Blackbird Café

I took my group to this café on the weekend & the service was excellent. The one thing I do need to stress is it’s a 10% surcharge on Sunday’s & public holidays if you are unaware but great place to go if you have a large group.

Not going to lie, came here to eat kangaroo with a view.
Service is pretty bad. I tried to get their attention for a good 10 minutes and it failed me. Once I did get their attention, they gave good service. The tables are situated very close together so the ambiance wasn’t nice. The music selection here is quite random and loud as well. I don’t know what atmosphere they were going for at 5pm but it was quite club-​like.
The food, however, is quite delicious. I did not know what to expect for kangaroo but it was actually good! The top two pieces of meat were the best. Perfectly tender and nicely medium rare. I don’t know if it was because the last two pieces of meat underneath were overcooked or got cold, but they were tough. Kangaroo is difficult to cook so it easily becomes tough once overcooked. So only two of four pieces of kangaroo were really delicious and perfect.
I thoroughly enjoyed the food but the combination of the service and atmosphere led me to have just an alright experience.

Nice location, great view. Went here using Dimmi reward, works out a treat. Good selection of lunch specials. Good chips, pulled pork could do with a bit more sauce. Crab burger is yummy :)

The only reason to come here while visiting Sydney is for the view of Darling Harbour. And so we found ourselves eating here on a Saturday night, along with a 16^th birthday party and about five bachelorette parties. Club music pounds in the background and servers whizz around on the floor. But if you score a good table (by reserving ahead, requesting one, and being reeeeally nice to the host), there’s an awesome view that awaits.
The food here actually wasn’t that bad. Big portions and tasty enough. Service is surprisingly quick and friendly for how packed this place gets, while the food comes out fast. But compared to the wealth of restaurants with amazing food and lovely atmospheres in this city, it’s just mediocre overall.

Probably the worst service i’v ever had. Felt like I was being condemned — The spacing between tables was annoyingly tight.
Would have been more satisfied with Micky d’s for a quarter of the price.
Great view though… Lol

The prices on the outdoors menu are different than what they choose to charge.
The pepper was out. When i told the waiter, he didnt give a f.
And at pay time I highlighted the price difference. He asked if i wanted him to check. I said i didnt care. Meaning, money isnt quite an issue for me, but dont be shady about pricing. My spiky blonde hair blue eyed guy helping me said:
«If you don’t care why do you tell me?»
And proceeded to check out. My fault for coming into a tourist trap restaurant.
Margherita pizza without basil.

Worst experience ever. Table edges are broken and is a danger to everyone. If you ever have kids and want to have a meal i would not go there! Food I’d very average we had pizzas and it was comparable to pizza hut quality! Staff pretending to be managers and not apologising for being Rude but insisted on being right. Reese who claims to be the manager did not want to give his full name and is probably the rudest manager I have ever come across in my entire life. For an establishment in such a prime location, the owners should really rethinking about cleaning up these rubbish staff.

Meh. Ho hum even.
Besides the lovely view and clubby vibe, there isn’t much worth visiting here. I couldn’t figure out from the start who was my host vs waitress/​waiter. Once food was delivered, the wait staff was no where to be found. I ordered the kangaroo medium due to health reasons. Was it chewy? Well, no more than most steak done medium. Was it special? Not really. Even the truffled mash wasn’t really inspired. I doubt there was any truffle in there and even if there was, the jack daniels sauce totally overpowered it. The meal itself wasn’t bad but it wasn’t special. I also ordered some grilled corn on the side which for 7 AUD was kind of disappointing. It was literally grilled corn with butter and lemon. Nothing special there. The highlight was the virgin mojito I ordered. It was sweet and tart and just minty enough without being overwhelming. Some other bummers: folks were smoking at the table next to me and all of the smoke was pouring over toward me. There was no toilet paper in half the stalls. The other half had wet urine soaked toilet paper all around and on the toilets themselves. Just gross.

If you’re stuck in Darling Harbour and longing for the dulcet tones of screaming douchebags with too much makeup and hair product, then this is the place for you. No need to look for directions, as you can hear the mating call of the female douchebag from miles away.
In other words, save your money — the meals aren’t anything special, and there are much better places further around the harbour.

So just came here for dinner while looking at the Sydney vivid festival. Coming here was decided after walking up and down darling harbour and cockle bay wharf. As soon as we walked in it was packed and ha to wait about 5 minutes to be seated because we hadn’t made a reservation. Got seated given the menu then table water.
We had ordered the salmon, Portuguese chicken burger, tropicana pizza, kids chicken schnitzel and kids marguerita pizza.
The salmon as said by my mum was alright. Not to bad.
The chicken burger was really nice that’s what I had, expected it to be a bit spicier and would of been good if it came with aioli instead of tomato sauce for the chips.
The tropical pizza was decent sized and bought out on a wooden chopping board. Nice flavours too just suggest to make the pieces of ham smaller so it doesn’t fall off when you bite into it.
The marguerita pizza was decent espcially for kids who don’t like to much flavour.
And in the words of my sister the kids schnitzel was pretty amazing.
So it’s a decent place go to if your with some friends for a hang out since it’s also a bar. But if your brining family you can’t hear each other much. More adult orientated.

Thank you for pantomiming eating food while reciting the words «eat? eat! eat!». Despite my appearance, I speak English. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what the hostess was saying, I just couldn’t hear her over the pounding music coming from the bar. It was pretty funny and slightly offensive.
There are so many eateries in this area of the harbour. It can be challenging to decide where to go. This is pretty mediocre place that seemed to be working very hard to give the appearance that it was a happening place. Maybe our mistake was not drinking excessively, since that seemed to be the activity of choice in the café. There is a large bar inside. There is a nice patio area with a view of the harbour. It’s nice for people watching and being on the second floor there is a nice perspective. The food is overpriced and over rated.
I ordered the crispy pork belly. It seems to be a popular dish in Australia and I saw it on many restaurant menus. Yes, it was crispy and fatty. Maybe a bit too fatty for my liking, but it was pork belly so you really can’t expect it to be lean. It was so popular that many of the tables around us ordered pork belly after seeing my plate (I could hear them asking, commenting and asking to have what was on my plate). The truffle butter mash was pasty. I don’t know if that was on purpose, but I prefer my mash fluffy. The chicken espatada was definitely a sight. It is served on a hanging skewer. The presentation was more impressive than the taste. The chicken was a bit dry, but did come with a nice sauce. I generally prefer things with a bit more spice.
If you come here, hopefully it’s more for the drinks and the ambiance. The food is an afterthought.

3.5 stars. This restaurant has a great location in Darling Harbour. It’s large enough for a Karaōke event, a small dinner for 2, and definitely large enough to accommodate our tour group of 40 people. One of the best parts was the free wifi of course! The kiddos were happy to Instagram and text their friends and family from the other side of the world. We had a set menu and were given choices of pizza, fish and chips, or pasta. Obviously I chose pizza topped with fresh tomatoes. The portions were large… I took my leftover pizza home and ate it later as a snack. Our meal came with salads as well. We also had the option of ordering off the set menu. They’re more allergy conscious, which the US needs to catch up on.
Décor of the restaurant is trendy, dark, upscale, but unpretentious. The servers were patient and friendly with our large group. You definitely pay for location, but the views are pretty sweet.

Had to go with the kangaroo steak served with Jack Daniel sauce and mashed potatoes… the steak was good, but only 6.5 ounces for $ 30 was a little much. For taste and service alone, this place was great, but for the price– 3* is pretty standard.

Pricey but prime location on Darling Harbour. Food was good and they also offer kangaroo and crocodile dishes for the more adventurous eaters.

With so many amazing and affordable places to eat in Sydney, you get the feeling that Blackbird exists purely because of its location and the crowd of tourists who have to gamble on convenient, unfamiliar restaurants when their kids get hungry while touring Darling Harbor.
They took our reservation, but when we got there, there was a huge line which we were told was other people who had also made reservations … so not great management on that side. The waitress wasn’t able to tell me what on the menu was popular or good (always a bad sign), and indeed the fish and chips were not good, nor the pizza. Waiters and waitresses were continually coming to our table with other people’s food and drinks, and though there is a view of the boats and the harbor, that really didn’t make up for the low quality, high prices, and the noisy, TGI Friday’s vibe.

Hmmmph. Been here a few times, but until recently not at night. And shan’t again.
I mean, the food was ok, ok? But the service was absolutely tragic — none of the staff seemed to have a clue about anything, not even knowing what the cocktails were or the items on the menu. O dear. And sloooowwwwww. Sloths move like lightening in comparison.
And, no bubbles! OK, we did want a pricey bottle (two, actually) but it does seem they have been out of this line for quite some time. Fix it or take it off the menu, please.
The food was not bad, but for what we got I thought it was very expensive. My salmon on truffle mash — well, I think the mash came out of a bag or a box, and it certainly hadn’t been anywhere near anything remotely truffley. But tasty nevertheless. Her chicken (and others in the group had lamb) came hanging on one of those mini-​sword things that it is barbecued on and then hung over the plate, with spuds or veges below. Very tasty, but $ 30 for three bits of chicken thigh (or lamb rump) was a bit rich.
Unlikely to be back unless I must.

OK place to eat if you’re in Darling Harbour and looking for a casual bite, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here otherwise.

Had a farewell party on Saturday at Blackbirds Café Sydney, the crowd and vibe were good when walking in & restaurant is set out well. The menu we all thought was limited and more like you’re paying for the view rather than the food. Service and attitude of staff was very good whilst taking orders and interacting with our group.
The experience started to take a turn for the worse when the Dj started playing music — we were all up for a good time but it was way to loud for the restaurant area which resulted in the people at our table not being able to hear each other. It was way too loud!
We came out of the restaurant with a headache, it also resulted in other tables having to scream just to head each other, and this promoted us eating… then leaving because we couldn’t talk or enjoy the place itself.
In terms of the food we thought the value for money was poor, I ordered the rib eye steak and @ $ 35 it wasn’t very tasty and over cooked (ordered medium rare). Others at the table said we should eat & leave.
Pretty disappointing.

Totally adequate and we were happy with our experience. We had a large group of 25 that had dinner here one night. Because we were part of a tour group, they gave us 3 options. My fish and chips were good! My husband had the pizza which was good and quite massive in its size. The service was ok. They seemed a little overwhelmed with such a large group at one time but dealt with it well. They refilled our pitchers of soda when we asked but not unless we asked.
It was one of my student’s birthday and we asked the manager if they had a little something we could give them as a dessert. They totally came through. They had a brownie sundae with a candle and we all sang to him. I appreciated their last minute accommodation of our request.
I would go back here in the future. It’s got a nice large bar, decent service, and good food. Oh and a big bonus for us international travelers with smartphones… Free WiFi! Everyone was pretty excited about being able to check email and Facebook.

Blackbird Café is a lounge, bar, and restaurant located on the same side of Darling Harbor as IMAX. I came here for some drinks around lunchtime because I was in the area. Since it was a hot afternoon, I ordered a regular lime mojito for $ 15, which in my opinion is quite pricey. What is nice for many of the cocktails on the menu, you’re given the choice of various fruit flavorings, like strawberry, mango, and passion fruit. Next time, I’m just going to order a plain mixed drink or a beer since I found my mojito to be way too sweet.
This place also serves food all day with an extensive breakfast and regular menu. There is literally something for everyone on the menu. There are so many options, from Italian to Asian, steaks to sandwiches. A great thing about Blackbird is that there is an entirely gluten-​free menu that’s filled with protein-​rich dishes, salads, and gluten-​free pizzas.