Kittyhawk - Sydney

The music was too loud. The bartender got our drinks wrong twice. Also the waiting staff would literally interrupt everyone and reach their hands through to collect empty glasses. One even tapped me on my shoulder while i was talking to a friend and asked me to move so she can grab my glass! Horrible service.

Great inner city bar located in the business district. We popped into Kittyhawk on a Friday night while we were waiting for a table at Hubert. The moment we walked in the door we were greeted by friendly staff who gave us a seat at the bar. It was dimly lit which added to the atmosphere and good background music so you could still chat with friends. The staff recommended the Sonic Watermelon cocktail that was delicious followed by the Polynesian Pearl Diver which was topped with a scuba diver plastic man. The place has a reasonable amount of seating with bar, tables and booth seating. I will definitely return to try the food menu.

Through some heavy doors in Sydney’s business district is a bar that recreates an era of liberation and celebration – post-war Paris. And the 900 spirits behind the 12-metre long bar is definitely reason to celebrate. In addition to the central bar space, this auditorium-sized watering hole also has an elegant restaurant and a front conservatory that’s soaked in city views. By the team behind Lobo Plantation, it’s no surprise that The Kittyhawk is a military might, with plenty of winks to World War II (including a large painting of Kittyhawk fighter aircrafts embellishing the walls), a perfectly paired-back Parisian menu and cocktails that are pieces of art. What I loved about The Kittyhawk when I first uncovered this place was that the barmen were all suave in black tie above the waist but a couple of glimpses revealed they had on Billabong board shorts below the waist (it was a hot night ok). The 1950s bathrooms are also pretty cute, in a very pink kind of way. eatplaylovetravel.com.au

Through some heavy doors in Sydney’s business district is a bar that recreates an era of liberation and celebration – post-war Paris. And the 900 spirits behind the 12-metre long bar is definitely reason to celebrate. In addition to the central bar space, this auditorium-sized watering hole also has an elegant restaurant and a front conservatory that’s soaked in city views. By the team behind Lobo Plantation, it’s no surprise that The Kittyhawk is a military might, with plenty of winks to World War II (including a large painting of Kittyhawk fighter aircrafts embellishing the walls), a perfectly paired-back Parisian menu and cocktails that are pieces of art. What I loved about The Kittyhawk when I first uncovered this place was that the barmen were all suave in black tie above the waist but a couple of glimpses revealed they had on Billabong board shorts below the waist (it was a hot night ok). The 1950s bathrooms are also pretty... read more

Kittyhawk is a beautifully decorated bar with a 1940s theme, however the staff here must adhere to the 1940s theme quite seriously as the amount of alcohol that goes into drinks is severely rationed. One could be mistaken that these really are the days when rationing was in force for so meager is the alcohol content in the cocktails that we were left wondering whether there was any in them at all. So essentially we paid $18 per drink for mocktails! I thought it was quite interesting as my friend who is a total lightweight ordered four drinks - yes FOUR - only to feel absolutely nothing. This was on an empty stomach as well. I myself ordered two with similar effect. Could the bar tender have really forgotten to put alcohol into six drinks? Highly unlikely and seems most certainly deliberate and very disappointing considering the money spent. This is a bar apparently famous for the cocktails and the management here seemed quite nice, however I suggest they keep a close eye on their staff to ensure that customers are not being scammed with servings of lemonade and fruit juice in fancy glasses. To add to the experience, one of the waitresses spilled a drink all over my friend and I which ended up going everywhere - all over clothes, into handbags - which then had to be disposed of, as well as some of the contents in them. The waitresses response was to hand us some dish towels and avoid our table for the rest of the night. Maybe the whole experience would have been tolerable had we not been completely sober!