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...

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...

We had a lovely start, spending the first 20 minutes enjoying the friendly service. Although we didn’t have a booking, the staff were helpful in finding us a table and seating us promptly. They even allowed my kids to eat a cheesecake takeaway we had brought from outside, knowing the kids were very hungry, which we greatly appreciated. The starter was nice, and we offered high compliments, thoroughly enjoying everything.

Unfortunately, the experience took a sudden negative turn when a gentleman, who appeared to be the manager or owner, approached us. He rudely commented on the cheesecake takeaway, stating we needed to remove it from the table, even though we were already in the process of putting it away. He then stressed the restaurant’s 15-year history, its policies, and its “one hat” status, insisting on the need to respect the rules, though we had no intention of disrespecting them. When we asked if they cared about customers, his response was that they only cared about “who is around,” which struck us as quite odd.

This sudden intervention during our dinning completely ruined our evening. We lost our appetite and mood, and ultimately decided to leave. It’s disappointing that this gentleman seemed just living in the pride in the restaurant’s cold one hat rating than on customer care. I feel sorry for the friendly staff who have to work under such...