Mezzalira Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

My wife and I have been going to Mezzalira for more than 10 years. And after our experience last weekend, we will never go back.

While I was deployed this year, she booked for my 30th birthday dinner, which I was very excited about. She booked for 8 people, which would allow us to order off the regular a la carte menu, as it offers more freedom than the menu for 10+ people.

Closer to the date of our dinner, our booking was updated to 10 people, to accommodate the children of a close friend. We were not made aware at the time of updating the booking, that this would impose a mandatory cost of 2 courses minimum per person. We were also not told this when we sat down for our meal, but shouldn't have been an issue, as a few of us ordered 2 entrees and a main each (3 meals) which apparently didn't count towards the two meal per person requirement.

My mother in law brought a cake in to the restaurant and handed it off to the staff as we sat at the table. She was not informed at that time, nor is it advertised on their website anywhere, that they do not allow birthday cakes in the restaurant. It wasn't until we had finished our mains and asked for the cake to be brought out, that we were informed of this surprising revelation.

Then started the real problems, and I can see from other reviews that this issue is a common one.

The owner, who I can only describe as being a pompous man who thinks he is better than his customers, decided to argue with guests at my table, explaining that it is our fault we weren't aware of the two course per person requirement, and then of the no cake policy. He told us "I would have preferred that your table wasn't here at all, I could have had smaller tables and made more money."

He then argued with one guest who had a lactose free dietary requirement, complaining that her restrictions would lose them money on the meal cost.

Finally he spent a good amount of time arguing with my mother in law about how he has been in business for 27 years and it is as much our fault as his, and that we were losing him money.

Firstly, of the people sitting at my table, we had a combined history of more than 50 years in the hospitality industry. We know how restaurants work, we know how customer service works, something the owner clearly doesn't understand.

He puts the pressure on his young waitresses to deliver the bad news to the tables, rather than being a professional business owner and having the balls to come and talk to us himself, rather hiding behind his little wine bar. His 'head waiter' clearly has been trained to only care about money also, and maximise his tips, literally rubbing the backs of other regular customers he prefers, and when speaking to our table, one that wasn't even in his section, being extremely rude and arrogant.

At the end of the night, we spent $965 between us, more money than the two course per person cost, as we had drinks also, so I am not sure what the owner was complaining about.

Nobody that attended the dinner will ever go back to Mezzalira. My wife and I, loyal customers for more than a decade have been left embarrassed and angry, that our closest friends and family witnessed such disrespect from a restaurant I have told them all about in great detail over the years.

It is really a shame that this restaurant survived COVID, we will now only support the small italian restaurant around the corner, and will never look back at any of the restaurants affiliated with Mezzalira and its owners.

I can only hope that such disgusting attitudes from a money-hungry owner will cause his business to eventually fail, and make way for a much more deserving and...

*Widely known and traditional Italian restaurant in the middle of Civic. *Featuring southern Italian food eg seafood, nduja, stuffed eggplants, anchovies. *Da Rosario (Adjacent hole in the wall serving simple lunch & drinks) is closed. I've never actually seen it open tbh. *Braddon's Italian & Sons [I&S] & wine bar Il Bacaro are their more contemporary sister restaurant & bar. Dishes @both restaurants are similar in taste, ingredients and plating. E.g maccheronchini & lamb (cf I&S rigatoni&lamb) , the octopus dish on special, tiramisu, focaccia.

Pros: *Large restaurant, lots of space, quiet. ( Cf I&S which is smaller & louder) *Excellent service & cheerful waitress. *Great mains. My porchetta was perfectly seasoned and cooked, it was stuffed with good quality sausage meat & black pepper. Can't go wrong with green apple puree + pork duo. The candied citrus on top and italian greens were a nice touch. Roasted baby fennel was mushy, possibly overcooked. Extensive and well priced wine list. *Plain juice also available if non-alcoholic or poor. 🤪

Cons: *Steep prices. Eye fillet on specials board was $62. You could get a whole banquet of 6 meals @Lazy Su for less than that. I'm taking one star off rating.⭐ *Although mains are satiating, serving size still small compared to say, La Rustica. Especially 🤔 given price point. *6 course tasting menu looked like good value until I realised it was 5 courses for $139, 2 of which were pasta dishes - not my thing. Compared to my favourite tiramisu @La Rustica, Mezzalira's tiramisu was sweet, dense, the zabaglione more cooked, it had more alcohol. ( Never a bad thing) But didn't hit the spot for me. 👎However, desserts were more affordably priced than mains.

Tip: If you sit by the window, you can see the pretty trees outside ( see pic) *Parking across the road is free after 5.30pm Mondays to Wednesdays. If you don't want to order a $$ main, try filling up on bread, then order the meaty entree of beef carpaccio and the side of pumpkin & strachiatella salad. (With added bonus of getting to taste 2 different dishes instead of...

Apparently this restaurant has been mentioned in a few foodie sites to be one of the best is Canberra. I would like to know how on earth they made it on their list, besides being around for over 20 years?

The staff here where very friendly and nice. The owner/manager on the hand was not.

We should have guessed this place was not a child friendly place by not having any high chairs. However, we opted to go ahead and have lunch around 1.30pm on a Thursday.

My daughter wasnt feeling well so she started to have a mini tantrum. Just as our food arrived, the owner came up to me and asked if I can take my 1 year old outside since there was some patrons having a business meeting. I found this incredibly rude as; We live in a modern society where a bit of noise from a baby is NOT frowned upon. I have been to other restaurants where the manager/staff are more then happy to hold your baby and take them around the place for 10mins when you eat. There wasnt anyone else inside the restaurant besides us and the 'business men'. If it was a packed restaurant, they wouldn't have been able to hear my daughter.

This shows how little value the owner holds to it's customers that have younger children.

The food was so bland and bring. We had the margarita pizza which was dry, and the mushroom pasta which has no taste (under seasoned).

Unfortunately it looks like the owner has never read any of his poor reviews or refuses to act upon to act on the feedback.

I highly advice everyone to avoid this place,...