Monte Lane — Restaurant in Ipswich City

Generally a good experience, however some of the food was underwhelming for the price your paying.

The good: Potatoes - Incredible probably the best I might ever had in a restaurant generally speaking, perfectly cooked, crispy, well seasoned Kipfler potatoes, good serving size.

Desserts - Tiramisu and peach sorbet, both were delicious and perfectly balance each other (Tiramisu could use a small dollop of the sorbet on the side, cuts the richness for each bite tastes like it was made for one another.) Tiramisu is massive as well, very satisfying and delicious. Peach sorbet tastes like those peach lollies, but fresh and with a hint of citrus zest. Both dishes very well presented.

The okay or bad: Entrees - Croquettes and Arancini, I understand you have to make money somewhere, but these were not good at all. The croquette in particular were underwhelming, lacking in flavor and texture and given its $17 a plate its quite a let down, potatoes were far better. The tomato passata on the arancini took away from the dish, would rather eat it without. It was to bland/raw of a tomato sauce tasted like it was straight from the jar, mushroom sauce might be far better however have not tried. I would be down for something garlicy to.

Mains - The steak tasted excellent, no knock on flavor, but unfortunately it was seemingly not 300g, quite thin and due to this seemingly was unable to be cooked to a desired temp. Presentation on this plate could also be stepped up. Sprouts and garlic butter were great. Pumpkin Ravioli was great, felt like it needed something to take it up a notch though for depth of flavor, would order again.

So, generally a good experience, however, if I'm paying the same or similar prices as quality restaurants along Southbank, I expect the same consistency. I would happily spend a few extra $$ per dish if it means the quality is stepped up for items like...

I recently dined at Monte Lane with my family, and while the food was impressive, the overall experience was marred by some service mishaps.

Let's start with the positives: the wood-fired pizzas were exemplary. Both pizzas we ordered were cooked to perfection, boasting flavors that rival any top-tier woodfire pizza joint. The ingredients were fresh, and the crust had that ideal balance of crispiness and chewiness. It's safe to say that Monte Lane knows how to craft a delicious pie.

Now onto the not-so-great aspects of our visit. Firstly, the price of the chips with aioli left us a bit taken aback. At $14 for a small portion, we felt they were overpriced, albeit undeniably tasty. However, their disappearance from our table too quickly left us wishing for a larger serving.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of our experience was the inconsistency of service. The staff were all friendly, welcoming and warm and quickly made us feel comfortable, so I was a little surprised by what I experienced. Despite immediately ordering a margarita pizza upon arrival to ensure our kids could eat promptly, our order was forgotten by the staff. It wasn't until we placed our main order 15 minutes later that the oversight was realized. And even then we had to follow up on it twice. Consequently, our margarita pizza, which we had hoped would be the first dish to arrive, ended up being the last.

In summary, while the food at Monte Lane is undoubtedly delicious and on par with top wood-fired pizza establishments, the service lapses detracted from our overall enjoyment, though I’m sure our experience is an exception and not the norm. With a bit more attention to detail and promptness, this could easily be a standout dining...

Very cute place to visit for coffee ( coffee is great ) a meal or a glass of vino. I’ve been looking for a great pizza place that’s local to ippy and unfortunately Monte didn’t hit the mark. I often want to go out for a beautiful pizza without making a slow dough and firing up my gozney or driving to Tartufo”s or Voglia in Brisbane. The good - flavours are great and they are definitely on the right track. There pizza oven is gorgeous too look at - and it’s one of the best on the market

The not so great - pizza came out and looked absolutely stunning but had a large puddle of liquid in the middle of the plate. We used napkins to soak it up before the middle of the pizza became any more sloppy. The bottom of one pizza was completed black ! This added a lot of bitterness to it. We had both worked all day and hadn’t eaten so we weren’t about to send them back.

Will give them another go but if it doesn’t improve I’ll be driving to Brisbane for pizza. Hopefully we won’t have too

The other thing we noticed was that ordering was done through a QR code which saves them having to put on a dedicated waitstaff but we were charged for using the QR code Not good service especially when the vibe they are going for is wine bar and not a cheap burger...