Cent Anni Italian Restaurant & Pizza — Restaurant in Melbourne

Tldr: disappointing

Got sat next to the fridge which was not a great start. Table was too big for the small corner it was in. The drinks were nice, the bellini was really good. Food took a long time to come, it looked like they were doing too many takeaway orders for the kitchen staff to handle the in-house guests' orders. Pizza was a bit too burnt in spots, with way too much gorgonzola overpowering the fig and other flavours. Caprese salad was nice but the tomato was bizarrely hard and solid - bizzare because in caprese it's always paired with mozzarella, a soft cheese. Their handmade spaghetti was delicious and had a great consistency, and the amatriciana sauce was lovely in its balance of flavours and ingredients. Unfortunately something that did overshadow the dining experience was the younger male waiter swooping in lile a hawk the minute we had finished a dish. This was despite the fact that he failed to clear away other things such as the sauces we had been given for the pizza, despite having long finished the pizza by the time the next dishes arrived. If I sound like I'm nitpicking it's just because I had high expectations from all the positive reviews this restaurant has already received. That and having worked in the industry, it was sad to see a few very obvious things that could be fixed/given attention but have clearly been forgotten in their initial success in the first year of business. I wish the staff all the best and hope to come back again one day...perhaps in a...

Avoid … Don’t waste your money here. Over-rated and over priced.

First of all, no pizzas (zilch!!!) on the menu now.

(I’ve heard they used to offer them).

My guess is that they just can no longer compete in the pizza space in both the quality and quantity attribute when there are much better value offerings elsewhere, …. if the state of their pasta offerings is of any indication.

Read on…

For what is their flagship dish - Linguini Pescatore, it is woeful!

At $39 a pop, it is a real tiny serve that would make a Senior’s Pub meal look generous - with half a carcass (split in the middle) of a smallish Morton Bay bug (tasteless) and 2 measly tiny prawns and 3 or 4 minuscule Coffin Bay clams in a bland tasting gravy.

Even the pasta strands themselves (which is just cheap carbs) weren’t sufficient.

I sacrificed 1 third of my own pitiful serve to my meal guest and they were still not satisfied.

We had to go get McDonald’s nearby right after to fill up.

Parking was atrocious for a suburban place, cramped, difficult to navigate, inadequate and insecure ( dark pathways ).

Not one of us liked our experience.

And … the young Aussie waitress had a real condescending attitude about her.

Overall this place tries to make it out that it is something that it really is not…. a gourmet high end eatery…yes their restrooms are rather swish but that’s where it all ends - with everything else it would struggle to even compete with average quality garden variety family eateries like...

Was nice and quiet on a Sunday evening and was just our table of 7 and another table table of 2 however overall very disappointing experience.

Food was nothing special. The best was the calamari as it was nice and crispy, small portion of calamari and generous with the salad. Pizza was wet on the bottom but had nice flavours. Tiramisu was served covered with condensed milk which was weird. Other people at our table had pasta which looked nice but I can't comment on flavours as I didn't try it.

Service was appalling- it was like our waitress had never waited a table before which is baffling in a place like this and since there were only 2 tables can't be put down to it being busy. When placing our orders, one person ordered 2 entrees instead of a main. The waitress did not confirm if the entrees were to be brought out at the same time as the mains and we forgot to request it. His 2 entrees were brought out early and placed in the middle of the table and the mains were brought out 20 mins later. It was 45 mins from being seated before we got our mains. Even after mentioning some of us were sharing dishes, she did not bring us extra plates to use so we had to do some awkward shuffling around of food. When clearing the table she tried to clear my mums plate while she had food on her plate, was still eating and her cutlery was in the "v" position signalling she was...