The Wine Library — Restaurant in Sydney

I’ve eaten here many times & do recommend it as a decent option for food & service usually. Tonight’s visit was just a coffee & desert add on after having dinner elsewhere - it was meant to be a quick stop in. But unfortunately it spoiled the night for us.

My husband ordered a flat white, I ordered the Mandarin desert, in the photo, & my brother ordered an Affogato, but wanted it with the Pistachio gelato. My husband’s coffee arrived in a flash, but half an hour later & we were still waiting for the rest of our order. Not a word from the waiting staff, & when food started being served to our friend who had ordered separately much later than us, I asked twice about our orders. The waitress who had told us earlier it was her 1st day offered an empty “it’s coming”. Finally our orders arrived. Mine was yum, thank goodness! But my brother, just got gelato, with no coffee. So after waiting 45 minutes, with no proactive customer management to explain the delay, he had to ask the waitress who he’d ordered from, for the coffee part of the Affogato. I don’t quite know what got lost in translation, but when she asked what he wanted & he said, “well, what I should have got with my Affogato”, she got upset with my him & told him off for being rude! He was not being rude. He was frustrated & stating a fact. She was out of line & certainly not professional in handling the situation. It seemed she was upset to the point of being teary which made my brother upset because of course he did not intend that. So, a word to the owner if you read this - your staff need better training! We were left waiting for way too long with no clue what was going on with our order. I had to seek it out, & still got no information. And when customers are frustrated after having to wait so long, don’t accuse them of being rude! I don’t think she even registered how long we had been waiting - there didn’t seem to be much sense of urgency generally. There was no attempt to find out what was causing the delay or to engage with us to say it was unusually busy or whatever… the lack of experience at the front of house...

The three of us were looking forward to an evening of good food paired with even better wines (quality and variety). The expectation of the latter is high as you did call yourself a library. Your $90 bottle of Riesling that’s pleasant accompanying the starters and a $190 bottle of red with the mains, pricey but hey at least it’s 5/6 years old and the staff bothers to decant it. Went down so well with our mains. Elsewhere, diners are so sick of paying $150 for a 2022 vintage where labels smell printer or $750 bottle selling for $85 at Kemeny’s. My point is, guys, customers are reasonable and as long as you aren’t taking the p* we are ok you make some money and we will pay happily. Keep on doing the right things, do your homework, source good wines, treat customers like friends and we will return. Food, service and ambience: booking made at 7 but no proper table till 8. Sorry one of us spoke a little strongly to your staff but after that, we were looked after. We thought telling the outgoing people they overstay is common sense. I reckon the narrow entrance already packed with patrons against the wall disoriented us. We kept walking to the middle section (the bottleneck) and Anthony (we met later that night) wanted to put us on a table but was stopped by his colleague. I think $170/head we paid for an evening we expect a bit more there with reception and table arrangement. Food: very good the boys wanted a straw with the mash and the beef bourguignon authentic and rich. I love the mushroom risotto and the prawns tempura. We will come back and check out your lunch heard it’s good value and maybe even your wine dinners, $190/head seems steep but let’s see about that. Thank you Anthony for anticipating our needs and the owner stopping to spend time...

I've been here twice now only to be disappointed both times.

This is not a cheap venue so you'd expect good service. Instead you're rudly told where to sit by someone who doesn't didn't care about us.

Then we were asked if we wanted a glass of wine, it is a wine bar after all. My partner and I were undecided so the server asked if we wanted to try something. They gave my partner a taste of wine, which wasn't good. I then asked for a taste of something different only to be told no, I had to buy something. It was very off-putting since the server just offered me a taste....

Wine by the glasses ranges from $13-35/glass with the need to spend at least $17 to get something good. Overpriced in my opinion.

The food menu is small, some of its alright, but there was massive confusion from the staff about what food we could eat given for allergies. Thee staff each told us something different... Again, for an expensive venue this is unacceptable.

The atmosphere is nice, but overall I'd say skip this place. They are sub-par and left me with a...