Villa Romana — Restaurant in Cairns City

Was looking to fulfill a pizza craving and the reviews took us to this place (the first ranked place seem to have odd looking thin crust) service by Giuseppe was friendly and helpful with impeccable service. We ordered the Spaghetti Allo Scoglio, and ham and pineapple pizza (it's Cairns not Naples), side salad and desserts all to share.

Definitely recommend the Spaghetti Allo Scoglio, being in Cairns we've been spoilt with much fresher and better tasting seafood than in Sydney and this was no exception. And while the all the trimmings of seafood were on point the main event was the spaghetti itself which definitely earned a Trattoria label given how light, well seasoned and balanced the pasta which has hints of being cooked in a seafood broth before plating.

Pizza was also good, we wanted a Hawaii pizza we got a Hawaiian pizza, they didn't skimp on pineapple which some of the more "Il Duce" Italian joints will do almost out of spite. It was well executed and it definitely hit the spot.

Was expecting dessert to be just ok but was definitely surprised by the strawberry sorbet. The reason being is that most strawberry sorbet even from some of the most well established gelato places tend to be too tart, too seedy or gritty and just kind of unpleasant and a lot of work to eat.

This strawberry gelato was none of those things. It tasted how you wished a strawberry would actually taste, even real strawberries don't taste this good. Definitely a positive outlier in terms of expectations.

Overall can't recommend the place enough. We went here instead of catching the skyrail as we figured spending our money on good food was better than being trapped in a humid box and then stuck in Kurunda on that particular day. Maybe you enjoyed (or will enjoy) Kurunda, we just had different priorities (we went to Crystal Cascades and had a blast in the river instead) and it was well rewarded with...

Dear Villa Romana Management, I am writing to express my disappointment with the service my friends and I received during our recent visit to your esteemed restaurant. We chose to dine at your establishment tonight because of its renowned reputation for excellent cuisine. While the food did indeed meet our expectations, the service from one particular staff member left much to be desired. Upon our arrival, we encountered a female server, approximately 1.6 meters tall with long brown hair tied in a ponytail. She has distinctive floral tattoos covering her arms and elbows. When we sought her assistance, she hurried past us without even acknowledging our specific needs. Throughout the evening, she continued to serve other tables while completely ignoring our table of four girls. Despite passing by our table multiple times, she never responded to our requests or checked on us. We felt extremely frustrated and upset by her attitude, especially given the high expectations we had for your restaurant. The behavior of this server was the only blemish on an otherwise enjoyable evening. In stark contrast, another server, an Asian male, provided exemplary service. He was attentive, hospitable, and checked on us multiple times to ensure we were satisfied with our meal. His professionalism and dedication were much appreciated. The two stars of the service are only for him. We hope that you can provide a reasonable explanation for the poor service we experienced from the female server. Such actions are unacceptable and tarnish the reputation of your esteemed establishment. We look forward to your response and hope that appropriate measures will be taken to ensure all customers receive the same level of...

We dined here last night after deciding we fancied some Italian food while walking past.

The restaurant was very busy yet we were seated promptly and the waitress took our drinks order straight away.

We ordered starters and mains along with the focaccia bread. The starters were fine however, the bread extremely salty and as a result we sent it back via the waitress. We explained that the bread was very salty and therefore inedible and she took it away with no problem. End of issue? You would think!

Our table was in sight of the kitchen and we were able to witness the return of the dreaded bread. I have never witnessed such a show bad manners and unprofessional attitudes in my life. One chef was throwing his hands in the air and laughing and then other members of staff came over laughing, pointing and staring in our direction. Honestly, it was so uncomfortable I wished we had never said anything. The waitress then returned to say that she had tasted the bread and she thought it was fine (!) but the manager had agreed to refund the cost of the bread. While this was appreciated it had not been our intention and at this point we just wanted to leave due to the attitudes of the staff.

The mains were eaten as quickly as possible and after what felt like an eternity we were able to leave, never to return. I have left 3 stars for the rest of the food as it was ok although not the best. Maybe the bitter taste of ridicule affected the whole thing for us.

Surely, if you are still unable to process even minor criticism this is the wrong business to be in? And top tip, if you are going to ridicule your customers make sure they cannot see...