Bar Bello, Cnr Phillip & Bridge Sts, Circular Quay

Bar Bello, Cnr Phillip & Bridge Sts, Circular Quay

Wednesday 7 November, 2008

I have walked past this cafe several times as it shares a corner site with Wagamama. Bar Bello offers indoor/ outdoor seating and an open plan kitchen that you walk past on entry.

The published description of Bar Bello is, "Bar Bello is very popular, because the coffee is excellent and the food delicious at very reasonable prices! You wont be disappointed. Bar Bello offer dine in and takeaway, they have a variety of cafe style food. The staff are friendly and the set up is very hip."

I think someone might be telling porkie pies (and the services of an editor)! We arrived for lunch and were ignored. So, wandered a little further inside before a staff member stopped us and directed us to a table that had a 'reserved' sign on it. With drinks orders taken we looked over the menu - a variety of cafe fare ranging from $10 - 20 including salads, wraps, sandwiches, burgers, risottos, fish & chips and calamari. Surprisingly, Bar Bello is a licensed venue and the interior of Bar Bello is sparse with concrete floors and wooden chairs and tables - there is nothing hip about it.

It took us a while to gain the attention of a staff member to order. One of my lunch buddies mentioned this was a similar experience to her previous visit. For a venue that was half full and had three staff working the floor it was very slow. However, we persisted. I ordered the beef burger and my lunch buddies ordered the chicken burger and chicken & avocado turkish melt.

The food was presented well and was very nice. The burgers came to the table in open halves with a side dish of fries and another side dish of BBQ sauce. A bonus would have been if they had asked us if we wanted BBQ sauce or some other condiment for the fries. The beef burger was little under-done for my liking but still very nice and the fries were well cooked. I love beetroot so was thrilled to find beetroot on the beef burger along with lettuce, tomato, grilled onion and melted cheese. We all enjoyed our meals and the chicken & avocado turkish melt was so large that my lunch buddy had to take it away in a doggy bag.

Overall, the food was good, the prices OK, the service average and the decor sparse.

Bar Bello - Cnr Phillip & Bridge Sts, Circular Quay - (02) 9251 0105