Officina Gastronomica Italiana — Restaurant in Melbourne

Can't say the coffee is very good.... Very watered down and the staff I didn't find we're too friendly. There are better coffee shops in the stop. They do have a great range of cakes though.

Edit: The owner response is pretty reflective of the service. Yes I did go to your shop. No I didnt like your coffee; which is my perogative. Yes I do prefer a number of other shops on the strip; also my prerogative. Feedback and reviews are an excellent way for good business to reflect and improve. It's disappointing to see that not only have you taken my feedback personally but you have attempted to discredit it by attacking the fact that I preferred another shops coffee. Does this mean you only listen to positive feedback? Perhaps then you could have focussed on the fact that I did provide positive feedback on your cakes which are great. Service speaks for it's self though with your response, so I'm glad it is here for everyone to see.

Edit: I don't need to justify anything, this is a review of your service and product. Yes, I did come here with the purpose of reviewing both of those things. I think it is interesting that you have removed your initial comments as they were obviously damaging to your shop and as I said, showed the level of service that you provide. Reading the other reviews that are not favourable I can see it is your standard practice to attack anyone who provides feedback, so I have even less reason to justify myself. Hopefully you can grow from...

Was looking forward to coming here because of the high rating. Booked for an early Friday dinner at 6pm (they open at 5.30) and arrived on time with I think just another table occupied at the time. Ordered drinks and 2 pasta dishes. The drinks arrived pretty quickly.

Wish I could say the same for the pasta.

The 2 dishes we ordered took an hour to be served. With only one table occupied at the time we arrived, I don’t understand how in the world it can take an hour to cook 2 pastas. After over 50 minutes of waiting, we just had to ask what’s taking so long. We didn’t get any explanation except being offered some prosciutto due to the wait and an apology. 5 minutes after asking, our orders arrived. The other tables’ orders also started coming out maybe 5 minutes after ours. The other table arrived maybe over 30 minutes after we arrived at the restaurant.

Did we like the pasta? Yes, but the whole experience was ruined by the one hour wait. I didn’t even have the energy to take photo of my food anymore since we were so bummed by the long wait, hence I can only upload our drinks. I also initially wanted to order tiramisu for dessert, but didn’t anymore.

Will we go back? Probably not.

Will I recommend this place? If you’re not hungry, maybe. But surely you can find another Italian place who can serve the same quality, if not, better quality than what they can offer.

Sorry, but we were really disappointed and let down by the experience that we...

A fantastic little wine bar-esque restaurant with cool decor, a great atmosphere and delicious food. With three on our small table, it was a bit of a squeeze, exacerbated by the fact that our entrees, mains and sides were all inexplicably brought out at the same time. We resorted to putting drinks on the wine rack next to us. When I told the waiter we weren’t expecting everything to come out at once, he did have the good grace to apologize. But really, it was an odd decision regardless of the size of table. When I say all at once, I mean we got one entree, a main and a side, then very shortly after another main and side etc. Still, the food was outstanding. The truffle croquettes were to die for, and the macaroni was spectacular. Despite the interesting, if polite service, we’re definitely coming back. Even if we’ll struggle to recommend the place through word of mouth…that name is a tongue twister and a mouthful!

Updates: we went back and the service was exceptional! We had a much bigger table this time, and the food came out at the appropriate time. Speaking of the food, it was still amazing. So glad we came back to this place. I can see it becoming more of a regular...