San Marzano Pizzeria / Salumi Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

ORDERED (NOV 2024): 🥪 Lasagne: Cape Grim beef short ribs, béchamel, mozzarella, pecorino, basil ($24.50)

REVIEW: 🌼 Such a pretty lasagne slice. The beef short ribs are delicious, in little chunks that have this earthy flavour. The béchamel and mozzarella keeps it from being too overwhelming, while the basil cuts through the heaviness of it all. Pasta sheets in between layers are also cooked perfectly - moist yet adding that much needed stability.

I like the crispy touches around the edges and the luxurious pool of tomato sauce. Personal preference for me is a bit more béchamel and mozzarella - I prefer my lasagne slightly more creamy. Great lunch. 🌻 ORDERED (2023): 🍕  Tiger Prawns: San Marzano tomato, grilled prawns, fior di latte, rocket, chilli, garlic oil, lemon ($24.50) 🍕  Prosciutto: San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, rocket, Prosciutto di Parma (32 months) ($23.50) 🍕  Beef Short rib: 24-hour braised beef short rib, San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte, salsa verde ($23.50) 🍕  Pork on Pork: San Marzano tomatoes, pepperoni, pork & fennel mince, applewood smoked bacon, double smoked ham, fior di latte, oregano ($24.50)

Four pizzas split between five ended up as $19.20pp.

REVIEW: ✔️ Our group dined in during a work lunch. Speaking generally, we thought the pizzas were delicious. It's better than the pizza joint at the local sports ground nearby. The pizzas all came out in a timely manner (~15-20 minutes) and had really great leopard spotting on them. The bases are thinner than the typical takeaway pizza, but it falls into the more 'gourmet' category, so this is understandable.

✔️ The group favourite was the pork on pork! Filled with so much flavour and a reasonable amount of toppings, every bite was delicious. I also enjoyed the prosciutto - but I'm incredibly biased. Prosciutto be my weakness!! ✖️  The least favourite was the beef short rib. Although the beef was braised for 24 hours, it was shredded on the pizza, so it became very dry on consumption. 😓

✔️ Since we dined in, we got to have their house's chilli sauce. it had the perfect amount of spice and the subtly sweet fragrance that was addictive. We ended up asking for and sharing 3 little pots between the six of us! Would highly recommend you ask for this, too, if you're dining in. The chairs inside are high backed and super comfortable as well.

➖ Although the price is more on the expensive side, I found that it was worth it for the quality. Especially compared to the other pizza competitor...

I’ve been to this restaurant many times and used to really love their baked prawn rigatoni paired with the original pizza base. However, my most recent visit was incredibly disappointing.

First, the service was frustrating. We clearly told the male staff member that we wanted two baked prawn rigatonis and the original pizza base, but he only brought us one rigatoni and changed the base to a garlic one. When we pointed this out, he rudely insisted that we had ordered the garlic base. All of my friends were sure we had asked for the original one. If we hadn’t been so firm, he even tried to charge us for the wrong base.

We also asked for a bottle of water, but it never arrived, even by the end of the meal.

The most disappointing part, though, was the quality and taste of the food. Even though they seem to have a more polished menu now, the rigatoni sauce tasted much worse than before — spicy and sour — and the prawns were half the size they used to be. Has the cost of the new menu come at the expense of the ingredients?

Honestly, we were relieved that they only brought one rigatoni, because we wouldn’t want to waste another portion. This experience has officially removed this place from my list of favorite restaurants. I’m deeply disappointed and sad. I won’t be coming...

Finally! A decent pizza place in Docklands. I used to pass by while they were fixing the business and just couldn't wait to try them... so once they opened up, we went there and ordered the following pizzas:

Pepperoni (tomato, Fior di latte, pepperoni, chilli, oregano). Ghost Pepper XO (tomato, ghost pepper salami, double smoked bacon, Fior di latte, house-made XO).

What's unique about their pizza is they make their own sourdough starter which ferments for a minimum of 48 hrs. This obviously added a rich flavour to all the other ingredients and toppings and made this one of the best pizzas we had in Melbourne.

Some might argue that the price is a bit on the higher side, but you get what you pay for - an exceptional pizza in an area that lacks excellent food.

I'll come back for more pizza. They are only a...