Solo Pasta — Restaurant in Mount Lawley

Never in all my time have i written a bad review of a restaurant as i know how damaging it can be, however our families evening on monday night was nothing short of an absolute disaster.

we came in for our booked time and the waitress pointed in the general direction of tables and informed us it was in the corner. upon walking over there there was another patron sitting at one set of tables, so we took what we thought was our table which was the only other table set up with menus. the waitress then comes over to let me know that where we have seated ourselves is not our table and it is in fact this one (points to the table with the other patron sitting there) i advise the waitress that we do not know who that person is sitting there. her response? "talk and make friends" not only is that the completely wrong response, rather than investigate the issue she walks off. between the other patron and ourselves we figure out that her mother has the same name as our booking and there has been a mistake, her booking was under another name and was on a separate table. finally we managed to sort this out and sit ourselves at the correct table.

bewildered, my husband and i sit down and laugh about how she must be new to hospitality and this might be her first day, a good story to tell others later for a laugh.

the rest of our family arrive and we have our order taken. there are 3 ceoliacs in our family, and this is why we chose to come to solo pasta due to their gluten free pasta option. the order is repeated back to us and all is fine.

the restaurant was busy for a monday night, at full capacity, so the 45 minute wait for food (while not tolerable to the older folk at our table) was understandable and fine. however once the meals arrive the same waitress from before brings out my meal (spinach pasta with butternut pumpkin) and gives it to my grandmother, a ceoliac. and another pasta entirely is put down in front of me, i quickly grab her attention and ask what pasta is what, as i have ordered the spinach, and my grandmother has ordered gluten free. she advises that the spinach pasta is in fact gluten free (which it is not, and advertised as a separate type of pasta on the menu) after explaining this to her and having this meal come back and forward to the kitchen twice it has been decided that there was a mistake with my grandmothers meal and a new one would be made. (still unsure as to what was put in front of me, but that was irrelevant as i had no allergies). we continued to eat the meals placed in front of us while my grandmother waited. and waited. and waited some more. by the time we had finished our meal and stacked our plates, and sat there waiting for my grandmothers meal, it finally came out. 1. 5 hours after our sitting time.

by this time she was visibly upset and asked for it to be take away as she did not want to sit there and eat it on her own and just wanted to go home.

to be fair, (i think) the manager took this pasta off the bill, and apologised profusely, however despite all of this, the night was completely ruined.

our grandparents had flown in for christmas and this was the last meal we were to have with them before they flew back, and at 85 years old, wont be flying again.

to top it all off however (because what else could possibly go wrong?) the meal my grandmother took home..?

...still the wrong pasta, so she missed out on dinner...

I made the following review when it was still under the original management: since then I have revisited frequently and added my new review at the bottom:

"As far a Italian family restaurant goes this is as good as any.

but the best thing about it is you don't come out of the restaurant after you've had your main course feeling hungry or feeling cheated that you didn't get value for money.

The service is simply put good honest service. nothing is too much trouble or too difficult. The staff will always & genuinely try their best to please you.

You never get attitude.

The portions are generous and the prices are not dissimilar to cafe prices which makes it affordable for everyday eating.

If you are a fan of Spaghetti Marinara -MF's Spaghetti Marinara by far is the best I have had it Perth.

So try if with confidence you won't be disappointed."

Updated review 20/10/2015

The new management have changed a few bits and pieces

Monte Fiore's signature dish the infamous " Spaghetti Marinara" is not in there any more they have another version which is nothing like the original recipe which is a shame really since that dish was the best " Spaghetti Marinara" that I had anywhere by a long shot.

The portions are reduced and its a bit pricer now nevertheless you will expect to find something yummy on daily specials.

Food presentation has improved.

They have improved some of the furniture (ie table and chairs) and there is now table cloths on the tables. its been painted internally.

Call me sentimental but I still miss the old menu.

I still give it 4 stars for cafe restaurants of...

My partner and I had our first date here about 9 months ago, and it was certainly memorable.

Service was great, we had a lovely time. Half way through my second wine however, I started to feel violently ill. My beautiful partner took me home where I just managed to reach the toilet to throw up my guts. I have never experienced food poisoning before then, but it was some of the most horrifically painful 8 hours of vomiting and diarrhoea of my life.

Serverly dehydrated with excruciating headaches the next few days, I reached out to the Solo Pasta facebook to warn them that something may be bad in their kitchen, I was immediately met with an arrogant, flippant message.

"We had 34 people eat the same meal as you and no one else got sick so you can't have got it from us".

My partner, who had reported the incident separately from me the night before, had been given the same defensive reply even though we hadn't mentioned that we were together, so I knew that that had been an out right lie. It was only when I mentioned going to the city council with my concerns that I had anyone take the issue seriously, with the owner reaching out to contact me. By then I was just too weak to continue arguing and spent the next week recovering.

I hadn't reached out to this restaurant seeking any kind of compensation, I had simply wanted to warn them so they could look into a potencial salmonella case and I was treated with absolute disdain and completely dismissed.

I'll never step foot in the place again, and I have warned everyone that I know against it. Let my first date story be a...