La Dolce Vita Ristorante — Restaurant in Brisbane City

This place has clearly seen better days and despite its great loc in the heart of the Milton dining precinct, under the famous Eiffel Tower, with a cool alfresco ambience, I cannot recommend it.

It’s clearly in need of a makeover or modernisation, probably with new ownership. It looks tired and old fashioned, the staff seem unmotivated, and the whole dining experience, from food, to service, toilets and atmosphere left us feeling underwhelmed. This is all a pity, as the potential is there for a first class restaurant in the best spot in Milton, offering outdoor or indoor dining. As it stands at the moment, it’s a sprawling rambling place which has indoor spaces but seems to offer only outdoor dining, so how would this work in winter? Granted, there are decent, industrial strength heaters positioned near the roof and we were able to keep warm on a chillier than normal spring night, but imagine if it was June or July, with sub-zero temps and pouring rain? Forget it.

There were five staff on duty, almost one per occupied table, but still, the service was abysmal and they forgot to bring out one main meal. Long after my wife had finished her meal, I was still twiddling my thumbs, waiting for mine to arrive. I alerted one waiter, who seemed confused and uncertain as to what was going on. Eventually we told the maître d, who confessed that they had completely forgotten about it, but to his credit, he organised it quick smart and it came out within about five mins. But still, what were they thinking? That we would only order one main meal? Shows how inattentive they were.

The food was a mixed bag. The first thing that we were told when we arrived was that the pizza oven was broken, so pizza was off the menu. Sounds a bit like “Fawlty Towers”. Imagine that: An Italian restaurant without pizza! Nevertheless we soldiered on. We ordered calamari for a starter to share but it was a disappointment. A plate of anaemic looking pieces of stringy calamari in a soggy batter. My wife’s lamb chops were decent enough, with two plumb and tender chops, but with not much else on the plate and being undercooked the first time around, they had to be sent back. My fettuccine ragu was a reasonable dish with fresh, tasty meat in a nice, al dente pasta.

The marble tables and wicker chairs were solid and comfortable, but looking around me, the wooden timber features and the faux Italian columns, arches and wall frescos, complete with two statues at the front, all hark back to a bygone era of the 1970s reinforcing my belief that this place has probably been around here for decades, little has changed, they haven't moved with the times and are getting left behind by better places like Arrivederci across the road. The config also confused us, with the alfresco area sandwiched between two indoors spaces neither of which had any diners in them, and seemed to serve the purpose only of dealing with takeaway orders or accepting payment.

Being a quiet weeknight, there was just a smattering of other diners, and as a previous reviewer has said, the atmosphere is a tad soulless and dull, although, to be honest, that didn’t worry me so much as the poor service and below par food offerings. Just sitting outside on the terrace is quite pleasant, and was probably the best feature of the place.

Toilets are round the back, and as you walk to them, you'll pass by the open door of the kitchen and storage areas, none of which looked too appetising, and just confirmed in my mind, that this place is well past its prime.

With Our Entertainment discount of 25% we paid 61 pesos for a beer, a cocktail, a plate of calamari, lamb chops and a pasta. That would have been 80 pesos without a discount. Not what I would consider as good value for money, so we won’t be rushing back. There are better...

We were excited to try out La Dolce Vita, with its unique look that had caught our eyes in passing. We visited on Tuesday for their steak and prawn combo offer. Our waitress was lovely and I appreciated how helpful she was when I asked about the menu. The atmosphere was nice, albeit quiet (can't expect too much for a Tuesday night though).

The steak was a tad overcooked but had a really lovely flavour and char. The prawns were cooked well and also had a really nice flavour but everything was a bit disjointed on the plate. Unfortunately the whole dish was let down by the sauces. I was initially going to order the red wine jus but the server advised me it may clash with the garlic sauce the prawns are cooked in. Consequentially, I opted for the mushroom sauce instead which was OK (not a very strong flavour) but cold. My friend ordered the same meal but with the peppercorn sauce which was, for lack of a better word, disgusting. The flavour was strangely perfume-y and not like any other peppercorn sauces we have tasted. The texture was thick and floury (more a paste); it was almost like someone had added too much cornflour or perhaps not diluted a packet sauce enough. I'm glad it was served separately or else it would have rendered the meal inedible. The dressing on the side salad was nice, but to receive a meal to have three different sauces on a plate is a bit strange. Nothing tied all the elements together to make it taste well as a complete dish and, as you can imagine, the plate ended up a bit soup-y by the end. We didn't stick around for dessert but the wine was lovely and a well recommended pairing.

All in all, the experience was nothing to write home about. I get the impression the restaurant buys in good quality protein but with the current end product it's overpriced for what is on offer, even with their special deals on particular days. I doubt many people venture there twice. If it were my restaurant, I'd work on the sauces and execution of the dishes as it seems very hit-and-miss with their reviews here. I'd also like to see them build a better lunch menu perhaps with smaller servings of the pasta dishes at a more affordable ticket price and remove the burgers entirely.

In closing, La Dolce Vita needs some work to bring it up to the "romantic" dining vibe they seem to be shooting for. Certainly not the "special" experience one would hope for...

Huge reputation - terrible service!

We arrived right on time for our Valentine’s Day booking and the maitre d' greeted us with a smile and “welcome to La Dolce Vita”... oh no he didn’t... it was the same greeting we heard him offer all the guests... “howsit-goin’...” he pointed to a table in the corner and walked off.

We had booked a three course set menu for $89pp and welcome bubbles on arrival that never materialised. After seating we ordered as soon as we could. Our bottle of wine took 45 minutes to arrive and entree took over an hour - I don't know what was happening in the kitchen but it was not busy out front.

The food wasn’t great but at least it was hot when it finally arrived. Staff were polite but not one of the three waiters who served us or the manager ever came over to top up our water or wine or ask how we were enjoying our meals - even getting some salt was a mission. They seemed more interested in counting tables than waiting on them.

The live entertainment was good. The singer had a lovely voice and she was accompanied by a very talented keyboard player. They had a great repertoire and with a little effort they could have been amazing. But rather than dress to the occasion she wore a t shirt, jeans and a cowboy hat and watched the tennis on TV while she sang her renditions of Coldplay and Will Smith - she could be truly great.

After more than three hours of sitting in uncomfortable plastic chairs and being completely ignored I called for the bill. When it arrived, I had my card out ready to pay and leave but the waiter plonked the bill down on the table without a word, walked off and didn’t come back.

I walked over to a bar where a man who looked a bit older than the rest of the staff was taking payments. Manager, or owner perhaps... I was considering how to sum up our evening when he asked... but of course, he did not ask.

He took my payment without eye contact or even a smile. I got the feeling I was a nuisance and taking my money was a begrudged chore rather than the very thing that keeps him in business!

He didn’t ask, so I’ll sum it up here for you... Despite their best efforts to spoil our date we had a lovely evening because we choose to. With the slightest attention to their guests they could have given a truly wonderful experience. We will not go back and I would not recommend...