Bottega Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

Lovely table by the window for three. The armchairs are extremely comfortable and the restaurant lighting is superb - a wonderful atmosphere. Agree the bread is a bit expensive and it seemed the waitress was nervous to tell us that each piece was $5. Goats cheese and olive oil was amazing, surprisingly good after the shock of bread prices by piece. The bread was nice but for that price ($15 for three people!) a bit too expensive (but in saying that, it is what it is - it's more the shock of the way it's sold). Could do a basket of 4 slices of Baker Bleu sourdough or something like that with the cheese for $10. But no biggie, was very nice. I have to say straight up that the steak is the bomb. I would come back just for the steak. It's the best steak I can remember having. Utterly sensational. Our table also has the swordfish and octopus pasta. Pasta was a bit too salty and the swordfish was pleasant, a reduced lemon jous would go well to give it some tang. Compared to the steak, the other dishes seemed less refined. I'm just gonna say again... get the steak! We had carpaccio and calamari for entré, carpaccio was wonderful, calamari was so-so, not much flavour. $5 chinotto was a welcome surprise. All up it was $200 for three and we ate a lot. Yes, it's a bit pricey but it's a very fine restaurant. I'd recommend the staff be encouraged to relax a bit. They were really lovely and open to conversation, it just seemed they felt pressured to act a certain way as it is a fine dining restaurant. It does seem as though Bottega sits in the 2000's fine dining era. A little input of contemporary casual approach would help I reckon. I'd come back for the steak alone. Love this stretch of restaurants and Paperback bookshop (and Pellegrini's) on Bourke St. One of my fav strips in Melbourne. In conclusion.... get the steak. You...

After multiple postponements of our wedding through lockdowns due to Covid, we finally were able to have our reception upstairs in the private dining rooms. Bottega was so supportive through the whole rescheduling ordeal, but we all kept the faith (and our booking) and had 15 of us gathered together after our ceremony at the Old Treasury building.

We were greeted warmly, the room was ready and waiting, including the flowers on the table in perfect position that I had delivered sight unseen from the The Road Stall (local Victorian grown flowers only).

Our party was passed glasses of champagne, and they even gave our five year old son a glass of apple juice with sparkling water on a champagne flute, much to Grannies surprise (she thought it was real champagne for a bit, her face was priceless. Lol)

The three courses were all delicious, even all of my vegetarian dishes. As I said in my other review for Estelle, I am hesitant to order a multiple course option as it always seems to feel that the chef is making an vego option as an afterthought and accomodations, but I was very full and delighted by the options presented. The dessert was also absolutely mouth watering!

I wish I could tell you more about the wines, but as the bride, I stuck to the lovely (and easy to drink) Prosecco, but from what my husband has told me, all of the bottle selections we made in red and white did not dissapoint.

I will definitely be back to dine as a patron in their downstairs part of the restaurant. The food and service plus nice ambiance was just what we were looking for in our wedding celebration. Could not...

This bistro style restaurant promotes itself as fine dining and, while the food is good, the service and atmosphere are not.

At fine dining restaurants, staff do not point out a table to you with the directions “oh, yes, that’s your table, next to the two girls" and leave you to make your own way there. They show you to your table.

We were served by an array of waiters. The environment does not encourage lingering over a meal, Bottega is hard surfaces and noise, qualities best for getting customers to eat and move on so another cover can be set.

I declined the request to leave a gratuity, offering instead feedback about not being shown to the table. I was politely thanked for my feedback. I thought no more about the experience or doing a review, until I noticed that the restaurant had cancelled my booking after the event, in effect blocking me from writing a review at the website that I used to book it.

I contacted the great team at the booking who enabled me to write a review on their website. I am not suggesting that Bottega cancelled the booking to stop a critical review, but it makes me wonder about their openness to feedback to ensure customers have a...