Eccetera Trattoria Pizzeria — Restaurant in Bowral

“Chicken leg served as spatchcock with no apology.”

We visited Eccetera for the first time during our holiday in the Southern Highlands. My partner ordered the trout, while I opted for the spatchcock. Having ordered this dish on many occasions, I was expecting a whole, immature bird with the backbone removed. Spatchcock fowl are typically on the small side, being immature, and are dressed and grilled or roasted.

I was rather surprised when my plate arrived with a standard chicken leg on it, drumstick and thigh, commonly known as Chicken Maryland. When I called the waiter over and pointed out the discrepancy, he just agreed it was indeed Chicken Maryland but didn't offer an explanation or apology. It wasn't until I insisted that something be done about it that he begrudgingly removed the dish and asked what I would like in its place. By this time my partner had all but finished her trout, and noticing that it looked like a trout should look, I ordered the same.

Some time time later my trout arrived. It was served to me in a sullen manner, and some minutes after, the waiter inquired in a distinctly discourteous tone if the trout was to my liking. I chose to ignore this rude and offensive remark but my partner eyed him suspiciously, causing him to comment on her expression. She gave him a polite but firm dressing down, letting him know that such behaviour was unacceptable. In his defence, he lamely told us that he was still young and learning, presumably about life and social graces, and the evening was saved, but only because of my partner's intervention.

To be fair, we received complimentary desserts, but again only because we suggested to him that it might be the appropriate thing to do, given the circumstances.

I noticed that other patrons in the restaurant had also received chicken legs in place of the spatchcock, but no one queried it, and despite our alerting the waiter (and presumably the chef) no one was offered an alternative. I might add that this dish is relatively expensive at $30.

This experience has left us wondering how this restaurant ever received an award for excellence in 2015. I would never go there again and wouldn't recommend...

Made our booking 2 weeks ago for tonight to eat for a family member’s birthday. We were the second group there when we arrived. After 30 minutes, the restaurant was full. Every other table got served before us, we only ordered 4 pizzas. Other tables ordered entrees and mains, the waitress even asked one table the arrived AFTER us if they wanted dessert before we got any food! Raised our concerns with the waitress twice and still not resolved after 45 mins of being there. We walked out, told the owner and her excuse was “well we’ve been busy!”. Being busy isn’t an excuse for rudely ignoring our table and tending to literally everyone else in the restaurant. Also, the business has breached the public health order in not collecting full details of all attendees. I’m fairly confident they have more people dining than the current allowance under the order. All has been reported to police for them to address. Don’t go here, experience...

Trying to be a upmarket restaurant, but is at best, "ok". Way noisy, the decor is nice and themed Italian, but all the hard surfaces make it near impossible to have a nice conversation. Sadly gets worse if your guests have hearing difficulties. Very limited menu options. Pricing does not match the food, dont get me wrong, the food was not bad, but just a bit overpriced. Sadly on the night we had to deal with more flies on us or around our table than we think were outside! When we quietly advised our female waiter on departure, all we got was excuses and zero confidence it was going to be resolved. Sorry, in times when we are trying to support re emerging restaurants after a horrid year of Covid, this is one that needs to look at itself and not blame the (lack) of customers. We...