Belluci's Manuka — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

After more than 26 years of coming to Bellucis at Manuka, Dickson and Woden, today was very disappointing. We booked today because it was our 23rd wedding anniversary. Our first date in 2001 was at Belluci’s Dickson, and to this day it was very memorable. My wife booked a table last week with a specific request to accommodate comfort for me as I am now hearing impaired and wear hearing aids. Usually this means a reserved table set aside before lunch service commences to ensure the table is not reallocated.

Upon arrival, although greeted warmly, it was clear that no table had been prepared for us. Unfortunately, when the manager (or maybe the owner) was called upon by staff to allocate a table, he was rather short and said words to the effect of ‘we do don’t that, look at the table setup - pick any table you want’. I was ready to walk out, but didn’t wish to ruin the day. Fortunately there was one table for two that had been recently vacated, but not yet reset, and my wife selected that table.

The food, well sadly, it got worse. My wife ordered a chicken parmigiana, I orderd my favourite (regular), a Belluci’s ‘special’ pizza which I have ordered every visit for over 20 years (yes I am a creature of habit!).

There was obviously a timing issue with dishes in the kitchen. The side of fries were piping hot, crispy and lovely. My wife’s dish was luke warm (at best) when it arrived and was cold by the time she was half way through it. My pizza was under cooked and the topping was basically falling off the dough, even using a knife and fork and the flavour was not the usual. Hence, neither of us could finish our meals.

Choosing to not ruin the day for one another, we didn’t complain other than my wife making a comment when paying the bill that her dish could have been a bit hotter. We acknowledged nothing to each other until the email came through inviting feedback.

At that moment we both exclaimed our dissatisfaction and I decided no more Mr Nice Guy. You invited feedback and now you have it. The manager/owner was arrogant, bordering on rude with absolutely no regard or empathy to the booking request and towards my wife when she reiterated my hearing impairment. In the 13 years of having to wear hearing aids, I’ve never been so offended about my disability. On a brighter note, some of your staff were lovely, but both dishes that we ordered were a big disappointment.

Not the Belluci’s we use to...

I had the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant today at Bellucci’s Manuka. And in no way do I make this statement lightly. Mainly because I have been a waiter as a uni student in London working at Leicester square. So I know what it’s like to be a waiter and dealt with all kinds of people.

So for me to make a “fuss” about waiting staff and to go to this length of writing about an experience… someone had to really piss me off.

I sat and watched my sparkling wine sitting at the bar counter for over 10 minutes before this particular waiter decided to bring it to me. I was already annoyed, cos by that time I have already watched the bartender taking drinks out to other tables…

And this particular waiter while bringing the drink to me and seeing how annoyed I was had the audacity to say sorry it took so long we are really busy today. Which is when I reacted. Cos they were not busy. There were so many empty tables. And I said no you are not and I’ve done your job before it’s not that hard to get a drink. And she was kind enough to bring her apron up and ask oh you want to do my job? At which I responded, I’ve moved on from that unlike you, this is all you will be.. (yes my bad, but I’ve never ever dealt with such a lousy wait staff)

And then the bartender came over and asked if everything was ok.. and I said yeah it’s not your fault.

And in between all this, the lousy wait staff who had so much attitude towards her customer then walks out crying and wiping tears.. didn’t seem so bothered while asking me if I wanted her apron.

Then another patron sitting next to us also decided to get involved and go talk to the bartender. Which made the bartender come and talk to us saying I understand things were said but could you please calm down to not upset the crowd (please feel free to check your cctv about how aggressive we were). We were not in anyway disruptive, I was just reacting to being spoken to rudely. This person was right behind me and maybe heard me being loud or maybe was just a racist against brown people. Who knows. But I love your food and never had an experience like this ever at your restaurant. But I will think twice before walking into belucci’s...

We chose Belluci's Manuka on review strength and the location. Essentially an upmarket ltalian Eatery with Pizza and Pasta the core of the menu. Went with a group of Seven and everyone found dishes to order. I should start by saying it is very pricey with Pizza bring $26 each and Pasta ranging from $30 -$38. I am not sure what l expected with my $31 fettuccine carbonara but it did not redeem itself as a $31 meal. I shared a Pizza with my son which was their Calabrese. I assumed it would have the traditional tomato and cheese base as well as sausage, roasted capsicum, mushrooms and fresh herbs. It didn't. So everything you picked up the pizza everything fell off. Sure it was tasty if you could keep it all on the base. Most everyone eating was reasonably pleased with their food, although my daughter could not eat the ricotta gnocci. I tried it and it was not great. The meal was somewhat saved bu multiple flavours of gelato/sorbet which l must say were smashing, especially the blood Orange and Passionfruit. Overall l felt like we paid about 40% more than it was worth. The finisher on the meal was an entire row of lights behind us that kept flashing on and off and back on again. By the time we were finishing up main courses and getting our dessert on, they had gone out completely. Talk about a real mood killer. We were a group of Seven and it was nearly $800!!! I know they have been there a long time, but it seems to me the need to adjust the pricing as it is hard to justify the large prices for some...