Review Bay Tinh Crows Nest Restaurant - Crows Nest

My favourite restaurant in Crows Nest at the moment. Have visited numerous times and almost tried the entire entree and main course menu. Although there are probably a couple of dishes I would rate a 3 star, the rest have been more than superb. Different and the flavours are spot on and everything is super fresh. A few favourites includes the stuffed shiitake mushrooms, stuffed chicken wings, prawns wrapped in sugar cane and grilled pork balls. I could go on and on. If you don't know what to pick, just ask the staff, more than helpful to select your entire dinner. For dessert the deep fried bananas with ice-cream are totally delicious and perfect to share after a big meal

Bay Tinh is one of my favourite Vietnamese restaurants in Sydney. Some of my favourites are the bonfire, stuffed chicken wings and the sugar cane prawns. I would not order the Fried Rice again as it was tiny. Although the food is great, Bay Tinh needs to work on service. We went in late and it was a busy late. The waitress neglected to get us serviettes and the proper cutlery. That said, I am definitely going back for the food.

Nice restaurant. Nice decor. Nice food, not a cheap eat, but par for this standard restaurant. I tend to come here when I want something classier than a standard Friday night take away, but I'm not up for a superexpensive five star (or even four star) experience. You know, a relatives non-significant birthday.

Very poor vietnamese food, atmosphere was ok. Service was very lacking, the waiters did not very attentive. The food was viet fusion, but really should be calsffied as as viet fail. The owner made an apperance and tried to be friendly but was noisy and didn't care about you unless he was talking to you. Won't go back there.

This is the first Vietnamese restaurant I've tried that doesn't serve Pho (beef noodle soup)! The owner tells me that Pho places are like the fastfood of Vietnamese cuisine. The food here is absolutely delicious and lots to choose from the menu

Really cosy place to enjoy a meal on a wintery night! Staff are very friendly, food is well priced and tastes very fresh. Would hit up the soft shell crab again was fantastic!

We absolutely love this place. We have always found the food and the service to be brilliant. It has become one of our regular 'go to' places.

Not fusion but real authentic Vietnamese food. This is what I was told by Vietnamese companion. I just ate it and it was VERY good !

Enjoyed all three dishes. Full of flavour and fresh.  Rice could have been a bigger serve, but overall I enjoyed it.

4 of us came to Bay Tinh and loved every mouthful. The garlic rice with salt a pepper calamari was life changing. The bonfire dish was a bit of clever flaming theatre. Traditional dishes like a satay chicken and a beef Pho were also 10/10.<br/><br/>The service was very attentive with great explanations on all elements of the dishes. I will be back and will definitely be telling everyone I know how good this place is.

Beautiful, fresh Vietnamese. The chefs specials were great. Dining out and feeling healthy and super taste. The service was great. It looked like other diners were regulars, a good sign.

Bonfire beef is easily the most spectacular dish of the night. The meat arrives at the table in a covered clay pot, then it’s literally lit up with alcohol and a match to complete the cooking process. The meat is rolled in rice paper, lettuce, mints and pickles, and dipped in a mildly pungent purple sauce made from fermented fish. There’s so many fresh, delicious flavours, it’s impossible not to like this dish.

Superb & so fresh!. Had a fantastic evening here last night- we're not sure what to expect and indeed we hit the jackpot! The food is so fresh, healthy and divine. A mostly gluten free menu full of flavours. Attentive staff and the manager took care of us explaining all of the dishes and ingredients. We will definitely return.

Authentic food!. Really enjoyed the beef noodle soup and Vietnamese style pork spring rolls! Reminded me of my travels to Vietnam.

Exciting blog entries are difficult when it's often only Uncle G and I ordering a couple of dishes. Over the months I've collected a number of small meals reviews which I can finally throw together into a proper entry. So here's the first in this series: quick meals in St Leonards/Crows Nest. Bay Tinh Bay Tinh   I love vietnamese food and I always feel the North Shore doesn't offer enough. So I was set on trying something different on this night. Bay Tinh has a great selection and many items not available on your regular westernised Asian restaurant menu. The Bonfire, what's inside? $28  We go for the Bonfire on this occasion. It arrives at our table sitting in... ethanol? (that's my guess) and cooks infront of us for a good 15-20 mins. While waiting Uncle G digs into some Salt and Pepper calamari which unfortunately was not captured (sorry!). Side of lettuce, mint, pickles, pineapple, bean sprouts and Harry's special anchovy sauce  Still cooking, so let's explore our sides.. Mmmm can't wait. Beef & prawn bonfire - finally ready  The smell is AMAZING as the lid finally lifts to unveil the long awaited dish. Admittedly it would have been nice to see a more generous portion of protein but we're kind of used to the 40/60 meat/veg ratio. Loading the rice paper, ready to wrap! And the adventure begins. Wrap-me-happy! You want a little bit of everything on the rice papers then add a generous spoonful of sauce. Or just dip it in the sauce as you go if you're not sharing. It's absolutely delicious! Uncle G loved it too, even with all the veges. We especially enjoy the sweet refreshing juiciness of the pineapples and pickles

The sauce was quite thick, and the vegetables weren’t overcooked which can ruin a nice, simple dish like this.

On my first visit I met Harry Hoang, the owner and Executive Chef of Bay Tinh. He is excitable, friendly gracious and he just loves what he does, working the room most nights talking affably to each table of customers Harry is a refugee who has made his way in his new country of Australia by bringing a little piece of his own to life here. He proudly cooks popular Vietnamese recipes along with some of his mothers, one notable recipe being the Tiny Rice Cakes below. He bought the restaurant in 2007. Since that time he has laboured to make it welcoming, comfortable and up date the look and feel. This has involved a renovation in Marrickville and opening Crows Nest, concentrating on presentation and investing in interesting dinnerware, fantastic glassware, and good selection of wines. The function/party room out the back looks dark , brooding and fun and Harry even offers his own cocktails.<br/><br/>

Bay Tinh was, and still remains a family favourite of ours. The famous bonfire dish which cooks at your table, a firm favourite amongst my family & friends.

Congratulations, it's a boy! There is a new crow in the nest on the North Shore, and this Vietnamese bub goes by the name of Bay Tinh . Bay Tinh Sr. plied its trade in competitive Marrickville for almost a quarter of a century, and now Bay Ting Jr. is trying its luck to emulate daddy in Crows Nest , a suburb dominated by Japanese, Thai, and Chinese eateries. A small cluster of Vietnamese eateries is situated on Willoughby Road, but until now there hasn't been a classy restaurant of the Vietnamese variety, so Bay Tinh is here to fill a void. The restaurant is a cinch to find , conspicuously located on busy Falconer Street just a stone's throw from Woolworths on the corner of Falcon and Alexander Streets. Small, warm, and inviting , the main dining room is supplemented by an additional room at the rear plus a first-story function room. The main room is stylishly appointed in much the same way as Bay Tinh Marrickville with a lucky red colour scheme and plenty of dark wooden furniture. We

Bay Tinh - Crows Nest is just that. Home-style Vietnamese cooking with an extensive menu of dishes to choose from, most which I have never heard of or even seen at other Vietnamese restaurants! From now on, this is my go-to restaurant for home-style Vietnamese food :) Comfortable seating and slightly westernised, which is quite different to the regular Pho noodle soup restaurant. I call it fancy Vietnamese dining ^^                          Cafe latte - Saigon style filter $4.50 Young coconut juice - Dua Tuoi $5.00 ♥

Bay Tinh’s famous ballotine of chicken – house specialty, deboned and then stuffed with a delicious mixture of minced pork and fragrant spices. The chicken is then slow cooked before baked. It is served with a rich plum sauce and sesame. This was an interesting dish but yet tasty, I really enjoyed this dish, the chicken was tender and I loved the stuffing, the plum sauce really gave it that nice sweetness.

Dining at Bay Tinh is like a trip down memory lane. While I can’t claim to have been dining here for all of its twenty-eight year history, I have spent many an evening in the (previously putrid pink) space, albeit mostly when it was in the hands of predecessor and founder, Tinh Tran.

Crows Nest is a little devoid of Vietnamese restaurants so if I ever get cravings for Vietnamese and I’m not bothered to travel out to Cabra, I know exactly where to go now!

Bay Tinh at Crows Nest - Horrible service. Mediocre food. Rubbish experience.. Bay Tinh at Crows Nest - Horrible service. Mediocre food. <br/><br/>Booking - easy to make last minute booking for Crows Nest.<br/><br/>Food - 9 dishes (1 starters, 7 mains & 1 rice) amongst 6 people was not enough as serving sizes were slightly small, particularly given their price. Taste was average to below average with nothing notable except perhaps the Com Toi (Garlic Rice) as an alternative to plain rice. It's a shame as I know how delicious good Viet food can be. <br/><br/>Ambience: A few unhappy looking diners around us. The restaurant was half full with lots of accidents happening along a narrow hall way in the restaurant such as dropping of wine glasses and a spilt rice cooker with rice all over the floor.<br/><br/>Service: By far one of the worst I have ever been to. <br/><br/>15 min wait and multiple attempts to order with wait staff acknowledging us and saying that someone ELSE will come to take our order<br/><br/>45 min wait and multiple follow ups before any food arrived. Wait staff’s comment: the food will come and I'm not sure how much longer as it’s very loud in the kitchen so I can’t hear what they are saying<br/><br/>75 mins before our FIRST dish came. It wasn’t even our entree, it was one of our mains - Chao Tom Banh Hoi - a plate of cold greens and crab sticks that we wrap ourselves - no way should it have taken so long for such a dish to come out<br/><br/>~2hrs in more mains were delivered but they were not ours. Our repeated queries were met with ’this is the lamb you ordered’. It wasn’t until we asked for a copy of the menu and our order did the wait staff realise her error. She gasped 'Oh My God, wrong table!’ before taking the items from our table down to the hall way and then back out onto the table beside us. There was no apology. <br/><br/>~ >2hrs later. We still had our calamari left and after multiple follow ups (with response, it’s coming) eventually we were accused of not ordering the calamari. Given calamari is one of our diners favourite food items, we asked how long it would take them to make this dish. We were told 5 minutes, and when I asked if they could guarantee this, they said yes. I added a spring roll at this point because it’s also a quick dish to fry and I suspected that none of us were even close to be satisfied. Of course, the food took more than 5 minutes to come out, with no acknowledgement that it came out late. <br/><br/>- We asked for the bill, paid and left, splitting our party of 6 into 3 groups of two. 2 of the 3 parties were chased down the street, with one wait stuff telling us that there was something wrong with the bill. When asked what, he wasn’t able to answer and said he just saw the manager running out of the restaurant. Upon return to the restaurant, our friends W & K were being accused of short changing the bill by a few dollars! Outrageous. We all recounted the bill and there was no problem. They had a mistake. Once again, no apology. This is where we voiced our concerns over the food and quality of service. The very least I would have expected is some sort apology, perhaps something on the house or an invitation to come back. Instead the manager was defensive and provided excuses such as ‘we couldn’t contact our usual wait staff as they didn’t answer our calls, the wait staff we have today is new and our restaurant was very busy tonight. He event said 'we tried our best to accommodate you’ - Note there were still a number of empty tables around us, and the most outrageous, we only came after you because we thought there was something wrong with the bill. I offered him the option to offer us something to make up for our horrible experience both in and on the way out of the restaurant, and the manager said yes. When I asked what he had in mind, he said, that they’ll try harder next time.<br/><br/>That’s not what I meant and in my mind that is not good customer service or a way to run a successful restaurant business - especially if you have claims to have ‘arguably the best calamari in sydney’ when in fact food is mediocre. It’s such a shame our experience was so horrible. The boss said that they’ve been there for 3 years, perhaps there was a change in ownership? Perhaps a change in chef? Most of the positive reviews for this restaurant happened more than 3 years ago and there are very few good reviews (or bad) out there recently.

Average food & small portions. Everything we ordered were supposedly "chef recommendations"<br/><br/>Texture of duck (Duck with cumquat) didn't taste like it was sous vide and sauce was a bit on sweet side, vietnamese pancake (banh xeo) was slightly on the tasteless side without the fish sauce. I think they forgot to put the salt and pepper on the calamari (which they claim to be best in Sydney). The carmelized fish was alright but not deboned. Ballotine Chicken was on the soggier side. <br/><br/>Overall the food was very average. And small portion for the price.

Authentic and delicious. We were a party of four and had the winter banquet, the food was amazing and more than enough. I was surprised to read previous reviews about the banquets were not generous, we had more than enough food. I will agree the service was a little slow and you really had to get someone's attention, but there is a huge section out the back, and it's just a staffing issue. All in all we were very impressed.

Very disappointed. I ordered pick up for two dishes. Both were not of good quality or flavour.<br/><br/>Mileage may vary.

Superb food and very pleasant authentic decor. Service attentive and very friendly. Pricing very competitive. Cannot fault the experience.

Disappointing experience. Had to ask for menus after about 10 minutes only to be told they were short of menus & had to share 2 between 5 people. Food overall was good but there was an extended delay between entrees & mains and one entree totally forgotten plus we received a dish that was for another table. Overall food ok but over priced & service below par. Would not rush back.

Disappointed. Very disappointing, don’t order the Banquet. Food quality was average as was the service. We ordered the Winter Banquet for a party of 5. As the dishes started to arrive we were very surprised with the tiny portions. Looking around the restaurant, the same size dishes were being served for couples. When we questioned the size of the dishes we were politely told our dish had 5 prawns and that’s the way it comes. We left all left hungry and very disappointed and felt the price was extremely expensive considering the above. We won’t be back.

Last dinner in sydney. I booked at bay tinh for my last dinner out in sydney before moving to QLD, hoping to have a great dining experience with 10 girlfriends. The reviews were great and it sounded like the perfect place as it had a wine bar and a reasonably priced restaurant. We got there and the wine bar wasn't accessible because there was a table set up underneath it so we had to just sit down at our table instead. If I had known this I would have gone somewhere else for a few drinks before hand. We were happy to go with Harry's recommendation on the royal banquet for $35 a head, thinking we were going to be in for a feast. The first course was a very ordinary spring roll with some dipping sauce, then a long wait for the sang choy bow style thing which was very average, cold and crunchy. Then we got a beef dish which was hardly enough to go around our table. Then we got a pancake, served up about 10 minutes apart from other people, which was tasty but difficult to eat. That takes us to the end of our entree courses. They apparently pride themselves on their entrees. We then got one plate of salt and pepper squid for all 10 of us and one plate of some processed chicken and egg combo for all 10 of us. As we were on 2 tables, we didnt realise that we were supposed to pass the plate on to the other table, so half of us missed out on the squid and the other half missed out on the chicken. We were given one tiny dipping bowl of green sauce for the squid which was enough for 3 of us, not 10 of us. I had to ask for extra dipping sauce and had to ask if that was all the food we were getting. And that was it. Most of us were out for a big night and ended up going home early, hungry and disappointed about the food that we were given. I spent my night apologising to everyone that I had picked such an average place for my final dinner in sydney. I did my research and read reviews and really thought I had picked a good place but I, along with all of my friends, were disappointed with the whole night. Harry was lovely and the staff were ok, but overall it was a very disappointing experience. the first thing i wanted to do when i got home was review it. i have never written a restaurant review before but i believe that this was worth writing about. Out of 10 of us there tonight, not one of us would recommend it. very disappointing.

Bon Fire. Went here for dinner.We ordered the beef bonfire where we had to wrap all of the food ourselves also we had a nice spring rolls The ambience was just ok. Good selection of beers, good quality food and with nice and friendly service.....Would recommend coming back again to this place.

Went for the first time last night and was very pleasantly surprised. Lovely food and friendly service. Was impressed by portion size and value

Loved the food. We had a very nice meal here recently an thoroughly enjoyed the evening. Good recommendations from the waiter too. <br/><br/>The most memorable was their caramelised fish, very tasty. We had some nice entrees too.

Deja Vu with style. We were regulars at Bay Tinh, Marrickville, twenty years ago when we lived in Newtown. Six years ago we moved to the relatively challenged north shore, "The Dark Side". We were pleased to see Bay Tinh had opened in Crows Nest, although doubtful, as we understood it was no longer owned by the original owners. We couldn't have been happier. We were welcomed by the effusive and charming owner and immediately ordered some of our old favourites, Banh Xeo and little rice cakes. The Banh Xeo was smaller than I remembered it but just as delicious, the littel rice cakes were a revelation, more complex and fresher than the originals. We drooled over the dish that the couple next to us had ordered, the caramel fish, smelled divine. It's on our list for next time. Bay Tinh is a welcome addition to Crows Nest. Far better than any of it's Willoughby Rd peers. I wish it was cheaper, we would go more often.

OMG. Possibly the most disappointing $180 meal I've ever purchased. Apart from limited service, cold, meagre servings and lack of any respect for food or customer, the whole dining experience was unforgettble in its awfulness. A whole($35) snapper had to be chiseled from its skeleton with a butter knife, by the only waiter, at the table as our hearts sank. The result was even worse. So excited by promise of duck with ginger and cumquat, only to be "served" lukewarm duck, smothered in what must have been marmalade, with a note of ginger. We 3 diners went with ravenous appetites, which usually allows for some leeway.....but nope this was a truly horrible meal. The "best salt and pepper calamari in Sydney" was served cold, as if it had fallen onto the plate from the freezer bag in which it had been purchased. Never again...and I would urge careful consideration to this establishment before placing your bums on their seats.

Ate there on a Friday night and I admit they were busy, but that doesn't excuse the awful service, (being ignored, forgotten and laughed at seemed acceptable to them) the truly horrendous food that bears no relation to good Vietnamese fare and the distinct feeling we had been ripped off. Don't go, there are plenty of other restaurants in the area that will be a far better experience.

Terrible restaurant experience. Can't understand how it was so crowded. Back room was freezing & despite asking twice for air-con to be turned down, we ended up wearing coats & scarves during meal.<br/>Waitresses constantly ignored us, after finally ordering banquet, the first 4 courses came out in such rapid succession and dumped on our plates, it felt we were being force fed. The quality of food was disappointing - not the fresh lightness you expect from Vietnamese.<br/> To top it off, after waiting more than an hour for the main course, which we had basically been forced to order, the tepid, processed stuffed chicken covered in 1980s apricot sauce was inedible.<br/>The meal was finished off with glasses of HOT water when we had asked for a fresh water jug for the table. When we complained, the waitress told us it wasn't hot, just warm, and walked away laughing. Guess the joke was on us for eating there.