Fontalina — Restaurant in Melbourne

Our first experience at Fontalina was ruined by the waiter, who was reminding us about “time limit” every 10 minutes. Literally. At the time of booking ( we asked for outside area, as this was a celebration of kid’s birthday), we were told that we will only have the table for 1.5 hours. Fair enough. We asked the family members to make sure they arrive on time. Got seated, started looking at the menu, got reminded that we only had the table for 1.5 hours, fair enough too. In a few mins, were asked by our male waiter if ready to order the drinks, asked for more time, got a “look” and no response. Made our decision, called the waiter, ordered 6 pizzas, few pastas, lasagne and a bottle of wine. The waiter seemed to be in a hurry and told us that if we decide to order later , we may not get the food. Okay. One of the kids asked for pasta 10 mins later, we asked the waiter and were again told that it may take a while, and he is conscious of the time that we got left. We finished our pizzas by 5.50pm ( booking was made for 5 pm to 6.30 pm). At this point we started joking that the waiter made us feel so pressured, that this may have been the quickest celebration ever! Then the kids decided to get some ice creams, started eating, waiter asked if we wanted some desserts too. we politely declined. In 5 mins he came back and asked - do you want the bill or… we responded with - just waiting for our kids to finish the ice cream. My sister in law then asked me to try the ice cream, I started handed over the ice cream to her and then the waiter appeared out of nowhere and grabbed the bowl of ice cream from my hands and asked if I was done. Seriously?! I responded with - um, no, we do have up until 6.30, right? He responded with “yes” and walked away. It was 6.05pm. The food was great and we spent $400, but the whole experience was done and dusted in one hour and 5 minutes, felling pressured and treated just like some annoying people who are occupying the table that needs to be cleaned before next customers come in....

Visited Friday night, quite busy busy, booking for 715 which I don't consider to be a late.

Place looked good from the outside, inside the takeaway counter was in the restaurant giving a cafe feel to the place. The wait area for tables was near the entrance so you was in the way of people coming in and out for takeaway.

We arrived early, table not ready but fine so we were seated at some high communal table. The place looked cluttered with pizza boxes stacked up on the customer side of the counter again not a restaurant feel.

Waited a few mins and table was ready. Restaurant quite cramped and kitchen ingredients stacked up in restaurant. Not sure if this was for a rustic feel or just down to room. Uncomfortable cafe style metal chairs.

Starters and mains hot and tasty, ordered 2 pizzas and a salad for main, pizzas came and when we was half way through ( we were not rushing) the salad arrived so basically when we were nearly finished. Can't comment on the taste as we did not eat it.

Then the fun begins just after 8, kitchen in full clean down mode while people in the resturaunt, equipment wheeled out of the way into the restaurant. Chairs put up on tables etc.

Staff rushing about cleaning so customer service and what little ambiance there was out the window.

Server came to clear the, table asking if we had finished, I mentioned we had not eaten the salad but this was completely ignored, she put salad bowel at bottom , stacked all other dishes on-top and ran away.

All staff busy cleaning, so we had to go find someone to take our pud order.

Ordered tiramisu, limoncello and an expresso, Got a tiramisu, limoncello an afregto due to being more concentrated on cleaning to go home. Tiramisu was more like a mousse...

Went here for dinner for the first time last night. First impressions were good, staff were welcoming and friendly. The food took a really long time to arrive, we were waiting 50 minutes for pizzas, while we watched food being delivered to tables around us who had arrived and ordered after us. Once it did arrive I wanted to order another drink but both waitstaff took off before I even had a chance to mention it. I got up and stood in the middle of the restaurant trying to find someone to get their attention to order another drink but no one could be found, I didn't particularly want to drink water with my meal. On my way back to the table I mentioned to my friend that the service wasn't great, which a regular customer overheard me say. This customer then when and dibber dobbed to the restaurant manager about my entirely justified comment. He then came over to our table while we were mid eating to passive aggressively ask me if there was a problem. I've never been approached this way before, his attitude left a lot to be desired and he should have approached me about it when I was paying, perhaps not try and start an argument with me while I'm trying to enjoy my meal. My friend and I left prematurely because of his behavior, way to go to ruin our evening. They are lucky that their food was good, but I definitely...