Teatro Gastronomia — Restaurant in Melbourne

Went on Xmas day and what an awful experience. We ordered calamari, carbonara and Margherita pizza. It came fast but the calamari was soggy dripping oil. The pasta we returned straight away after tasting, undercooked and tasting disgusting. Funny enough someone just had the same experience than us one review below. The manager asked if we wanted something else and I said we would be ok with the pizza, however when it came, Luke warm, it was also terrible, I never had a Margherita tasting like that, I cannot believe someone could spoil a basically cheese tomato pizza but they did, there was something wrong in the sauce and cheese.

We stood up to pay and the attendant asked what was wrong, I said the pizza was disgusting so he called the manager once again. This time in a arrogant tone he said I had already returned the past and it was perfectly cooked, so basically with a grotesque attitude cancelled my bill as if I was trying to eat for free, I had to insist to pay for the horrible calamari because at least we ate. 34 for it tho, soggy small portion.

Never again

P.S. we were not loud, this is how you are trying to cover the fact that your food was disgusting by trying to shame us? instead of acknowledge and try to improve. There were not 3 offers to change the meal, simply because we were fedup with the quality and we decided to leave the pizza behind and pay for it. Yes the manager rudely canceled my bill as I explained before, however I did consume the calamari and did not accept not paying for something we ate, what are you complaining about? If you are going to offer someone a refund do it in a polite way, your behaviour was ridiculous as if I was trying to walk away without...

It's very strange this restaurant has got high review rate! Based on our experience in the restaurant on Thursday, 6 February 2025, I do not think it deserves high review rate. We'll never go there and do NOT recommend anybody to go there.

1. Bad services. I made a reservation for 6 people two days in advance. When we arrived 20 minutes earlier than booked time as requested, and waited for 15 minutes in the hot Sun to be seated, but told that there was no table for us despite the reservation 2 days in advance. Was told to wait for another 20 minutes to get a table ready for us. staff showed customers cold faces, no smile, no apology. Finally they added a small table to a 4 seat table to make them for 6 people to sit at the exit. And when we got ready to order, no waiter/waitress came to us, we waved hands a few times but none of them glanced at us, so we had to wait for another 15-20 minutes to get a waiter to come to order. So, the manager and staff do not care at all when they make you wait long even though you made a reservation. What does a reservation mean?!
2. Food flavors were awful. Lasagna was not Al Dente at all, it tasted like it was cooked yesterday. Seafood Risotto was too salty to eat! Both beef steak main course portions were very small, only the steak and a few pieces of vegetable salad, no chips or potato mash with the steak. I couldn't believe that they were main courses! Beef jus was awful. Black Angus Porterhouse overcooked, too hard to chew and very thin. Ribeye...

Drinks were quite good, polenta chips and tomato were nice for antipasti (tomatoes were straight out of the fridge, which was unfortunate). Also had to ask for water after our drinks order was taken, despite there being water glasses on the table.

The stracciatella gnocchi was so unpleasant we actually complained. The gnocchi themselves were gluey, sticking to your teeth. The dish was swimming in an excess of tomato sauce that had a raw flavour, like uncooked tomato paste, and the four or five little dabs of cheese there were on the dish looked like pieces of round, standard mozzarella, not creamy stracciatella strands.

We made an initial complaint to one of the passing waitstaff, who collected the unfinished plates, but got no subsequent interaction from any other staff member. We decided we weren't going to spend any further money there and would go elsewhere for dessert, and reiterated the complaint when we paid the bill. The gnocchi were removed from our total with an apology, and the statement that this is very unusual - looking at the other reviews, I wonder if that's true.

I wouldn't go back. Two stars purely for the...