The Passage

Nothing beats 50% off Tuesday’s.
Service was fab.
Ordered up a feast. The only disappointing thing was the arancini balls. They were flavourless. Standout meal was the fried chicken sandwich! It comes without crusts, and is just simply divine.

Ain’t no price like cheeeeeap, son.
The Passage is constantly mixing things up and there’s something on every night — like Cheap Tuesday’s, where all food is 50% off and there’s $ 10 cocktails. Yes, you heard right. No, that’s not a typo, get us to a doctor because these prices are craaazy, tell ‘em the price son, go on tell ‘em, and then set up that wacky waving inflatable tube man outside our car dealership because we’re practically giving them away. And such.
Came here with a bunch of Unilocalers on a 6pm booking and we kicked off with Rhubarb Pisco Sours and Elderflower tallboys then tucked into, oh, pretty much the entire menu. The main course of pork belly and delicately flavoured Asian glass noodles set us back $ 12. Astonishing shaved Brussels Sprouts and Parmesan for the princely sum of $ 5. Chilli salt and pepper calamari for $ 7.50. And so on and so on. The bill looked like we’d been shopping at the $ 2 store.
Special shout out to the service, they were wonderful — chill, friendly, and happy to chat. I’m a convert.

This place definitely gets the big thumbs up.
It might not be the easiest place to find, but you know you’re in for a treat as soon as you walk through the door. Once you’re greeted by a friendly member of the staff here, and escorted to your table, your Passage experience has begun.
Whilst you sit back in sip on your Cucumber and Elderflower cocktail and admire the prints on the wall of famous movie stars and the like, and wonder how the place received its name; you can let your mind wander whilst soft jazz music plays in the background.
The menu, though a miniscule compared to menus you might see in other places, has range enough of mouth-​watering option to soothe even the most ferocious of appetites.
Make sure that the staff hear your drink order, take it down, and remember to bring it to you. My order for a second ginger ale unfortunately fell on deaf ears, but this was a small price to pay for an otherwise fantastic night.
The pork belly salad with witloff, wakame and sesame dressing is a must, and so are the polenta fingers [so I’m told].
Take extra care when attempting to find the bathroom, as the corrodore is narrow, and blends in with part of «the passage». You may find yourself walking right through to the other side.

I can definitely say I am a fan.
I really enjoyed the meal and cocktail here on the Cheap Tuesday night. I am always on the lookout for a place with decent food and a good price tag to go along with it. Why go fast food when you can enjoy a good dining experience and feel good about what you have eaten.
If I am in town Tuesdays… I think this is where I will be having dinner.

$ 10 Gin Martini? For reals? Until 7pm?
The happy hour here is excellent, cocktails for $ 10 a pop is like super awesome. Just don’t go for the $ 5 wine. It was like they deliberately went looking for the worst cask crap you could find and left it in a hot car for a week.
The location is kinda different — It’s a sliver of a place connecting Victoria Street and Darlinghurst road (‘Passage’ — get it???), and it’s targeted to the usual hipsters that claim they’re not hipsters. Didn’t have the typical business crowd for a Friday night either which was unexpected.
All up, pretty happy with the place — they come and take your order from the table and then deliver which is excellent — you don’t get to realise how drunk you really are until you leave! We’ll be back for the martinis: D

The zucchini flowers are to die for, great service & great cocktails!
I’ve had a few birthday dinners there too and they’re very accommodating to groups, let people pay as they go instead of having a big split bill mess at the end too.

I know the Passage from late night drinks/​dancing with RnB music and discovered recently it was an actual restaurant !
Headed there tonight for the Tuesday special — 50% off food– with a few other friends. It is very good value for money with the offer — but if paying full price I would just say it is average.
There is a choice of small and large plates — the menu is not extensive.
Arancini lacking flavour, good mozarella with prociutto, enjoyed the cauliflower salad, halumi nothing special — did not really like the pork belly. But again 50% off on Tuesday it is worth a visit !

Love.
Great bar
Great service
Lively atmosphere.
Happy hour and food specials to boot!
–tapas/​bar menu could use a little work/​refining. Where’s the cheese!!?
Overall very happy & will be back

There is a good ambience here, from the dark lighting to the way the seats are arranged. The sliders are awesome! The arancini balls with mozzarella were disappointing.

Maybe I’m just getting old, but the music was way too loud for a bar– the music level was akin to what you’d find down the street at one of the Cross clubs.
It’s also a pretty narrow bar so it’s not like you can mingle with a group of people– if you tried you’d be blocking the way for other bar goers and would end up having to move every five seconds or so.
I would imagine this place would be good early in the evening, or if you want to take a date that you don’t want to talk to (or rather, just can’t hear) because the music is too loud but I would give it a skip and head to anywhere else.

Cool little venue and not too bad early in the night when it’s not crowded but once it starts filling up, the long, narrow venue makes it very hard to stand anywhere without having to move every 5 seconds for people to walk by. Ordered the mozzarella salad and it was standard, nothing special and a bit pricey considering. I had a bit of the zucchini flowers that my friend ordered and the flavour was really nice but they were very salty. I did really enjoy the loungey background music.
I’d say go for a few early drinks and then head out to dinner elsewhere.

I do love this place. Though it does get crowded on busier nights, the atmosphere only gets better. The staff are casual and fun loving, (don’t be fooled by their «hipster» aesthetic), which goes a long way to helping people take a load off.
The food is modern but not wanky. And the cocktails have an edge but aren’t too much to stomach.
A good solid passage to pass through. Or go in and out of.

I’m not sure if it’s «cool» to admit… but I love Passage.
The food is not the the highlight for me. We’ve eaten here before and a lot of the tapas were okay, but too salty and overpriced for what they were. Yes, it’s also sometimes a weird crowd. Creepy dudes and some hipsters. BUT despite these flaws, I still love Passage. Strange, I know.
I dig the setup (narrow passage between Darlinghurst and Victoria Roads) and the little dance floor. I love the DJ most nights and I can always count on them to play my favourites. It’s busy and crowded, but not so packed that you have to wait long at the bar. I like coming here with friends and dancing like an idiot.
Keep doing your thing Passage.

I’d never been to The Passage before and my first impression of it was it wasn’t too bad, but not particularly somewhere I’d have a big party celebration. We’d actually gone here for a joint-​party of 21sts so there were a lot of guests expected. The venue was divided into separate sections for different functions but I don’t think it pulled it off very well. I thought the room we were in was double in size because of a conveniently placed mirror, but turned out it wasn’t the case. First of all, the place itself is quite dark and incredibly narrow — it was almost impossible to make your way through to the bathroom or outside for some fresh air with so many people crowding it. Secondly, in order to get to one or the other, you actually have to walk through someone else’s party which is both annoying and a tad awkward. There’s limited space and so limited seating, so sitting down is near impossible unless people share a lap — I found myself lucky sitting on one of the bass speakers to rest my feet. Perfect for smaller, intimate gatherings and nothing bigger than that.

Funnily enough, Passage is very, well, passagey. Long and thin just like many of the cocktails, this is a fashionable and accessible haunt in Darlinghurst. The drinks slip down a treat when combined with their delicious selection of tapas — try to grab a table (although you’ll have a mission on your hands, especially at the weekend). All-​in-​all, a great place to start the night out, but not necessarily somewhere I’d go for a relaxed drink (due to the cramped conditions)

Packed, packed packed. If you enjoy a night jostling for a spot and you wouldn’t even dream of worrying about a table let alone a seat, Passage is just the place. It’s actually a good bar when the crowd thins out a little. Always busy, this skinny long bar which stretches between Victoria Street and Darlinghurst Road (where Lo’Tel used to be) is unique in size and shape.
You need to grab yourself a table in order to try the tapas-​style menu, no mean feat but if you manage it the food is amazing. A stand out is the Twice Cooked Pork Belly, with celeriac purée and red cabbage ($ 21). Or try the Fried Five Spice Quail with Mango & Yuzu Mayonnaise, or Stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Goats Cheese & Truffle Honey ($ 18).
As a huge gin & tonic fan I enjoyed the novelty of a cucumber straw — a cucumber wedge with a hole drilled though it — giving the G&T a nice flavour twist, it’s also a good way to snack if you can’t manage to grab a table.
My companion swears by the Professor Plum cocktail ($ 16), macerated whole plums and Santiago Queriolo Plum pisco are shaken vigorously against fresh lemon juice and vanilla — served in a neat wine glass with a lemon twist, or The Passage Martini ($ 17), with 42 Below Vodka, fresh mint, cucumber and the finest, freshest seasonal fruit, served tall and lengthened with tonic water.

I’m a fiend for gin, and the Mixed Doubles cocktail at The Passage isn’t doing much to curb my habit. This (tennis inspired, perhaps?) take on the much loved G&T sees the spirit combined with fresh mint, cucumber and seasonal fruit in a tall glass, finished with a dash of tonic water. And it goes down a treat with share plates from the kitchen — a mix of bar snacks, entrée sized dishes and tasting plates — like the deluxe bowl of fries tossed with truffle oil and the charcuterie plate.
This long, dark and skinny haunt also hosts a bunch of different food and drink specials. I’m keen to head down on a Wednesday night for their Sliders & Ciders event — $ 4 for a bun and $ 5 for a glass of apple cider from all-​Aussie brewers Batlow.