il Vento Italian Restaurant & Woodfire Pizza — Restaurant in Sunshine Coast Regional

My dining escapade in the Sunshine Coast area turned into an unfortunate journey from beginning to end. Where do I even begin? Picture this: amidst the picturesque locale, I found myself in the clutches of what can only be described as an ambiance reminiscent of Karen’s Diner – a place notorious for its intentionally unpleasant service and staff instructed to demean customers throughout their meal. This, unfortunately, defines my experience at IL Vento.

The encounter with the staff, notably the lady adorned with a nose piercing, was nothing short of a lesson in rudeness. Her relentless pushiness to place our order, accompanied by curt remarks such as "Okay, what do you want to order?" and "No, you can’t sit there, you’re obstructing others," left a bitter taste in my mouth.

To add insult to injury, just 25 minutes before our allotted table time was due to conclude, the same lady approached us with a reminder: "You’re aware that tables are allocated for a maximum of 1.5 hours, and your time will be up in 25 minutes." The audacity!

Now, you might wonder why I didn’t simply walk out of the establishment. Well, I had ventured from Brisbane and pre-booked this dining experience in anticipation of the Mooloolaba triathlon, only to be met with this disappointing prelude to the sporting event the following day.

Upon voicing my concerns to a seemingly more affable gentleman responsible for table allocations upon our arrival, his nonchalant response was simply, "Well, you can always leave a review." And so, here it is – my resounding verdict: I unequivocally advise against patronizing this establishment. Save yourself the trouble and steer clear at all costs!. You have been warned. No need to feel embarrassed in front of your beloved ones and top it up...

We were there last night for a 40th birthday celebration. I have to start the review saying that the food was very good (reason for me to add another star to this review). However, we will not come back ever again as the experience overall was pretty poor. Service was an absolute disaster. Throughout the entire 2 hours we felt like they were pushing us out of the restaurant by rushing the order and pretty much taking our plates away without us having finished eating. One of my friends ordered pizza and had roughly 3 slices to go when the waitress came around and asked if he wanted to take those away. When we made our booking there was no mention of a limited time for seating, so going through that was extremely disappointing, for what you pay anyway. We had children with us too, and they were complaining all the time that our kids were disrupting the service, etc. The place is not kids friendly at all, but they also don’t mention this anywhere. However I think the cherry on top of the cake was when at the end my friend called one of the waitresses to provide feedback, and the lady did not take the feedback lightly, always having a “why” to justify their behaviour and lack of customer service (we were busy, you guys had more people than we expected, you didn’t confirm your reservation (which I’m still trying to understand how, because there was a table there on our name… anyway the most lame excuses, but never an apology and a “we will strive to improve” sort of thing. What appeared, in the end, was that for that place, customers have no right to provide feedback at all. Unfortunately for that level of price and venue etc you’d expect a better customer service but definitely not the case. Do not recommend this...

Absolutely appalling experience for a large group booking on a special occasion (a hens dinner). We booked for 8:00pm, weren’t seated until 8:20pm, and were then told the kitchen closed at 8:30pm - a humiliating rush that ruined the evening and was never disclosed at booking. Service was negligent: we had to flag staff to take drinks, pasta was served in shared bowls with no serving spoons, and a guest who paid for a gluten-free meal received nothing appropriate. The food quality was poor and not as described, the dessert was inedible and not the advertised flavour. Staff conduct was unprofessional and intrusive; our waitress, Courtney, repeatedly overshared personal stories about her own upcoming wedding during the celebration, taking attention away from the bride and making everyone at the table incredibly uncomfortable. Management, led by Niina, has been equally disappointing and frustrating. Correspondence regarding the situation has been met with dismissive responses, long delays, and then ignoring further correspondence after offering a useless voucher we cannot use as we live interstate. This was not just disappointing, it was disrespectful, badly run, and completely unacceptable for a paid group booking. Do not trust Il Vento with any...