La Porchetta St Lucia — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Tony, the owner, is a friendly, polite and congenial guy, and he made us feel welcome the moment we arrived at his restaurant.

We started the evening with a schooner of refreshing Gt Northern Super Crisp ($8) and a glass of sparkling white wine, at a modest 5 pesos. For entree, we had the arancini balls. They were nice and fluffy with a cheesy filling and a crispy batter. There were four generous balls to the serve. For mains we choose the grilled fish (barramundi) with mash and vegetables, and the spag with meatballs. According to Tony, the meatballs were part beef and part pork, although I’d say pork was the dominant ingredient, so if you’re not a pork lover, avoid this one.

Ambience is casual, laid back and relaxed. The interior is dated but it’s colourfully decked out with an interesting bottle display behind the counter and next to that a huge poster of a chubby, cheerful fellow called “Rocky” in a Roman toga, swilling a glass of red wine. Furniture is fairly utilitarian with wooden chairs and tables, but it all works well to create a homely and convivial atmosphere. The perfect place to enjoy an evening out with friends or family. Service from Tony was efficient and fast. Drinks, entree and main meals came out quickly and in the correct order. Tony is clearly a professional and experienced restaurateur and the place hums like a well oiled machine.

With our 30% discount for booking via “The Fork”, we paid a reasonable $60 for two drinks, a starter and two mains. With our little Aussie peso spiralling ever downwards towards Lebanese or Venezuelan levels of hyperinflation, that’s good value for money.

There’s a single toilet at the back. It’s clean and well provisioned with soap and hand towels, but the door is in need of a lick of paint. I shouldn’t complain though, because this is the only joint on this rather drab and rundown little shopping and eating strip to actually have a toilet.

There’s easy street parking just outside the restaurant or anywhere in the near vicinity, where there don’t seem to be any restrictions. Across the road is the well stocked IGA supermarket and the handy Liquorland liquor store.

We had a pleasant evening, and it’s worth a visit with the 30% discount deal with “The Fork”. The ambience is relaxed and Tony, the owner, will make you feel welcome. Service is attentive and efficient. There is a single toilet and parking...

Went there for dinner last night with a friend and we were both extremely disappointed both by the food and the service. When we ordered our entree we asked for some table water as well (which never came until we asked a second time). We asked for more time to look at the mains and when one of the ladies came back to ask us if we were ready to order we said yes and then she took our menus and walked off and we were extremely confused and we had to interrupt her and repeat that we hadn't finished ordering and then she asked if we wanted any desserts when we hadn't even received out entrees or even ordered our mains?? Our Entrees were average and they gave us no plates to eat over until half way through. When our pizza finally came out, they brought us the wrong one. She walked off so quickly for us to say anything that I had to get up and tell them they must've given the wrong pizza and when asked "you ordered the original?" I said yes but that's definitely not it because it had prawns, pineapple etc., they told me it was the right one, so I had to get out THEIR OWN menu and show THEM what the original pizza was and they were like "oh that is the wrong pizza, we will recook it" and did not apologise or anything, even when they brought out the right pizza, it was very average. Very disappointed, considering there was only one other table, so the service should've been better. Definitely not going back or recommending...

In all my years of visits to Hawken Village I don’t think I’ve stepped foot in La Porchetta once. Finally the day came when I booked via The Fork for a 30% off promotion.

We ordered: pollo e fungi risotto, $23.90 - chicken and mushrooms cooked in a delicate stock penne beef ragu, $23.90 (main size) - beef simmered in a homemade tomato sauce kids meal set, $13.90 - choice of main (chicken schnitzel), side (chips), and drink (apple juice), plus one scoop of ice cream

The food took about 20 minutes to come out which I thought wasn’t too bad given we were a group of 8. The portions are quite generous and seeing some of the other kids meals with the spaghetti bolognese, I reckon it would have been plenty for an average adult! No surprise our friends ended up taking away a chunk of their kids’ leftovers.

Service was warm and friendly. Taste wise I think the food was decent, though wasn't enough to upset the standings on the leaderboard of my existing favourites in this...