Bucatini Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

Worst dining experience

I was invited to a group gathering with my husband for a Uni friend's farewell at Bucatini tonight. I have previously heard good reviews from various friends and colleagues about this restaurant so I was quite excited when I found out that we were going to dine here.

When we arrived the waitress was very friendly and helpful and made sure that we had enough servings between all of us for the breads and entrees, but when it came to my husband's main this all went downhill.

My husband and I tend to share our meals and I ordered the Chicken Avocado Fettucine and he ordered the Paella. When his Paella came, he tasted the mussel on the side and quietly said to me that it was not tasting 'right'. We are big seafood fans and dine out quite frequently at various restaurants in town and know when something doesn't taste 'right'. I suggested that we tell the waitress and ask if they could look into it, and all we were really asking for was the mussels to be cooked and served hot as the rest of the dish. A waiter (or owner) came and I told him that the mussels in my husband's paella didn't taste quite right and he immediately started to 'educate' us that if the mussels weren't cooked right it wouldn't be opened (in fact one of them weren't opened), and when I suggested that they may have been sitting around for too long despite that they have been cooked he said 'Excuse me, my restaurant is full 7 days a week' which really meant nothing to us. As a customer, I believe I have every right to make sure that the food that I intake is cooked right, and my husband and I had the feeling that we weren't even allowed to voice our concerns and we very much wanted to leave.

This truly ruined a very nice gathering with our friends. At the end of the meal we still paid $70 for food that we didn't enjoy and received no apology from this awfully rude and disrespectful owner. This will be the first and last visit to this restaurant. If owners can treat customers like this then no matter how good his food is, I guarantee the people that I know and live around this area know about my experience and think twice before they go. I'm sure that for the same amount of money, they can get better value and service at places like Mitcham Hotel / La...

Went out to Bucatini last night, with my Husband and two friends, the waiter was pleasant and attentive on arrival. As a group we ordered, Pollo Bucatini, Angus Steak and lamb shanks. We received our meals the Pollo Bucatini and Lamb shanks were Luke warm on the outside and cold in the middle. The waiter appoligised and retuned the meals to the kitchen. We received our replacement meals after others had finished eating and again........stone cold in the middle. The Manager Ivan came over to our table and offered to replace the meals again, my friend and I declined as we had already returned the meals twice and did not want a third meal. Manager - Ivan then went on to Lecture us of how he was trying to please us, had a new oven and explained that the Lamb shanks are microwaved. I Politely explained that if meals were sent back to the kitchen for being cold someone should check before being sent out again. I explained that I have never sent a meal back to the kitchen before, but I can't eat cold food. He then became very rude and irate stating how dare you call my Son an idiot ( I assume must be the chef). I explained that I did not call anyone an idiot he kept on with his abbrupt delusional behaviour as we got up to leave. I have never experienced sub standard service or rudeness like this, and doubt I...

Thought we'd give it a try. Hmmmm.....from the initial phone call to book, I asked for a time & booking for 4 & when I asked if he wanted my phone number he answered "no I'm too busy", to the garlic bread we ordered which never arrived, it has a bit of Faulty Towers about it. We even met a Manuel 😅. Look, they try! Only half the restaurant was full but we waited a loooong time to get menus & place our drinks order. A foretelling of what came after! When we finally got our entrees, but still no garlic bread, 1 of 3 was good. The weird bruschetta was tomato, parmesan, arugula & balsamic vinegar on burnt hard as rock bread. The arancini was overcooked & a little flavourless sitting on a highly concentrated tomato based sauce which was reminiscent of uncooked Leggo's Tomato Paste. The calamari however was very good! Perfectly cooked & tasty. The fish of the day was so dry & overcooked it had a consistency that stuck to your teeth. The two seafood pasta dishes were pretty good, but not as good as they should be. However, the veal scallopini was absolutely delicious & perfectly cooked! Fortunately didn't get charged for the garlic bread that never arrived but it certainly wasn't a cheap meal for below par...