Doyles

DiningAvenger

10% surcharge because it's Saturday!? What the? 11th October 2009

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The food was excellent I'll give them that. It was totally overpriced of course. It's Mr Doyle's restaurant you see and he's simply marvellous isn't he *faun* *scrape*. The atmosphere was lacking a lot. It's not the nicest decor for a romantic meal.

What really did it for me though was the 10% surcharge which the illustrious Mr Doyle has decided is perfectly justifiable for a SATURDAY night. Sunday nights and public holidays I can fathom, as you have to pay the staff more on those nights, but a Saturday? One would think that if one were to open a restaurant, that Saturday night would be one of your staple income nights of the week, and that you would expect to have to open the restaurant for Saturday night as you would on a Friday night. Was there 10% more food on my plate that would have been on a Friday night? Was it 10% harder to cook my meal? No - there was just 10% more money to be made froma gullible fool like me. This is just rampant arrogance and outright greed form Mr Doyle.

So, let me get this straight. I forego dining in a more convenient location on the harbour in the city, to drive all the way out to Watsons Bay to patronise this restaurant with my hard earned cash, and then I am PUNISHED for it with a random 10% add on on my already overpriced meal. And had I even noticed the fine print on the menu staing this 10% surcharge - what am I going to do? Turn down the meal and go and find somewhere else to eat in Watsons Bay? No - I'm stuck there like an idiot paying this 10% 'just-because-we-can' charge. What did they do to earn that extra $20 other than punch that extra $20 into the till?

I do not recommend the experience of being taken for a ride by an arrogant restauranteur or his poor staff who have to endure the ire of customers who take exception. So sod-off Mr Doyle, my father-in-law cooks a far better fish than you anyway, and he's a builder.

oogywawa

Seriously good fish restaurant, idyllic setting 14th November 2008

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After visiting Doyles, I remember reading in a Sunday paper when back in the UK that it was included in "The 100 things to do before you die". I'd be unsure whether the food quite warrants that accolade but certainly the whole experience elevates this legendary establishment into that select club.

Family run since the 1880's, this self assured gem nudges onto the beach at Watsons Bay, itself a pretty appendage to Sydney. Dining at sunset gives you a evocative dreamy vermillion vista to survey, with a backdrop of the Sydney skyscrapers framing a languid aquatic lapping ocean.

The food is seriously well prepared, not the pinnacle of pescatarian cuisine but certainly Camp 4 of a culinary Everest. All the essentials are there:- the freshest of fish cooked only as long as it needs, to ensure that when you put a gentle pressure on the flesh it flakes leaving the glisten of moisture readily visible. My Barramundi positively sang on the palate, a subtle meaty fish complemented by pungent but not overpowering cajun spices. The Fishermans Paella resembled an overcrowded fish disco at the United Nations, such was the miscellany of what was included. It was for 2 people and priced accordingly but satiated at least 3 of our party.

Doyles was a happy buzzing place when we were there, indifferent service was the only negative, but that didn't detract from a memorable evening combining good food, friends and a few nuggets for the memory bank.