The Rocks Cafe — Restaurant in Sydney

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with my experience at The Rocks Cafe earlier today.

My family and I, including relatives visiting Sydney from South Korea, arrived at approximately 1:30 pm today for lunch. We requested a table for five and were seated on the second floor after a short wait. A tall, blonde server took our order around 1:50 pm. We ordered three kangaroo steaks (two medium-rare and one medium), a maple pumpkin salad, and spaghetti bolognese. Shortly after, we also ordered five Diet Cokes, which arrived promptly. The server brought four sets of steak knives and forks, saying she would bring the fifth shortly.

After a 20-minute wait, none of our food had arrived. I asked the server about our order, and she claimed that there was a problem in the kitchen that was being fixed. A few minutes later, I asked if the issue was with the grill or the entire kitchen. She then told me the food would arrive in five minutes. Shortly after, I noticed chips being served to a senior local couple seated behind me. I again asked the server about our food, and she simply repeated that it would be coming soon.

After waiting for over 30 minutes in total, I decided to leave and informed the server of my decision. The promised fifth set of cutlery never arrived. As we were leaving, a different server from the first floor came upstairs and said, "Steak is not cooked in a microwave oven; it takes time." While I understand that cooking steak takes time, waiting over 30 minutes for medium-rare and medium steaks is unreasonable. This comment about microwave ovens was insulting and condescending. Furthermore, if such a long wait was to be expected, we should have been informed of it when we placed our order.

I strongly urge the management team to review the service on the second floor today. The server's claim about a kitchen problem seems questionable, especially given the other table being served. If there was no actual kitchen issue, then the server misrepresented the situation, which suggests a deliberate dismissal of our order. This kind of treatment is unacceptable. I am left wondering about the server's motive, particularly given that dismissing orders from Asian customers is a well-known form of discriminatory behavior. In addition, the comment about microwave ovens also makes me question the staff's training. No reasonable manager would train staff to make such an insulting comment to a customer expressing a complaint. I strongly suggest the management team to provide further training to the floor staff on customer service.

I understand that the Cafe is popular and waiting times can sometimes be long. My complaint is not about the wait itself, but about the poor service we received. If this kind of behavior continues, it will negatively impact the cafe's reputation and revenue. As a Sydney local, I have never experienced such poor and potentially discriminatory service at any other restaurant in the city. If I am mistaken in my assessment, I would appreciate an explanation of the exact kitchen problem...

I rarely write reviews, but the experience at The Rocks Café was genuinely one of the worst I’ve had. I visited The Rocks Café on 17th June at 12:45pm with a group of five. Things started off well, the staff were friendly when we arrived, and the food and drinks were all correct.

The food was nothing special, bland and forgettable, especially given the prices and the location.

However, the service noticeably declined towards the end. When I asked for change during the meal, the staff refused without offering any explanation and did so with a rude attitude.

Worse still, when it came time to pay, the transaction failed due to an issue with the terminal but the amount showed as deducted on my phone. Naturally, I questioned this and explained we were from Melbourne and were concerned about being charged twice. The staff member was incredibly rude and dismissive, showing no empathy or understanding of the situation. When I asked for a tax invoice, they acted as if it were an inconvenience and was very rude in the manner that they spoke.

It’s unfortunate, but the lack of basic courtesy and professionalism left a sour impression. Customer service matters, and unfortunately, it was severely lacking here. I wouldn’t return and wouldn’t recommend...

My partner and I arrived right at 11:30 am when breakfast was finishing so we were completely fine to wait the extra 30 minutes to order lunch however after being seated for over 20 minutes not one person had come over and asked for our drink order, We had to flag down staff so we would be able to order even though they had been taking other people’s orders around us, After we had finally received our drinks, we had waited until 12:10 pm which we had noticed that one staff member was taking everyone else’s lunch orders Except ours, she would look at our table and walk back inside. After this we decided that it wasn’t worth the wait. The service was Slow with no urgency after going inside to pay for our drinks , The lady at the register asked if we were still wanted to wait for lunch in which I replied we have been waiting yet. No one has taken our order. She responded with while the kitchen is not open yet to which I had told her that someone had been taking orders and her response was just a oh. The iced chocolates were very bitter. I would not recommend the stuff were all quite miserable except one British girl. I’m sure the food would’ve been great but the overall experience was quite bad. Will not be...