Sofia Camberwell — Restaurant in Melbourne

Sophia( SPECIFICALLY Camberwell don’t bother with the Burwood one) is probably the only place in Melbourne where you can get a meal for 5 ppl at about $109-$120 and feed about 8-10 for that price. Portion size is enormous. Or, rather, Portions used to be ENORMOUS ( I should know, me & my family are eating there for 25 years) —- but recently have been declining in size & increasing in price . Quality declined too , since their chef who used to be there for 15+ years sought greener pastures for whatever reasons. HOWEVER. Taste was never an issue: it’s hearty, it’s massive, it’s a home -type food like your Nona would cook , not 5 star Michelin dining where you get a twig of mint on top of your 25 g steak at $25 extra charge, LOL!

Personally, I love ( and recommend)all their “ house dishes”: pasta Sophia, Sophia special pizza, pollo Valentino, polo Libaba( avocado, prawns, curry on top of chicken steak plus massive serving of vegetables plus chips on request ). Cakes are always sensational; ice cream towers are MASSIVE and literally , I’ve weighted my take away gelato container once and it was nearing 2 kgs ; but it’s because the owner likes my loyalty and thus packs my box tightly 😀😀😇😂😂

No matter the reviews you read & personal experiences ( people’s wants, needs & expectations always differ)—- if you are into massive feasts & massive doggy bags & eating your meal for 3 days afterwards ( your hard earned buck goes a long way there ! 😅😊😂)—- Sophia is certainly a place for gathering. It gets so busy that you can hardly hear each other, so if you want a quiet date, go elsewhere. But if you want to eat a massive meal & drink & be merry— it’s definitely a place to be . Bringing a massive crowd absolutely pays off both in terms of dining bill and menu choices.

The place employs huge amount of young people & obviously invests of training: these kids run with military precision.

If you order was stuffed up somehow ( chips instead of veggies or vice versa) it’s more likely a mistake of a kitchen stuff, not your waiters . Calmly ask & you shall receive & my suggestion is to leave a few bucks for a waiter — that’s what I do and it serves me wonders.

I’ve seen complaints about the gravy: dude, WTH? It’s a MUSHROOM gravy so of course it looks like a … erm… gooey mess. It tastes great, though, with the steak. And I am pretty much sure that it’s the only kind they have— but it’s a plus for me because I like it. Food tastes great and mushroom gravy comes in soup-sized dishes to accompany boat-sized pastas and large pizza-sized steak plates. You better be hungry; I personally tried desert twice ( because I always attempt to finish my meal & fail & take a doggy bag, LOL, and nothing else fits in me. True story.) Cakes are super-good though, all banter aside. One of my fav places in...

I've been a regular customer at Sofia's since the early days, maybe in the early 1980s, when the shop was only about the size of two living rooms, and have always had good meals there. The pizza is great - one of the best I've ever found Melbourne, and the toppings are generous - the way I like them. I completely disagree with the adverse comments made by others about the quality of the food, at least with regard to anything I've tried at Sofia's.

For non-pizza meals, I do agree with some other comments that the servings are huge - maybe too large for many people - and the wastage that must occur when people can't finish does disturb me a bit. I think it would be good if Sofia's could make half-size servings available, and make the size of the servings clear on their menus, so that customers could get the amount they want to get, and not have to waste so much because they get more than they thought they would get.

The pizzas seem to be the normal sizes you'd expect, so this comment doesn't apply to pizzas. The toppings are generous, but not excessively so - just enough to be really tasty.

So if you're not up to a truly huge meal, perhaps order a pizza, or entree-size dish (or order a main to share between two people); but otherwise I recommend Sofia's for great food and...

Really bad attitude, the fly in the salad. 態度極差不負責任，整潔有待加強 Just sat down and the waiter came to ask us to order. Asking for longer time to see the menu but came almost immediately and knocked the table to ask again which is really rude. When we having the Fritto Misto we found a really big dead fly on the plate as the photo. We asked the waiter for help. He took the plate away immediately and said he will replace a new one but we told him we had no appetite at all after that. He even didn’t say a sorry just asking us to understand they washed the salad many times but the flies still hide in the salad. We told the reception this situation and we think we deserved an apology. But he just answered us he already not charged us for the salad. And acted like why we still not satisfied. But we think to keep food tidy is their responsibility. It’s really a bad experience and ruined our lunch...