Italian and Sons — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

I feel as if this venue is still taking advantage of the COVID-19 situation of only offering set menus at a time where COVID-19 has been of minimal concern in Australia. My partner and I are bariatric (had weight loss surgery) and our ability to eat volume is reduced. Due to this we enjoy several starters and entrees rather than a main meal, and we also order drinks (which pushes up the bill). This restaurant is the first place my partner and I ever had dinner together in 2013, and this would be an amazing memory if we could replicate it. Without planning we were in Canberra last year and it was set menu, so we didn't even ask. However we just happen to be in Canberra next weekend (and we're from Sydney) so I called Italian & Sons and was told they had reservations on Friday and Saturday night (other venues in Canberra that I looked up in comparison are booked out, so without the demand I still received the following response). After explaining we were both bariatric and couldn't eat a main meal, we don't want to experience only one flavour at their restaurant, and for this reason we always prefer to eat several entrees which I offered to get from their set menu, and a few drinks, I was still told no. I gave him the information of our surgery and our physical limitations. Bariatric people are genuinely not welcome or accommodated which is extremely unfair. If they were booked out, fine, however for a small venue with sitting still available on the two busiest nights of the week it felt like no thought was put in to my request at all. We take a lot less time than the standard sitting and we don't only spend $50, (we generally take a lot away), but this wasn't good enough. I felt alienated with absolutely no consideration. If offered a seat now I'm not sure I'd want to go, but as stated there was no consideration or care, they'll just take the...

So very disappointed.

I took my partner there for Valentines Day and, having booked online weeks ago, was saddened to find us restricted to either a five course tasting menu or a cheaper three course affair. We chose the five course.

This place has so much potential. Fantastic, intimate venue, wonderful kitchen, friendly and attentive staff BUT the food is average and prices are ridiculous.

We paid $110 and $145 for a five course tasting menu and one with wine. (I was driving!)

For that much money we had:

Two very small zucchini flowers with so little stuffing, it tasted like the oil it was fried in. The accompanying prosciutto was not flavorsome at all.

A small share plate of calamari with a delicious chilli sauce. Literally one mouthful each. We joked about cutting it into really small pieces to make it last longer.

A small plate of crunchy, bland, risotto. Yes.....crunchy...not al dente.

Two beautiful medium rare morsels of steak with a red jus reduction. The only reasonable course of the night for the price. Reasonable though, not terrific at all or even great.

Dessert of popcorn, brownie, chocolate ice cream and salted caramel. Which was quite nice and the most substantial plate of food of the evening. Not a dessert so much as a way to pack enough calories in to prevent us ordering a cheeseburger on the way home.

I saw the cheaper 3 course plates go out and could see they were meal-sized and not the morsels we were presented.

Really, Italian and Sons, you can do so much better. I was embarrassed to take my beautiful partner there for Valentines day and am grateful she was not basing our relationship...

l actually celebrated my birthday in Italian and sons with my friends today and l really want to share something now. please read this with your patience.

My boyfriend told them it will be a birthday before making the booking online BUT when we arrived there, we were told by staff who work there that we had not informed them. Our table that was reserved was apparently going to ‘disturb’ the other guests as a result of this and we were moved to a much smaller table out the back that was not big enough along with being next to a booking of 14 people which meant we could not hear each other.

Despite it being a birthday party and them being told this, when my boyfriend arrived with a birthday cake he was informed we would not be allowed to eat this on the premises as it was not made there even though he offered to pay a surcharge. Who expects someone to have a birthday party, not bring a cake and not think to tell them if they did bring one they could not have it there.

Their menu was not the broadest in terms of flexibility for parties desiring to eat meat but avoid pork. There were 5 options on the whole menu that contained meat that wasn’t pork and 3 of them were fish.

We don’t mind the pricing for a restaurant if the quality is worth it but we were left disappointed by the quality of the meals.

I was left feeling extremely disappointed and angry after my first and last visit to Italian & Sons. This is not a good place to celebrate your birthday and it will definitely let you down.l feel like l am owed an apology from...