. The kangaroo skewer (medium) had a slight barbecue / smoky, tender and juicy flavour. My wife prefers it to be more tender (medium rare). The stewed kangaroo tail was tender and good, but it can't beat the kangaroo skewer.

Service: The service staff were friendly, responsive and they checked with us on the food. It took about 15 mins to serve the drinks and dishes, which is okay since we came early at 5 pm and the restaurant seemed to be seated at around 10% capacity when we first arrived and gradually had much more guests by the time we left at 7 pm.

Ambience Experience: Unfortunately, we were seated closer to the entrance and kitchen, and did not get to enjoy the wonderful ambience with the trees and fireplace. Food Order on 2024 Sep 09: (1) Kangaroo Skewer - Juniper Berry Marinated Kangaroo Lion Fillet with Redcurrant Jus (medium rare), (2) Express Lunch - Pork Ribs and White Wine (House Wine), (3) Love Thy Lychee. Total AUD102.

Food: After our wonderful experience, my wife wanted to try the more tender kangaroo skewer cooked to medium rare instead of medium. However, it was a huge disappointment this time, the meat was more tough and chewy compared to the previous velvety and tender texture, and it seemed to be medium to well done instead of medium rare. Fortunately, the pork ribs was great, the meat was tender, savoury and easily separated from the ribs. The fries were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

Service: We went during late lunch time and the restaurant was packed and seemed to be seated at about 75%+ capacity. Although the drinks took about 10 mins to be served, the dishes took about 50 mins, more than 2 times the duration compared to our previous visit when we arrived before the peak dinner time. Service staff were friendly, and after we feedback that the kangaroo skewer was not cooked to our expectation, the chef also came out to seek our feedback and apologised for the experience, which was a plus to me.

Ambience Experience: We managed to get a seat at the area to enjoy the trees...

We came in to celebrate a work mates birthday dinner here because this restaurant had a safari theme that made them dying to come, but we left the restaurant very very disappointed due to the service of the general manager, he came to our table and spoke to us in a very hostile and aggressive way and also pointed fingers on us in a very rude way which was not acceptable from a manager, he had also tried to gaslight us by saying that we had made his beautiful waitress that didn’t know how to smile uncomfortable because we were under the influence of alcohol, he had assumed that everyone on the table was drunk which was so not true and, Even BEFORE this incident had happened we had tried to return 1 $79 dry aged steak and 1 O’conner New Yorker steak which one was over cooked and one was undercooked for this that waitress told us that she wouldn’t remake a new steak but would chuck it back onto the grill for it to be what we asked for medium well but received medium rare instead of giving a new one, I wouldn’t care if the steak wasn’t done properly and what the waitress said was unprofessional it should’ve been a brand new remake not just chuck it back onto the grill but mind you we weren’t “rude”and “inhuman” like what the general manager has said to us we would’ve sent it back like every other humans would why? cause we’re paying for it, we are also hard working humans just like you are too just trying to enjoy our perfectly requested steak which I’m sorry to say wasn’t. Let alone does it really take that long to serve a coke? we had ordered 1 coke but had to constantly remind the waitress multiple times that we were still waiting on it and then ordered our second but imagine you see a new table getting seated and getting their 4 cokes first when you technically ordered first before that table had even came how would that make you feel?. So overall we were already upset before the general manager had approached us, we humans couldn’t get what we had asked for. So to the General Manager please show that beautiful waitress that you said of yours who had been working there for 7 months know how to smile like your other waitress...

We came to celebrate our friends birthday. So here's a breakdown of the food/service/atmosphere Food: We ordered a shared plate of the entree which can serve between 3-5 people. There were 4 of us and we were not big eaters, but we were keen to get a taste of the selection of entrees, so we chose the shared plate, based on recommendation of the waitress, Andrea. So glad they provided this option. All offerings on the shared plate were DELICIOUS, especially the Pork Belly! hmmmmmmm! For mains, we selected the 500g rump steak, cooked medium rare, with three different sauces, and two sides. It was cooked exactly as we requested and it was delicious. The sauces and sides went really well with the steaks. For dessert, we had a combination of desserts, again, like a shared plate and it was the best! we loved having a chance to taste a variety of desserts. Appreciate that they offer this option as well for the desserts. There was sticky date pudding, hazelnut fondant, carrot cake, creme brulee,

Service: Top notch. seriously. Andrea, the waitress was so friendly and knowledgeable and helpful! She knew what to recommend, but asked us what we liked first and that was most helpful. She was also able to describe the dishes. Very attentive to our needs through the night. Took photos for us and with us. Very friendly but very professional.

Decor and ambience was really nice. Unusual but can really feel the African/Safari vibes and I loved the hand crafted trees strategically placed indoors and the central fireplace, bringing the outdoors indoors. Many of the tables were strategically placed by windows and little nooks making the whole place feel cosy and welcoming. There were quite a few other birthdays being celebrated that night besides our little group and overall it felt like people were just having a great time. We certainly did and I would recommend it to anyone wanting a place to go to celebrate a special occasion or just have a nice dinner out with that...