Volpino Pizzeria and Wine Bar — Restaurant in Melbourne

As local residents of mount Martha, both my partner and I were disappointed with our meal. I had been in the past and it was delightful, thus it was unexpected. It was a Thursday night, Summer and Sunny. There were a lot of dishes scattered in the front and along the bench, so wasn’t a good look to start. First, my partner and I both ordered the Italian Mojito. Sad to say, both my partner and I were disappointed. It was watery, bland and it was not crushed ice, but a few ice cubes. The lime was sour and you could not taste any of the liquor. I am a bartender - I have worked under professionals in the CBD, as well as local cocktail bars along the Peninsula - I was not impressed. Secondly, our food was not worth it’s price. Both my partner and I had barely any toppings, and my partner’s pizza was watering. Mine, that was gluten free, costed $26, was burnt and has barely any toppings and was small. I understand that it is difficult to cater for allergies, but this was terrible. All up, it costed $80 and that was not worth it at all. I understand that it is busy during the Summer, but that is no excuse for poor quality of product. I have worked in hospitality for 8 years, my partner 8 as well; and it was so sad to see a business not operating at it’s full potential. The owner was making all the drinks, and was then walking around. Perhaps designate a particular bartender? Also, drinks were left at the bench for longer than 5 minutes, which explains why drinks are watery or deflated. Overall, I recommended that this venue needs it’s quality value for the price that they are expecting...

Dined at Volpino tonight after approximately 18 months of staying away. I was reminded of some of my reasons for staying away these being; Customers repeatedly leave the access door open upon entering/leaving in the period of cold evenings. We continually got a cold blast of air and our food went cold very quickly. Why can’t the owners fit an auto door closure to eliminate this issue; the door back always be wedged open on the hotter days. We were charged a 10% weekend surcharge but why; I don’t see other retail businesses charging surcharges and I bet the owner would be quite put off if he was charged 10% extra when purchasing their medication or buying food at the supermarket. And then to add insult to injury the credit card machine asks you to choose which value of tip you want to include. This is just unnecessary pressure on the customer and frankly I find it very offensive. Australia has one of the highest minimum wages in the world so why are we pressurised into tipping. If we want to tip we will ask the staff to add it onto the bill so leave it to us. The prices are already at the upper end with a very limited menu so how you can justify a surcharge and then ask for tips strikes me as pure greed. As mentioned it’s about 18 months since I last went to this restaurant but it will be at least 18 years before I return again. I think it is time people voted with their boots and go to other better value restaurants serving better quality food with a greater selection and at lower prices. Absolutely...

We arrived at 4.30pm for our dinner booking to an almost empty restaurant.

We were seated at a table, but felt that it wasn't big enough as we intended on ordering several dishes to share. As the restaurant was so quiet, we didn't hesitate to join our table and the one next to ours together (we barely moved the table one meter).

Immediately after this, a waitress pranced over, began moving the table back without asking, telling us she was setting up for dinner. Naturally, we were puzzled by this comment, as we were just about the only customers in the restraurant. We received a response in a shockingly rude tone- "this is your table (pointing at the original table we were given) it's 4.30 and I'm setting up for dinner". When we indicated that we didn't feel comfortable staying at this restaurant after the service we'd just received, she didn't care. I've never had such a terrible experience at a restaurant.

We went to DOC pizza down the road, which was full to the brim with people waiting for tables.

Based on other people's reviews, we aren't the only customers who have encountered this waitress at Volpi. Perhaps it is time this restaurant starts to take their reviews seriously before they are out of...