Al Taglio — Restaurant in Sydney

I don’t know where to start here, we had really high expectations after a friend of a friend said he knew the owner and it’s one of the best pizzas in Australia.

Firstly the crust and Margaret pizza was very nice. The lovely lady who served us was very nice and I did feel for her after the issues started to arise.

3 pizzas came out looking very similar then a fourth came out and it was cold and looked nothing like the other three (all the same pizza order), it was sent back and I was told that’s how it comes (arguments ensured from the kitchen staff and the waiting staff which the whole restaurant could hear) the chef who mentioned he was the boss and owner gave us the worst service I have ever received in my entire life and that’s a pretty low standard to meet! The kitchen staff were rude, dismissive and disrespectful to the point of shouting at our friend who’s birthday it was and at the end of it all very smug and over the top! A simple apology would have gone a long way in this situation but all I got was we did nothing wrong this is your fault, intimidation and volume seemed to be his only defence which is just poor customer service and it really ruined our friends birthday!

We had to argue over the bill as they wanted to charge for a pizza that was NOT up to scratch one slice was eaten and then it was sent back ! And the garlic bread is toast… let’s be plain and honest here it’s toast with some herbs throw on top! The worst “Garlic” Bread I’ve ever seen in my life!

Not only this we booked a table inside for 7 (granted one of our party didn’t turn up) we were out outside (not what we booked) and on a table of 6 with a chair squeezed in on the end. Then we’re told we would be charged for the 7th person not turning up before we had even gotten menus! Again this is nothing against the waiting staff who seemed almost scared to even think about talking to the owner let alone defy them! They did however remove this after we pointed out the state of the table they placed us on and how a 7th person would not have fit into such a small space!

Over all this was a night to forget, I would give the restaurant another chance had the kitchen staff not need so rude, they were shouting and arguing a lot after the issues with our table. I appreciate people love this place and have great experiences here. Sadly this was not our experience and for that I am very sad! I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone purely based on the service we received, I would have rather gone hungry… oh I did as I sent my pizza back and was never able to order more, god forbit we put even more strain in “very busy business” that had 3 tables in the entire place booked....

This place used to be great but it was probably before COVID all four of us were last here.

After tonight we agreed this must be one of the worst pizza we had. How could anyone made pizza so bland and unappealing? Here! The chef forgot to put any salt in the dough?

We had ClassicOne & Mediterranea. ClassicOne comes with prosciutto which can’t go wrong but the burrata was just a big ball sitting in the middle of the pizza, not even sliced, tasted like a bland white ball! The Mediteranea comes with small pieces of octopus that wasn’t tasty. Yes the presentation was pretty but both pizza tasted really bland and dry. The texture was not really crispy nor really soft and slightly chewy. Not meant to be an insult, none of us wanted to try a second piece but we ended up with two pieces each and left the rest. Those who have been there know how small a piece is. We were going to order more but we felt lucky we didn’t.

The italian pinot nero we had which cost us $95 a bottle should really be at least decent but it tasted like a really diluted pinot noir. So overpriced.

What a disappointment.

P/S to Al Taglio owner: My mistake I have put down the total instead. Burrata or mozzarella it doesn’t change the fact that it was bland and unappealing. Sommelier curated or not it doesn’t change the fact that all four of us think the pinot nero tasted poorly and is overpriced. Only if there is one of us think otherwise… Obviously your sommelier did a lousy job. This is mainly a pizza restaurant not a fine dining restaurant, we should be able to pick any wine to enjoy your food and wine, without having to think of which wine goes with which pizza. I don’t claim to be a food & wine expert. I merely write feedback based on the food I tasted honestly as a customer. And yes I did it harshly, because there are just too many overrated and overpriced restaurants everywhere.

So you claimed your food and wine was done by a professional, unfortunately all four of us did not enjoy your pizza and wine. So, professional can’t be always right. If you want praise, just make tasty food. We can name a few pizza places we like near you. In fact I used to recommend your restaurant and took my friends there. However I can no longer do that. Thank you.

Last edit: LOL. Funny how the owner just changed his reply and turned nasty. That said a...

Disappointed is an understatement.

I was so excited to try this local place and shared my enthusiasm with the lovely waitress. She too, was super excited about my excitement!

Especially since it’s been a very busy few weeks and we haven’t had a chance to dine in at a restaurant for weeks.

It went down hill from there..

To keep it simple, save your hard earned money and take yourself to a different Italian restaurant unless you like little, over priced, bland pizzas and yucky entrees.

My favourite courses are always the entrees and almost every time I go eat at an Italian restaurant, I generally always want more of the entrees.

Not here - I didn’t even want to finish it which has never ever happened to me before.

Usually, at other Italian restaurants, they’d have delicious carpaccio, oysters, calamari, mussels in a beautiful Napoletana sauce, meatballs etc but not here..

I ordered 2 entrees, the first was the Tonno Alla Bismark (Cured Tuna). It cost $23 for this tiny entree that I couldn’t even finish. Just not for my palette at all.

The next entree was the Pizza in Teglia which cost $17. Another dish that was a disappointment. Basically a cube of bread with 3 teeny slices of ham on it. 😳Check out my pictures to see teeny they are.

For mains, we got 2 pizzas which both came out looking the same. Rustica and the Popettone, $30 each for a kids size pizza.

They were so small although were served on a big platter which made it seem deceptively larger than it was. That is, until you remove the weird ball of rocket in the middle of the plate, and push the pizza together towards the middle.

Super weird.

The dough was made fresh and was light, but the pizzas were bland.

Even the chilli oil couldn’t save it to give it a boost.

By this point in time, the nice waitress could see the disappointment in our faces and didn’t look us in the eyes anymore or made any more small talk.

She knew not to bother asking if I wanted dessert.

$140 with drinks to leave after 45 mins, only to search for another place to eat as we were still hungry.

Disappointed is an...