Sorbellos Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Queensland

What a sad experience dining tonight was at Sorbellos. I have been celebrating birthdays, family dinners and special occasions at Sorbellos for 30 years. Entree: Bruschetta... pink tomato's sprinkled with sugar. No garlic, balsamic or basil, just a bowl of sweetened chopped unripened tomato's. Not even photo worthy. 24 y/o son (who eats anything) left half his lasagne. It was ground mince (like in a can) in between layers and layers of thick, tasteless over cooked lasagne sheets. No bechamel sauce. No cheese. Then a splash of Pissata to add color to the brown mess on his plate.... that was as cold as his lasagne. Large chips... in a cereal bowl. 5 year olds eat more than that! Mum had Pollo Romana, it was bland chicken breast that was very dry, she left half of it. The vegetables were a disgrace. Zoom in on the zucchini! It was bitter, wrinkled skinned and inedible. Roast potato was grey inside, soft on the outside & the pumpkin along with the half bit of corn and slabs of carrot had the same bitter metallic taste as the zucchini. The avocado was perfect! I had the Pollo Masala. Normally comes on beautiful mashed potatoes with a creamy sauce that also flows over green beans with fresh mushrooms floating around. I have reviewed this meal positively before...... but NOT tonight. I have had this meal at least 5 times, its my go to, menu rarely changes. Tonight was disgraceful. Chef allowed that meal over the pass... let alone all 3 of them ! I addressed the balding corn with the staff member, upon bringing my sons meal 5+ minute's later. It was replaced with an almost raw piece. I asked the staff member for the little bowl she held and put the 2 bitter, foul tasting pieces of zucchini in there, asking that chef taste it please, as something was wrong. Bowl was returned swiftly with presumably another 2 pieces in it. Upon tasting, I apologised and explained that it was also inedible, but thanked her for her patience. I ate what I could, just covering everything with that dried mushroom, not at all creamy sauce. I am sorry to say, I dont know if I will be back. I felt for the young lady that attended our table. You could see how much was left on our plates, I tried to cover it with our napkins. We were not asked if our meal was nice, as it was obvious. We didn't stay for dessert. I missed out on my usual Sticky Date pudding with Tiramisu to go, as we were embarrassed, disappointed and just wanted to go. Paid at the counter. Did not get asked if our meal was nice. Bought my Mum a pretty bottle of Prosecco, that was on the counter to make up for the dreadful meal that I took her out for. Hopefully...

Upon raving recommendations I arrived at Sorbellos on a Tuesday evening for dinner. It was bustling and busy, but what surprised me was when I first stepped through the door, the gelato fridge was right in front of me. There was no indication of where is the waiting area to be seated. The waitresses although saw me but ignored me as they bustled around the tables. I had to asked the server behind the gelato fridge (who also saw me but did not acknowledged me) where I should wait to be seated. Once she told me to wait at a serving/cashier looking table, I waited and waited. Just as I was giving up on waiting, a waitress took me to a corner table. I ordered a marinara spaghetti and tried to soak in the atmosphere. I could see it is a very popular restaurant with quite a lot of people. Unfortunately, my experience got worse, the wait for my spaghetti took almost 30mins. (I ordered at 6:55pm and finally got served at 7:20pm) I ordered a regular sized dish but the quantity was relatively small for the price. I counted there was only 1 mussel, 2 prawns and 4 calamari rings with a sprinkle of shaved parmesan on the top of spaghetti that was in a rather watery and sweet marinara sauce. I am more used to marinara sauce being a bit more thick and creamy and definitely not sweet. To be fair, the calamari rings were very fresh and flavorful; the sauce though a tad watery and sweet was also flavorful. I guess Sorbellos is a great place for a meal with friends and family but not if you are dining alone as you get overlooked...

I had mixed thoughts on Sorbello's. My first visit was when they opened many years ago. My only complaint then was the echoing noise levels due to the bare floors and walls. I pointed this out to them at the time. Tonight they have done nothing to absorb the sound and it is still uncomfortably noisy. They have built a little, almost soundproof room which they call The Lounge and where noise levels are minimal. Why they did not do the whole reastaurant I will never know. Curtains and carpets would have solved the problem. The check -in counter was confusing as there is a counter at the front entrance and another a bit further inside but no signs to tell you which to use. We had booked a table and although it was a busy night we were asked where we wanted to sit. Hmmm! That is the idea of making a booking so a table is already sorted for you. We chose the Lounge...thank goodness. The menu is too big as is the wine and drinks list. Once again with too many choices it becomes confusing. The dinner menu and lunch menus are different but included in the one bulky menu. The food? Yes it was good although there was a hitch in that one of the items was not available. The food we were served was good as was...