Il Sorriso cafe plus Restaurant — Restaurant in Palmyra

OMG I was in Shock! - My experience last night was not at all what I was expecting. I was shocked, because compared to my previous 3 visits, I found that my lasagne was "Delicious"!

After I took the first few mouthfuls of my lasagne, my mind was confused about what my teste buds were telling me.

This confusion was because I just didn't expect or believe the taste that I was experiencing from the first 1 or 2 tastes of the food. After the third mouthful I had to admit my initial expectations were So Wrong.

Now, because of my experience I have to write and tell you about my latest visit to Il Sorriso.

But first a little history. I live close by and I go past this shop a few times every week. Several months ago, I was very surprised to see that at long last the owner appeared to have “woken up” and had decided to open at night-time.

The choice for good Italian food in our area is minimal if not questionable at best.

I had been to this little restaurant and I've tried the food 3 times before. The first time I found it quite good and the next 2 times it was less than ordinary. So, I gave up. Inconsistent would be the best description of the food during my first 3 visits.

Tonight I was feeling I might take a risk and give this little restaurant just one more last try.

However, I was surprised to see new faces in there. They were not the usual “Italian” faces I had expected to see as before. So, I asked and discovered these people in front of me were the new owners and they had taken it over only about 10 or so months ago. I must admit, I was starting to become more doubtful about ordering, but after quizzing them a little deeply about the cooking methods etc (I am a retired restaurant owner) I decided reluctantly go ahead and order the lasagne. Afterall how bad could a lasagne be?

Anyway now back to my lasagne. To my delight after eating my third mouthful my lasagne I found that my lasagne was surprisingly tasty, nicely cheesy and with a good amount of meat content. As I said above it was delicious and with really good flavours throughout.

It showed me that the cook (Dolly) who I was told had made the base sauce, knew how to make a good authentic style base sauce. It is so easy yet rare these days, because it takes a minimum of 4 – 5 hours of simmering the sauce as long as it's done with the right ingredients.

Dolly and Bobby, I congratulate you on taking Il Sorriso to the level and flavourful heights that I believe it should have had in the previous years.

I read some of the other reviews and except for some spoilt person who may have been confused perhaps because he thought he was in a Malaysian hawker shop. I feel he had unfairly judged you because he couldn't get a pizza for lunch. Other than this guy throwing a wobbly and being unfair and overly harsh, I was impressed with the overall quality of comments of the last 6 – 10 months. No doubt you're doing the right thing and making the good impression on the community.

Rest assured, I will be back and try some of your other dishes. Next time I will order beforehand, I trust and hope as the new owners your quality and wonderful flavours will be consistent.

By the way I also think you've done a great job upgrading the restaurant and I congratulate you on your achievements in such a short time of being the NEW OWNERS. I will happily recommend you to as many people as I can. I wish you continued and bigger success, keep up the good...

What a shame.

Ordered two pizzas (meat lover delux and lamb and feta). First came out a little overcooked (we could smell burning in the kitchen, so assuming that's why the second took so much longer). Second came out a little later, and looked fine.

Ingredients on both looked, and tasted cheap. Comparable to buying the lowest cost items from Coles / Woolworths and making it at home, badly. The dough was undercooked, which was sad with the first pizza as it was also overcooked.

For the cost ($19 and $17), I would rather have Dominoes.

The atmosphere was okay. Felt like a lunch-bar. Labels from IKEA were still on furniture, and the menu needs some serious attention to detail. Not sure if the place was originally Italian, but it's almost the furthest thing from it now.

The staff were friendly and attentive, really the only positive.

These guys seem to have taken ownership in the past 10 or so months, and also own another place called 'Pizza Aussie Bites' in Forrestfield under the holder 'Sidhu Boyz'. I'll make sure to avoid both for the...

Really disappointed at our experience here due to the many positive reviews for this restaurant. My group were welcomed in by a staff member which was nice, and the table was cleaned. But after we ordered, it took a painstakingly long time for even our first appetiser to arrive! At least 20 minutes for calamari and another 15 for garlic bread. Our pizzas finally arrived, 40-45 minutes after we ordered them. It had been so long we were no longer that hungry and asked to take most of the pizzas home in boxes. The food itself was decent - pizzas were good, the calamari wasn’t worth the money.

It appeared to us that the kitchen was understaffed, and that could be the cause of the delays - but on a Saturday night you’d assume a food business would have more people working to accommodate for the demand. I hope to see this business improve...