Piccolo Papà — Restaurant in Queensland

We recently made our first visit to Piccolo Papa to enjoy some lunch.

This business is located inside Grand Central Shopping Centre, in the heart of Toowoomba. This allows for ample parking, as well as the opportunity to visit other stores, do groceries, etc., while in the centre.

Piccolo Papa itself has decent ambience, with sufficient seating inside and out. There is a lengthy service counter, behind which you can watch all the food preparation and cooking occur. Always nice to observe what you're about to eat, and how it's done.

Our waitress was relaxed and friendly, and we appreciated her open and honest opinions on the meals. This helped me commit to my final choice, the Truffle Gnocchi. My wife selected her favourite pasta, the Spaghetti Carbonara. We also selected the Lamb Arancini (2 per serve) as entree. Table water was provided, and my wife's home-made ginger lemonade was excellent; non-carbonated, sweet, yet refreshing.

As for the meals, I can see why the Truffle Gnocchi receives consistent mentions in the reviews. It was superb! The cream sauce was rich, thick, and loaded with flavour. The gnocchi were outstanding, virtually melting in my mouth, and nicely balanced by the large chunks of mushroom. The entire meal was delicious and, due to the complex and strong flavours, the serving size was perfect. On this occasion, you wouldn't want too much of a good thing. My wife's Carbonara also rated highly, filled with quality ingredients, not too salty, and large enough that a take-home container was requested.

Last but not least, the Arancini were delicious. Crispy outside, creamy inside, and plenty of flavour thanks to the spiced lamb and mozzarella.

I will add that Piccolo Papa definitely sits at the higher end of the pricing spectrum. That being said, you get what you pay for, and our outlay was more than justifiable considering the superior, high quality meals we enjoyed. For me, an extra $5-$10 per meal, to enjoy premium hand-made pasta loaded with top-shelf ingredients, is a worthy investment.

Overall, Piccolo Papa was genuinely great. A pleasant venue and helpful, consistent service complemented the impressive meals. There was little to fault, and we will undoubtedly return...

Papa, Papa, Papa you were THIS close to 5 stars. If I could give halves you'd be 4.5 indubbiamente! 🇮🇹 Atmosphere didn't hit it. Mamma Mia 🤌 Good spot and cool layout but lots of ambient noise and too much hustle in the air meant it lacked the refined, elegant touch that I so miss from my short time in Castelluccio. Chairs were not premium but perhaps I had the wrong expectations coming in to this.

"Zucchini fries" on the menu and honestly why? Those are two words I never want to see together. We started with bruschetta - as one should. It was light and refreshing, like wholesome family comedy. Wait staff also agreed on our pronunciation of Bruschetta. Bread not quite toasty enough for my liking but still overall quite good. Croquets were our second starter and were also lovely. Worth noting that the croquets come with complimentary shaved (what I think was) mortadella. Wasn't sure how to pair these but who am I, Massimo Bottura?

Strange service choice, menus were cleared to quote-unquote "free up space". Space, that was promptly filled, with a BUCKET of cutlery. Service time was swift though and mains promptly followed starters. No time for digestion here thanks - not here to play games! A note to hold on to your cutlery, no fresh set provided with mains. These are trying truly times. In fairness, the words were "I can get you another set if you'd like" but the VIBE was "I swear if you make me...". Perhaps I'm not assertive enough.

Love me a lamb ragu. Very traditional Italian; heavy on the pasta - easy on the ragu. Large serving size (no smaller options available). The menu does pledge, you won't go home hungry. A pledge, that was upheld by filling me with pasta and bread. Should the chairs have been more comfortable, I could easily have reclined and rubbed my belly with satisfaction, perhaps even a little nonna-nap.

Staff seemed to like asking if we wanted dessert. I don't mind answering the same question a couple times, but perhaps some communication between staff. Not uncommon when tables don't have a designated server. On this front I am understanding as this is often the way of things.

Very good, will be...

Came up from Sydney for the long weekend to visit an old friend.

Landed in Piccolo Papa for our Saturday evening meal... thank the lordie lord for that - just blown away by the amazing food at this fine establishment.

The wood fired pizza had the fluffiest crust, perfect base, tomato and cheese, folded perfectly in the hand and filled my mouth with joy.

Followed up with the melt-in-the-mouth beef cheeks risotto OMG now that was an outstanding winter warmer, the beef, the stock, the rice was all YUMMMM!

Then we had the muscles dish - it was sooo gawd damn delicious I didn't even stop to take a photo 😆 and OMG the serving was MASSIVE so generous.

The meal was paired with a gorgeous bottle of Aussie red, Barossa Shiraz, 2020 mind you!!!!

And the Espresso Martini was shaken to perfection, with a scorched marshmallow on a swizzle stick. Such a fun take on the classic dirty.

Thanks Piccolo Papa people - the quality of food was unexpectedly OUTSTANDING and poo poos over anything you'd find on Lygon Street, 100% bang on perfection. Speed of service was fast - almost too fast - I loved the outdoor atmosphere under the gas heaters I wanted to stick around and savour the location as much as the food.

And the lovely ladies serving us made us feel really welcome and like family. You guys worked so hard and looked after us so well - thank you.

Piccolo Papa, we'll be back baby, can't wait to get on a plane and visit my friend in Toowoomba again... just so we can come back and eat all those other items on the...