Sky Phoenix

Is a nice place to have yum Cha.
My tip. It gets busy so go at midday to get a seat or at 1.30pm.
Food is what you would expect from a good yum Cha place. I will return.

This was a nice dim sum/​yum cha restaurant. A bit tricky to find, as the Westfield directory sort of looks like it’s on the same level as the rest of the food court. Not so. It’s next to Chinta Ria and Chat Thai on level 6.
First, the restaurant itself was clean and ambiance was decent enough. Service was unfriendly, often absent, and encounters were too brief.
But the food? It was good! Really good. I mean, I was shaking with near hypoglycemia by the time I got a chance to eat (my fault, not the restaurant’s), so really if you had put a plate of horse entrails in front of me I would have been like «PUT IT IN MY MOUTH!»… but once my crazy eyes subsided and I was actually savoring the food, I enjoyed both the presentation and flavor. I don’t eat pork and was really pleased at the number of un-​porky options. There were even a few non-​meat options, and it made me do a little dance (in my head, not in the middle of the restaurant). The icing on the cake was that they didn’t have a wall of fish tanks filled with sad animals watching you eat their friends and family. Yeah, so now you know why I don’t eat much meat.
You know it’s a good place when most of the customers are of that food’s nationality. Really, there is no better testament.
A bit noisy, fun for kids, pricing was not a surprise, pretty good dim sum! Service needs improving in a big way, so for now it’s a 3.5−4 star from me.

Probably one of the nicest yumcha venues I’ve seen in Sydney. I’ve been to the Rhodes Phoenix as well and I guess this chain is on the upper end?
We came early — 11am and the place was nearly empty. By 1pm it was packed so my recommendation is. come early!
Not the best value since it came to $ 75 for three people? But also not too terrible considering it’s Sydney CBD. The quality of food was above average and fresh. This place definitely caters to white people and has less of a local, Cantonese flavour.

I ate here a couple of times. It’s conveniently in the mall but it’s pricey for what you get. Food is good though.

Okay — so I have finally returned to this establishment after the update (along with the whole Westfields food floor). That probably makes it close to 5 years since I’ve been back here and I have to say, the food is still quite good. The Phoenix chain (Rhodes /​Parramatta /​East Village /​Sky /​Manly) are among the better yum cha restaurants in Sydney town. The Rhodes branch has been a favourite of mine for the last decade — and probably half of Sydney given the queues there on the weekend.
I’m not sure of the wierd layout of this restaurant, its like a big T shape which means you can end up in the corners quite easily which is not the ideal for trolleys of food to make their way to you. Given the bad layout, the trolley pushers do make the effort to get to the corners and ensure everybody is fed and happy. However, the waiters are harder to wave down and it did indeed take awhile to get our teapot refilled.
The food was of good quality especially the fried dishes which were fresh, crunchy and piping hot which suggests good turn over and indeed the place was packed for Sunday lunch.
Prices are what you expect given the location and are probably a dollar or 2 higher than other yum cha places but hey, you’re paying for the convenience of eating atop Westfields Pitt Street Mall.

Love it here, went with my workmates and had a ball! We had to wait a while to get in, I think next time it’s better to get there before lunch time (duh should have known!). There were lots of dim sims and great variety. In the end it was a bit on the costly side but that was the only complaint from us.

This was the second time I eat here. It’s unique how they serve the food, but I don’t understand why the waitress always speaking Chinese when they serve the food. Anyway the thing was that one of my friend unfortunately found a fly inside one of the most delicious food they have there, yes! I’m not joking! It was exactly a fly! We can even see the eye wings n legs! The lucky thing was that she just had a little tiny bite as she love eating slowly n enjoying the food n suddenly she was speechless until she nudging me without saying any word n just show me what she just found on her food, hahaha but it was a funny moment but creepy as I could clearly seen a fly! Lol
Well, I have no idea how a fly flew into the kitchen n got cooked, wondering how they maintain the hygiene in the kitchen hmm. N the last is about how impolite the manager was! Seriously, He didn’t even say a word sorry, well I didn’t ask but he should know what to do n treat the customer. As some people next to us was looking at us n kind of giving a sign to my other friend that if something is wrong with the food, the manager suddenly ask my friend who was holding the food to pull it down so that everybody can’t see n took it from my friend’s hand n went away to the kitchen without say ANYTHING! n just grab the bill crossed out that particular food n that’s it yes that’s it! We still need to pay the bill for other food, well that’s fine but we are customer, at least they say sorry to us as customers so that we understand but nah. Since that time we stopped eating there. If I’m such a person, i will definitely sue them. Oh well it’s not all about the food but attitude n nice service.

Came here for lunch yumcha on Saturday and was promptly seated for two around noon.
Service was pretty quick, and different trolleys came around frequently with different options so that was good too. They provided chilli sauce and sweet chilli without us asking.
We mostly ordered dumplings and dim sim… the food itself was OK, but nothing to write home about.
I must be a fatass because the bill was $ 50 for two people, while I’m seeing $ 80 for 4? Sheesh…
Not bad if you’re in the area, but there are better options in the CBD.

Pretty yummy, much more fresh tasting diverse offerings than the MSG ish yum cha I get served at a lot of places in North Sydney, even including Chatswood. Went with 4 today, feeling full, nice tea, $ 80.

i came here for a wedding so beware that my review is specifically geared towards the set menu. It was a 10+ course meal. it was served american style where they divided the food evenly for each person at each table.
The highlights to me were the fried pork skin, shark fin soup
scallops soup
overally not bad but i think for the price there are better values in australia

I went to the Sky Phoenix at Westfields Sydney for lunch on Friday, at around 12.15pm. What a disappointment!
We put our names down and there was a 10 minute wait for a table for 4. That wasn’t the disappointing bit. We ordered water for the table and tea. That came out quickly and fine. Also asked for chilli sauce and soy sauce.
The best things we ordered were the prawn dumplings (1 serve) and the pork dumplings (2 serves). I’m not a big fan of pork dumplings but my friend is, and they came out HOT and fresh. We also got one serving of seafood spring rolls. We then got the green beans, shredded beef and the duck off the trolley’s. These three items were luke warm, verging on cold. I can’t believe they served this type of food! I get that yum cha is served on the trolley’s, but i hate cold food. Yuck!
The shredded beef had hardly any beef in it, and it just tasted like batter with sauce. The green beans were soggy and luke warm. The duck was nearly cold, but the taste was ok.
We also got the mango pancake (just 1 serve) and split it between four girls. It didn’t taste sweet enough but it was soft and cold, like it should be.
Our bill ended up being $ 80 for four people, for lunch time, without any drinks. We were a little shocked at the price as we didn’t really order much (well i didn’t think so) and i wasn’t really stuffed, but I didn’t want to run the risk of ordering more cold food.
I will not return here again and I most definitely do not recommend this place to my friends.

Sky Phoenix isn’t bad, but it set me and Cal back $ 73 the other day for Yum Cha with only tea to drink. Then again, Cal intercepted every trolley that wasn’t being pushed around by Usain Bolt. That bloke would eat the. never mind.
How are us barbarians s’posed to know the cost of lunch from a Chinese noughts and crosses game with stamps all over it. Would your accountant accept that as a tax document? Does our Tax Dept?
Sky Phoenix’s problem is Mr Wong, Din Tai Fung and the soon to be open China Republic. The game has gone up a grade.
You go to Marigold for cheap and cheery old style dim sum. Sky Phoenix is too expensive by comparison with Marigolds and Kam Fook et al. It does have its location going for it — with Regal now closed its a haul down to Chinatown but (yep getting to the point now). its not good value. Its Unilocal score is correct in my view.

I had my reservations about the food at Sky Phoenix so when I was invited there for a wedding I didn’t rule out the idea of needing a Maccas run at the end of the night.
FOOD
Thankfully I was wrong about the food. It was all served efficiently in individual portions and tasted pretty good to me!
The girlfriend sitting next to me happened to be chosen as the ‘head’ of our table. Everytime a new dish was to be served the waiter would come and show her the dish in full seeking her approval before the split it into individual serves. Each time she just nodded not knowing what else to do. I really wanted her to shake her head in disapproval to see what would happen.
OTHER POINTS
Sky Phoenix did well to fit 180 guests in half their restaurant as well as fitting in a small dance floor. It was a bit awkward though when the music came on and the lights up the front were completely turned off.
By the time the cake was served everyone was quite full that at the end of the night I just saw them throwing out the slices of cake. Mass wastage of wedding cake. So super sad. Asian me wanted to get out my plastic container and take the wedding cake home to eat for the next week. Unfortunately for me I’m not that Asian and don’t carry around plastic containers for such situations.
OVERALL
Not a bad location for a smaller Asian style wedding. If you were to rent out the whole place it would be in a weird backwards L shape though.

There are some really good food choices rolling around on those trolleys, but this yum cha is definitely a high-​stress establishment for the timid or inexperienced.
I found the pork buns to be unique and tasty. Sesame prawns a good starter.

I’m a bit surprised by all the bad reviews. I came here with some coworkers on a Friday afternoon and had a pleasant experience. My coworker and I were looking for Yum Places in the city — don’t really have the time make the trek to China Town — and I found this place. Just on the 6^th floor of the Westfield Shopping Center.
We booked a table for 12:00PM and the place was fairly empty, but started to fill up slowly. The ladies started circulating and we started getting dumplings — haw gao, siu mai, pork bun, the standard stuff. All were very tasty. We had the egg tart, sesame ball and coconut pudding for dessert. We were stuffed!
In the end it was $ 150 for 5 people, expensive for the states but decent for Sydney. The service was good, our tea pot was always filled and we all were satisfied with our lunch.

The food itself wasn’t bad; it was more the variety that was available. Yum Cha is not just standard dumplings that you can get at the supermarket.

The last time I was here, it was for a corporate lunch with around 8 people during a weekday lunch session. Because we booked in advance we didn’t have much trouble getting a table but geez it was hard getting the attention of the trolley ladies! And when we did, the food was mostly fried, when we were actually looking more for the steamed dishes. I think its because it reflects the clientele of Sky Phoenix, which largely caters for corporate lunches and western clients. In addition the trolley ladies were very aggressive in the ‘selling’ of their wares and pushed dishes onto our table that we didn’t ask for, knowing that it was all going on a corporate account. That wasn’t very cool and we actually ended up with more food than we could eat. The food itself wasn’t too bad but I don’t think I would voluntarily come here using my own dosh, considering all the other excellent yum cha options in Chinatown. Meh indeed.

When you’re starving hungry and in a big, unmanageable group, I know that it’s not the best circumstances to be trying to get a table at a restaurant. Perhaps my experience was marred by low-​blood sugar levels which left me more easily irritated and exasperated. Nevertheless, I’d heard excellent reports about Sky Phoenix, but my own experience was thoroughly average.
The first issue came when we hadn’t even stepped properly over the threshold. We were meeting a group of about 12 people, but the waitress who met us at the door seemed as if she didn’t want to let us in. She said that there wasn’t a party in the restaurant (even though we could see them) and looked as if she wanted to slam the door in our face. Good start, I thought. When we all sat down and were assembled, we decided to order quickly. But not one waiter would catch our eye, and we were left hanging around for ages. When we asked for water, none came, and when finally we did place an order, we were told that pork buns were completely out of the question and unavailable. That seemed strange for a restaurant who serves pork buns usually, and for a Chinese restaurant to say that pork buns — one of the most popular dishes in Australia — could not be made. OK, so after that small but irritating hurdle, we got our order placed. IN fairness, the first dish (chicken spring rolls) came out very quickly to appease our growling stomachs. Then we had a bit of a wait for some plates of BBQ pork, roast duck and Singapore noodles. Still, when they did arrive they were delicious. Finally, after everything else had been hoovered up and we’d waited 10 minutes, the dumplings arrived. I didn’t like them. Too stodgy, with unseasoned filling and unexciting colour.
All in all, the meal was a big disappointment. It would’ve been acceptable without the non-​existent service and if it hadn’t come with such high expectations. Sky Phoenix frequently receives rave reviews, but I can’t see what all the fuss was about. An average meal for a more than average price.