Etto Pasta Bar - Elsternwick — Restaurant in Melbourne

👎BURNT LASAGNE AND A 1.5 HOUR WAIT! The blandest, soggiest pasta to ever exist. An absolute joke of establishment who will rob you of time and money.

Placed an online takeaway order at 6:30, with a set pick-up time of 7:30 (an hour’s notice to get it done). Rocked up at 7:30, told to wait. Didn’t get my food until 8:00, with zero apology or explanation for the despicable disregard for the fact that they had AN hour to get a couple of meals ready.

Dine-in was packed, but what exactly is the excuse to make takeaway orders wait when you were given a specific time to have the food ready by, with over an hour to get it done? Didn’t seem to be an issue with all the delivery drivers, but if you’re a normal person trying to get dinner, you can head to the back of the priority line.

The food is the cherry on top of a flipping awful business.

My lasagne was literally BLACK on the top 💀 Burnt to a crisp, yet somehow soggy on the inside too? A paradox for the books! Top layer of pasta was reminiscent of a wet piece of cardboard, and the filling was stingy on meat and gluey in texture.

The wagyu meatball pasta is laughable. Doesn’t taste like wagyu, more like cheap horse hoof glued together with fillers and minced to a pulp. You could throw that meatball against a wall and it would bounce right back and smack you in the face. It’s elastic and cheap-tasting, slathered in overly sour tomato sauce that hasn’t been reduced properly.

Mac and cheese bites don’t come with any sauce when they so obviously need it, and the arancini will come out nearly as black as the lasagne thanks to the 2-day old oil they’re using to fry them in.

The pasta itself is soggy to the point of being mush, and the mac and cheese pasta is bland beyond compare. No cheese and no seasoning in a mac and cheese is diabolical, but completely checks out for this place to be honest.

I tried to handle this situation privately with the restaurant by submitting two separate emails, but they seem to be too busy making yuck food to respond or even acknowledge their shortcomings.

I will never ever go here again, and hope that anyone reading this knows to avoid this place like the plague it...

I almost never leave reviews however I’ve had nothing but delicious food served quickly and politely by the staff every time I’ve come here and, after seeing a few negative reviews, I felt I needed to share my positive experience today and on previous occasions to give a more balanced perspective.

Today I was craving lasagna for a very late lunch, and after seeing it was only $16 I decided to try it. I got a bit anxious after seeing someone else’s negative review here on it, but that was quickly eased as soon as the lasagna was served to me not long after I sat down. It looked so yummy, and was served still bubbling straight out of the oven 😋 It was delicious, with a great balance of meaty filling and béchamel sauce, I thoroughly enjoyed it 😁

My previous dining experience was similar - very quick and friendly service, short wait for food, and delicious. I had their Italian Tomato Arancini and Chicken Alla Vodka; TBH I was very pleasantly surprised to see five decent sized arancini on my plate when it was served, as I’m a huge fan of arancini and never seen such a big serve for such a low price - only $7.50!! They were hot and crispy on the outside and lovely and soft on the inside, and made me wish they had more flavours to choose from as I’d get more any time if they did. Their pasta was also yummy, and served al dente, which I must admit I’m not used to as I prefer a bit more on the soft side. I’m sure anyone who likes their pasta cooked correctly will enjoy the dishes here, not just for that but, as another reviewer mentioned, they’re not heavy-handed with the salt - a pet peeve of mine when I eat out (you can always add more to taste but you can’t take it out).

Prior to that I invited a vegetarian friend to join me for dinner here, and we thoroughly enjoyed a few dishes. All in all I’ve had very positive experiences here with the food, serving time and customer service, and as someone who’s on a very tight budget I am very happy to recommend it for their very reasonable and affordable prices also....

VERY UNHYGIENIC & TERRIBLE FOOD. Whilst eating dinner here recently, my lasagne was very cold/ partially frozen in the centre and my partners ravioli was very undercooked and tasted like it had freezer burn (had to send it back to the kitchen) the wine we both shared was definitely old and undrinkable, it tasted like it had come from a bottle that had been opened for a while. The cutlery we both had was dirty with dried on food, I handed it over to the girl working behind the counter and got a new set. THE WORST PART of my experience was upon leaving, my partner wanted soft drink for the way home and when waiting for service I noticed a MOUSE scurry out from the kitchen to the back door. I was absolutely disgusted and safe to say I won’t be going back. The health department definitely needs to get involved.

REPLY TO ETTO:

Hi, thank you for taking the time to reply to my review, it is always well received to hear from owners who take full credit of a negative experience relating to food health and safety. I need to add, I have dined at a few other ETTO restaurants around town, multiple times and they have always been a positive experience, with delicious food, cleanliness up to high standards and warm and welcoming staff. It is sadly this store in particular that was such a negative experience, letting my partner and I...