Review Bay Tinh - Marrickville

We went to Bay Tinh with friends who recommended this restaurant. We ordered all different dishes so we can try different tastes. As spring rolls are one of our favourite Asian food, we ordered but were disappointed with it. It was most likely from a previous day since the out side of them were over fried yet fillings were just cold. Apart from the rice cakes all other dishes were ordinary..

Disappointing experience here. I was excited to try this place after a friend told me how popular it was after seeing lines outside. Food wasn’t authentic Vietnamese. Portion size was very small yet expensive. We ordered the prawn sugar cane where it said it comes with 8 pieces. We assumed being a main it would be 8 pieces, but in fact it was 2 pieces cut into 8 smaller pieces. The wraps were also disappointing, they weren’t soaked properly with many parts of it hard. Our group of 4 left hungry and visited another Vietnamese restaurant in Marrickville for an additional meal.

I loved this place. It’s a great family run business, and one of Marrickville’s first Vietnamese restaurants. The food is humble and super tasty. The staff are really nice too. They’ll help you navigate through the menu and give you tips on how to best eat each dish. It’s a must!

Delicious Vietnamese Food! Slightly tailored for the Western Palette but we liked it! Service was attentive and quick. We had the cocktail Harry's Drink, it had Asian flare and was really unique. The Canh Chua - Sour Soup is a must! And the Ca Kho To - Braised Fish was flavour packed.

Been coming to this restaurant for a few years now and it never fails. The service , staff especially the owner (Daniel) Tony are very attentive and friendly. The main thing is the food it’s so amazing, fresh and yummy, I love the crispy pancake, you can’t get a better one in Vietnam. The little rice cakes are to die for I have so many favorites. The decor is very authentic also especially upstairs it’s very spacious, plenty of room for a large group. A must try.

If you are a vegan and looking for great food, this is right place. We felt so welcomed by the lovely staff and for such great food. My partner and I love cooking and experimenting with new flavours. Usually we are disappointed when we go out to eat as we think we can always make it better, especially if it's about cooking vegan food. Usually restaurants don't have a vegan chef or the vegan dishes are left behind as the main consumers are meat eaters. We felt that this restaurant exceed our expectations with the vegetarian duck and the amazing lemon grass sauce for our fried tofu. All of it accompanied by some piano background music and some cozy lightening atmosphere. Totally recommend it to celebrate any special occasion or just a great place to eat good food. Thank you staff, dish washers, kitchen hands, cleaners, suppliers and chefs for the amazing result of a great team work! Always wishing the best for small business like this one!

I have been visiting this restaurant with family and friends since the early 90s. Ordered today via uber eats on the 15/02/2022. Bay tinh has remained a favourite of ours for many reasons. They have fantastic & fresh food. There is a tasty range of meals, with many gluten free and vegetarian options. If you are coeliac, then consider trying this restaurant. Their crispy pancake is my mother's favourite in Sydney. Try out the hotpot if you are dining inside. Pro tip: do not overfill your hand-made rice rolls, small is key! Be gentle and careful, it takes a while to master. The hotpot is best to share in groups, it's a really fun experience. Their spring rolls are divine and the egg noodles are so yummy! The staff are very friendly and helpful, service with a smile here. The restaurant is always clean and has a lovely warm atmosphere. Harry the owner has welcomed us every time, so we are very thankful. We come here for birthdays, mother's day, lunch dates and dinners. I've never had any issues with their service, bookings are easy and the banquets work best for large groups. Sometimes they can get busy, so book in early to avoid the rush. Thank you and hope to visit the restaurant again soon! Photos attached show the uber eats order (the pancake did not survive for a photo, haha!)

I have been going here for 32 years. Now won’t be back what a shame the food is barely eatable . Won’t be back my son who’s 26 won’t either. Fish cakes that’s what they called it was full of oil no taste. Fried prawn roll was yuck. The other dish was eatable. The whole time was getting the odour from a ball that was spraying out a awlful smell why have it. I would rather smell food. Didn’t complain as they don’t know how to cook . Ethic Vietnamese food shame

They do certain dishes well like the caramelised fish and stuffed calamari but others not so like the ginger chicken and the spring rolls. I would have rated this place higher except for this woman who works there. She's been there a long time, wears the red dress, looks unhappy and argues when she gets the order wrong. It was about 9.10 one night when we were part way through our mains and, without prompting, she rang up the bill and asked if we'd like to take the food home. I was shocked. This is completely unacceptable. I get it. It's a slow night, you want to go home early but the fact is we're paying customers and if that's the way you treat customers, no wonder they aren't coming/dining in!

We are still in search for the best bowl / the most authentic bowl of Pho in Sydney. Apart from Cabramatta, we found that Marrickville is another Viet town full of Viet food. Banh Xeo AUD 14.5. One of our favourite entrées in Vietnamese cuisine and it is definitely not easy to handle it well. The crispy yellow egg shell has mung bean pasted smeared on it yet the shell is still very crispy on the edges and outside, while a bit chewy and soft on the inside.

We tried this for the first time tonight and it wont be the last. Everything we ordered was delicious!<br/>I highly recommend the salt and pepper calamari

I have done takeaways of the beef pho noodle soup a few months ago. It's likely the second best version I've tasted, slightly different to all the other versions but definitely not generic. The soup has a very nice flavour and the quality of the beef and noodles has been high. I also like the higher quality of the takeaway presentation and containers used. I also tried a fishcake dish and it also appeared unique with good care and attention going into it. I'm surprised at previous reviews and obviously haven't tried many dishes on the menu but so far so good. <br/><br/>The restaurant itself appears darker and suited to a quiet dining experience. The owner's polite and friendly so overall a recommended eatery based on my experience so far.

Most delicious authentic Vietnamese cuisine. I am Vietnamese. I have a very high expectation in the quality of Vietnamese cuisine because my mum is a great cook. I have tried many Vietnamese restaurants in Sydney but none had come close to my expectation until I had dinner at Bay Tinh restaurant in Crows Nest. The food is so yummy, authentic and so close to my mum's cooking. Bay Tinh Restaurant​ also offers some very unique and special Vietnamese dishes that can only be found in Vietnam. I almost busted into tears knowing that from now on I can eat all the best Vietnamese food in Sydney at Bay Tinh (e.g. Banh Hue, Banh gio, Pho, etc). The service is also great. The staff served everyone like at 5 star restaurant. <br/><br/>After that dinner, I chose Bay Tinh to do a catering service at home for my grandfather's 90th birthday. We had 36 people and everyone loved Bay Tinh service and especially the food. Everyone said: if they have an event that needs catering, they will definitely choose Bay Tinh again. They are on time and service with all of their heart. They attended to each individual request and they stay back to help clean up everything after the event. It's is really a platinum catering service!<br/><br/>I recommend Bay Tinh to everyone if you want to know what authentic Vietnamese cuisine is like without travelling to Vietnam.

There are so many options that I have been drooling over and know that I have to sacrifice so many (this time).   For starters we go with stuffed mussels - mussels stuffed with a fat prawn in oyster sauce.      nothing stuffed about these     The mussels are tender and the prawn inside perfectly cooked.  The prawn fell out as soon as you picked it up, so was eaten separately.  The bed of salad is fresh and tangy.   Not a bad dish but I was obviously thinking 'stuffed' meant something other than just a prawn shoved inside it.   Next up we shared a huge platter of salt & pepper calamari.  Deep fried with crispy shells encasing soft, tender calamari and laced with salt and pepper and a side of lemon dipping sauce.  I could have had more chilli and will know for next time but these morsels were super good.

Vietnamese food is a whole new playground of food to me – although I’m from Singapore, I’ve always had so much more exposure to Japanese and Thai food that Vietnamese food has always slipped under the radar for me. But not anymore! A very lovely invite to Bay Tinh gave me just the perfect reason to visit Marrickville, and learn more about Vietnamese cuisine. Originally owned by Mr Tinh Tranh, Bay Tinh is so named because Mr Tinh was the sixth child in his family. He arrived in Australia as a refugee from Vietnam, and saved up every penny till he opened up Bay Tinh in 1988. When he decided to retire, he sold the restaurant to Harry Hoang, who’s taken the menu and added his own take on it, still serving the traditional Vietnamese food that Bay Tinh is known for, but also with the inclusion of his family’s recipes. The entrée selection very conveniently came in entrée and main size options, which meant that we...

"Toto, I don't think we're in Marrickville anymore..." Except we are in Marrickville, and we're in a bar. A bar. With cherry red textured floral wallpaper, and wall-to-wall timber and fancy light fittings. Are you sure I'm not in Newtown? I say this becau

Flamboyant and personable Harry Hoang rose to the challenge of taking the reins of Tinh Tran's successful restaurant and making it his own. The putrid pink walls of my recollections have been lost in favour of warm, modern decor. Waitresses wearing matchi

Enjoyable. I have been over the last ten years on and off and it was always delicious. It does have slow service and seems more expensive than other local places. After reading all the reviews saying how bad things were, we went last night and found the waitstaff to be very friendly and attentive. We went early (around 6.30) and it was crowded. The food was great and everyone enjoyed it. At the end, they took about 25 minutes to bring us the bill (had gotten much busier). Being that it was a Monday, maybe they didn't have enough staff working. I understand that the place was packed. I definitely would go back again. Overall, I would give it an 8/10.

What Rubbish.. Harry, you should be a shamed of yourself I thought after all these years you were a person with intregrity..well how I was wrong. We have been going to this Restaurant for almost 10 years the last 2 have been awful,We thought for old time sake lets give them another chance......WELL WHAT RUBBISH THEY BROUGHT OUT, SERVICE NON EXISTISTANT.....PRICES WELL LETS PRETEND WE ARE CAPABLE RESTAURANT AND RIP PEOPLE OFF.<br/>HARRY, what a disgrace and from what i have been reading Im not the only one....mate time to close the doors now, before ome really gets upset or sick....<br/>I have had many a party and have taken plenty of people from Overseas , you embarrassed me tonite we will never step foot in you RUBBISH RESTAURANT AGAIN.....<br/>People do yourselves a favour there is much better out there.......this place was good 10 yrs ago.. he has made too much money and doesn't care.....<br/>Oh when i went to complain when we paid the they didnt know what to say, just take the cash...<br/>ABSOLUTE RUBBISH ......HARRY, what do you have to say for yourself...?

THINGS HAVE CHANGED HERE!! AWFUL....... I used to go to this restaurant for approx. 25 years when living in Sydney, went back a little while ago & it's hit rock bottom very pricey, menu changed & sour waitress the only original left, still there (she doesn't wait tables anymore), maybe she owns it now?<br/>Shocking service in regards to wait time & friendliness, VERY average food. A real shame this place used to pack in all the locals, now very poor patronage for a Saturday night....won't be back.

Hit and miss dishes. Very mix reviews before trying this place but I gave it a go anyway. Had some spring rolls as a started, duck and banh khot. Not many places in Sydney do banh khot. These ones were very rich - a lot more coconut milk than I'm used to. It tasted like dense Banh Xeo batter. One was enough. We shared some mains. The famous dish of "ballotine chicken" was more like chicken skin stuffed with a minced pork and mushroom filling. It would've been nice to have more chicken as it kind of tasted like eating a Viet meatloaf. We also ordered the garlic prawns which were average and salt and pepper calamari - that of which came with a very fake tasting lemon pepper sauce. Enjoyed the grilled pork skewer dish the most. Overall very average and over priced.

Poor Service. I ordered Vietnamese on Saturday night through Menulog / Bay Tinh Vietnamese in Marrickville. <br/> <br/>I received confirmation of my order as per normal however when I received my order it was not what I ordered. I ordered a quail entree and two soups however I did not get either of the soups I ordered and instead got one container of 'chopped beef'. <br/><br/>I phoned Bay Tinh to advise that the incorrect order had been delivered however they were extremely difficult to deal with and basically said as I ordered through Menulog it was not their problem and I had to contact Menulog directly. They also told me that they were too busy and could not deal with my phone call which I thought was quite unacceptable. <br/> <br/>Bay Tinh advised me that they had in fact delivered the correct item and the order sent through by Menulog was incorrect. I am not sure what issue happened here however I am highly disappointed with the full range of service. I spent $40 on this order/delivery and the fact we did not get the two key items we ordered, and then Bay Tinh would not discuss the issue with us was highly disappointing. <br/> <br/>I am not sure if this was a Menulog error where the incorrect order was sent to Bay Tinh or a Bay Tinh error however the service from Bay Tinh alone was poor and they were completely unwilling to listen to my issue. <br/> <br/>I will definitely not be going here again (either in store or via Menulog).

Do not go here. Went last night after attending a show at the Factory Theatre with high expectations, as I'd heard good things about this restaurant. So I was very surprised when it turned out to be one of the worst restaurant experiences I've ever had. <br/><br/>On arrival, we asked for a table for two - the woman pointed to two chairs along the wall, barked at us "wait" and stomped off. We ended up sitting there quite a while, until she came back, led us to a table in the next room, threw a couple of menus on the table and again stomped off. After waiting another 15 minutes for anyone to take our order or even come near us, we started discussing whether we should just leave but at this point another lady came up and took our order. We ordered two entrees, a main to share, rice for two, and drinks (a glass of red wine, a coconut juice and some water). <br/><br/>It took more than 20 minutes for the drinks to arrive - and when they did, the order was wrong. They brought a glass of red, a Vietnamese beer and no water. When I told the waitress it should have been a coconut juice and not a Vietnamese beer, she seemed very annoyed. She did go and get a coconut juice and water, although it took another long wait.<br/><br/>The entrees finally arrived 45 minutes after we'd first set foot in the door. Again, they were just banged down on the table - the service was very rude and discourteous - and there were no chopsticks or cutlery to eat with. I had to go up to the front counter to ask for some chopsticks. The woman at the counter seemed quite annoyed by this request (as though it was my fault there were no chopsticks!) and she sent someone to the kitchen to get some. I was standing there for a couple of minutes until I was ordered to: "Go back to table, we bring it." So I went and sat down and it took another several minutes for our chopsticks to arrive, all the while the entrees were sitting there, getting cold. Finally, two pairs of chopsticks arrived (one set was dirty and had to be wiped down with a napkin) and we started eating.<br/><br/>The entrees themselves were reasonable but nothing special - I have certainly encountered much better Banh Xeo (Crispy Pancakes) at other Vietnamese restaurants - but the Nam Dong Co Don Cha Tom (Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms) were quite tasty if not a bit too oily.<br/><br/>After the entrees began an interminable wait for the main - a chicken dish in a curry sauce with optional hot chilli (an option we took up since we love chilli). When it arrived, the meal was cold, uninspiring and quite bland, with not a hint of chilli about it. I could barely taste any curry either and it seemed to be more a satay dish than a curry. And of course, the meal had arrived without any rice and we had to ask for it to be brought out. It finally arrived once we were halfway through our meals.<br/><br/>I don't know what was wrong in this place last night but they were having a shocker. I understand that things can go wrong - staff can call in sick, it can be unexpectedly busy, and so on - but frankly, there is no excuse for such unfriendliness and so many mistakes and errors, especially when this place is considerably more expensive than the usual Marrickville Vietnamese restaurant. And to be honest, it seemed there were lots of staff there and it wasn't particularly busy either - it just looked like a normal night - and there was no explanation or apology given for the long waits or other problems. I could her people at the next table bitterly complaining too, about mixed up orders and wrong meals, asking for refunds and discounts. We didn't do that because that's not our style - what we'll do instead is never go to this restaurant again, and never recommend it to anyone under any circumstances.

Fabulously Full!. Went on Friday night with five friends and had a confortable booth where we were able to talk easily. We shared a duck salad and beef salad entrees with succulent tender meat and well balanced dressing. Their little rice cakes are unique, like little custard tarts, but crisp on the outside, custardy soft on the inside with prawn paste on top - melt in your mouth - to die for! The prawn stuffed mushrooms were good and the soft shell crab with a tangy tamarind sauce was excellent. I do not know how they achieve it, but the calamari with hot lime sauce was very tender, with only the thinest of batter and very fresh oil. My friends thought it was the best they had found and the sauce was very moreish. We shared the bonfire beef and prawns as a main and successfully made our own rolls with salad and a unique anchovie based sauce - very satisfying. We had a serving of Asian Brocholi with garlic sauce so were good and had some fresh greens. We were very full by this stage but found our second stomaches for dessert and my friends were amazed at how nice the fried ice cream is. The banana fritters were their usual melt in the mouth delight I remembered and the French influenced Coffe Rum Parfait with caramised wallnuts impressed.<br/>All up with rice included we paid $34 dollars each for a lot of quality food with no cheap stir fry. We felt it was great value for money.

SYDNEY'S BEST VIETNAMESE. Love the food at Bay Tinh. It's so fresh and flavours are well balanced. The crispy skin chicken and rice paper roles were great!

Great food. I have visited this restaurant in the past but can only vaguely recall it so can't compare to how it is now.<br/><br/>My boyfriend and I are regular patrons of this restaurant and think the food is superb - I am an extremely picky eater.<br/><br/>Negatives:<br/>Pricier than your average Vietnamese restaurant in Marrickville.<br/>Sometimes service can be slow and forgetful.<br/>When it is a full house, yes, it can get rather loud and headachey. Maybe the addition of soft furnishings would help?<br/><br/>Positives:<br/>The food is commensurately better, in line with their higher pricing structure.<br/>Consistently great food.<br/>The ingredients are almost always fresh and of great quality.<br/>Great ambiance.<br/><br/>Their hoisin sauce is none like I have tasted elsewhere. It's got a punch of lemon or something in it but it's great. I would especially recommend the bonfire prawn and beef, deep fried spring rolls, vegetarian and seafood steamboats (both are amazing tasting and healthy!) and pork and veggie dish.

Disappointing. We have been going to this restaurant for more then 25 years.Since the ownership changed it has gone downhill.on Saturday night the service was slow and the food disappointing.it was also expensive at $50 per head without alcohol<br/>We have been to that restaurant more then 100 times but never again.lost us!

Couldn't believe it!. Went there with about 12 family for a special occasion. Had to approach a waiter to finally take our order. They kept giving two plates of the dish to one end so we has to redistribute ourselves to make sure everyone got some. Asked for more rice. They said yes but never brought it. Got the huge angry face from grandma at the till cause she thought our tip wasn't big enough!! Seriously, why would you go back?

Mixed. Took ages to take our order and experienced that annoying thing of watching others who came later have their orders taken. IN the end we had to ask 3 times to have our order taken. Then a long wait and we were well and truly ready to eat. THen a waitress arrived to tell us there had been a fault with an electronic ordering system and our order hadn't gone though to the kitchen. Not happy. Then remarkably quickly one of our entrees arrived. I suspect this may have been because someone else had ordered it and staff diverted it to us as it was all getting pretty testy. <br/>The food was delicious but not particularly good value. So a mixed response from me.

Give this a miss. Overpriced for what you get. The only decent priced dish was the $10 fried rice but it was only like half a plate and tasted like old rice that has been scraped from yesterday's dirty dishes. The food is okay overall but being in marrickville it should be like 30% cheaper than what it is. Surprised to see the rating high for this, maybe it used to be good.

Very average. I used to frequent this place many many years ago and decided to go for my birthday as a special treat. <br/><br/>There is a wide selection of Vietnamese cuisine, and my wife and i settled on 3 entres and a main, all to share. The food was ok, it wasnt knock your socks off great, it wasnt poor but just average. It was no different to any other Vietnamese joint. <br/><br/>The best part is when we got the bill, $75 for 3 entres a main and 2 cokes. Not worth it at all. This place is massively overpriced for the quality.<br/><br/>If you have too much money and just want to waste it, this place is for you. If you want a decent good value meal, stay away.

Do yourself a favour.... And DO NOT eat at this restaurant. <br/><br/>This is without a doubt the worst meal I have had in Sydney. <br/>A broad selection of dishes were chosen to try to get a reasonable snap-shot of the different styles of cooking that have supposedly made this restaurant famous. <br/><br/>The selection of herbs was meagre, and old. Salad consisted of the stalk of an iceberg lettuce, and a extraordinary amount of bean sprouts, (obviously to pad out the meal), which were so old they were brown and starting to go sour. <br/>The Beef rolls (once again accompanied with the other half bag of bean sprouts, and the remnants of iceberg lettuce) were slightly tasty, however had been microwaved, and contained a complimentary hair. <br/><br/>Thinking that the "specialty" dish would save the day, "The Famous Ballantine of Chicken" was ordered... <br/>The chicken was a grey colour, the texture of tyre rubber, with an aftertaste to match. I don't know what happened to the fragrant spices... <br/><br/>Anyhow.. more than half the food that was served was left on the plates, and when we were asked if we would like to take the remainder home in containers, I could not suppress my laughter..

Not too bad. Not a bad place, but not great either. You know, one of these places you don't really vote "I like it" but you also don't vote "I don't". With so many other Vietnamese restaurants nearby, with much better prices albeit the poor ambience, I don't think I wll be coming back.

Good food but good value??. Sunday night the service was pretty sharp, despite it being a full house. The cubed beef was tender and juicy. The prawn rice paper rolls were very fresh. Our mains were the house special chicken and salt & pepper tofu. The former was absolutely sensational, the latter just so- so. Dessert was a surprise - a very good poached pear with a rich chocolate sauce and vanilla icecream. Pear not especially spicy and the presentation was poor, but still very pleasant eating. All this, two rounds of jasmine tea and three 333 beers, for around $100. Not cheap, and possibly not great value for money. I'd go back for the special chicken in a heartbeat.

Good, but better before. I used to go here regularly ages ago, when the walls were covered in odd cork material and black painted wood with cut outs decorated the ceiling. But the fantastic food more than made up for its "interesting" interior design.<br/><br/>I went there recently, and with the change in management and space expansion, the prices have increased, servings have gotten smaller and flavours have changed slightly. <br/><br/>However, having said that, this is one of the better vietnamese restaurants in sydney, and I would return again.

Average. Took friends here a couple of weeks ago, as we had been here before and had a good experience. This time though, whilst the food was good, it was not great,like the first time we had been, and I can somewhat agree, with the previous review, that when they get busy, they lack the attentiveness to service, although having said that, once served, the food does come out quick enough. I do find the tables a little small, which means you have to rearrange things on a regular basis. Would recommend, and will return.

Never again. That's 4 hours of my life I will never get back. The worst service I have had to endure. It was like they just didn't care at all. It took hours to get our meal. They had about 4 people on as wait staff for about 400 people. The food was below average. A very disappointing night. I won't ever go back. It was also extremely over-priced.

I agree with fellow reviewers, i don't get what the hype is all about. The food is average but it sure is extremely expensive!

I don't understand why this place is so popular. The food lacked flavour and cost too much for what it was. Give this place a miss, there are better places to dine at on marrickville rd.

Great food! We keep going back for the fresh Vietnamese cuisine. The service is sometimes lacking, since they have expanded service has had trouble keeping up.

I dont get this place. Its always packed, I have been there three times and been dissapointed every time. Can someone please explain what is good about this restaurant? apart from being the most clean/western looking establishment in Marrickville's dining precinct

The food here is fresh, colorful and vibrant. The staff are helpful and the service is great. This is my favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney.

Used to be good, but too expensive now

Eat downstairs. I have been here a few times. The Do it Yourself Vietnamese vege rolls were a highlight. Friendly service. Loud but easy to have a chat. Parking ample nearby. Well priced. Fresh. Delicious. Authentic. Best to eat downstairs as upstairs lacks atmosphere. Consistently good food. Will return to choose from huge menu.GregFresser

Great food, great atmosphere and inexpensive.

The food last night was fresh, great flavours, and the crispy skinned omlette took me back to my time in Dalat, awesome, if you've been to Vietnam, bay tinh will certainly make up your mind to go back, love the food

A great restaurant gone off the tracks. Not a patch on what it was. This was my favourite local restaurant until it changed hands (and chefs) when the father retired and daughters took over. It's like he kept the secret ingredients to himself. Actually I think they care more about the decor (which they have improved) than the food. I always went for the food.

Great come come back to an old favorite. Not as good as I remembered but still fantastic and excellent value. The ambience was disapated by being placed in the renovated section upstairs. All ways love to order the bonfire dishes there.

Not what it used to be. The food is now very ordinary and the service is poor. We had to wait nearly our entire meal for our drinks.

Great place and good food that is well priced. Recommend the bonfire dishes for something different...

This place is my favourite local. Prices are fantastic and cuisine is fresh. You have to try the cubed beef.