The Potting Shed

The potting shed is a big bar restaurant venue, very efficient service (if not particularly friendly) and the usual gorgeous greenery that we have come to expect from the Groundspeople. We shared a small bowl of mussels, chips and pan baked bread, as well as trying a couple of their fruit sodas. All the food was very good and it was also pretty reasonably priced. It was also great fun afterwards wandering about looking at the various animalia (that is one fat hog!) and drooling over the gorgeous pastries and doughnuts. A must do for anyone visiting Sydney, which is completely unparalleled elsewhere.

Staff extremely helpful and food fresh and inventive. The ambience is great but be prepared of a lot of background chatter and birds screaming. It’s all apart of this hotels charm!
Food never fails you. It’s just so joyous and with the times. I love everything to do with the whole grounds.

[i do not understand why this place only have so few reviews! It is hugely popular!?!]
The Potting Shed. I’m not sure how I feel about this place. I think the first thought is how family friendly the place is.
First time I came was for a casual night dinner, and I thought let’s find something like a pub with some good atmosphere and music.
Rocked up to Potting Shed, it ticks every box! Good beer, good vibe, good music, great atmosphere (to be honest, it’s just hard… but I was with my lady)…ticks all the boxes… but to my amazement.; LOTS of kids are running around!
Families bring their young ones for moms/​dads parties, kids hang out with their friends on the swing on a side. If you get there early, kids can even visit the little in house farm, which is awesome.
Now the food. The food is an interesting one. It tasted great, but awfully small.
So small that I think some of the items should not be on the main menu!
I eventually resorted to getting an additional pulled pork burger as well, after my initial ‘main meal’ failed me (no i do not eat a lot).
That said, I enjoyed the meal, the place, and will come back again.

A little late for this review ! But why not while I look back at the year that made 2015 :)
Don’t get me wrong with the whole ³⁄₅ stars review. This place is beautiful and the atmosphere is amazing
There’s a bird to say hello to at the front while you wait for a seat (not a chicken, it’s a parrot). A little wheelbarrow with some hot logs to cook some marshmallow ! (Who doesn’t like a good melted marshmallow ?)
Let’s get to the food! Now looking at the selection of food, they kept it to the bare minimum which is good because it shows that they really want to focus on flavor (which is what I assume anyways)
We picked our food which consisted of pull pork, potato gnocchi and fish.
Let’s start with the pulled pork, everyone loves a good sandwich but what makes a good sandwich? One that is juicy and is dripping of juice, flavor that takes your tastes buds to a new planet ! That’s how I see it anyways. However this pulled pork lacked that, it didn’t quite have that flavor that you usually find in a pulled pork. The bread was nice, but considering you’re eating it head on… It was a little hard for my liking maybe a little Au Jus on the side is needed to help break down that crispy bread whilst retaining the juiciness of the pork !
Next !! The potato gnocchi, this was first time eating it in all honesty ! But this felt heavy and overall too much with the eggs. So close yet so far… Hit and a miss for me
Lastly the fish ! Ahhh the fish, the dish that usually saves you when you don’t know what else to get ! and it turns out my friend hit the jackpot choosing this as it was delicious, fresh and juicy.
So what did I learn? I learnt that when in doubt … Choose the fish !! You can’t go wrong with a good fish dish !!

It’s like having a picnic in the garden. So green and so fresh. Full of potted pretties everywhere and a cute little parrot at the entry to greet you. Wow! I can see why this place is so popular. I think it is necessary to book ahead as I saw that some couples were told that there was a 2 hour wait. I was lucky that our hosts booked a table in advance. I went here on a Monday, so I think that this was to our benefit.
The menu is mixed, a bit of everything to choose from. Whether you want a burger or salad, you will find something to cater your needs. I have always been a fan of a good ol’ platter, something comforting about it. And boy was I glad we ordered it, this thing was massive! Easily enough for 4 people. The serve was very generous for $ 65. I was really impressed.
All of the meats and cheeses are collected from «Salt, Meat and Cheese» store next door. Great if you really want to buy some of the selection to take home afterwards. I just want to make a point that the portions of cheese were great on this platter. I consumed enough tasty fromage to have cheesemares tonight. Oh what a lunch! Haha

not sure why this place got such bad reviews. however the service does SUCK, probably because they are so busy. they really need to hire some more waiters, especially during peak times. my coworker and i came for a late lunch around 1pm and the restaurant wasn’t filled but it took forever for them to even come around and get our orders. however the food was delish
we ordered:
— spiced steak tartare w/​quail egg! — omg so beautiful and delicious, worth getting just for the photo, plus it was a bigger portion than i expected
— rocket & pecorino very tasty, very refreshing salad
— pink snapper — grilled and made well and not dry at all

Great place and great drinks but some of the wait staff is extremely rude and confrontational. We were relocated due to a reservation at our table to an area by the bar. During our time there one of our party bumped a waiters tray as he walked by spilling two drinks. We quickly apologised but to one of the wait staff that was not good enough. He walked by a few times bumping into us on purpose, swearing at us and just stairing at us. Not sure why he was so upset but aggressively yelling at customers is not a way to get repeat business.

The venue itself is quite enchanting. At night there is a fire pit in front in a wheel barrow with marshmallows to roast. The white lights in the courtyard type setting feels a bit like something you might expect out of Alice and Wonderland but sadly the food and service do not measure up. We had the gnocchi but the sauce was quite bland. Our friends ordered the fish and chips and pulled pork sandwich and were not blown away either. The chocolate pot and pavlova for desert were certainly quite nice but I might just use it as a drinks and desert place from now on. It would be a sweet date venue for sure.

Actually went to this place in December 2014 and the Chef at the POTTING SHED, AMAZEBALLS, I went today at 3pm July 2015 and the Chef cooked Pasta, I ate it because I was hungry however the food was AWFUL!!! When the wait staff asked how my food was, well I was so impressed with his acknowledgment of my constructive comments, I did say that that food wasn’t cooked All-​Dente and he said if he told the Chef that he’d «spit it» cause he’s Italian, How HILARIOUS!!!
Anyho, Chefs need to understand that, YOU NEVER STOP LEARNING! Just Sayin’!!!

Geez The Grounds peeps sure know how to deck out a place. Next to their ever-​so-​popular café is a newish bar/​wine-​garden/​restaurant. If you found their café presentation impressive, you better sit down (preferably at The Potting Shed, with a cocktail) before you check out this joint’s décor. As the name suggest, the whole place looks like one massive greenhouse/​shed with lots of plants, gardening tools, buckets, and other gardening apparatus that I cannot name. It’s cute, charming and flatteringly lit. Best of all, they take bookings, even large groups. No I will not get out or shut up.
Have been a couple of times and it seems kitchen mix up/​issues seems to be a bit of a common theme but once we chased them up, they were very apologetic and hard to stay mad at (especially since their cocktails are so good and well presented… punch from your own personal tap anyone?).

I came here for dinner with two girlfriends. I loved the ambiance — very similar to Grounds of Alexandria next door. However, the food was overpriced and at best average. We ordered a platter of meats/​cheese, roasted pumpkin with yogurt sauce, meatballs and a few other dishes to share. Unimpressed. Thus there isn’t a desire to return here or recommend the place to others. I’ve read similar disappointing reviews on Urbanspoon.
Go to Grounds of Alexandria for brunch instead!