Gemma Simply Italian — Restaurant in Melbourne

I had no gluten-free food to eat at all during a “bottomless” group booking.

I was part of a large group booking on Sunday.

I am coeliac and the website assured us that there were gluten free options.

The wait staff asked if anyone had any dietary requirements - I informed them I was coeliac and could not have gluten. The waitress said “that’s fine, just make sure you order the gnocchi as it’s gluten free”. Another few people on the table was vegetarian.

Staff then passed around a note pad and we all had to write down what dishes we wanted. I wrote down gnocchi pear and Gorgonzola or gnocchi putanesca.

Then the main came our - all pizza and pasta (but no gnocchi). I was not able to eat any of it. I told the wait staff that I had nothing to eat. Eventually they bought out a small pot of gnocci, which was meant to be shared by the table, including the people who were vegetarian. It was put at the other end of the table from me. It was a plain gnocci in a plain tomato sauce with no cheese. By the time the dish was passed to me, there was none left. It was barely enough to serve a single person, especially when there wasn’t anything else that we could eat.

I was asked multiple, multiple times by wait staff if I wanted another drink. However, not one person asked me if I needed any food despite my plate being empty.

I again asked a waitress for some food and told her I had had nothing to eat. She said she would talk to the chef. I waited a long time and no food came. By this time, the others had finished eating. Eventually someone again bought over a single small ramkin of gnocci in plain tomato sauces with no cheese. This was meant to be shared between myself and three vegetarian people. Someone asked why there was no cheese - the wait staff said they had not added cheese incase anyone was vegan (no one was vegan). We asked if we could have some more gnocci (with cheese) as this would not be enough for the four of us. They said they would get some more. None ever came. Our plates were then cleared away.

In total, I payed $44 for a four pieces of gnocci in a plain tomato sauce with no cheese.

I am not sure why we were given the gnocci Sorrento when no one on our table had preferences this, but I am guessing it was because it was the cheapest and lowest effort dish for your kitchen to make. I am also not sure why we had to ask so hard to get some food.

I found the situation distressing and embarrassing, feeling like I literally had to beg for something to eat. I also didn’t want to make a big deal about it in front of a large group of my friends, so I paid the $44.

You really need to re-think how you run your group “bottomless menu”. You claim you have gluten free options but I had no food.

12% of the population is gluten free. I have had coeliac for 20 years and have never had this issue better. It was such an embarrassing experience and I left feeling very hungry and...

Bland pasta, bad service. The only positive thing about this place is cosy atmosphere although the chairs are not particularly comfy. Food was very underwhelming, all three pastas were bland. Maybe their pizza is better - I won’t be trying it though. Focaccia and bruschetta were fine however nothing to rave about. Same with tiramisu and panna cotta. Panna cotta was nice but it would have been the tiniest panna cotta I’ve ever seen. Not worth $12. Tiramisu was ok. The worst aspect of the night was appaling customer service - presumably backpackers working here are unorganised, not attending the table after taking initial order, forgetting about menu items ordered. Tried calling them to our table to order more food and they plain ignored us - my wife had to get up and order at the counter. The place was not clean too which rings the bell. There’s still Easter decorations around (it’s June) and on the decorative tables there’s a thick layer of dust and dead flies 😳 Given the staff is not overly interested in attending customers they could at least use their time to clean the place instead of standing around the bar chatting. We’ve visited on a Friday** night and it was pretty dead. I can see why. Overall it was a disappointing experience and I won’t be back.

Edit: not sure what’s distafsteful about my comment identifying staff members that are not productive. There were 5-6 staff members on the floor and the ones that were not invested seemed to be backpackers. Presumably the same people that someone above described as „not well presented” as indeed the night we’ve dined in some staff members did not look presentable at all. And to be honest, ignoring us after they’ve clearly seen we’ve waived at them IS intentional. All in all you’re losing customers due to poor...

Gemma's food has been amazing for many years and we decided to go back for my partners birthday. We booked for 6 people at 7:30, however upon arrival, the owners refused to seat us. There was a ready made table for 6 in sight but they chose to rush a couple still eating to make room for us. After 20 minutes, the couple finished their food and left to which they attempted to seat the 6 of us at a 2 person table. Obviously unhappy with this, and our original table still unoccupied, we asked the owner to be seated at an appropriate table, to which he replied "You can leave, we get enough customers anyway". I think there has been a change of owners, but even so, for them to treat customers in that manner is really not acceptable. The waiters and waitresses kept apologising profusely and seemed quite embarrassed. I feel quite sorry for them.

UPDATE:

We had a booking for six which was made well in advance and confirmed by your staff. When we showed up at the agreed time, there was no table available for us for well over 20 minutes. It’s pretty simple, if the restaurant cannot effectively handle confirmed bookings, it should reconsider accepting them at all.

Allegations of aggression or abuse toward your staff are baseless and deeply offensive. The insinuation of such misconduct is both distressing and unacceptable. It also indicates that your management team lack integrity and are not being truthful to you. As we said in the review, the waiters and waitresses were lovely, apologetic, and were doing their best in light of the poor management by the senior staff members.

As someone who would rather say nothing and let disappointing situations go, I hope that this feedback helps you identify areas of your business needing immediate...