Alfie's Italian — Restaurant in Newcastle-Maitland

When man has lost all faith in humanity, when the bank balance reads like a tragic haiku, and the landlord is sharpening his pitchfork for next week’s rent—there remains but one saviour. Not a priest, not a banker, but a chef armed with olive oil, garlic, and the soul of a thousand nonnas whispering in his ear.

First came the burrata—dear God, the burrata. One slice and I was holding Sicily in the palm of my hand, a pocket of gooey, creamy paradise so divine I briefly forgot English and began screaming “MAMMA MIA” like Mario losing a kart race.

Then appeared the pork and veal meatballs. With one mouthful I was no longer in a restaurant—I was inside an episode of Peppa Pig, surrounded by technicolour pork perfection and a suspiciously flavourful Daddy Pig who had clearly sacrificed himself for my joy.

Then arrived the calamari fritti. I bit into one ring and was instantly transported into the Mariana Trench, tumbling past squid ancestors, Poseidon himself handing me tartare sauce as my scuba tank filled with basil chilli aioli.

And lastly, like a lightning bolt from the heavens, the lamb shoulder landed. This was no ordinary lamb—this was the crown jewel of the flock. It fell from the bone with such grace I nearly filed divorce papers on the spot just to marry it. I gnawed at the marrow like a starving hyena and briefly considered writing my will, leaving all assets to that lamb.

This meal was not just dinner—it was baptism by tomato, a communion of garlic bread, a resurrection powered by great staff. Hands down, the chefs here are culinary warlocks and must be stopped before they start charging admission like a theme park.

If this food doesn’t make you believe in miracles, then...

We visited Alfie’s as a group of five, ordering the lamb ragu, pizza bread, and scallops. Unfortunately, the food didn’t live up to the hype. While the customer service was genuinely lovely—the staff treated us beautifully, explained the menu thoroughly, and checked in frequently—the overall experience left much to be desired.

Firstly, the menu is quite limited, and surprisingly, they don’t offer pizzas despite being an Italian restaurant. The dishes are designed for sharing, which threw us off, as we hadn’t anticipated that. We checked the menu beforehand, and while it seemed promising, the reality fell short. The food itself was just okay—not amazing, especially for the price point. A major downside was how extremely salty each dish was, which overshadowed any potential flavor.

The atmosphere was average. Given the restaurant’s small size, it naturally gets loud with the crowd, and the addition of loud music made it overwhelming. It was difficult to have a conversation without raising our voices. On a positive note, the drinks were lovely.

Considering the high demand—booking took us a couple of weeks—and the buzz around the place, we expected much more. Unfortunately, it wasn’t worth the wait. For the price and the overall quality of the food and atmosphere, it didn’t meet expectations.

The real highlight was the customer service. The ladies serving us were wonderful and attentive, but sadly, that alone doesn’t justify the cost. For us, it’s a place we wouldn’t...

The two stars is only for the food.

For a place that ‘prides themselves on their service’ (as quoted by the manager) it’s probably the worst restaurant service I’ve ever experienced.

We stood unacknowledged at the door for 10 minutes before being seated, continued to wait 40 minutes before we could order and had to seek out a waitress to even order any drinks.

Once our food finally began coming out, multiple plates were wrong. We were being brought food and drinks we didn’t order and not brought the stuff we did in fact order. When we were finally able to grab the attention of the few waitstaff, we were met with left of field comments about how much they had to do and other odd remarks from the staff.

We spoke to the manager about the service and despite agreeing to how bad it was, we don’t feel like we were compensated at all accordingly to how bad the service was and intact were charged extra for a cocktail we didn’t even order.

Having worked in hospitality myself for years, I understand you can be busy and run off your feet but this was just ridiculous and the comments made to us from staff were too.

Despite the food being incredible, the service was atrocious and is definitely not worth going...