The Paper Mill Food — Restaurant in Sydney

I had high expectations of the Paper Mill from a great website and lovely photos of the place. When I first entered the building, it’s such a lovely space. But where was everyone? The place was empty. And no staff. No one to greet us, direct us, encourage us to have a drink. We didn’t know where to go so we had a wander around to check out the place. The private rooms were set up for events, and CB looked great. We had a booking in Al Aseel, but we were early and there were no staff in the restaurant, so we thought we’d have a drink. I went to the bar to order but was told I could sit anywhere and order via the QR code on the table. I did that, we waited for 15 minutes and no drinks. But there were hardly any customers, so the delay seemed strange. I got up to ask about the drinks, and they had not seen the order. They apologised and finally the drinks arrived. Nicely made drinks. We finished those and went into the restaurant. By this time there was one staff member there. She was very nice and helped us with the menu. The food was very nice, however the dish of the lamb dumplings was not well received and my guests said they couldn’t taste the lamb for the yoghurty soup. But the other dishes we had were nice: garlic prawns, an eggplant dish, spinach kibbeh, cauliflower, haloumi: all delicious. Once we finished our plates sat on the table until we left. We decided to get some gelato from the gelato bar we could see in the middle. It was unattended but someone came over and took our order and brought the gelato to our table. I’m sorry to say but that was not gelato. We had separate scoops of blood orange, passion fruit and salted caramel. They were not nice. Icy, gritty, fake/ chemical tasting, not creamy, and the flavours were indiscernible. Just ick. We then thought we’d gave coffee before we got the bill. We ordered a double espresso and 2 Lebanese coffees. 15 minutes later still no sign of coffees. I asked the waiter to check on them. Still no coffees. Still very few people in the complex so it wasn’t because they were busy. Coffees came. My espresso was cold. No sugar. No teaspoons. I got up to find some sugar and spoons. If I’d waited to order them, who knows when they’d arrive. I found some sugar but had to go to the bar for some teaspoons. The a waiter and a manager noticed me and told me they’d bring me some spoons. One teaspoon arrived. I said that’s ok the 3 of us will share the spoon. Then they fussed and said we’ll get more spoons. Then 6 teaspoons arrived. It was ridiculous. By this time, we just wanted the bill. Bill came quickly! We just wanted to pay but then a manager brought over a plate of baklava to apologise for the spoon fiasco. That was a nice touch, but to bring a plate of sweets over when we’re ready to go seemed a bit odd.

In summary, would I come back? Probably. It’s such a nice venue. It’s sad to see such a nice space empty on a Sunday lunch, which should be there peak time of the week. But if it’s run the way it was run today, I understand why people have tried it and not returned. So unfortunate. It can’t continue to be in business if it’s operating like this. What a shame. This place has huge potential but is lacking any type of welcome or order. I’d love to see the business turn around , but there will need to be some HUGE changes, and that will take some skilled management, training and more staff. Throughout the venue there were empty tables with dirty plates and glasses. Where’s the attention to detail? Why have those beautiful floral arrangements and plants to make the place beautiful, if there’s going to be dirty stuff left for hours in the tables? I’ll give you guys another go sometime… and hopefully things change by then. Happy to give you any more constructive feedback...

Highly recommend - great for private dining! This place is an upmarket gem that brings city chique dining to the south west without pretension.

With a week to organise my elderly mother's 77th birthday I scouted local venues online that could cater for a last-minute group booking. Pre-requisites included a private dining area, good reviews of quality food and service, suitable for kids and accessibility - all of which Papermill offered.

After visiting the site to check out the private dining areas, I came across some negative reviews online and was hesitant to book my elderly mother's birthday lunch at the Papermill, but I am so glad we ignored those reviews and stuck with The Firepit restaurant as it was proven those reviews held no weight and were ill founded.

There are several areas you can book for your private functions but the private dining room located towards the back of the venue is operated through The Firepit restaurant and offers a gorgeous set up and contemporary appeal without having to do much by way of decorations.

It is a chique and inviting space; decor is elegantly contemporary with a rustic vibe and offered privacy and accessibility for my elderly mother who is wheelchair bound.

From initial enquiries to confirmation I found the staff to be informative, helpful and knowledgeable.

Following my initial visit I had called for more information and spoke to 'Rula' who I later found out was the manager - she was helpful, easy to deal with, transparent about the conditions of booking the private dining room and informative on matters that would assist with our event including the timing of food service, costs and dining experience.

On the day of the booking, I was contacted several hours prior to confirm my menu requests and go over the flow of food service which I found beneficial.

On arrival the waiter assigned to our event 'Billy' greeted us at the door. He was friendly, professional and ensured the food service flowed as agreed.

I had preordered some entrees, platters and meals noting that some of our guests liked their meats (well done) and I was aware that 1kg meats served (well done) could take up to 40 minutes to cook, so it made sense to pre order those particular meals to ensure all guests were served mains 15 minutes after arrival. The synchronised and timely delivery of four waiters bringing in our food was effortless.

I found both Rula and Billy to be attentive without being overbearing and they ensured the dining experience on the day was a pleasant one. Nothing was too much trouble and they really did cater to please. Steaks, lamb and fish were cooked to guests liking, sides, platters and desserts were also well presented and delicious. The seafood platter was a little underwhelming but still good.

All our guests including the kids were happy (kids received free gelato with their meals which was a nice touch), great ambiance, service and the private dining room was definitely worth it. We were also permitted to play our own music, had performances and took food away.

If you're looking for a quick and cheap meal, not fussed about service or the overall dining experience - this is not the place for you.

It would be great to see more dining venues like this in Liverpool, which raise the bar in terms of the standard of service, professional staff, good quality food yet still versatile enough to cater to people of all ages and abilities.

The only con is parking availability on the weekend. There is a council parking station that is a two minute walk from the venue.

Thanks so much Rula, Billy and team for facilitating a memorable dining experience for a special...

To preface this I don't normally write reviews, the odd stars but rarely any comments. Also you have to give a star to post a review. I had to this time as I was so disappointed with the food and service. We have been to this restaurant multiple times and the last time we had 30 people for my birthday and have loved the food. But apparently we were unlucky enough to one of the first nights of the new menu (the old menu had options and a great variety) whereas the new menu has the complete opposite. My daughter is vegetarian and the old menu had multiple options and was always great food. The new menu has 2 options and one of these is a maragarita pizza.... To be honest the food we had would be looked upon as fair Pub food. The fish I ordered looked like it was just a frozen food service crumbed fillet (it was advetised as battered). The salad was so over dressed it was actually soggy. The chips were great though... Whereas before you had around 8 pasta dishes you now have 3, for Pizza you had 10 you now have 3. They look like they are pushing everyone towards "The Fire Grill" and just forgetting about the 3 venues. Whoops also forgot to add they missed sending out my daughters pizza, we had only ordered 4 dishes. Desserts are now limited to 3 and varieties of ice cream. To finish up I was leaving to go and get the car (parking as usual is crap) and thought I'd grab a gelato ice cream on the way out to get the car... Waited at the ice cream bar for other peole to be served and then ordered a great looking pavlova ice cream. The person behind the bar said did I want a cone, I said yes and suddenly he said sorry can't do that as we are closed (a person behind said that to him). I asked why the other people were being served and he said it was part of their package. I then said but surely you have everything there and have just served 3 other people also other registers are open so you can just do an icecream but apparently that was too hard.. Service apparently doesn't extend that far... Needless to say we won't be back and definitely would not recommend this venue to anyone else. Can't believe this has happened in this short amount of time, just so...