Rustica Canteen — Restaurant in Hillarys

The 2 stars is more for the wait staff and décor, 1 star for the food! The wait staff were lovely and the menu seemed pretty decent, at least the food descriptions were. It has a good vibe and what looks like a fully stocked bar, but the (Red) wine menu choices are very limited with minimal choices. They don't miss you on the price either! Service was very good and prompt but that's about where it stops. I am sure this place can do much better, but they need to really improve on food prep and presentation to at least match the menu descriptions. We ordered chargrilled king prawns and cheesy garlic bread for starters. It arrived promptly BUT...the prawns were not at all king, just regular sized prawns, there were 8 on the plate and at more than $3 per prawn, is a bit pricey for what was delivered. The prawns were not chargrilled at all. They were warm & very difficult to peel, suggesting they had been prepped a long time before serving. Sauces were basic but tasty and helped digest the rubbery prawns. The cheesy garlic bread was tepid and each slice was fused together by the melted cheese making serving awkward, But they were OK to eat, all-be-it cold. The Rustica Pizza was my main meal, it was a generous size but hardly reflected the menu description. Hardly any Italian sausage (about 6 small thin slices) and I could not find any chicken. Pretty much a ham and cheese pizza with some tomato. It had a nice taste, but it was not what I ordered or expected based on the menu. It was warm at best. My wife ordered the chargrilled chicken with pasta. The dish was also warm at best, The chicken was not at all chargrilled , it appeared to have been pre-boiled and maybe thrown on a hot plate, but not long enough to brown the chicken thighs. It was also on the cold side, which suggests it was sitting a while waiting to be served. Disappointing that it was not quite what the menu described. I really don't think they have a real chargrill there!!! They maybe use the pizza oven?? When the waitress came to clean down our table and asked us how it was, we gave her this honest feedback. To their credit, the owner came over and spoke to us, she offered a refund to which we gratefully declined, we just wanted them to know our experience there. She was appreciative of out feedback and returned with a voucher, which was a very kind professional gesture. The place has great potential if they can get someone who can prep and present food close to what the menu indicates and at least the right temperature. Hard to wage an argument to go back there but give credit for the owners attempt...

Came to Hillary’s for a wonder through the markets and lunch. Popped into to Rustica’s as we hadn’t eaten here before and the menu, while it had some common Italian offerings, looked ok. Interior is nice and airy with bar and Italian beach vibe. Staff were friendly. Menu is large with all-day breakfast, lunch-dinner offerings and kids menu. Prices are high for what they offer and the quality! We ordered Fish and chips, salmon with salad and side of truffled mash, smoked salmon, beetroot pesto, feta bruschetta and spaghetti al ragu. The meals took a long time to come and we watched as two of our meals sat under the warming lamps for 10+ mins, while they prepared the other two meals. I’ll start with the good. The youngest enjoyed her ragu and chips, it’s wasn’t sweet and good flavor. Chips were nice and crunchy. Fish and chip, can’t go wrong with this and Dad enjoyed it. Now the bad! While my wife ordered the bruschetta she instead was served the breakfast smoked salmon and beetroot pesto, which comes with poached eggs! We hadn’t realized this and assumed it was part of the meal and didn’t think to much of It, until I started my review and checked the menu. i realized then what they had done! The meal was bad, there was hardly any pesto, the bread was unevenly cut so one slice was thick, not toasted evenly so one end was burnt black, the other slice was thin and over toasted! We asked for more pesto and they gave us slices of beetroot from a can! We did complain about the burnt bread and they offered to prepare again, but wife was hungry and we weren’t prepared to wait longer. The salmon dish I ordered came to me after sitting at the warmer for a while so salad had started to brown and wilt, It was warm and had lost it’s freshness. The mash was nice, but only had a very slight, barely there truffle flavor. I’ve had truffle mash many time’s and this was not in line with them. The salmon piece was meager for the price, I’ve had larger piece from Japanese takeaway! I have to say we were disappointed with two of the meals, particularly not getting what we asked for and the time taken. if we had realized at the time and not been so hungry, we would of complained more, regretting this now. It could be we may have come on a bad, the chef did look frustrated with his team, But still not a...

Very disappointing, and very expensive for what you get. Especially considering they do not offer table service. The pizza was good, if overpriced, but the seafood platter was the worst value ever. Two thirds was stale chips and the other third was the cheapest tasting tiny piece of fish ever (tasted like frozen imported hake from a fish farm somewhere in South East Asia -- literally tasted like dirty tank water -- with three tiny bits of calamari and three prawns which didn't taste much better. Tried to offer some polite and constructive feedback but the waitress was very rude. Said no one else had ever complained and implied I was fussy. Well, they'll end up with a bad reputation having an attitude like that. My advice is eat the pizza, but avoid the $30 'seafood platter' at all costs (I'm hoping I don't get sick... Time will tell)! Better yet, go to one of the other restaurants nearby. Addit: changing this to one star as I've since heard from three other people who had a bad experience with the seafood here. And by the way, while I didn't get bad food poisoning, my stomach was bad enough that I had to take the following day off work. Since I'm casual I missed out on a full day's pay. Thanks Rustica Canteen (and from the recent review about the fish it doesn't look like much has...