DOC Pizza & Mozzarella Bar - Southbank — Restaurant in Melbourne

Such a shame as this should have been an easy 5star review. I decided to spend international pizza day here to bring a friend and try real italian pizza, and it was a great choice; pizza was absolutely delicious (I got the rustica), shout out to the pizzaiolo, and I can’t wait to try more from their great menu (mind you cannot change anything besides add mozzarella di bufala); which includes also wine from all over Italy and a nice choice of beers, including sardinian ichnusa, and menabrea piemontese! The place is rather small, sits kind of uncomfortable, and doesn’t accept reservations nor have a bathroom inside (you have to cross the street with a big key holder shaped like a spoon(F) or a whisk(M) and use a “public” magnetic key locked restroom 20ms from the pizza place). I believe they have an outdoor area though was closed when we got there. It was an 8:15pm on a Sunday and we were “welcomed” by the notion that the kitchen would be closing at 8:30pm. We rushed in ordering a pizza and a calzone which was promptly served in few minutes. Although we looked online and thought that the spot d close at 10pm, we didn’t take long to eat as the place was rather empty and servers already too busy in their cleaning to host us properly or ask how the food was. When we barely managed to finish our plates one of them sprinted to our table to take the plates without even asking if we were done, and came back in half a second to leave the receipt, also without saying a word to us. We had no opportunity to even be asked the dessert menu (I d love to have tasted the tiramisu o cannoli) nor a digestivo to end our meal; totally disappointing. Mostly, we felt pretty bad about the whole situation and wished she wouldn’t ve let us coming in in the first place if she thought we wouldn’t be able to enjoy at least half hour (again, google states the place closes at 10pm on Sundays; they website doesn’t specify a time and states “5pm-to late”). By 9pm, I paid the 80aud while the waiter looked like she even expected a tip for the distressed service. Although I left happy for the food, I awfully moved by the terrible experience. On the other hand, the other server (a curly hair seemed italian to me although Im not completely sure) was so much more calm, accommodating and nice, as when my friend mistakenly order for me another pizza, she promptly fixed the issue with a smile, thank you. Overall I could recommend this place, and I’ll be back myself to try more amazing pizzas, but I really hope to have an actual acceptable service next time, at the level of a proper italian welcoming environment.

UPDATE: I m glad to have given a second chance to the restaurant m, I d a wonderful dinner in their outdoor area and tried olive all oscolana veal, a lil salty, while I would recommend the pizza sarda and tiramisu with montenegro!I finished my meal with a taste limoncello! Staff was nice and attent and atmosphere...

I don’t know what happened to DOC but it’s not firing like it used to. It was one of the few places on Southbank that had quality, service, atmosphere, and reasonable pricing. I hope our last visit was an anomaly.

We arrived for an early seating as we had a show to go to after. We were the second table sat at 5pm, right after opening. The second we sat down they wanted to move our table closer to the next table. We stood up and they moved it far too close to the next table. A round table about 15cm from a long rectangular table which would have meant that the four of us would have to cuddle to three sides of our table. I asked them to move it back slightly so we wouldn’t be cramped and there would still be plenty of room to get around the table. The waitress said, “other people are fine with it.” I didn’t need that snark. My request was completely reasonable. If they wanted the room set up in a specific way they had all day to do it. After we sat down wasn’t the right time. And seating us in the laps of our neighbours in a completely empty restaurant just wasn’t cool.

About 20 minutes in, they lowered the lights. This isn’t the fault of the staff but someone needs to call an electrician because for the rest of our meal there was a dreadful flickering of the lights in the room. I had a pounding headache by thy time I left. In retrospect, I should have said something but having experienced how receptive the staff was to requests, I tried to ignore it.

And then there was the pizza. I used to lOVE DOC’s. I’ve been many times but something has happened to the pizza. They seem smaller than they used to. If it’s not the physical size is the portion of ingredients on it. It just felt off and unsatisfying. All three pizza’s tasted mostly of cheese and not much else. The salad seemed smaller too.

I hope that this visit was just an off night.

Update: I've moved it up one star based on the stellar response from D.O.C. Places have bad nights, it's all about how they respond and follow up. Great to see that they're well and truly on top of things! I look forward to giving it...

Decided on this place because it’s right next to my Langham hotel & opposite Belgium beer cafe (great place to have a beer whilst you wait for pizza); When I was charged more than the price on the menu, I asked why; I received what I would call a ''smart arse' answer that referred to a Sunday surcharge (I worked in emergency services for 30 years & NEVER received a surcharge); that aside, pizza crust was burnt & topping cold - so much for paying extra for Sunday staff; maybe it was cold because I waited at the counter for 2-3 minutes before anyone approached me at pick up time, and the pizza box had been sitting on the coffee machine. To be honest, the taste was sensational! Italian sausage & mushroom; such a pity it wasn’t hot, or to be fair, warm (as Italian pizza is served) but this was COLD! Beautiful pizza; rubbish take away service…even when you pay extra, they sure aren't earning it! To add insult to injury, the printed receipt was almost blank with no legible ink; so much for claiming this on my work dinner meal allowance! I'm so disappointed that Sopranos was...