Whalebridge — Restaurant in Sydney

A very overdue review on our dinner on 6 March 2024 and update to our original review on our dinner at Whalebridge on 13 November 2023. We had a disappointing experience first time around on 13 November 2023 but were convinced by the restaurant's General Manager to give Whalebridge a second chance.Our second dinner was everything we could have hoped for. Our waiter, Luca was professional, attentive without being smothering, friendly and personable. The food was excellent and it was an altogether different experience to our first.The staff at Whalebridge clearly are capable of providing a good experience and we will definitely return again in the future as the classic French menu is very appealing and the restaurant's location hard to beat!

First review: (Food 3 star, Service 1 star, Atmosphere: 4 star)

Where do I start? I booked here at my husband's request for his birthday. The French Bistro menu and location appealed but there were several issues. Strike 1: We were shown to our table and then left sitting unattended for a considerable period of time when it wasn't busy (we booked for 6pm). Strike 2: We ordered 4 entrees to share (leeks vinaigrette, duck parfait, fried squid and twice baked soufflé with two minor alterations: baguette with the parfait instead of brioche which we find too sweet and no espelette pepper with the squid) and two Pepsi's. The glasses of "Pepsi" (postmix) arrived so choc full of ice there would have been barely a quarter of a glass of actual liquid. The leeks and parfait arrived, parfait with brioche NOT baguette and the fellow who brought it to our table (kitchen hand?) seemed particularly put out when I pointed out the error. The parfait disappeared and it took a good 15-20 minutes for another plate to be brought with three of the smallest pieces of baguette I have ever seen and certainly not sufficient for the slab of parfait! When the parfait was brought I had to ask the waitress to remove the empty leek plate AND apparently we both had to keep our one set of cutlery for the entire meal. Strike 3: When the bill came ($102!!!) I paid cash because otherwise there was a 2% surcharge including if I used my Debit card. We then saw that the postmix Pepsi's were $6 each and we had been charged an ADDITIONAL $6 for the three tiny pieces of baguette amounting to $1 per bite! The baguette was supposed to be an exchange not an addition and as there was no brioche on the returned plate, it most certainly was not an addition. There was absolutely nothing wrong with the food but the service and the issues listed above culminting in the additional charge on the bill was the straw that broke me. I approached the girl who seated us and asked if I could have a quick chat with her. She said yes, walked back to the wait station (I thought so we could chat in private) but she then proceeded to ignore me and gather things to take to a table. Before she walked off without giving me the time of day, I asked if she was the manager and she said no. I asked her if there was a manager I could speak to and she said yes before she kept on with what she was doing. She must have called the manager on her radio because a young gentleman appeared pronto after my last question. I calmly explained what had occurred and the manager, whose name was Dom, could not have been more attentive and understanding. He truly listened to and what's more HEARD what we had to say. Dom was able to save our evening from being a disaster through his excellent customer recovery and willingness to listen. Well done Dom! You single-handedly saved this review from being a huge fail. Your staff could learn a...

We have previously dined at Whalebridge before, I like their food and the view. We always spend quite a bit when we do visit and we always tip, even though their service is not very pleasant, but tonight was just appalling and we won’t be dining there ever again.

Tonight was just hubby and myself with our 3 babies. No reservation so the waitress after speaking to her manager came back and told us there wasn’t a table available to sit 5 people in the main area and told us that the bar area on the other side was available but we had to use the QR code to order with a comment saying “I don’t think you will like that!” I told her it should be okay and as we were walking off a group of six white adults with no reservations asked for a table as well and for some reason this waitress put in the extra effort and was able to sit them at a table but not us! Anyways, we sat ourselves in the bar section and there were four other people there already eating. We just sat down, hubby got a baby chair, then tried turning on the heater for us and as we proceeded to place our order online we were then approached by a male server who told us that the bar area was closed! We told him that we were told to come there, and he responded with “ohhh ok just scan the QR code”. We did just that, scanned the QR code to place our order but that too showed ‘Not Available, it was Closed’ yet no one conveyed this information to us! My husband saw one of the waitress and he approached her and told her about the QR code not working and this waiter who didn’t even look at my husband but just pointed saying “here!” My husband had to ask her what she was pointing at before she walked off and grabbed the physical menu sitting behind the monitor.

We were already annoyed at this stage with the rude snobby service and wasting our time. My husband walked back to the main area to try and speak to someone or at least come and take our order but no one was available.

We ended up leaving and walked 100m down to EastBank Pizzeria for dinner. They were so inviting, sat us near the heaters so we could be warm, walked over and spoke to us and the kids, the whole experience and customer service was completely opposite to the snobbish and horrible experience at WhaleBridge. Never again! They’re so quick to walk up and mention the tip section but can’t even provide...

I’d love to rate this place higher- I truly hope that management takes these reviews onboard.

You have a massive problem here, which I hope you address immediately! All of your staff (bar 2 members) were perfect.. however, as an owner of multiple restaurants myself- who never complains(!!), there are members on your team literally sending people away/ being rude to the elderly and disabled, in general being utterly disgusting!!

Your location does not mean that service should not count. We can all do our best. When you have people representing your brand and business, eventually it’ll become an issue- even if your location is amazing. The woman who claims to be ‘Canadian’ who sounds Irish needs to be fired immediately. She is not helping your business whatsoever. It was not just our table that was affected- it was EVERY table in the radius of a seagull who felt her very unprofessional wrath. Rule one of hospitality- or any other job, leave your problems at the door, get on with your shift and pick them back up on the way home. The guy with the long blonde hair was also terrible, but an inch of how horrific the woman was to absolutely everyone. If you keep the Canadian woman on the payroll, guaranteed she will singlehandedly sink your reputation.

Respect your business and integrity, please. Your location means you don’t have to give a toss, but you should! I did the math just in the short time I was sitting there- what were $50 tickets of sad customers could have easily been $500 tickets per table!! It does also make the customer think that the staff are being treated badly by management for us all to receive such despicable service.. we hope you treat your staff well.

Everyone else, delightful btw- but all of them combined could not save the bad taste left in our mouth from the two staff members that clearly do not want to be there and do not...