Best Modern Australian Restaurants in The Rocks

We had a great night!!! The location provides great views of the harbour, however many other places have great views too. Why did we have a great night? The staff were great, and we really enjoyed the food! We had a late sitting - last before kitchen closed, and we were 5-10 minutes late. Group of 5, with diverse food requirements, and the last sitting just before kitchen closed. We had a big order including everything vegetarian on offer. We were encouraged to get our order in to the kitchen smartly, which is fair enough. Why were the staff great? Once the order was in, there was absolutely no pressure on us ( not there was a lot of pressure to get the order in, just a tiny bit of encouragement). Once the order was in, they encouraged us to enjoy the food and location. No pressure. Then there’s attention to detail… One of our party dropped a pice of cutlery, and within seconds a staff member appeared with a tray of cutlery to select the dropped piece… Why were the kitchen staff great? Despite being last order in and a complicated one at that, the food was on point and not rushed - and way better than I expected. I was worried given the pub vibes downstairs. I shouldn’t have been. We shared everything across the party. The vegetarian options completely satisfied our vegetarian, despite the rest of us trying to get in on the show. They were well thought out, and we found them delicious- I would be happy and satisfied just ordering the vegetarian options! The entree eggplant was great, with crunchy crumb, nice soft interior and a touch of heat in the sauce. We didn’t order steak - we don’t eat a lot of red meat. We only ordered prawns and chicken. The prawns were cooked and presented well, and got demolished - enough said! The highlight of the night was the chicken. Just try it!

Great food this year, this is our 3rd Christmas at Sylvester’s and this was probably the best. Service was also first class.

We had a great table for 2 at the front edge, with a clear view of the opera house and the people strolling the waterfront. The linguine with seafood was delicious, as was the burrata and the Italian beer. Tiramasu was tasty, but we wished we had shared because the portion was huge! On Christmas Eve, it was very busy, so service was a bit off, but all the servers were so pleasant that I can’t fault them.

We, a party of four, use the Theatre Bar at the End of the Wharf, regularly for pre-theatre dining and it never disappoints. The menu and the wine list are broad enough to provide variety without being overwhelming and are reasonably priced. The quality of the food is excellent and the staff are outstanding - always pleasant and helpful. Wouldn’t eat anywhere else.

The view! The ambience! Sublime. The food — interesting but flawed. Tasty but over processed. Too much pureed, gelleed, whipped. We needed more texture. It wound up being too much of the same. How many seafood gelee tastes do we want. Our table if 4 says, go once for the experience. One and done. It’s way expensive but we don’t regret having the total experience.