Ricardo's Trattoria — Restaurant in Melbourne

Ricardo’s offers an authentic Italian experience. It feels more like you’re a visitor in their home and not in a restaurant.

The service is fantastic, yet not pretentious at all.

We made a reservation, so we were seated immediately upon arrival. As it was Saturday night, it was very busy, yet, it seemed to run like a well-oiled machine.

We were given a bread basket and a bottle of EVOO as well as water.

One of the staff recommended us a bottle of Shiraz and we also asked for a bottle of Chardonnay. The Shiraz got opened and poured in a decanter while we were enjoying the delicious Chardonnay.

I wanted a light meal, so I just ordered the Linguine Gamberoni - with King Prawns, diced fresh Tomatoes, Garlic, and EVOO. An absolute perfection in a small dish. The linguine was cooked to a perfect al dente. The King Prawns were so fresh - they tasted like they’ve just come out of the sea, and were cooked just beautifully. Importantly, the garlic wasn’t overpowering the dish. It was extremely well-balanced.

My friends had Pollo Mr. Pecorino (with half a chicken), a Schnitzel, and a Lamb Shank. These were on the Specials board. The Schnitzel was the only thing I tasted. It was served with Puttanesca and it was ridiculously tender and flavoursome.

I ordered a Tiramisu and it’s definitely in the Top 3 I’ve had.

The total bill came to $385 (2 entrees, 3 mains, of which one was half size, and 3 desserts as well as 2 bottles of wine), which I thought was very reasonable.

A great experience and I look forward to going back to try something else...

Just had a really unfortunate and confusing experience at Ricardo's.

It began lovely, with all service staff treating us with amazing respect and kindness. However, while I was actively reading the drinks menu, a seemingly intoxicated man snatched the menu out of my hands. At first I thought, "is this a joke? Is he doing this to be funny?" but when I asked him to return my menu (because, again, I was literally reading it) he refused to give it back to me, saying "no no, you be patient, it'll only be a second".

After a few tense exchanges and his refusal to give the menu back to me, I simply got up to go get another menu from the host stand, to which he became disgruntled and kept glaring at our table, making my group feel insanely uncomfortable to the point we almost left before our food arrived.

The twist of it all was this man was actually the OWNER OF THE RESTAURANT!!!

That's super weird, right? I could ABSOLUTELY understand if we weren't using the menu, but I was actively reading and deciding what I wanted to order. Anyway, I hope this was a fluke and that Filippo doesn't do this again! Melbourne's hospo industry is too competitive for this kind...

Hands down, this is my favourite Italian restaurant in Melbourne, if not just my favourite restaurant in general. It's always, always delicious and homely. It's a local gem, so the owners and staff get to know you and are always warm and welcoming.

The food is really, really good. The menu is a mix of basics like lasagne, but then there is an ever changing specials board with beautiful creations. Almost every dish can be made starter size or main meal size. The first time I came here, I had the lasagne, and it was one of the best I've ever had. But after that, I tried their Chicken Tortellini and I've never looked back. I haven't found that anywhere else, and it's honestly the best pasta dish I've had pretty much anywhere. Desserts change either weekly or monthly, but they're on a rotation, so you'll eventually see a favourite again.

The only slight negative I could say about here, is that it's a small space, so it can get very cramped in here. But taking everything in to consideration like friendly staff, great food, easy parking and a nice atmosphere, makes even that bearable. I highly recommend Ricardo's....