Birichino Cucina & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Melbourne

We are locals and have been visiting Birichino since its opening and have had so far good experience with the service and food.

We dined there last night with our two boys and had a very disappointing experience which I felt I should share with the management (I myself work in hospitality).

One of my boys ordered a Rib Eye steak, medium rare but it turned out to be overcooked, nowhere near even medium.

Our disappointing experience started with the waitress taking my boy's order. He was NOT asked how he would like his steak to be cooked. She moved on taking my other son's order with no idea of how to take a proper order for steak. We had to tell her "excuse me, he would the steak medium rare". I am not saying she is rude or anything but was totally unprofessional as a waitress and lack of proper training obviously!

Then, the steak came turned out to be nowhere near what it had been ordered to be. On the outside, it was absolutely overcooked, towards the centre of the steak it might be close to medium. It ruined the steak and my boy's expectations of his favourite dinner!

However, THE WORST PART OF OUR EXPERIENCE WITH THIS COMPLETELY COOKED STEAK was after the waitress took steak to show the chef, NO explanation or apology whatsoever was offered to us which was appalling!

The waitress simply returned the steak to us and walked away without saying a word!!! I was fortunately (unfortunately perhaps) sitting overlooking the kitchen where I could see the two chefs/cooks basically had a look at the steak and did not say anything but afterwards laughing / giggling at each other. They knew I was looking at them but they did not seem to care or hide their unprofessional attitude towards customers which was completely demeaning and unacceptable.

Our past good experience with your restaurant had been ruined by the two unprofessional chefs/cooks who obviously do not care about their standard or...

As you enter the place you are welcomed by a magnificent setting,  Sitting in any table you have a wonderful view of the workshop-like kitchen where you can see the chef cooking and the ”pizzaiolo” making pizzas. The menu offers a wide variety of starters, pizzas, pastas, dessert and everyone be satisfied. I had the white tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms and sausages which is very tasty, and I had an amazing pizza with very good taste, cooked perfect and with a fantastic presentation. If you come you need absolutely to try their cannoli, pannacotta and tiramisù which are the perfect dessert after an excellent dinner, all again freshly home made.To finish my dinner I tried their coffee martini which is a perfect combination of a good espresso mixed with the particular flavour of the Martini which was exquisite!!! All the products were fresh and the dishes are all home-made. The chefs takes great care in selecting the best quality ingredients. The restaurant also caters for all tastes by providing a large selection of the best wines of the region and of course from Italy too! the owner and all the amazing staff is always around willing to exchange some kind words with all her clients, smiling and make you feel being home. I had a pleasant dining experience with food of the most exquisite flavours. For this reason I highly recommend going to this...

Our family of four went to Birichino’s on a Wednesday night. At 6pm we were the first customers. Fifteen minutes later, the place was full! We order two pizzas and spaghetti al cartoccio, which was a special. Everything was absolutely delicious. Our kids aged 3 and 5 loved their margherita with prosciutto. My partner thoroughly enjoyed his spicy pizza. And my spaghetti was to die for: rich and abundant seafood sauce and perfectly al dente spaghetti were served in a sort of basket (the cartoccio, appunto), which kept the content nice and warm for a long time. Just don’t order this dish if you are wearing a white shirt 😂 We also indulged in a dessert - Nutella pizza topped with vanilla ice cream. Very satisfying! The staff, all from Italy, was very friendly and attentive. The atmosphere was jovial and convivial....