Bona Fides Cafe Restaurant Darling Harbour

Reviews

• Monique O.

  star star star star_border star_border 1 June 2026

  This little restaurant/ bar in cockle bay wharf isn't to bad. We came here during the vivid festival and it has awesome views and pretty decent food.
  You get seated and then get handed a menu but you have to order your food at the bar. So no wait staff for tables.
  Once you order you get a table number and the food is bought out to you.
  
  The food portions are decent sized for how much you pay. They steak special was pretty average size and average looking but for $19.95 your not gonna complain.
  I had chicken parmigiana and that came out looking wonderful like a more expensive looking meal.
  
  Tried to order some pasta without the chilli but got told that they couldn't take the chilli out so we had to change to calamari.
  
  Other than that awesome views decent food.
  Underneath the homebar.

• Kane W.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 24 May 2026

  Good food but terrible service.
  I had a bad feeling from the outset when I tried to make a dinner reservation over the phone, three days in advance. The lady I spoke with seemed disinterested and tried to hang up on me before I'd passed on all my details. I had to prompt her to take down not only the time I was seeking to have dinner (7.30pm), but also to take down my name so that she had the details when I arrived. Not a good start.
  
  When I did arrive on time for dinner, I was greeted by the same lady with a blank look, who clearly had not logged my reservation. I spent 5 minutes explaining myself, after which they tried to push myself, my wife and my two children to walk to their second restaurant several blocks away (both my children are under 3), with the helpful advice that 'they also get pretty busy, so you may not be able to get in'. I think the manager sensed my escalating frustration, because we were eventually ushered to an outdoor table with a nice view of the harbor. Even this was marred however, by the hostess telling me 'please be advised Sir, the children will need to leave by 8pm'. Did I mention this was the same hostess who had accepted my reservation for 7.30 three days earlier, who had told me the restaurant was child friendly? By this time it was 7.35, and we hadn't even ordered!
  
  After seating we ordered meals. The chefs did a good job and the food came out quickly. It was delivered unfortunately by an outright rude European waitress (the first time in my life I have met a backpacker in Australia who wasn't a friendly and outgoing person). She threw the food down, maintained a sour expression the whole time  and gave my 3yr old daughter a reproachful glare for daring to stack up the menus on our table and pass them to her.
  
  Despite my experience, the restaurant is clearly not all bad. My wife got the seafood platter which was great (just be advised its more of a fancy fishermans basket then a seafood platter. Everything is battered, but this was still great). I wouldn't recommend the steak though. Although it comes with a really good horseradish mash potato (one of the best I've had), the steak itself is tough and filled with gristle. It looked and tasted like the typical pub steak you get down at your local pub for $5 Tuesdays. Definitely not a $30 steak!
  
  Summary: seafood = great. Steak = average. Service = terrible. View of Darling Harbor = great, BUT there are 5 other restaurants within 200m that all offer the same view, with the same priced food. The difference however is that the other restaurants treat you like a customer and not a hindrance that must be endured until you part with your money and leave.
  This was the first time in my life I made a conscious decision not to leave a tip.
  
  Although the seafood was good I don't think I'll be back. There's just too many other restaurants at Darling Harbor that know what good service is.