Good old Mum and Pop team running this establishment. After passing it every day for nearly 3…read moreyears, I thought my wife's birthday would be a good occasion to test it out. My expectations where extremely high and i must say, they where exceeded. I had the cannelloni, mum had the fish in tomato source, dad struggled to finish his Veal Parmigiana, my wife some creamy meat and our 3 year old enjoyed putting endless parmesan on her penne Bolognese. Nothing like home cooked meals, if you cook at home like this, adopt me. It is in the old school building in St. Ives, which makes it already extra special. Free standing building with outdoor seating as well as kitsch Italian indoor room. Parking never a problem, the atmosphere really throws you back to a time where medici ruled over the north. This is NOT a modern Italian restaurant or some fusion thingy. If you ever been to Tuscany, the low lands what is Venecia, if you ever ran through Verona and screamed loud Julia at 3 in the morning, than this restaurant is for you. It does not get any more authentic than this.

I'm from Las Vegas,here on vacation.. I can truly say, absolutely the best steak I've ever had in…read moremy life.. I've had the world famous Morton's steak and it doesn't come close to the steak I just had tonight .. The staff and the owner were amazing.. Definitely coming back before I leave next week..

New owners. Why do people think they can just buy someone…read moreelse's business and inherit the feel that goes with a well run restaurant? The new guys may have money but they don't have the same passion. Lazy. I am really sad to see the old guys go, I loved this place and it was so close. Thank god for Cooks Garden at North Turramurra, and for Kiplings.

Where on earth do I start with this one? Entertain me for a moment - the Butchers Block is like…read morethat 70 yo who has lived his whole life living and breathing meats, years of experience has taught him what works and what doesnt. The Butchers Apprentice on the other hand is just that ... the apprentice, the young kid eager to learn the classics from dad but with his own spin on how to "butcher". For me, the look and feel of this place was outstanding from that first moment we walked in. George kindly greeted us and walked us to our table outside in the garden section of the Butchers Block - this of course is standard practice given its such a busy restaurant. There is so much around for your eyes to focus on ... the most outstanding piece of course is the handle to the bathroom door made from the original meat cleaver from 1882 used in the butcher that resided here prior to George and Anthony setting up shop themselves. The food and service was exceptional ... Candied bacon (on the house), Persian baked feta, dry chips (sweet potato, potato, taro), honey candied walnut carrots, oven roasted potatoes (on the house), salmon belly with beetroot meringue OHMY, pork cheek with fairy floss, marscapone broccoli, caprese salad with a basil jelly - A BASIL JELLY YO !!!!! I just about died !!! And the kicker?? All 3 desserts ON THE HOUSE ... yes this night was practically free .. chocolate panacotta, smashed macaron and some gorgeous pear dessert. For a birthday dinner, yes, I may have left a year older, but I tell you what, I left EONS happier.

Excellent friendly service & great foods - it's like partying at your family place - a must for…read moreeveryone.

I am never, ever disappointed with this place. The servings are positively Texan in terms of…read moreportion size. Staff are incredibly friendly and I love the variety of food available.

I read some reviews so I thought I'd stop by for dinner with my family. The ribs tastes great,…read morequaso fries were a lot and also tasted great. A few negatives, I was expecting a restaurant and it ended up being 3 picnic tables inside thats it. The chicken was crispy and hard to bite into, the drinks are expensive $5 for a can!! Toilets are outside around the back inside the shops. Id stop back again but wouldn't go out of my way.

The service is timid but the food is tasty and fast! The…read moretempura prawns are a must! This is a great mid-week feed for me, in that it's nice and quiet normally, relatively healthy and not crazy expensive.

The locality is fabulous. The service was great and the staff were very friendly . The food was…read morevery well presented and absolutely delicious .

Had dinner here for my wife's birthday tonight and arrived a bit early for our 7:30pm reservation…read more After 30 minutes, our starter finally arrived. After a few minutes from receiving the starter, we notice the table next to us who arrived 20 minutes after us had already started eating their entrees. We patiently waited for our food but after some time, we decided to ask about it. When we did, the waiter said, "yeah the kitchen staff has been making some mistakes tonight but let me check on it." He came back and said the food was coming. Another 10 minutes go by and as we are about to ask, we see pizzas coming our way and think surely one of those is ours. Wrong. The table of four on our other side who arrived also about 20 minutes after us were receiving 4 pizzas. At this point, we were upset and confused. My wife asked the waiter if our order had been lost to which the waiter said yes to and apologized. He came back and told us our order would come in about 2 minutes. Another 10 minutes later, our food comes, and we gently told the waiter we would have appreciated if we had been informed about our order being misplaced. He agreed and again mentioned the kitchen staff was having issues. As we started to eat, we realized the pizza was cold. We were not happy especially after waiting forever. We spoke to the waiter, and he agreed the pizza was cold. After speaking with the kitchen staff, the waiter said our 2 options were for us to wait for a new pizza or pop in our current one on our table back in the oven which is so gross. Even pre-covid, the image of putting a touched pizza back in the oven is unacceptable. We let the waiter know we were not expecting another new pizza because we didn't want to wait any longer, but we did want to speak with the manager. Lucky manager had just left the store to go manage their other location (so we were told). The waiter still made a phone call to the manager and passed on the message from the manager in which he said our order came out at a reasonable time and therefore there is nothing that they can do. He even had the waiter read out our times from when the order was placed to when we got the starter and then the 2 entrees. He also reiterated the words of the kitchen staff in that we could wait for a new pizza or pop in our touched one. We told the young waiter many times we understand it was not his fault but again would have appreciated better communication about our lost order. We also let him know we were upset with his managers words because they had the opportunity many times in their responses to handle the situation better. When we were paying the waiter apologized yet again but this time snarky added "hey it's not my restaurant so I can't do nothing" which was totally uncalled for. Have been to eat here a couple of times and enjoyed it. After today's treatment, it would be very unlikely we return there. The waiter told us that our order ticket was misplaced for a while AND he agreed our pizza was cold, yet he came back and was rude through uncalled remarks. Poor customer service and waitstaff. I can understand the challenges with covid and all, but the responses given tonight were appalling. If an acceptable wait time for you is 50 minutes for a cold main meal, here's a great location for you to eat at. I've been here a couple of time prior, it will be hard to bring me back after tonight's dismal experience.

Welcome to Karoo & Co, where the customer always makes good choices, or at least that's what the…read morestaff tells you. I ordered a coffee and a muffin and got an "excellent choice". Another time I ordered a coffee and a cinnamon scroll and was congratulated for my marvellous selection with a solemn but very reassuring "hmm, good one!" Don't you love it when you make great choices and are applauded for it! I, for my part do. It's like that pat on the shoulder I didn't get today. Karoo & Co is also place where you get your hipster fix in Fox Valley. Not that next door's Fox Caffe isn't hipster, but Karoo just tops it a bit more. It's got all the hallmarks: Paddle instead of plates for that more earthy feel, menu on paper scroll for that recycle feel, exposed bricks for that warehouse feel. You can even buy fancy teaspoons for $10 a piece or serviettes for $40. What a bargain! Now I just need to get some tattoos of something resembling a Game of Thrones pattern or grow a beard, or both. Okay, so I've been guilty of going there once in a while and still not knowing what that "Co" is for, let alone, what Karoo even means. It's as mysterious to me as the hipster movement, but who doesn't like a bit of mystery. Spooky, ey? Oh, coffee is alright, but not earth shattering. I guess something's gotta give...

Great find, fast, tasty and hearty Chinese food across the road from the train station…read more I had the beef noodle soup with soy sauce egg, warmed me up on a chilly evening. Other specialties include dumplings, pork buns and gungbao chicken. Great value, and the best customer service from the friendly staff! Well worth a try if you're in the area

This place is awesome! If you want authentic Chinese food for some seriously great prices, then…read morethis is the place for you. I personally think this is the best place to eat in Hornsby. Now this is not a place for you to go to a date - it is a no-frills kind of place. But if you want good food and seriously crap prices then this is the place for you. He service is fast and the food is great. Honestly order anything with pork in it. Every dish is great. I love this stuff. The also do a lot of other stuff, but nothing bets the pork dishes. If you are vegetarian they have a whole veggie section. But no where near as good as the meat. I haven't tried the dumplings but people say they are awesome. So you can try your luck.

Hakata- Maru was delicious. A quick and easy place to have delicious noodles in a great…read moreenvironment. The shopfront was small, quiet, and neatly decorated with red and yellows. The culture was great, and the Udon noodles were authentic (per recommendation of a friend). They present the cultural very authentically through their menu, minimalist decorations, and flavors.

Service was quick, clean and we stepped in when they literally just opened its doors so it was…read morequiet. The entries were great, I especially loved their gyoza, it had the thinnest crispiest bottom layer and top-outer shell was so soft... Read: purplecuriosity.wordpress.com/2019/07/03/hakata-maru-ramen/

Been looking for an excuse to try out The Station in Wahroonga since it took over from the previous…read more(forgettable) cafe, and was interested to see it's a Gabriel cafe. While there was no single origin coffee on offer, the mac I had was surprisingly good. Character notes other than chocolate and nuts are rare in blends from the larger roasters, but this one managed to avoid the over roasted taint, and still retain a nice blend of sweetness and acidity. Obviously I would prefer a black coffee option like a single origin coffee, but this cafe is finally a viable option in Wahroonga. Passion: 7/10 Crema: 7/10 Coffee: Gabriel

So after hitting the Butcher Block, my friends recommended the Station, which is just round the…read morecorner. In all honesty I prefer the Butcher's Block - but this cafe does come at a close second. The coffee here is from Gabriel's. And sadly no single origin beans are on offer. The brew a nice cup either way. But I think the pull here is not the coffee, but rather the food. The food here is a good - I've only come for breakfast. They generally don't do any take away food, so this is more of a sit down place. The beacon, egg and avo toast is good, and the homemade oats are really good. Just a warning this place is small, and most of the times the tables are reserved. So either reserve before hand or be prepared to wait for a table. The staff here are friendly, and constantly apologize to you if you are waiting. So even though not as good as the Butcher's Block, it is still worth a visit.