Sasso Italiano — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Went with some friends to Sasso last night, Thursday 30th December.. no reservation and knowing there may not be a table available.. Kylie welcomed us and asked if we would like to sit at the bar as a table will become available soon.. This was the greatest as I have not sat at a bar with friends for years. We had a great time laughing and joking like we used to. I usually don’t drink but had 2 bourbon and gingerales. Transported me straight back to younger days. The guys behind the bar were great and joined in some of our conversations whilst mixing drinks. Great bar atmosphere and we were made to feel part of the family. Only half way through our second drink, Kylie accompanied us to our table. Seemed like no time at all. Everything on the menu looked delicious so choosing took a while. I eventually decided on Pizza, mainly because I couldn’t decide between two other choices.. Having lived in Italy and worked there, I can be a little critical of Italian restaurants here but the Pizza was excellent.. Could have come directly from an oven in Napoli. Sorry to admit that I only finished my bourbon and then had water (as a responsible driver) but my friend had a Multipulciano (if that is the correct spelling... passed the exit signs about 200 times between Firenze and Roma and is an excellent wine producing area quite close to Chianti to the north west) All our dishes were delicious and staff were attentive without being overly so. Kylie also checked on us occasionally. Dessert was not needed but we had some anyway.. The pizzas were of a size that any normal person would require a take out box and other meals were of a generous serving. We did not leave hungry. I cannot speak highly enough of Sasso and all the staff. Food, drinks and service was excellent and, as a local business owner, I know and appreciate the value of good service.. I, and my friends, would like to wish the management and staff at Sasso a wonderful and successful 2022. Thank you for the...

This place was a disaster from start to finish. A huge disappointment given it was a friend's birthday celebration. Even more so as I had such high hopes given their extensive negroni menu. Speaking of negroni, I would dearly have loved to start my night with one but unfortunately, despite being sat outside on a table to wait while our booth inside was made available, not a single waitperson took the initiative to return to us to take a drinks order. Madness! Does no one in this place understand the money to be made on drinks orders? We waited so long for any service that one of our party had to go inside and insist on someone attending to us. The wait had been so embarrassingly long we were treated to a complimentary bottle of their bottom shelf prosecco. Yummo huh? You think the waiter that presented this treat had the foresight to perhaps take a drink order for the table? No, he did not! Once seated inside (which was 20min after our actual booking time) the service continued to in the same abysmal fashion. Our empty plates sat on the table after the first course for 20-30min. Consequently the 2nd course took 45min to arrive after finishing 1st course. Sadly, the food does not redeem the place. Pizzas were very ordinary. A swamp of sogginess in the middle that made and not overly tasty. We constantly had to call waitstaff over to take drinks orders and to chase up lost orders (some drinks took over 45min to reach us - had it not been for my simmering anger, I think I might have passed out from thirst). When we raised our many grievances with the manager on duty she had the audacity to interrupt and argue back. In the end, after providing her with a blow by blow account of just how rubbish their service had been (word limit constraints prevent the writer from providing same now), she accepted that it was unacceptable and a discount was applied to our table, which I am grateful for. Probably won't return. They're probably...

Since Sasso is at walking distance from where we live we decided to have an early dinner here on a Friday. So first what was 5 out of five. The staff: yup, 5/5! We had negronis at the bar before sitting down at our table and the bar staff were very friendly and attentive. We tried the Radelaide negroni based on rosso vermouth and Italian bitter from the Adelaide Hills. It proved to be a good choice and a great way to start the evening. Then the floor staff took us to our table which was outdoors and made comfortable with radiant heaters at the ceiling. So far, so good. A great setting, a lovely experience and a perfect soave with good minerality to complement the mangia mangia.

So now for the food. Our burrata was too cold and average, the steamed mussels were yummy. The raviolone came with raw egg yolk which was not what we expected. My wife can't handle raw yolk and there was just one big piece of ravioli. A let down for us. Since we are pescetarians we ordered the gamberi pizza without pancetta. With great effort we spotted some flinter thin pieces of prawn on the dough but certainly not even close to name this a prawn pizza. The dough was soft and floppy, probably from too much cheese. The crust was great though.

If you love pork, then you'll definitely have a better chance to enjoy the menu. If you are a lover of fine dining and authentic cuisine you may be somewhat disappointed. The restaurant comes across as a formula for a chain business or franchise. So, I missed that "oh, wow" factor with the meals.

My recommendation is to browse the food menu on the website before booking. If you're pescetarian like us you may find it is not for you. Yet, meat lovers and especially pork lovers could easily have a ball. Finally, the restaurant suits both couple...