Nonna and I — Restaurant in Adelaide

We have dined once at Nonna and I in Norwood previously and the food and service was exceptional!

We recently dined at the Kensington store and were expecting a similar experience. The service was very poor and we were not offered any other beverages our whole evening and our water sat empty and glasses were never cleared or acknowledged they were empty (prior to entrees arriving). Our drinks were forgotten until we requested them and when we asked for more water twice it never got replaced.

The garlic bread was exceptionally dry and over filled with dry herbs, felt like you were eating sawdust. We ordered the olives also and this was a similar experience as the garlic bread and was flooded with dry herbs.

We ordered the special pasta at $39 - creamy lobster sauce with scallops and prawns and angel hair pasta(sounded delicious). One would assume that for a $39 pasta dish it would be filled with seafood (well more than 6 pieces. 3 prawns and 3 small scallops was all that was in the dish) and the taste of lobster was non-existent and purely tasted like cream. The pasta stuck together and the sauce was so thick and gluggy!

We also ordered the seafood marina at $39 which did have more seafood but tasted like it was made with purely a tin of tomatoes. The menu also stated every main was served with bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, we did not receive this. Was it because we had ordered and paid for dry garlic bread, we were not sure? But the waitress never returned to our table for us to ask until our meals were cleared!

We did share the tiramisu which was the best part of the entire meal!

Would we rush back? Unlikely! Would we order a $39 pasta dish again from Nonna and I?...

What can I say about Nonna and I?

How can I put it into words how amazing this Italian Restaurant is?

This fantastic gem is located about half way up Magill Road and if you haven't been, I can't recommend it enough. I must've driven past this place dozens of times before I noticed it one day when grabbing burgers from across the street.

I remember thinking to myself "Hang on... When did an Italian Restaurant pop up here?". I decided to drop in and have a meal with my friends, and that was the beginning of the end....

I have easily been back there now well into the double digits, and will continue to return there for years to come.

Why I hear you ask? Because it's not just about the food at this amazing place (don't get me wrong the food is to die for), but it's also about the experience you get. Chef Khelil is a hidden gem in Adelaide in both presentation and personality. His talents have also been recognised by South Australia's own Cosi, and he has earned himself weekly air time on Cosi's show.

Ignoring all of that, he is a wonderful host when you visit. An intelligent and charismatic Chef who makes all feel welcome when they visit.

Don't believe the nay-sayers who 1 star this place because of some small issue they had on the night, this place is the real deal in both food quality and food experience.

If you haven't been, do yourself a favour and go check...

After taking a lot of time to choose a good authentic Italian restaurant for my husband's birthday dinner we chose Nonna and I for 4 of us to dine. The food was very disappointing. 3 out of 4 starters were served and after they had finished I had to call a waitress over to ask where my calamari starter was? The staff had not twigged thst one starter had not arrived. After querying it arrived 15 mins after the others at the table has finished and I could not eat as it was boiling hot inside like it had been set aside forgotten then microwaved, it was not sublimely soft like the Italians know how to cook, but as well as boiling hot inside the crumb was rubbery and tasteless, which was conveyed to the staff. The mains were akin to standard pub food, not awful, but very average. The veal for example again was tough not like a good tender Italian cooked meal. At approx $300 spent for 4 of us on meals plus wine, the outcome was very disappointing. Nonna and I when first in Norwood was amazing - food cooked with love. This experience felt like it had all been franchised out, with a cafeteria-like setting, no ambience, no apology about forgotten starter and basic service. For me, never again and i won't be recommending to anyone who appreciates good Italian cooking. This was much more like pub food, pub service and no idea how to respond to an issue raised at the time. So...