Tetsuya's (Sydney)..is it worth it?
 

My husband and I just received some wonderful news that we have been waiting on for a while and as a way of celebrating I thought I might shout him to Tetsuya's, but I have heard mixed reviews.

Is it worth the money or should I find some other way to celebrate?


Phoebe

It's been about 3 years since I was there, but I found Tetsuya's to be good, but not great, and certainly not worth the money. Maybe it's because we're a little on the younger side of their clientele (we're early 30s, most others dining there were 50+), but we found that other tables around us were getting considerably better service than we were. That alone put me off.

That said, I think I'm probably in the minority - I believe most people still put this at the top of their high-end dines in Sydney. It's certainly a very pretty space, and you could do worse for a special occasion!

I have reservations there for when I'm in Sydney next month, I'm looking forward to it. :)

Recent piece from the Sydney Morning Herald
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/...54247708.html?

There was a long thread on this topic in the Qantas Board last year... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...hlight=tetsuya

I have an apartment in Sydney and when I'm there, don't go out of my way to eat at Tetsuya's, but some of my Sydneysider friends swear by the place. My opinion, as noted in my comments from last year in the above thread, hasn't changed... I've eated at Tetsuya as recently as a couple months ago, so it's not a dated opinion...

Tetsuya is very disappointing. It could be one of the great restaurants in the world ... but it isn't (and not even the best in Sydney, maybe not making the top 5). It could also have fantastic food, they have a lot of good ideas but poor execution. I've eaten there 3 times now, over 3 years, and it is always the same -- almost, but not quite. Overpriced and just not worth it (and I am quite willing to pay USD 500 for the right meal!). I keep sensing that it is almost there, but Tetsuya always manage to disappoint. I know it is heresy, but I prefer Otto and Rockpool in Sydney.

Perhaps Tetsuya just doesn't like me, or I happen to catch them on an off night, but after 3 attempts I've given up. Great restaurants are also very consistent (and even their off nights are better than this). In my book Tetsuya puts on a great show for the critics but not for those who eat there.

The best way to celebrate is with a bottle of Krug, a down duvet and an open fire ....

Yep, perhaps I will take a pass on Tetsuya's and just give him me. Though he would probably choose Tetsuya's :)

I usually don't go to the QF board, as my miles are with UA, and way too many attitudes on the QF forum :)

Although I live in Sydney, well actually just north of Sydney, I have never had a reason to go to Tetsuya's. And from what others have said I don't think I will be going there in the future. For that amount of money I want to be wowed.

My parents had a meal there earlier this year and were, shall we say, severely underwhelmed. They thought it very overpiced. We had a meal a few months earlier at Arzak in San Sebastian (which was actually cheaper), and although the two types of cooking are vastly different, they didn't even think it was worth making a comparison. For them it certainly didn't rank as a great meal. I felt a bit guilty as I had made the reservation for them :-(

However, it did win best restaurant in the Pacific from restaurant.com or another of those sites, and some people are very enthusiastic about it.

My fiancé and I had a similar experience. We've eaten at plenty of high-end places, so it's not that we were unaccustomed to formal dining.

The food is very good - I just don't think it lives up to the hype.

I think it all comes down to expectations. Many people are let down due to the hype, but this happens with many fine dining restaurants like Tetsuya's, Rockpool, Forty One and others. For every positive review of these places I have read, there have been several negative ones as well.

The food will be excellent and the service will be good and possibly great. Either way you have to be the type of person that expects to pay $250 per person and possibly still be hungry at the end.

Additionally I would always check restaurant recommendations in Sydney on eatability.com.au. There are obviously many more reviews on that site than you will find here. Good luck!

Short answer - YES!

I'd rank it up there (and so would a lot of more reputable sources) with The French Laundry, The Fat Duck,El bulli...

Of that list above the only one I've been to is the Laundry, but calling me a foodie is like calling the Pope mildy religious. I'm boarderline obsessed with food. I keep my travel job as a means to get miles to go to new places to eat.

That being said, my wife and I ate there for our honeymoon last year. When we walked in they opened the doors and said "welcome Mr. and Mrs. SpaceBass, your table is right this way". I guess they stagger the reservations. the service was exceptional, we had our own waiter all evening and really felt like we knew him (and vice versa) by the end of the evening. Not only did he honor our special request (caviar course) but he gave us some great travel tips. We shared our somillier with one other table. He recomened and served me the best bottle of wine I've ever had in a resturant (Torbreck 1996 Run Rig)... we mentioned going to the Huntery Valley the next day and he called ahead for us to a few places... made an amazing difference. Almost all of the places gave us free bottles as a honeymoon present... well, thats in line with everyone we encounted in Oz... but I digress.

To the food... it was extreamly orignal and pretty unforgettable. Some things- much like the Laundry- were hyped but still pretty darn good. Tetsuya owns his own trout farm for the signature trout braised in olive oil... they have an amazing fat content so they stand up to his cooking process. I've attempted to duplicate it with Atric Char or oily trout and not had as much luck.
some dishes were simple yet amazingly elegant... beats with truffles and seat salt... the earthy beats with the tuffle arouma was sublime. I don't particularly care for most bleus but we had a special bleu cheese panna cotta that melted in my mouth and leaved me wanting more. I would have prefered the courses be a tad bit smaller and thus a few more of them. But that's just me.

At the end they brought us a custom menu replete with the wines we had. We asked if Tetsuya would sign it and he promptly came out, congradulated us, signed it, etc... Very very nice. Our waitor stood around for 30 minutes while we enjoied some great hunter stickies (botrytisized wines) and discussed aussie culture, etc.

I poped an 85 Kruge when we cut the cake at the wedding, so we'd done that :D but I highly recomend that too!

As for the age thing... we were 25 at the time and I frequently run into age-ism (prefered line at the hotel, sitting in FC on planes and even at resturants). We didn't run into that at all at Tetsuya (unlike Charlie Trottiers or some other places). But that could have just been the particular server.
GO![/
GO!

<delete this post... accidently duped>

As someone who owns interests in some restaurants, I'd say that SpaceBass, for a youngster, knows pretty much about the subject and wrote a very interesting review of his experience at Tetsuya. He mentions two of the best restaurants in the USA, being the French Laundry in Yountville, California and Charley Trotter in Chicago. I'd add the Gramercy Tavern in New York, Spago (the original) in my hometown of Los Angeles and the old Berkeley stalwart of Chez Panisse as well, in my opinion...

I'll be back in Sydney in a few months and will give another go at Tetsuya, this time with a better dinner companion in tow... My last visit there was on a business dinner that was skewed in the wrong direction at the onset... I'm sure that it colored my opinion. In the meantime, I'm heading to Prague with the family next month for an extended stay and plan to stop over in London enroute. Time then to chow down at NOBU in Park Lane! ^

The torch has passed from the Gramercy Tavern in NYC to Fort Lauderdale (!!!!). The ex-managing partner of the Gramercy has opened a restaurant called Trina in The Atlantic hotel (the best hotel in Florida, maybe). Great food (thanks to an ex-Tribeca Grill chef and a very clevely constructed menu plus a true NY bar). Agree with the rest of your list, except Charley Trotter has declined greatly in quality in the past year; while Chez Panisse continues to be very good when it really shouldn't be (yet it is -- and I still think Tetsuya just misses the mark, somehow; maybe it only has off days when I'm there).