La Porchetta - Mentone — Restaurant in Melbourne

Amazing food, atmosphere and value for money. And always has done so in my opinion. This is an underrated Mentone instutiution that overdelivers on all fronts. I have been coming here for 18+ years and the consistency of the food is outstanding. My kids have gorwn up on this place! I think the food quality this thanks to the resident pasta chef who has been there for as long as I can recall 👏🏻. The pastas are generous and so flavourful. Talk about al dente! This chef knows pasta. Full of fresh ingedients (e.g. abundant seafood in the seafood marinara spaghetti), bursting with flavour and cooked on the spot - I asked him! Generous serves. Chips are hot, and fresh with the cleanest oil. Main meals, huge! And fresh. Schintzels, steaks perfectly cooked with flavourful sauces. The side veges, wow! Perfectly sauteed and seasoned. I'm not exaggerating. And then the pizzas. So good. In-house dough of course. Toppings not overdone or over cheesed. I recommend the thin base for a truly authentic Itialian experience. The new renovation is bang-on! The booths have created cosy and intimate spaces for couples or families, but there are still plently of tables in the open spaces for large groups and atmosphere. On Saturday night the place was buzzing! We were there in a large group on Sat night, so an addiitonal waiter on the table would have been great - but this is a minor oversight. The waiter was efficient as possible. Food always quick and hot. The management are trying hard and very friendly. Great effort guys! I'll be comeing back again...

Ate here some time ago and got sick from eating a BBQ chicken pizza...however, my parents continue to come back as they love the pizza. My whole family came back for lunch out despite my past experience. I didn't order food, just an iced mocha with almond milk as I'm intolerant to dairy. When I got my drink, there was whipped cream on top, so I double checked what it was made with. The girl said she forgot about it and made the whole thing with dairy. Normal milk, whipped cream and ice cream. Had I drank this, I would've been super sick!!!! She then came back after saying she'd make it again, to tell me they don't have almond milk. My family ordered pizza's and a garlic pizza for everyone to share. The dough was raw. They put it back in the oven and when it came back was pretty much darkened on top but the dough still raw.

On top of all that, they didn't make my mums pizza. The girl that messed up my order didn't put through my mums vegetarian pizza. So while dad and my brother had theirs, mum had to go up and find out what happened to her pizza, only to be told the order never went through.

We've been going to La Porchetta since the original one opened with Rocky....sad to say, we won't be returning. New ownership at most locations has destroyed this name and reputation. Nothing is good anymore, poor service, stale food and powdered food (using powdered egg on Aussie Pizza now)...

I have been to numerous La Porchetta restaurants and have always been happy with the food. The last time I visited La Porchetta Mentone has been awful, however. I am a student and was working full time one week and at the end of the week my boyfriend and I were starving and exhausted and ordered food on the La Porchetta website to pick it up in Mentone. It was a half an hour drive and once we arrived, we had to wait for a while before anyone came out to greet us. Turns out their kitchen closed, though they were still taking orders online. The staff were not apologetic at all and nothing was offered in compensation (usually, if something similar occurs at many other restaurants a discount is offered for the next visit). We ended up wasting over an hour and having to look for another place to eat, which was not easy on a Saturday night at around 9pm (by the time we got to mentone and waited) as many places were either full or closed. The response we got was not one you'd expect from a respectful restaurant and made it clear than the customer does not matter to them unless you can get money off them...