Cafe Sydney

The food is fantastic. Our server was friendly, knowledgeable, and prompt. The view is breathtaking. However I found some of the management’s policies to be too strict. My family is a big fan of duck. We were given the lounge menu which had the only duck dish on it. When I asked if we could get the dish as a starter we were told that is only served in the lounge. Unusual to refuse a reasonable request from a guest, but we shrugged it off. After running up a fairly large tab well over $ 500, when it came time for dessert, we were told that the table was reserved for others. We had ordered everything quickly, there was no breakdown in service yet there was no time for dessert at that table. Our server nicely offered to put us in the lounge but at that point I was a bit offended. Turning tables is great, turning off customers at the end is not.

As soon as we sat down we were told we only had 90 minutes to eat. When we took a few minutes to look through the menu we were asked to pick something soon so we would not run out of time.
We should have left right then!
The staff was constantly at our table rushing us along. Although the food was good and the view is beautiful I would not go back. And I would NEVER take a client here.

The view… the cocktails… what’s not to love!
Recently I went here with a friend from Paris — she’s been looking for a good beef carpaccio since moving to Sydney five years ago — she finally found it! Meals are a good size, reasonably priced for an upper market restaurant — so long as you can get a booking! The salted caramel & espresso martinis are to die for! The dessert cheese selection is one of the best in Sydney! And did I mention that view?!

I have been to a lot of work dinners in my life. Some have been tedious, some I have struggled to keep my eyes open after a 36 hour flight to the other side of the world, but every so often they have been extraordinary. And that was the case with Café Sydney.
From the moment we exited the elevator we felt like we were somewhere special. Which did not diminish in the least when we were ushered on to the terrace to the most spectacular, fall head over heels in love with Sydney view. The only word my colleagues could get out of me for the next 5 minutes was ‘wow’, I was totally bedazzled.
We were a big group so tried quite a few dishes, although there were some clear winners in the ordering stakes. Oysters and scallops for starters, salmon and beef tenderloin for mains and pavlova and salted caramel for desserts.
I ordered the scallops with white sausage, bacon, apple and cider caramel. Nice dish but the white sausage was a bit bland and uninteresting — it really didn’t add to the dish for me. I would have liked something with a bit more texture and flavour like boudin noir.
The beef tenderloin, however, was a total winner. Absolutely perfect and consistent for everyone that ordered it. The desserts were also excellent.
I loved this restaurant and would recommend it for anyone with a special occasion to celebrate, or with visitors to Sydney to entertain. Fabulous.

I am giving this place five stars for hygiene & food safety. The Food Authority of NSW awarded them 5 out of 5, on 07/​01/​2015 as part of their scores on doors scheme. (Full list available on the City of Sydney website.)
I would never visit there, based on the way I’ve read they treat customers, but if you do, then at least you know it’s probably hygienic.

Great service, great food and an absolutely wonderful ambience! It was packed and noisy but still liked it, gonna be back soon!

The food was decent, and a good view but service is pretty bad. We had to flag down the waiter numerous times… 1 to take our drink order, 2 to take our food order, 3 to fill up wine and 4 to bring our bill after we said we didnt want dessert and were all set. We had booked this as our honeymoon dinner and noted as such at the time of reservation, but no mention was ever made by the staff. I would not recommend this place for any special occasion.

For our first night in Sydney, we decided to make reservations at Café Sydney. We arrived for our 8PM reservation and were seated promptly in a desirable window seat over the harbor. The view was spectacular and the restaurant itself was very pretty.
The first thing that bothered me happened nearly immediately. Our server came over to greet us (she was nice in general) and went to put my napkin in my lap. I was holding my DSLR camera in pieces at the time, so I had to fumble around so that she could essentially do this task. I also always find it quite embarrassing when servers do this; while it may be proper etiquette, I find it rude.
Secondly, someone else came to take our drink orders, as the place was clearly packed and understaffed. He asked my mother first, then went across the table to my father, THEN to my brother, and then said, in a condescending tone, «Anything ELSE for you?»
I’m well above Australia’s legal drinking age. As a two year veteran of the service industry, I really don’t care when someone cards me and understand that they’re doing their job. But you don’t need to belittle me. Not only that, but if you aren’t sure how old everyone at the table is, why not just go in a circle and card as necessary?
Anyway, I made a comment about this, and he proceeded to launch into a fairly unprofessional and equally condescending speech about the necessity of identifying people, which showed flat out that he didn’t understand the issue. He then stated that he was a MANAGER, which was hilarious. Totally destroyed the good vibes.
Our server came back to take our order, and then yet another individual came to deliver our drinks. He wasn’t sure whose was whose, and also messed up how many of each there were. He seemed new and was also really nice, so it wasn’t a huge deal, but only three of us ordered drinks. When you’re paying ~40 $ average for a plate of food, you want the little details to be correct.
I split two entrees with my father — the John Dory special and the swordfish entrée. The John Dory was served with tomatoes, two small quail eggs, potatoes, and capers. The swordfish was servers with olive cream, tomato jam, capers, and a lemon dressing. Both were EXCELLENT. They were both very tender. I preferred the swordfish, but only marginally. The swordfish was like butter, and the tomato confit was delicious. The quail eggs served with the John Dory were absolutely perfect.
After we ate our entrees (please keep in mind, we were coming off small apps at another place, so we did not order apps here), we all looked at each other — everyone had finished their dishes, but we were all still hungry. At ~40 $ a plate, I was surprised at this. I don’t think I’ve scraped the plate clean all vacation thusfar, nevermind left a place hungry. Our total bill came to roughly 200 $, and we went for ice cream immediately after.
In conclusion, the food and the view are both good here, but for a pricey restaurant, I found the service to be lacking.

I’ve returned here under sufferance, and the service has not improved. It’s abominable. Countless young ladies clad in black, carrying on as if they’re old money, standing around doing absolutely nothing.
Trying to get service in the bar to buy overpriced cocktails is virtually impossible. Upon crash tackling a waiter we finally get served. But then they never came around to collect us as promised to escort us to our booked table.
That turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as I was able to convince the group after our drinks to go somewhere else, thereby avoiding the overrated food.

This café is on the fifth floor of the Customs House. There’s no signs to indicate where it is, so go inside the building and take a lift up.
There’s a beautiful view facing the Sydney Harbor Bridge from the dining area. The view isn’t good for pictures but it’s great to see. Also, this place is within walking distance of the Sydney Opera House so it’s good before shows.
The food was delicious. The entrée of prawns, clams, corn and a tasty sauce was excellent though on the light side. The tandoori king salmon with falafel balls was very good as well, but the fish was a bit soft.
Nice setting, friendly servers.
I like this place.

Food is fantastic, the staff very friendly and the view of the harbor is great. Although most of the sydney opera house is blocked by buildings, the bridge is very visible. The duck confit was delicious. It’s a little odd that it’s at the top of a public library, but the building is very classy and very close to the opera house. Would definitely recommend making reservations. Great place for a date. I docked it one star because the dessert was pretty lack luster. I had the mousse with chocolate ice cream. For $ 19, I expected better.

Lovely location. Pricy but it is considered one of the best restaurants in Sydney. We did enjoy our meal although sometimes it was hard to get service. I ordered the risotto for a main which seemed a bit undercooked. Everyone else enjoyed theirs a tip would be to stick to the seafood side of the menu.

So there’s a couple of things that drive my 3 star rating…
Service — impeccable, über-​friendly, almost to the point where you wonder if they are serious or just effing with you. But in all seriousness, great great staff, always on top of their game!
Location — what can I say: stellar. We were a party of four, sitting outside with a perfect view on Harbor Bridge. Beautiful.
Food — well… It was definitely good but not kock-​you-​out-​of-​your-​socks amazing (esp for the price). We had a wild combo, ranging from swordfish to steak to risotto. All good but not great. It was like with each of them the final, last little touch was missing. Great presentation and decent sizes, but a little «mpf» short at the end. Dessert was phenomenal I have to say though.
Definitely a great place for a date, birthday etc.

A gorgeous restaurant overlooking Circular Quay and the Harbour Bridge. Sitting on the outside deck for dinner is absolutely spectacular.
The food and drinks are good. The restaurant itself and its location make it a can’t-miss location!

Beautiful location on top of Customs House with a stunning view of the Harbour Bridge! Service was wonderful and took care of us the whole time. I had the vegan brick pastry (you need to ask for the vegan menu) which was delicious and filled with chickpeas whilst my partner had the short rib which according to him was a little bland but nonetheless good overall. The food came out surprisingly quick and since it was my birthday, they gave as a complimentary dessert. Definitely coming back again!

Fantastic view/​location, amazing food/​presentation and great service. This resturaunt is on my hit list for when any international guests cone.
Ask for an outside table if possible when booking for breathtaking views of Sydney harbour, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.
I personally had the seated scallops for entrée, confit duck for main and vanilla cheesecake with raspberries for desert. Ah. May. Zing. Others at the table also thoroughly enjoyed their meals.

This place has to get four stars just on Real Estate alone. Perched in a building overlooking the opera house and The Bridge, its pretty spectacular. So places like this typically don’t try too hard on service or food quality, but I think they go the extra mile to make your experience with Café Sydney extraordinary. We had some very tasty apps and entrees, then moved over to the Lounge for some more libations. Spent a good 3 ½ hours there. When in Sydney, you could do a lot worse then find yourself here. Did not feel too much like a tourist being there, the staff was very gracious and friendly, which I will say in many Sydney restaurants is surprisingly uncommon. They have the total package here, I highly recommend.

Oh Café Sydney… where do I start?! From the amazing menu, delightfully presented dishes, prompt service and gorgeous views, there was barely a thing I could fault. I was able to walk in and get a table for a weekday lunch during a stopover, and we were fortunate enough to be seated on the balcony with the view of the Harbour Bridge right next to us. All our food was impeccably presented with beautiful flavours. My only comment/​question on the food would be the coconut sorbet with the chocolate praline dessert — I enjoyed it, since I love sorbet and ice-​cream, but it seemed a little bit of a random match and I think the dish would have been just as delicious without it.
Café Sydney is a tad on the pricey side, but you get what you pay for and I thought it was well worth the money. I didn’t enjoy trying to navigate the incredibly dim toilet cubicle, but I’m still giving it 5 stars. Thanks to the Sydney Unilocalers for the recommendation!

Loved my lunch here. We had our office Xmas party here and went with the 3 course menu for $ 98 per head. Great choices for entrée, main and dessert. Everyone raved about their choices ad I must say I was extremely happy with mine. I’m a seafood fan so had the scallop as entrée which was beautifully cooked. Soft and perfectly cooked with the corn purée was an excellent combination. My main was the tandoori spiced ocean trout which was beautifully cooked — medium rare. With the side of green beans and chat potatoes I was stuffed by the end of the this but I still had room for the mango coconut sago dessert! The other dishes looked fantastic as well — everyone rolled out at the end of a satisfying meal.

Phenomenal!
This was by far the BEST dining experience I had during my visit to Sydney. Café Sydney sets the bar extremely high for service, atmosphere (best restaurant with a view), and food. We were awe struck as we entered the main dining area. The view of the harbour bridge and surrounding area was stunning. I couldn’t help but to immediately begin photographing the outside scenery; it was just magical.
I dream of returning… soon!
For our entrees we started with the garlic naan, crab cakes and morton bay bugs. Our server was spot on in describing these delicacies as similar to lobster in taste. They were very good. My sister was in absolute heaven over the garlic naan and crab cake. We went with the Barramundi and Red Snapper for our main dishes. Both were delicious, but as I expected, the Baramundi blew me away; it was so fresh and very thoughtfully prepared.