the restaurant pendolino

bone marrow pasta! must order. one of the best italian restaurants i have ever dined at! especially love the bone marrow pasta .. amazing. the foodgoodand service normal. the restaurant is however quite dim, but this could be suitable for a date/anniversary.


the only downside is cakage is like $5 per head which is a little annoying.

the food and settings are nice. i like especially their bread basket with three different olive oils. services and staff manner isgoodtoo.

all of our choices were beautiful. lovely dinner andgoodservice! great table as we requested in the front of the restaurant. well worth a visit.

i came here to celebrate hubby’s bday. we had the 3 course set menu. the 2 entrees and 2 mains are surprisingly salty. the serving is small. i was excited to eat the burnt butter ravioli as per my colleague’s recommendation. nice, however salty. service isgoodthough. my recommendation: pork belly.

i used to go to pendolino all the time. it was once charming, understated and authentic. after returning today, i was very disappointed with their scammy approach, taking every opportunity to skim extra cash off you, such as tempting you with the truffle, but neglecting mention that a few subatomic scrapings would add an extra 20 bucks to an already grossly overpriced experience. i was then presented with an opaque menu that made absolutely no sense. another really annoying and obvious fleecing technique was the old “credit card surcharge”. it beggars belief that restaurants think this “jetstar online booking scammy approach” would engendergoodwill or improve to likelihood they would recommend their experience to their friends is beyond me. do your self a favour pendolino, stick to making great food and providing great service and stop trying to rip your customers off.

if you're looking for a proper fancy italian dining experience in sydney cbd, this is the place. i've had free lunch and paid dinner here. it's an ideal place for the business meetings or awkward dates. to be direct, pasta is great here. if you don't want to screw up your order and waste some hard-earned cash, make sure you order pasta.
these are the good/safe dishes - alba beef carpaccio, msc scallop & salmon tartare and ‘wild weed’ spaghetti. i had char-grilled farm quail for main but it was a bit too salty for my liking. other dishes i'm not too sure howgoodthey are, but i'm confident anything pasta or risotto will be safe to order. for dessert i had tramezzino di pistacchio, it was divine. i give this place 4 bears.

food deserves 5star!!! twice roast duck is full of flavours!!!! very cozy ambiance andgoodservice!
wine selections of wine which perfectly marry the meals!goodjob!

there is something awfully decadent about having lunch in such a dimly lit restaurant. while the rest of the cbd works away i'm here having lunch in this very chic eatery. lucky! the exposed brick walls help to give a feeling of rustic authenticity, while the black plantation blinds exclude light from entering the space. who knows...maybe i could be in rome or florence as i am greeted by an italian waiter with a thick accent! 

to start, the bread basket comes to the table with a choice of three delicious breads. a sourdough with olive tapenade, a brown with walnuts and a salty focaccia. now, pendolino is famous for its love of olive oil and showcasing the best that australia has to offer. today we are able to try three oils with the breads. these are pendolino fruttato allegro 2016 (a fruity blend), cobram estate select from victoria, and a gwydir grove blood orange agrumato (nsw). the tasting of the oil and bread is sogoodmy friend orders another bread basket! we both choose an amazing handmade spinach ravioli with burnt butter and sage for entree which is their signature specialty and made on the premises. heaven! i order the atlantic salmon for my main with black mussels, roasted kipflers, fennel and a fennel citrus spice. great and not too heavy! my friend decides to stick with the pasta theme and he devours the "wild weed" spaghetti (also made in-house) with ground barramundi, king prawns, capers, garlic and kale. an espresso to finish it all off. delightful with exemplary service!

came here for "lets do lunch" with a friend and we were seated right by the balcony with a view of the sun-kissed arcade below.

we ordered an entree of white tuna and salmon tartare with ligurian flatbread. a simple yet lovely dish with lots of different elements. the tartare was refreshing with chilled cucumber and onions, zesty and i liked the crisp of the ligurian flatbread.

there was only 1 main option which was a handmade green ligurian coin pasta, macadamia pesto, sardinian pecorino and tuscan kale. first of all, the presentation was awful. the dish momentarily redeemed itself as the pasta was very clearly freshly made, had a lovely nutty flavour and was coated with a luscious and creamy mix of macadamia pesto and pecorino which clung on to each disc of pasta for dear life. the problem with this dish is that, its so rich, it gets repetitive about a quarter of the way into the dish. i didn't end up finishing it and i didn't enjoy my last few mouthfuls as it just became too much to handle.

1goodentree, 1 not so great main. not too sure where i stand with pendolino. a pursuit to be continued.

we arrived without a booking and they were quite accommodating. atmosphere and service was lovely but i did expect a lot more from the food. it was a little bland and overstepped the boundaries of changing what wasgoodabout the original. i ordered lasagna and what came out was a green sauce pasta dish which didn't resemble lasagna much. it was average and the other dish we ordered was also a little let down but i think i would give this place another go to try something else on the menu.

after an extremely shakey start our night ended up being quite lovely. arrived for our reservation and the staff didn't know what to do with us. we walked to a table, only to walk back to the front, only to walk back to a walk way. they were flustered as the previous diners hadn't left yet.. anyhow we went to get a drink at la rosa across the way and after 40 minutes we were called back. service was average togoodbut food is amazing. the ravioli, polpetini and carpaccio the stand outs for entree. everyone's main was amazing but the beef cheek the clear winner.. amazing wine list as well. i'd give a higher rating but the start was just way too amateur...

wow........ in all my years in sydney, i have never ventured beyond the street level and lower level of the strand arcade - well the upper levels are majority women's fine fashion (though i did discover a shirt and boot maker up there)...

the restaurant on level 2 at the george street end is amazing, it looks small until you are shown inside, with a private dining area, alcoves and partitions made from wine. the super efficient, friendly and professional staff with their ear pieces (i wonder if the pizza has landed) attentive to everyone's' needs.

a friend took me here for lunch for my big five zero birthday yesterday.  it was such a pleasure to have great service...... i had also forgotten how great simple fine italian food really is, especially with somegooditalian vino.....

i had the gnocchi (ricotta gnocchi 'ndunderi pasta with white rock's veal and tomato ragu)), my friend had the spaghetti (with ground barramundi, wild prawns, chilli, capers) - even typing it is making me want to go back again as soon as i am back in sydney....... a must go to restaurant - but have plenty of time - do not rush the food or the experience.

horrible service. food - way too salty! i've don't write reviews very often, but this has pushed me to the edge! i guess i should start with the good: the beetroot salad was very nice, the man who greeted us at the entrance was also very well trained. now, the bad: service was terrible, had to wait for 30 mins for our entree, and 45 mins for our main, and 20 mins for our bill. there were 10 of us, and all of our mains were overly salty - unbearably salty. we ordered all different mains - ocean trout, pasta with prawns, octopus & prawns, ravioli, mushroom pappardelle. we're not talking about a bit too salty, but it was inedibly salty. it was like they've added salt, cheese (normal & totally acceptable), but then added another few tablespoons of salt onto 8 ravioli. we all left half of our plates untouched. when we voiced our concerns to the manager, we were told that some people find it salty, but that's how their food is, and that's their style. the manager was arrogant and didn't take our point on board at all. and for the record, we are not one of those who don't know what we're talking about. we travel often, all around the world. we all dine at michelin star restaurants frequently, and dine out often. we knowgoodfood, and also know bad ones! this is definitely one of the worse ones that we've been to in a while. avoid this place at all cost.

dined at the outside café which overlooks the arcade (restaurant wasn't open until lunch service). very pleasantly surprised at how almost perfect everything was.

prices are justified by the quality and the taste. coffee also hit the spot. would loved to have a bigger serving of lasagne for the price but probably best for the waistline. the cone-shaped dessert is the parfait; do yourself a favour and order it. it tastes asgoodas it looks if not better.

i have been wanting to try out this place for quite some time and finally i got to go here thanks to a work lunch. we had a 2 course option (which had 3 options for lunch and 3 options for dessert). i chose the ravioli dish, wasgoodand had just the right amount of flavours. every bite was just asgoodas the first & i tried to savour it for as long as possible as you only get a few. there was also a sidr salad of pear & rocket & beans in a neapolitan sauce. i got a few helpings of the beans as they were so tasty! unfortunately i experienced food envy and wished i had ordered the semifreddo as opposed to the custard pie that i ordered. the custard pie wasgoodhowever i didn't really enjoy anything else from the plate because all the other flavours were too strong and overpowered. i would love to come back here to try the other dishes. the service was amazing & very attentive. drinks were always topped up & they came around to see how everything was going. it has a nice intimate feeling & would recommend for both large & small groups, as well as dinner dates.