La Madonna Restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

If the highlight/star of your restaurant is the duck dish, then you should mention that this dish needs to be preordered. No where on your social media, website (first image on your front webpage) or reservation page is this mentioned anywhere. It's disappointing when our first time experience dining at this restaurant we were expecting this dish on the menu but were told to refer to the 'nut dish' because they misheard us asking about the 'duck' for 'nut' and when we asked the second time for clarity was when they advised this was more a 'secretative dish reserved via preorder' and that there are limited quantity (we understand this) and the 'ducks are retiring' (yes they actually said this).

What was already a disappointing start to our experience at La Madonna (I should also mention they took their time providing us with the drinks and mains menu) was further exasberated by the underwhelming starters to follow.

The lamb ribs were average and still had a gaminess taste to it (depends if you like that or not, but I prefer not especially when there are better lamb rib dishes at other restaurants i.e. Rice Paper Scissors, who by the way do a much better job at fusion dishes than La Madonna).

The tomato dish was probably the unique (with strateilla cheese stuffed inside) and best among the dishes we ordered but still lacked the punchiness of flavour, particularly from the basil dressing.

Beyond the small dishes, the worst of them all were the pasta dishes. We ordered the lobster ravioli and beef pappardelle - both pastas were undercooked and hard, not al dente. The lobster ravioli was too spicy for me (I would say this was above mild) - it looked like they used a spicy XO sauce or chilli jam for the sauce. Luckily my partner can tolerate spicy food and could finish the dish for me. No where on the menu did they put a disclaimer or note that the pasta dishes were spicy. The waiter also didn't pre-warn us about this too or indicate what level of spice we'd like, so I would suggest to those who cannot tolerate chillis to avoid the pasta dish.

Overall, a very disappointing experience and we will unlikely revisit the restaurant. It's such a shame because we had high hopes for this restaurant, given the high rated reviews and praises from 'foodies' on IG.

I guess it's a hotel restaurant for a reason. If you're after a wonderful meal and experience for the same price point, I'd direct you to Embla and Farmers Daughter which are within close proximity of La Madonna - you'll have a much more enjoyable...

Came across this restaurant via IG. Majority of the photos posted on the page were duck dishes and even from other diners, were all duck photos.

So coming into the restaurant, expecting to try out some nice dishes made from/with duck.

Ducks weren't on the menu (ok, maybe it's a special dish) Asked for duck, misheard it for "nut" as they had a walnut starter (first item on the menu and unless someone really craves a walnut entree at a restaurant, I'm pretty sure they would've seen it and skipped it). Asked for duck again, got told it's a "special only, if you know it dish" and it needs to be pre-ordered. IG, website, booking online, nowhere did it mention this at all about pre-ordering the duck. Waiter mentioned something about COVID, quality duck is limited (understandable), something about ducks retiring (no idea what that meant) Did I mention we came in and we saw atleast a dozen ducks were hanging on display (like you would see at a Peking Duck place), and no ducks! Asked waiter if there's absolutely no chance at all for us to get a duck, mentioned the same thing again (point 5) Expressed our disappointment being led to restaurant solely because of the duck. Waiter actually never apologised (even though it's not his fault he's copping our heat), he only acknowledged there's no duck. Given it's a newly established restaurant, you'd think they would' pre-plan ahead or give some kind of indication but that's not the case. This is a petty point - did I mention point 02, there were two more groups that came in after us and we overheard the waiter describing about the Walnut dish (again, I'm not sure how much people would usually enjoy or want walnuts as an entree at a restaurant but my sixth sense is telling me they asked for duck and the same "misheard" nut mistake was made so the walnut dish was introduced).

Rest of the experience: Service, meh. Took a bit longer than usual to get the menu Food was average, pasta (Ravioli & Ragu) both undercooked. Ravioli was too spicy for my partner's liking (and they didn't ask or tell us it was spicy), but we overheard them advising another table about the spiciness of another dish.

Would I come back? Most likely not.

If you have a decent budget to spend on a nice restaurant, would recommend Embla or Farmer's Daughters over this, sorry but I came in here excited. Started off disappointed, then frustration and anger built up throughout the night and I left wanting to let everyone know how bad the...

As a self confessed foodie I pride myself on my ability to research a restaurant that is worth spending my hard earned Australian $. The restaurant is located in the heart of Collins street, perched on Level 3 at Next hotel.

Upon entering we were greeted warmly by the doorman and were advised how to get to the relevant level.

The decor is simple with a dark colour palette yet warm and inviting with a hint of sophistication.

The menu offers an assortment of delicious and mouthwatering starters and main courses that appeal to meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

Our thoughts on what we ate:

Salt & vinegar zucchini fritto - simple presentation yet truly amazing, perfect marriage of salt and vinegar, with both complimenting each. A perfect example of simple that is done well.

Stracciatella, anchovy, pickled green tomato, peppers & garlic toast - a must try, build your own bruschetta. Creamy mild and delicious with the right amount of salt. We were a little disappointed with the absence of the compressed tomato but nonetheless, further reason to return. Yay for us!! Lol!!

Roasted pumpkin, shiitake XO, almonds & mushroom floss - out of all the shared starters, this was our least favourite and found this a little boring and not en par with the rest of what we had.

For mains I had the Spanner crab spaghetti - I’m primarily vegetarian but I do eat seafood on the occassion. It did not disappoint! The pasta was cooked to perfection, with the crab meat the star of the dish. The chilli and nori added depth of flavour, and wqs just so moreish. I can still imagine how it tasted whilst I’m writing this.

My partner had the risotto with truffles - it was creamy, with a deep, earthy flavour and a lot of umami.

Another round of drinks accompanied desserts, the dessert was excellent, we shared a cannoli, like no other, it was made of wafer thin chocolate casing filled with infused chocolate semifreddo which was dipped in pistachio.

The service was of the highest quality with the waiters attentive but not obstructive.

I highly recommend this restaurant. The food is absolutely amazing, the drinks are bar none and the ambience is warm...