Caterina's Cucina E Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

Seriously wonderful regional Italian food. Best service staff in Melbourne. Welcoming atmosphere.

We arrived at this basement restaurent a little early for our noon booking, and were greeted with pleasure, and thus the beginning of an excellent service experience. Without doubt the service staff here are the very best I've come across in the last few years in Melbourne, and many other locations. They are understated, unobtrusive, alert, knowledgable, helpful, and exuded calm pleasure in sharing their skilled service. (And I think they were all female.)

The restaurent itself was warmly presented with the decor being "traditional" ... Beamed roof, marble topped tables with white damask table cloths and napkins, space to move between the tables, a gleaming wooden bar, and the space divided by columns and furniture into "rooms". It is thoroughly charming.

When it came to ordering, the menu was very interesting and not oversized, but we eventually chose to order from the specials. The list of specials was extremely impressive, and we actually forgot most of them after we heard them, so a printed specials page would have been useful. However we managed, and what we chose was delicious.

We shared our entrees ... Seared scallops, fat and juicy and succulent; and sardines with pickles, pesto and amazing dried shaved Spanish onions. Just lipsmacking.

Both of us chose pasta for our mains .. My partner in gluttony chose gnocchi in a sublime butter sauce with an amazing generosity of shaved fresh Australian black truffles. The gnocchi was perfectly silky and the flavour explosion from the sauce married with those little pasta nuggets quite beautifully. (I was allowed a mouthful.) I chose papadelle with a trio of fine grained mince ragout-like sauces made from veal, pork, and (I think) rabbit. This too was quite delicious, full and round (but my tastebuds wanted an acid edge to the sauce, like a touch of tomato or lemon zest).

We each ordered a glass of Italian wine and my choice of a Soave was buttery with a slightly apple aroma. Also delicious.

Our side salad was of peppery rocket with crisp pear, walnuts and shaved parmesan. And the ingredients were prime.

We didn't quite manage to clear our plates, and were so replete we couldn't even think about dessert or coffee. Only afternoon naps.

Cost for two was $200, including a very well deserved tip. We WILL...

UPDATE IN DECEMBER 2021 What a difference a year makes!! Came back to Caterina's after the latest COVID lockdown for lunch with work colleagues and was absolutely appalled at the service. What was once elegant dining is now marred by inappropriately rude and hostile wait staff! Ok, we were 15 minutes late for our two-hour dining window but that's no reason to berate your customers and make them feel like they've upturned the whole restaurant apple cart!! We had one extra person for our six person booking and were berated even though we politely offered that one of our party would happily opt out. Instead we were faced with a lecture on how busy the staff were and how we'd now have to forego bread plates on the table and have our bread rolls plonked in the middle of the table (as it turns out, the bread rolls were very ordinary anyway!). We were, quite frankly, shocked at the behaviour of the waiter and, had it not been a farewell lunch for a colleague, would have walked out. That terrible staff attitude meant that this was definitely my last visit to this restaurant - which is a bit sad because the food is actually quite good. There are many options for good Italian food in the CBD and Caterina's is now off my go-to list!!

ORIGINAL REVIEW IN 2019 DELIGHTFULLY AUTHENTIC ITALIAN CUISINE IN A COZY ENVIRONMENT Dropped in for lunch with a friend - our first visit to the restaurant. From the outside it looks a bit odd (almost as though you entering a church) but once you descend a full flight of stairs you enter a delightful dining room which is a good blend of sophistication and rustic Italian. Staff are very knowledgeable and helpful. The restaurant has a mix of large and small tables. As its on the lower ground floor there is no "table with a view" but there are cozy corners and more open options to choose from. The menu is quite extensive and is nicely complemented by a selection of wines. We elected to have scallops and sardines for entree - delicious and accompanied by a rich sauce. For main course, I had the gnocchi with truffles... delightfully creamy gnocchi and wonderfully flavoursome truffle! My companion had a 3 meat pasta which was equally good (and a very generous serve!). We had a rocket and pear salad to accompany the mains. With a wine each and sparkling water, the bill came to approximately $180.. not cheap but worth it for...

I was recommended this place by a friend and honestly was quite disappointed - mostly because I experienced such poor service. Right from the start, I made a booking for 1:30 pm lunch and made a cancellation at 10:50 am and rebooked for 1:15 pm, as the system did not allow me to modify my selection. However, when we arrived, the lady responsible for seating us was trying to insinuate we made a cancellation and that they gave our table away - but I kept on telling them I rebooked immediately at 10:50 am before their service for the day even started. Eventually they managed to give us a table so that was that. Aside from this, there was a ridiculously long wait between our courses, and this lunch took over 2 hours for 3 pasta + 2 entree. I was at Philippe a day before dining at Cucina, and my 3 course French meal took the same amount of time. At the end, when we mentioned the long wait times as feedback, the waitress refuted this and proceeded to complain to the table next to us about us. My friend felt so uncomfortable standing there hearing the waitress complain about us to the other table. Perhaps it was just our experience, but this differential service is truly unacceptable. I rarely write reviews on google, and mostly run a food Instagram but the service we experienced was so poor and infuriating that I had to detail my experience here. If you are not caucasian in business attire, perhaps this isn't the best restaurant for you - they don't seem to like people from other...