Angelo's On The Bay

Angelo's On the Bay is not the cheapest restaurant you'll ever go to, but it's one of the more picturesque and on the basis of two visits now I can say that you're unlikely to be disappointed with the food.

The restaurant is located in parkland at Cabarita in the inner west, on the south bank of the Parramatta River. It offers a combination of indoor dining, and outdoor dining on a verandah which runs around the side of the building. On this occasion, we chose one of the outdoor tables.

It was a perfect spring day, and the location would have been ideal for a romantic lunch. Assuming, of course, that you have vastly greater luck and/or judgment in selecting (or being selected by) your intended romantic dining companion than I have.

I'm afraid I didn't take note of the hours that the restaurant is open, which is probably an egregious mistake but you would expect to find that information on the restaurant's web site, if it has one. Which Angelo's does... but it makes no mention of the opening hours. This is something that I've noticed on other restaurant web sites as well; I'm not sure whether it's some sort of secret code amongst restaurants or what the reason for it is. What I can tell you is that it's open for lunch on Saturdays, though on both occasions that I've been there there's been a wedding reception that evening and we've had to be out by 4 p.m.

Most of the mains are in the $20-$30 range, and can accommodate most palates although as with most (non-specialist) restaurants the vegetarian offerings are limited. Inspired by the couple at the next table who were having the same main, however, we opted for some garlic bread and a salad followed by the more extravagant seafood for two offering at $120. And what an offering it was. This is one that you should approach only if you have a particularly empty stomach, or a particularly rapacious one.

The meal comes on the three tiered plate, and consisted of warm, cooked prawns, squid, salmon fillet (baked, I believe), scallops, oysters, half a dozen cold king prawns, smoked salmon, and of course, two lobster halves. There was also a bowl of hot chips in the middle of the bottom layer. There may have been one or two other things on there as well, but the presentation was a little too overwhelming for me to recall.

I have to confess that I had never eaten lobster before. No particular reason, the opportunity just never arose. Nor have I ever been inclined to try oysters after I saw someone have an unfortunate reaction after eating some many years ago.

It's certainly not the last time I'll try lobster, especially lobster that good. I can't say that I'll be in a rush to sample oysters again, but that's only a matter of personal taste. My dining companion seemed to enjoy hers.

The garlic bread was perfectly cooked, the salad was made of a delightfully fresh and flavourful combination of ingredients, and every part of the seafood platter was done to perfection. Even the chips were cooked perfectly, neither too crisp nor too soggy nor too oily. Yes, I ate some of the chips. Apparently in some differently wired brains the consumption of "potatoes saturated in fat " constitutes "weird" behaviour, but there is a reason that fish and chips have gone together lo these many years. It's because the flavours complement each other, and the plain flavour of the chips allows you to appreciate better the more distinctive flavour of the fish or other seafood. Were it not so, I imagine that the combination would have died out some time ago, but what do I know? And thus it was that Angelo's served some chips with the meal, and I ate some chips with the meal. That was my decision. I stand by it.

Just be careful how many you eat, because with servings this big you really are going to be making choices about what you can eat and get through.

I'm certain that desert would have been delicious as well (it was last time, as I recall), but there was simply no room available for it. In fact, we weren't even able to get through the full seafood platter.

Much less all the chips.

The service was good rather than exceptional; the waiters were very attentive when they were around. The only time it was a bit of a letdown was when we wanted to get some coffee after the meal. It took around half an hour all up by which time four o'clock was approaching rapidly and there was still no sign of the bill. That made the end of the afternoon feel a little more rushed than it needed to be.

The rest room facilities are spotless for those who factor in such things and hey, why wouldn't you?

It's probably a bit much for every day dining, but for a special meal or even just to treat yourself, Angelo's gets a big tick.

Just... be a little choosy about who you take there.
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Alan Kay - View all reviews by this user
Sunday, October 15, 2006

Great outlook!

Excellent presentation of all dishes, great flavours, and obviously fresh, qulaity ingredients.

Attentive staff, knowledgeable of menu selections & generally a very pleasant dining experience.

We will definitely revisit this venue.
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DavidW - View all reviews by this user
Tuesday, August 30, 2005