Lulu La Delizia — Restaurant in Subiaco

I thought long and hard about if I wanted to write this review as it’s not in my nature to write negative reviews of independently owned venues. My partner and I booked in to Lulu La Delizia for my birthday as I’d been meaning to try the restaurant for a while and had heard positive things, I thought I’ll the risk on an important occasion because surely it can’t be bad. Initially it wasn’t my partner and I ordered a few of the smaller entree dishes as we wanted to try the meatballs, the anchovies and the burrata and we ordered the bread with butter and sugo so we would have bread for the burrata and anchovies. At the same time we ordered a pasta main and the slow cooked goat, which honestly was the dish I wanted to try the most. We asked if that was too much and the waitress informed us it sounded right and we had made good choices. I will say for the most part the food was good, the only thing I would really critique was the bread, it was really low tier slightly stale bread, not bad but a vehicle for something else certainly not bread you would eat for the joy of bread I would be shocked if it’s being made in house I assume it’s cheap bread being brought it. As we ate our entrees we used up the 2 slices of bread that come with a serve of bread/butter/sugo and the waitress very casually asked if we would like “a couple extra slices of bread to mop up the sauce” we said yes as we still had burrata etc, we had gone through all the butter and sugo however and were quickly provided two more slightly stale average pieces of bread with no additional butter/sugo as the dish is listed on the menu. I assumed the additional bread was complementary, for a few reasons It was offered in an extremely casual way that didn’t imply I was ordering another serving of bread (with butter and sugo?) Bread is cheap and honestly a lot of decent restaurants don’t even charge for bread full stop let alone extra bread if already paid for When we received the extra bread it didn’t come with accoutrements as listed in the dish price on menu I will say the bread dish is cheap ($5) and when I later realised we’d been charged for an additional serving of bread I wouldn’t have cared at all if it wasn’t for the other reason for my upset.

So when we asked the waitress if we were ordering the right amount of food I know she can’t possibly know how hungry we are etc so I wasn’t holding her to that but I would have 100% expected her to inform us if there was any chance that we wouldn’t be able to finish dinner that we wouldn’t be allowed to take it home. Because I have never in my life been been denied a take home box from a restaurant. When our goat arrived I was absolutely so full I felt like I was going to be sick, I couldn’t eat anything, I had to ask my partner to drink the drink I’d ordered I couldn’t possibly touch the dish I felt mildly disappointed that I couldn’t eat the dish I was most looking forward to on my birthday and the most $$ dish we’d ordered ($48) but I reconciled that it would be fine I’d get the dish to go and also get a tiramisu to go and eat them tomorrow. No big deal.

When I told this to the waitress she smirked at us and told us they had a no takeaway policy I said I had a container in my car I grab and she repeated the no takeaway policy and said she’d give us 10 more minutes. My partner gave it his best shot because he knows I’m heavily invested in food wastage minimisation and am pretty saddened by the idea.

It’s ludicrous, there is no reason for it, if anyone was to suggest the reasoning is “because we might get sued if you heat it up incorrectly” you know you can waiver that away not to mention its a pretty none issue if you have any real understanding of Australian law.

If this really is your policy have the respect for customers to write in on the bottom of the menu or inform them when the order so they don’t needlessly over order assuming you have the same policy as nearly every other...

I went to Lulu La Delizia a few days ago for a birthday dinner (my own) with my sister and one of my best friends who travelled all the way from Busselton. To say the meal was a let down would be an understatement. I have eaten at this establishment before and it was fantastic. Unfortunately, that experience was not to be replicated on this occasion. We ordered the "bloody great anchovies" which were not bloody great at all. In fact, they were bloody overpriced. We were served 4 anchovy pieces for 3 people at $26. I've got anchovies at home that are from Italy - with some of the oil, some balsamic and crusty bread, I could have had way more for a lot less. The kingfish okay in flavour but tough and certainly not good enough for the price, the "main courses" of pasta were entree-sized and were not cooked al dente - some of the parcels were undercooked. The coffee at the end was good but not hot. You should not have to ask for the coffee to be served hot at a place like this. It is an expectation. The best thing about the meal was the tiramisu at the end, which cost $19. The bread we ordered was $5 per piece (3 half-sized pieces totalling $15). Also, four options of pasta dishes as mains when you are prided on being a home-made pasta-driven establishment is inadequate. I would expect six options. As someone with Italian heritage and having eaten at many great locations in Perth over the years, I fully expect both the service and the food to be amazing at this price point. These prices are fine dining prices - some of the great fine dining restaurants in Perth, both current and those which are now sadly closed, would not serve dishes at this price point without backing it up with amazing food and decent portion sizes. In this instance, the food was not amazing, to be blunt. The bill came to $530 - $330 was spent on wine. That's right, $330 on wine. I thought we were overcharged initially. The food came to $200 - the mark-up on the wines is ridiculous. I know it occurs and they are imported but that is a phenomenal mark-up. The wine was nice but not $330 "nice." Come at me if you like, those who are devotees or connected to Lulu's, but no one was more disappointed than me given my past great experience here. I left my belated birthday meal feeling it was undercooked all the way round; additionally I felt ripped off and disappointed. I hope you guys improve - old Subi prices and very average food simply does not cut it in today's fiscal and competitive/cutthroat...

Have been before for a long lunch and like the vibe. Music is loud, tables are close (some are too close), and there’s a good, busy atmosphere.

Service is slick and competent, but there’s definitely a rudeness and arrogance to it. Nice selection of Italian wines, but heavily marked up and so not good value. Similar story with the food, tasty, but small portions so value just isn’t there. On this occasion (dinner) we went a la carte, previously tried the chef’s menu, to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Main issue is their 90 minute window for bookings that is militantly enforced. Yes, they’re upfront about it in the email you receive days before your booking, aggressively so (you’re also warned that a cancellation within 24 hours will go punished by a $30 fee per person), but it’s hardly fine dining, is it? It sets the tone for a rushed and unpleasant experience.

We were wrapping up, with a mouthful or two of wine to go, at 20:15 on a Tuesday night when the manager/front of house dropped the bill on our table and said, “time’s up”. A minute later he’s back with the eftpos machine. Informed us we could go outside and find a barrel to sit at, in the cold, to finish our $180 bottle of wine. Very gracious of him and we did just that, and from our barrel we had a direct view of the empty table we were just sat at (the next booking was a no show).

When we spoke to him about this his response was essentially “tough luck”, with nothing in the way of an apology. We were informed that they are “the busiest restaurant in Perth” and there would be no compromise.

So who wins here? Not us, having our anniversary ruined by arrogant and inflexible service. Not the no-shows, who get charged $30 per head for their inconvenience.

So just the restaurant? Not very customer centric, the onus is clearly on simply turning tables. Perhaps this model works for them, but it all just seems a bit unnecessary for the sake of finishing a glass of wine. A bit of leeway built into their policy would achieve this, or even a gentle and polite reminder 15 minutes before we’re turfed onto the street.

We’re locals and won’t be returning, so that’s a guaranteed 3-4 visits a year they lose, and will be advising others not to bother. So perhaps...