They started their night by having a cocktail or two at Sticky and they got happy. Then they went down to eat at 8, but as is the case with homestyle cooking sometimes the chef forgets things as he had a fight about the toothpaste in the morning so he forgot about the piscaterian in the midst as all he could think was where is my Colgate, why did I have to use Listerine? And our Piscaterian wasn’t happy and we were sad.

But then we had the other food for the carnivores amongst us and the food was good. In the midst of this all one of our party turned 21 again, and had sparkles and a guitar solo. We ate and chatted while the night passed by in the relaxed atmosphere. And so in the end we had a fun night and planned for more.

All in all great place to go with your friends as long as they are not vegetarians, otherwise just go up to Sticky and get some great drinks and cheese platters.

Foods Tried

We had a set menu for the night and the following was served:

• Entree: Papadelle with Truffles, Salad for the Vegetarians
• Main: Osso Bucco with potatoes and Side salad(which seemed to be the same as the vegetarian entree but much tastier), Vegetarian pasta with mushrooms for Vegetarians
• Dessert: Flourless Chocolate Cake

Also a variety of cocktails, wine (Kristi bought her 2002 Coriole Shiraz!) and limoncello.

Favourite Foods

The favorites amongst our group were varied some liked the Bloody mary whereas some liked the cake. But the main favorite was the Papadelle with Truffles followed by the Osso Bucco with the cake.

Most memorable flavours

Papadelle with Truffles

Ratings

Atmosphere

Atmosphere was the big winner for the night some comments were:

“Fantastic – this is a great place to dine with a group of friends. It’s very community like – 2 big tables with 20 people on each”

“Nice modern decor, very nice and cosy bar”

“The only issue were the plastic chairs which looked fabulous but caused the quite undesirable “hot ass” syndrome”

Service

Service was friendly and was centered on people taking their time with their meal so at times we found it slow.

“Bar staff & waiter were engaging, very attentive, but not overpowering. Friendly and fun!”
“1 point off for forgetting about vegetarian option and putting hands on my shoulder. But the “complimentary” wine made it close to perfect”

Food presentation

Platters worked for the family style eating environment but at the same time it didn’t so opinions differed.

“The food looked fantastic, displayed on large family style platters”

“I liked the family style – but unclear how to portion it out”

“Particularly enjoyed the sparklers for Krista’s ‘bday cake’ “

“Stuff on plate, no decorative touches – my 7 year old niece is more imaginative”

Food quality

Food quality was quite good and enjoyed by most of the group for the meat dishes but the vegetarian option failed miserably:

“Vegetarian option a joke – and not a funny joke”

“Amazing – you could tell the ingredients were fresh and the Osso Bucco was prepared in the traditional way”

“The pasta was very oily, the osso bucco a little bit tough”

Food taste

“Yummy starter and main’

“Vegetarian pasta overly salty and very oily. No discernable flavour except when I bit into a piece of thyme which tasted like thyme”

“Really enjoyed the truffle entrée but the osso buco a little fatty and a little oily”

“The osso bucco and rice base that it was served with were very flavourful”

“The pasta was fantastic and earns a 5 – the Osso Buco as well”

Overall Rating: 3.60/5

About Table for 20

There are 193 normal restaurants in Surry Hills. This is not one of them.

Table for 20 was opened in September 2006 in the tradition of “hood” dinners. It can be found on 182 Campbell St, Darlinghurst. Sticky bar can be found upstairs.

The building is owned by Hope St who are a mission who do a lot of good work in the Surry Hills area with people who are less fortunate than us. They think what they do is really important and are proud to be part of their community, so 10% of their takings go towards Hope St every night.

About the Chef – Michael Fantuz

Michael Fantuz and his mates who live in the local area get together for regular “hood dinners” meeting up for a good feed & a bottle of red. Usually they would take over someone’s house for the occasion.

His background is hospitality so he would usually end up in the kitchen, others would bring dessert or something to start with. Everybody brings wine & even then there’s never enough

…and Table for 20 works in pretty much the same way. His mates are in the kitchen cooking, friends drop round with bits & pieces and His mum is a fantastic Italian cook so he is still partial to serving a bit of her home made Tiramisu on occasion. The philosophy is communal eating – a big shared dinner party where everything gets passed around. Here you find big platters of roast meat, potatoes, vegetables, hunks of parmesan and a giant slab of tiramisu.

Signature Dish

They do a 3 course set menu every night and the idea is that it’s a dinner party so we all eat the same thing. You can BYO (no corkage) or drink theirs. The cost is $60 for the meal and homemade limonchello. (Special options for dietary restrictions & vegans)

Sticky Bar

Sticky takes that admirable sharing principle and gives it a twist in a refreshing new bar space. Nights at Sticky are about fun – they have a musician who plays covers during dinner and the music is piped through upstairs into the bar. Although the bar’s rather hidden and only open when the restaurant is you don’t have to eat downstairs to drink upstairs.

Upstairs you’ll find the room stuffed with old school video game chairs (those plastic stools for table style games like Space Invaders), little leather Ottomans for perching on and a mixture of Victorian parlour lounges for sitting up straight on and over-stuffed, round armed deco armchairs for sinking into.

Website

Table for 20

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