Geppetto’s — Restaurant in Melbourne

I hardly ever review places I eat at, and if I have a bad experience, I just don't return but can't ever be bothered leaving a negative review. This place is the exception.

Ordered a bruschetta for entree and then a chicken gnocchi and the amatriciana penne for mains.

While eating the bruschetta, my partner found a dead and well oiled grasshopper. I was chewing my mouthful of bruschetta when she found it and couldn't believe my eyes. We told the waiter, whose expression was also one of disgust, and she took the plates back to the kitchen. After about 30 seconds, I got up to inform the waiter not to bother having the kitchen prepare another bruschetta and that we'd like to move to the main. In hindsight, we probably should have just left.

However, I was unable to locate the waiter as she was still in the kitchen informing them of the grasshopper. So, I asked her colleague that I'd just like to quickly speak with that waiter. It was at this time that I heard a loud laugh coming from the kitchen. Given the proximity of time between when our grasshopper bruschetta had been taken to the kitchen and when I had approached, I can unfortunately only assume the men in the kitchen were laughing about the grasshopper. In any case, I would not expect the kitchen staff to be so jovial immediately after having a dish returned because foreign material was found in it.

At no point after our bruschetta was removed did the waiters unambiguously apologise for the grasshopper in the bruschetta, nor did any of the waiters follow up to ask as how our meal was while we were eating the main.

Upon paying, we were not offered any discount or any further apology about the grasshopper bruschetta. This was quite astonishing. No mention of it at all.

I should have followed my golden rule of not returning to places that I've had a bad experience at before. Rather unbelievably, during an earlier occasion eating here some 5 or 6 years ago, I also found some steel wool in a bowl of chips. When I raised this with the staff at that time, we were at least offered a small discount and an unambiguous apology.

A final issue I have is with management. Upper management seems a bit nonexistent. The waiters serving us were nice enough and decent at their job but they were clearly a bit younger and lacking some of the nuance in their service that comes from experience over time. To be clear, I'm not having a go at the waiters. The waiters needed the direction of someone more senior, and that someone more senior should also discuss discretion and respect with their kitchen as well.

In short, do not dine here. Go further down the road; it will be worth the extra 15 minutes you might need to drive to enjoy a better...

Shocking experience and minimal, if any customer service. We have been here in the past with similar experiences but thought we would give them another chance. We ordered a bruschetta and two pastas. The brushetta came out and when I went to get some of the salad, I discovered a moth!!! Absolutely unbelievable... I'm lucky I didn't put that in my mouth! We told the waitress and she apologised and took the plate away. We then told them we didn't want another one. But after that, even heard the kitchen staff laughing??

After that our mains came out and fortunately enough they seemed fine but it definitely put us on edge thinking we would find something else in our food. Other than when the waitress took our brushetta away, there was no acknowledgement of their mistake, nor did they check in on how the rest of our meal was. Zero customer experience or being accountable with what happened. The older and more senior waitress also made no effort to speak to us, which is honestly ridiculous.

After we finished our meal, we went to pay and the other young waitress at the counter also made no effort in checking in with us. There was no offer of a discount or anything in return for the appalling experience. The last time we were here, we had steel wool in our potato chips and at least that time they gave us a discount because of their mistake!

Safe to say we will NEVER be coming here again. We've had two bad experiences with foreign matter being in our food, out of the 3 times we've been here. Can you believe that??? What do they even do in their kitchen and why don't any of the staff take any responsibility? I'm honestly shocked with my experience here. I hope this helps whoever reads my review, to not come to this...

We recently moved across the road from this restaurant & thought we would try it out. Mistake number one. We were completely cramped back to back with other tables, the owner was screaming at a waitress right next to us, in front of my 9 year old daughter. If I worked there & was spoken to like that I’d walk out it was horrible. We waited an hour & 15 minutes for our food. Now, a waitress accidentally kicked my daughters chair leg as it was SO cramped & my daughter went flying, & smacked her chin. The owner came over, shook her head at my daughter & walked away, the waitress apologized even though she was working in poor working conditions. You don’t cramp an extra table in if you’re booked out leave it. You caused a liability. I asked the owner why she didn’t ask if my daughter was ok & ended up in a full on confrontation she was SO rude! I couldn’t believe it. She’s evil. She then tries to damage control & give the girls ice cream. Sorry but we saw your true colors. Shame as the food is great! We would have been weekly regulars. However we won’t be returning ever again due to the poor environment & how nasty the woman owner is not only to her staff, but her patrons including a hurt crying child. Shame on you. Considering taking this further as it was completely unsafe as a work environment & as a customer. EDIT: myself & another woman have both now walked past & seen them microwaving food & giving it to customers. The blonde lady/manager is absolutely HORRIBLE. They’re constantly going though staff as their staff quits due to poor treatment. Hence why you will always see new young high school age girls who have no idea what they’re doing. I look forward to karma getting the owners who are also extremely...