Address: 376 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill
Food: Italian
Price: around $20 a main
Vegetarian Option: On request with most dishes.
Rating: 5/10
Value for money: 5/10
Decor: The wood fire is nice, however the rest of the decor is a little confusing with paper table cloth and random artifacts adorning the room. It does not feel like a nice Italian restaurant but more like a food hall as a result.
Service: The lady who served us was very pleasant but not over-the-top! Just the way I like it. We didn’t have to wait all night for a thing and all questions were answered with a smile.
Menu: The menu is about 10 items on a blackboard. These could be amended on request to be vegetarian and included a mix of veal, bolognaise, seafood and chicken dishes. We asked for the antipasta in vegetarian form and then had the veal scallopini and spaghetti marinara for main.
Experience:
We requested the Antipasta in vegetarian form and got 10 Savoy crackers, about 5 olives, a small number of pickled mushrooms and a few slices of roasted capsicum. It was small, a bit cheap and underwhelming. On to the main.
When somebody has “fresh seafood” on the menu you’d expect all of the seafood to be fresh, not a couple of fresh mussels with frozen little prawns and overcooked fish in your spaghetti. It’s a blatant lie to use fresh in this context and one that shouldn’t be allowed at restaurants like it isn’t at supermarkets or markets.
The veal with mushrooms and vegetables was nice without being superb. The spaghetti didn’t taste like it was freshly made, had no flavour (some chilli or other herbs would have been nice) and had so much oil through it that both of us felt bloated for a few hours after.
The desserts looked good but I didn’t order after the marinara.
I was hoping for a less crowded version of Pellegrini’s in Collins St – simple Italian with lots of flavour, but it was more expensive without being overpriced, had a confusing ambience and food that lacked flavour. I’d probably not come here again.
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