Galileo
The Observatory Hotel
89-113 Kent St
Sydney, NSW 2000
$$$$$
Went to Galileo @ The Observatory Hotel for a 7-course degustation. The occasion was to farewell a girl friend who is going to the UK for a year, the lucky duck! Galileo is really luxe, ornate and ranked one of the swankiest/best restaurants in Sydney. I’ve only had high tea there so was keen on checking out their degustation dinner menu. We were informed that because we had a table of 7, “there will be an extra 10% surcharge”. We thought it was a little absurd, since a larger table tends to get a bigger tip anyway, but nevermind, we just decided to suck it up. Well, when it came time to pay for the bill, we noted to our delight that they did not put the 10% surcharge. “How kind!” we thought, rather pleased and impressed. We paid and as we were heading off, one of the waiters called to us and said “We forgot to charge you the extra 10% so can you pay it now” Was COMPLETELY FLOORED AND SHOCKED AND HORRIFIED. I cannot think of anything tackier than to 1) place a surcharge and 2) forget to charge it then chase after the patrons to ask them to cough up the extra cash!!!!! Absolutely disgusting and unforgivable. For that reason alone, I’ll never go back. A very very stupid move on their part, because it just pissed 7 people off who will proceed to tell all their friends about it.. nothing is worse that NEGATIVE world-of-mouth. A restaurant of their caliber should have known better.
Gripe aside, the food was good, fortunately. Very fine, quality ingredients and beautiful cooking. Definitely does not hold a candle to Tetsuya, but still not too bad. My absolute favourite was the Papillotes of Jewfish, a luxuriously tender chunk of fish sitting atop a creamy buttery sauce. Divine! Wish they had just one waiter serving us, instead of an array of assorted waiters for each course. The service was polite, discreet and professional which was great.. it was only at the end with that ridiculous 10% surcharge that left a bad taste in our mouth. If they got rid of it, I’d be back 😛
Galileo restaurant
Pre-dinner cocktails
Crazy-looking possessed person!!
The girls
Little blurb about the restaurant
Degustation menu
Red wine and white wine, forgot the names!
Egg cocotte and Pacific oyster
Close-up of egg, mmmm..
Yellow Fin Tuna Tataki
Terrine of Salmon
Black Berkshire Pork Belly – omg this was good
Seasonal Fish of the Day – by far my fave dish
Meat of the Day – this pork belly was melty soft!
Demi Chocolate Fondant with Anglaise
Food porn
Creme caramel
All of us
FOOD PORN?! HAHAHA that bit made me laughhhh
Does your work pay you to eat all these meals?!
Hehe not for this meal, we wish!
FOOD PORN?! HAHAHA that bit made me laughhhh
Does your work pay you to eat all these meals?!
Hehe not for this meal, we wish!
oh dear. if i had known you were going i wouldve sent u an email… they are celebrating the chefs anniversary or something and the degustation menu was 50% off…
Yeah we got that! still don’t think it’s that great a deal though, but could be biased cos of that surcharge haha
oh dear. if i had known you were going i wouldve sent u an email… they are celebrating the chefs anniversary or something and the degustation menu was 50% off…
Yeah we got that! still don’t think it’s that great a deal though, but could be biased cos of that surcharge haha
9pm now…and the oyster in the photo still make my tummy goes hungry!! yummy!
I LOVE oysters… could’ve done with 2, hehe!
Eeeek. I’d never go somewhere that does that. I can’t believe the nerve of some places! Certainly I like to tip if the food and service is excellent, but charging because of the number of people?? Ridiculous! Stick to your guns and don’t go back!
Hey love the AH cherry necklace 🙂
it’s unbelievable how they want to purposely piss off people. If they hadn’t done that, we’d all be singing their praises and recommending it to everyone!
9pm now…and the oyster in the photo still make my tummy goes hungry!! yummy!
I LOVE oysters… could’ve done with 2, hehe!
horrid customer service! can you guys complain??
the egg’s like interesting stuffs! i love tataki~~
We made it pretty clear that we thought it was ridiculous, but they still insisted we pay up. GRRR!
there goes the negative word-of-mouth from you guys.
No class in a classy restaurant. I wouldn’t have paid the extra 10% considering you guys probably already left a good enough tip that would have covered more than that 10% *surcharge*. I wouldn’t go back either.
Yeah, was very tempted to just run out, HAHA!
That’s unfortunate about the end part of the service 🙁
Yeah totally unimpressed. They need to do away with it ASAP!
You know what? That is the worst customer service ever. I’d send a letter or something to a manager just to note your displeasure. Yeah, it is only 10%, but they completely forgot and should NOT have made you cough it up after you were actually on the way out the door.
Sigh. . .I hate the way some businesses are run. . .
Ridiculous, hey.. well, I find it funny how in the end they made like $10-20 by doing that, but turned off a LOT of potential customers and so ended up LOSING hundreds. Hah!
how did you eat the egg?
Just stick the little spoon in and scoop the custard out
The food looks really good, especially the desserts! Mmm yuummm. That’s really unfortunate and rude that they charged a surcharge (I don’t really understand why they would in the first place), I definitely wouldn’t go there now, just because of that.
Yeah no one could understand it, plus it was really tacky :X Boo to them!
🙁 I’ve been 3 times now.. and it seems they just keep increasing their prices and cutting down the portions….
Ughhh that’s not good 🙁 Well don’t think we’ll be back!
I would definitely rate Bilson’s over Gallileo’s 🙂
It’s a shame that a restautant like this has to offer service akin to Superbowl? I’ve never seen the surcharge in Gallileo’s before…. it must be a new thing. It’s a shame to see a restaurant slowly decline. The first time I went there 2 years ago, the degustation was $90 and absolutely fantastic value! The dishes were tasty, the portions were big (the 3 mains came out as though they were actually full sized mains!), the service was good and the sommillier was friendly. At $90 a pop, the most expensive thing on our table was the bottle of Burgundy! Add to that the fact that when they had asked if it was for any special occassion, I said it was a birthday – they prepared a little Happy Birthday desert plate for us too….
Cut forward 1.5 years and the prices had risen to $120 a pop, food portions were reduced (no more 3 full mains..), and service reasonable (we didn’t get the surcharge 1/2 a year ago) but somewhat less attentive (at least the time we went anyway).
shame…
Taaacky. That’s when customer service smarts need to come into play. They could have easily ate the 10% as a loss in finances (which to me, looking at the $120 price tag, doesn’t seem like a great big loss), but a gain in repeat and new customers. They need to learn to give a little to get a little.
bad customer service
Yes and all up they only got an extra $20 because we replaced the original tip with that surcharge, how pathetic!
Fully agree, they ddin’t actually really earn more! AND on top of that lost a ton of potential customers…….
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Eeeek. I’d never go somewhere that does that. I can’t believe the nerve of some places! Certainly I like to tip if the food and service is excellent, but charging because of the number of people?? Ridiculous! Stick to your guns and don’t go back!
Hey love the AH cherry necklace 🙂
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there goes the negative word-of-mouth from you guys.
No class in a classy restaurant. I wouldn’t have paid the extra 10% considering you guys probably already left a good enough tip that would have covered more than that 10% *surcharge*. I wouldn’t go back either.
Yeah, was very tempted to just run out, HAHA!
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Yeah totally unimpressed. They need to do away with it ASAP!
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Ridiculous, hey.. well, I find it funny how in the end they made like $10-20 by doing that, but turned off a LOT of potential customers and so ended up LOSING hundreds. Hah!
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Just stick the little spoon in and scoop the custard out
The food looks really good, especially the desserts! Mmm yuummm. That’s really unfortunate and rude that they charged a surcharge (I don’t really understand why they would in the first place), I definitely wouldn’t go there now, just because of that.
Yeah no one could understand it, plus it was really tacky :X Boo to them!
🙁 I’ve been 3 times now.. and it seems they just keep increasing their prices and cutting down the portions….
lucky strikes smokes,
I would definitely rate Bilson’s over Gallileo’s 🙂
It’s a shame that a restautant like this has to offer service akin to Superbowl? I’ve never seen the surcharge in Gallileo’s before…. it must be a new thing. It’s a shame to see a restaurant slowly decline. The first time I went there 2 years ago, the degustation was $90 and absolutely fantastic value! The dishes were tasty, the portions were big (the 3 mains came out as though they were actually full sized mains!), the service was good and the sommillier was friendly. At $90 a pop, the most expensive thing on our table was the bottle of Burgundy! Add to that the fact that when they had asked if it was for any special occassion, I said it was a birthday – they prepared a little Happy Birthday desert plate for us too….
Cut forward 1.5 years and the prices had risen to $120 a pop, food portions were reduced (no more 3 full mains..), and service reasonable (we didn’t get the surcharge 1/2 a year ago) but somewhat less attentive (at least the time we went anyway).
shame…
The food looks yummy but OMFG, what horrible customer service! Goodness, it’s so un-professional to run after a customer for the 10% service charge that they forgot! *sic* At least the food was good and you all had a good time until the little fiasco.
Yeah, was very unimpressed with their tact. Blech!
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bad customer service
Yes and all up they only got an extra $20 because we replaced the original tip with that surcharge, how pathetic!
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