the restaurant pendolino

pendolino is my favourite italian restaurant in sydney. it never fails to impress on a great selection of entrees & mains. i always order everything to share as i don't want to miss out on anything. the fresh pasta with any type of ragu' is delicious & there's always a lovely drop of red to match perfectly!

the service is always professional.

it is a little on the dark side but that's very nice for a more intimate meal as opposed to a larger group.

i will continue to return topendolinofor hopefully many years to come but generally only for a special occasion as it is a touch on the pricey side. well worth it for a birthday treat!

two visits topendolinoand both times the food has been excellent. service is a little too restrained however the ambience and experience makes up for it particularly if a little romance is the order of the day.

nino continues excellence.pendolinois a masterpiece. the knodel is purely my single favourite dish i have ever tasted. anywhere. a proper dining experience, one cannot simply express a knowledge of great italian in sydney without having eaten here.

the restaurantpendolinois my favourite italian restaurant in sydney. it’s stylish, the service is faultless and very italian, the wine list extensive and with every meal you have a mini olive oil masterclass.

when i asked the waiter for his recommendation for a pasta, he recommended the classpendolinoravioli di magro (pictured). he said the dish is life changing. when i ate the ravioli, i understood what he meant. the ravioli, handmade filled with spinach, and served with a burnt butter and sage sauce as well as grated parmesan cheese was without doubt the best pasta i have eaten outside of italy. this pasta dish is a game changer.

as every meal should end with a dessert, we were pleased that the desserts were as divine as the savoury parts of the meal. the highlight was the ‘eclair alla gianduia’ (pictured), a chocolate hazelnut eclair served with toasted hazelnuts, sweet cream, candied apricots and nocello. decadence at it’s finest.

the restaurantpendolinois one of sydney’s finest restaurants. world class actually. #therestaurantpendolino

pendolino is as charming as is is satisfying. the aged rich charming setting beautifully befits the love of each caringly prepared dish. my wife and i visited for no special reason and upon eating here immediately booked for the following night to bring the kids. the service is superb and the only aspect worthy of comparison to the beautiful food. when you pay a decent sum for food you expect an excellent standard andpendolinodelivers in spades.

i used to go topendolinoall 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 engender good will 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.

there's something really charming about the strand arcade. it's victorian historian feel (from 1891) remains intact today. i recently check out thependolinoin the strand with my partner in crime.  . all the shops are closed this particular mid-week night as we walk towards pendolino. we are seated by the friendly staff in a dimly lit restaurant which has a real intimate vibe.

pendolino in the strand arcade has been on my list to try ever since i’ve been to their sister restaurant, la rosa, also in the strand arcade. and on a friday evening when a bottle of red wine is much called for, not much beats a hearty italian meal.

thependolinoservice was, well, an experience. we were served by several waiters, a manager (although we did have to wait 10 minutes for the manager to come take our order as it wasn’t within a waiter’s scope to do so), and a wine sommelier. we were also served complimentary items including an appetiser and chocolate truffles with great pomp and ceremony. all the staff were extremely professional, and there were a lot of them, so we definitely felt well taken care of.

however, the food, which is far more important to me than the service, was not as amazing. several of the dishes were salty which is a shame as they were actually would have been topnotch were it not for the salt...

for the full review, see imhangry.net/2017/08/26/pendolino/

located in sydney's historic strand arcade, restaurantpendolinooffers some delightful refined italian dishes. i ordered a three-course meal last monday - ravioli, pork belly and semifreddo. they were decent food but not exceptional. the ravioli was freshly made but they came a little undercooked. the pork belly was acceptable but it was not intensely flavourful or creatively made to leave a long impression.

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,pendolinois 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 arependolinofruttato 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 so good my 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!

all my experiences atpendolinohave been exquisite. the food is rich and complex, utterly indulgent, original and creative. and the wines, carefully selected also. without doubt, this is sydney's best italian restaurant

we had a birthday lunch atpendolinoat 1pm on saturday and it was utterly disappointing. the service was super slow - it took them 10min to bring out the menu and then another 15min before they took our order. the entrees came out reasonably fast but the mains took another hour! when we got our mains i was so shocked to find my pasta ($46 worth of pasta) was undercooked and extremely salty. in the end i returned the plate and didn't want to order anything else. overall it was a horrible experience and i will definitely not be going back or recommending to my friends and family.

still a class act. i've been topendolinomany times over the years and had great experiences and today was no different. service was attentive and there were so many tempting dishes on the menu. however the pasta is a always standout there so i went with their pappardelle with mushrooms and truffle and it was rich and devine, and i loved the pasticciotto for dessert (have never seen one on a menu in australia).

terrible service with overpriced food. we were really disappointed withpendolinoas we had heard so much great reviews about it. took them 20 mins to give us the menu and they didn't serve us our salad even when we finished our pastas. our bottle of wine was also half served when we finished our mains before dessert & we had the worst service at the end when the waiter couldn't even finish his sentences & walks away when we tried to order or pay. and they charged us the salad that they never served! food portions were small though the wine list was good. overall, it was a really bad dining experience, will definitely not go there again nor recommend to friends!

valentine's day special evening. what a wonderful experience. hadn't heard ofpendolinobefore but was recommended by my co worker.( i owe her a bottle of wine) it was a lovely evening. the staff were outstanding. very professional, but friendly at the same time. the food was gorgeous and the matching wines complimented the food perfectly. one small glitch with service was quickly overcome and handled well.


-----15 feb, 2015-----

valentine's dinner. took my hubby here. was recommended by a co worker. it was fantastic. the food was lovely, wines spectacular and staff great. one small glitch in courses was easily overcome by the great staff. would come again and recommend it.