La Rustica — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

I am usually cynical of reviews and before booking for dinner I noted comments on poor service and thought the restaurant can't be that bad or it wouldn't be that hard to confirm a booking with them - wrong!. The service was appalling and the food not much better. After an hour of waiting for my chicken and partners seafood order I attempted to get the attention of the waitress. The waitresses have a unique ability to look through you when you are trying to make contact. When contact was finally acknowledged the waitress asked "do you want desert" to which I replied we are still waiting for our main meal. No apology but rushed off to check - not top return!. Summonsed another waitress and explained the story again - she disappeared and made enquiry but also never returned. Management must have thought we were blind - we could see the frantic activity as they scrambled to find the order but still no apology or update. Some 70+ minutes later from when we placed the order the meals were delivered with the excuse ""we are very busy". Meanwhile 2 tables ether side of us that had arrived, ordered, eaten and left!!!. My chicken arrived and I actually think it had been grilling for all 70 minutes of our wait. To cap it off I had to ask twice for the bill and wait another 15 minutes before I could leave the worst dining experience I have had in more than a decade. Management not interested in feedback or apologies - no discounted bill or free drink. It was hard enough to obtain a paid drink. Stark contrast to an exceptional meal and service we has at Gus's in Civic the night before. Give La Rustica a wide berth...

For the price and location, you’d assume this is going to be a fantastic Italian restaurant, but it was just so, so disappointingly average. The food was some of the worst Italian we’ve ever had. The frito misti was soggy and tasteless with absolutely no flavour, the sauce like a chip shop tartare. It’s salad was genuinely so squashed and wilted; brown pieces of lettuce and old tomato. Can’t believe we paid over $40 for that meal alone. The chicken mains were unremarkable and the seasonal vegetables are quite literally just some steamed corn and broccoli. Pastas were of basic mess-hall quality, or something from a school camp, in terms of taste and the bread the garlic bread was on was noticeably stale. Service was chaotic with over seven different young, confused wait staff waiting on our table and sometimes bringing one meal at a time with no explanation and much hesitation. I know this will read like an exaggerated, scathing review but it really was this bad. I am not joking when I say the food at our local Vikings club is better. I cannot understand the glowing review left 6 months ago for this restaurant but please don’t be fooled - “local guides” will happily write up fabulous reviews, but please believe this honest customer - choose elsewhere. Over $370 for a family birthday dinner. We’ve been to incredible Italian restaurants in Sydney that are delicious, memorable, genuinely Italian-run, exciting and fresh and really deserving of the write-ups they get. No idea what’s going on at this restaurant but sadly there’s no way I could...

La Rustica on the Kingston Foreshore promises to "Indulge in the authentic flavours of Italy with our delicious dishes made from fresh, local ingredients." I can tell you with certainty that the flavours were far from authentic, and the dishes were anything but delicious.

I ordered the $47 “COSTOLETTE D’AGNELLO,” described as “Grilled lamb cutlets served with a spicy red wine & balsamic jus, on a bed of potato & pumpkin mash, accompanied by seasonal vegetables.” Honestly, this was one of the most disappointing meals of my life. The dish was so bland, uninspired, and lifeless that it could have easily been served at a hospital—both in taste and in the way eating it made me wish to be put out of my misery.

Charging nearly $50 for tasteless garbage is almost comical. The lamb had no distinctive flavour, the jus lacked any hint of spice or complexity, and the mash was a gloopy, unseasoned mess. As for the vegetables? They were clearly microwaved, soggy, and as sad as the rest of the plate.

This meal had no redeeming qualities. Any half-decent pub in Australia would have at least used salt and pepper. La Rustica, on the other hand, offered nothing special and managed to completely waste its ingredients and my money.

The only positive thing I can say is that the waiting staff were kind, alert, and efficient. But no amount of good service can salvage such a tragic excuse for Italian cuisine. I would never recommend La Rustica to anyone, and I will certainly...