Pablo & Rusty’s

This was our favorite breakfast spot while in Sydney. The atmosphere is very hipster and relaxing. We sat both indoors and outdoors but the latter is nicer just to enjoy the weather.
The first time around we got the heirloom tomato and panzanella cheese toast which was just too good for words and the second time got the quiche of the day which was filled with lots of fresh veggies and the chorizo dish that came with the most amazing tomato sauce over quinoa.
The iced coffee with ice cream is pretty much a dessert but I enjoyed every bit of it for breakfast as it wasn’t too sweet. The affogato was strong but the the ice cream made it sweeter so if you’re into stronger drinks that ones for you.

The food and coffee here are a cut above most other coffee shops in the CBD, but then again, it should be, given the outrageous prices. I have paid $ 5 for an average size chocolate cookie and $ 4.80 for a regular coffee here, and while both were delicious, my wallet is still hungry. I’m also not sure I would ever have a sit down meal here because it’s so noisy, but given that it’s always packed, the lunch food must really be worth it!

Snog. My foodie hobby has seen me trying out a whole lot of cafes, and there are only a few that I repeatedly go back to. Pablo & Rusty’s is one of them. This comes down to 3 things: location, which is perfect for the morning commute; food, with a varied menu and good standard; and ambience, a fun New York vibe. The staff are generally nice, the coffee a little variable but never bad. My favourites dishes? The decadent bread and butter muffin and the breakfast tart. I’ve also been here for lunch a few times and they do some killer soups.
Food: 4
Value: 3
Coffee: 3
Service: 3.5
Location: 4
Ambience: 4.5
Noise: 3.5 (can be a bit hard to hear at times)

Usually I go with a flat white and avo on toast. Everything else is a bit fancy for my morning routine before work!

Atmosphere: five stars! High ceilings, glass hard, chalkboard menus, looks like a converted warehouse — which is quite uncommon for the middle of the city! Very Melbourne-​esq, some hipster vibes.
Coffee: four stars, can’t complain! Good stuff. Unsweetened almond milk available!
Food: not so hot. Unfortunately the gluten free bread tasted a bit old, like it had been living in the fridge a little too long, which is quite surprising given they are very food-​intolerant friendly. Would definitely give another go!

Pablo & Rusty’s make amazing coffee and their staff is absolutely lovely. Their menu has too many fancy names for food in it that I have to google but it’s always tasty. Plus lots of veggie, vegan and gluten free options. Seating both inside and outside is nice plus they have draught coffee and cold drip if that’s a thing you’re into.

Great coffee, definitely knowledgeable people who put care into their work. Mentioned we were from the states and the batista mentioned they are in similar caliber to blue bottle and stump town. It was already a good sign that they were aware of internationally known coffee spots!

My favourite café place in the Cbd. Try their quiches and their gluten free muffins. The cofee is always great and staff always have a smile on their face. You won’t be disappointed. Highly recommend. 4 stars only as some prices are outrageous, 9 $ for avocado toast for example…

The best coffee I had in Sydney! Not as dark like others. The atmosphere is wonderful too:)

Been here twice now. Coffee was good. Service was speedy and the granola delicious.
This is a great spot to perch between meetings as its in the heart of the city. Friendly staff and comfortable environment to work from.
It’s a good pick for me when in Sydney on business.

It was busy this morning when I got to P&R’s at 9:30am. We were seated quite quickly though. I called over a waiter to be served and we received our meals in good time. I had the ‘shrooms on toast. It was yummy! It was a bit smooshy and lacked seasoning– I personally don’t think it needs the porcini pâté. Once I got a hold of some salt n pepper it was much nicer. Loved the white truffle oil. We ordered two take away skim flat whites and… I don’t know exactly what happened but. The milk was disgusting… It was either off/​past the used by date… I took one sip and threw it in the bin. It tasted like… Goats cheese or something… And I know that the coffee wasn’t supposed to taste that way because I’d had a coffee with my ‘shrooms on toast… It was such a shame. There’s no excuse for off milk…

Nice décor for this CBD coffee shop, cleaner and more elaborate than most. The presentation of the drinks and food is original and qualitative which feels nice.
Staff is not overly friendly though, they barely talk to you. That kills the overall mood of the place.
Ordered a green tea and a tomato and cheese toastie for $ 14, a fair price for the experience I received.

Has your mum ever thought to offer you dating advice? No? Well, mine does, and all the time for that matter. Truth be told however, 90% of the advice she gives has no practical value — the generational gap between hers and mine is too wide for there to be talk of any compatibility.
While the temptation to turn the other way when discussions of this kind come about is therefore hard to hold out against, the fact that 10% of her pointers are absolute gems means that I simply can’t. Have a geez at this one for instance — «James, when you take a gal for lunch or dinner, you are to face the wall, she is to face the room of people». Yes, I know, golden advice for someone hoping to impress or even just be courteous, but if given the option, I too would like to face the room of people.
Enter Pablo’s, where the tables that run through the centre of the café, which effectively slice it in half, provide those sitting on either end with a view of the always vibrant happenings within and outside of it. Genius I say. As for the coffee, well, it ain’t bad, and the food is decent. Why not give it a crack?

Man it was hard rating this place, and struggled between three stars and four stars. The food is great. fresh ingredients, decent selection, the coffee was nice as well but boy was their service horrible!
We got there on a saturday around 1pm for brunch, got our names on a sheet of paper and waited for around 15 mins. Waiting was expected but I had to go inside and ask an unwilling waitress whether our table was ready and she pointed to an empty table reluctantly and told us to sit there.
The same waitress took our order, and if you have a bad memory it’s ok to ask us to wait until she gets a pen and paper But no, she decided to remember our order off by heart. Mind you we only ordered two dishes and a drink. Guess what? Yep, she got it wrong.
She ended up bringing us the chicken salad (with stracchino cheese, pickled beetroot, walnuts, toasted quinoa, kale with a fennel seed dressing, which was the incorrect dish, we wanted the Wagyu Carpaccio,) and the correct dish Baby kumatos on SD toast (with avocado, mint, salsa verde, pink grapefruit, chilli & herbed ricotta) but forgot the extra poached eggs.
Food was great, fresh ingredients, tasty and filling, and the food came quite quick too.
Then we ordered some coffee, and thank god it wasn’t the same waitress. But guess what? She too got our order wrong! The piccolo became a normal latte, unless they serve the piccolos in larger cups which it shouldn’t. The coffee was smooth but lacked depth so it felt like hot milk with a hint of coffee flavour. The affogato wasn’t too shabby and I liked the way the serve it — ice cream in a glass and the coffee was in a miniature jar.
Let me know when their service improves and I shall visit this place again.

This is a fantastic café in the middle of the CBD — it’s a lot larger than the Lane Cove P&R that I’ve been to. Very warm décor and atmosphere compared to the plastic feel of most CBD places. The service was brilliant and very fast which is important for a pre-​work breakfast. I had a delicious granola accompanied by a piccolo — both were great!

Below was a previous experience. Went there today and the service was much better. Seriously good coffee for the connoisseur!
Great coffee and food, excellent décor, it’s just a shame that they don’t seem to be able to handle a lunch service. It’s going to get busy, put more staff on. Do a shift crossover. After ten minutes of tactful waving to try and get a staff member’s attention I gave up and went to the counter. Then I had to weight another fifteen minutes for a coffee to come. Not fast enough for an hour lunch break.

Just stopped in for a piccolo on my way to work. Had ordered ahead using the paypal app. The décor is great, the vibe is ok. It’s a bit too business for me.
I ordered a takeaway double riz piccolo. Was disappointed in the flavour of the coffee. It tasted both bitter and watered down at the same time. Certainly not my favourite coffee.
Will try again though as I feel it needs a second chance.
Edit:
** I am walking with my coffee and doing this review at the same time. The more I drink of it the less I like it. I think the second chance just got axed. Downgraded to 2 stars. Looks nice but has flaws.

We happened to stumble upon this café and I’m only reviewing it for a few items, but we loved it. In fact, we came back again a few days later.
The iced chai is extraordinary. Perhaps it’s because it’s made with ice cream, but it’s served iced cold and is so refreshing. I also really like the gluten free brownie, A LOT. The café itself is cute, but of course, everything in Sydney seems to be nice.

Filter coffee uninteresting and poorly extracted. Espresso based milk coffee was well extracted, roast too dark to reveal any character.
Pre made filter coffee not prepared so they made one up in an aeropress for me. Astringent, no body, struggled to finish.
This space is too overworked and noisy for me. It feels like they’ve taken interior design pointers from every genuine specialty coffee haunt outside the Sydney CBD then crammed them all into one establishment.
Packed full of people with sharp exposed wood edges the reverberation and noise level is as jarring as the setting. Lights dimmed or not.
Female wait staff the least helpful of anywhere I visited whilst in Sydney over the course of a week. No table water offered. No niceties.
One of the better milk based coffees I sampled in the CBD but I wouldn’t recommend heading into town just for it.

I have seen a couple of these franchises around but this is by far the best. The fit out is groovy with medicine bottles for water and soda water on tap. Lots of wood iron and old low tech lights with some planar life makes it feel comfy.
The menu is ok, I was late on a Saturday so mainly sambos and cakes, but the lamb sarney I sunk my chompers into was very tasty, bread deliciously tasty and the lamb passable.
Good coffee will make a lot of shortcomings invisible, and the coffee here is pretty good.
Check out the house made cakes — yum!
Worth a look.