Andiamo Trattoria Summer Hill — Restaurant in Sydney

The beloved restaurant name Andiamo has grown alot in the past 5 years, replicating the magic of rustic feasting from its flagship base in Summer Hill. The new menu marked the antecedent of a series of events planned at Andiamo Summer Hill. Each event will be transporting you on a taste journey to specific regions of Italy. 'Tavola di Luca" (Chef's Table) is the new concept headed by Chef. The influences come from Sardinia, where Luca grew up in the South of Italy.

It was the perfect debut to long time Summer Hill diners as the 6 course degustation of Sardinian dishes had personal ties with Chef Luca's grandparents and mother. All courses were accompanied with wine from Sardinia, immersing diners completely into this style of cuisine which has deep roots in agropastorality.

Thin wafers are a staple in the Sardine antipasti, so the lead-in basket of Carasau Bread with fresh tomato of crisp textures and natural tomato flavors sets the tone together with the cured Pork fillet with Rocket & Apple. This was a beautiful pairingwith the caramelized sweetness in the Antichi Poderi Jerzu - Vermentino di Sardegna wine accompanying this. Perfectly rounded off with sips from the Maccori grapes treated with the strong mistral winds blowing in from the north-west Mediterranean.

The primi (appetiser) of hand made pork sausage and fennel seeds requires no sauce. It’s natural juices bathe in its spiral construction allowing the meat and herb to intertwine beautifully. This represents the epitome of Sardinian style cooking. No sauce required - keep things real!

The island of Sardinian cuisine wouldn’t be complete without seafood. Baby clams are served with hand rolled Fregola Risotatta - the perfect example of Mediterranean and Italian fusion in which this island has strong influences. There are many many versions of this dish throughout Sardinia. Native only to Sardinia, it’s somewhere in between risotto and pasta taking the form of 2mm beads. Nice earthy brothe paired with the floral fruitiness of the vermin to grape wine.

The heart of our meal came with the Secondi (Main) pork roast. A world famous signature of the islands, it is served in the chicory plant, absorbing that subtle woody flavour into its meat, rounded off with sips of the warmth from the Bantu annonau wine.

Dessert blends orange zest, ricotta and corbezzolo honey into a centre of crisp pastry and accompanied with In Fudu moscato. This is an excellent finale to a region not focused on as much in...

I'm Scott, the magician that Joe hired to perform at the restaurant every Thursday. Although I am not a usual guest, I have performed, dined and observed the staff at the restaurant regularly enough to give my honest opinions.

Food: I have yet to try the pizza, but all the pasta and risotto dishes I have had were all fresh, tasty and filling. The food is what you would expect at a higher end Italian place in Sydney. Oh and the garlic bread is to die for! Amazing.

Service: This is the best part of Andiamo. Out of all the weeks I’ve been to the restaurant, the staff have always been very welcoming and friendly. They are always working extremely hard and are fantastic are keeping the customers happy with fast service and fun chit-chat. Joe works very hard every week, walking around making sure the guests are satisfied. Meanwhile Liam the floor manager is on point, making sure all the waiters and staff bust their butts off. The pick-up area also has dedicated staff that work with lightning speed. Overall, the restaurant staff are very organised and food arrives at a timely manner.

Atmosphere: This restaurant is pretty popular, yet the atmosphere is pretty quiet, allowing intimate conversations. The side tables are prefect for couples to talk privately without being interrupted. There are also large centre tables for huge birthday party groups. There is also an outside area if you prefer.

Entertainment: The other aspect that makes Andiamo unique is that Joe puts in hard work to find entertainment for his guests. On a weekly basis guests can enjoy opera singers, doing the rounds in the restaurant, or a magician performing tricks from table to table. Further, Joe has also considered the kids - there are colouring books and colour pencils that will keep them busy whilst the adults talk! All in all, there is something for everyone.

Negatives: There are only 2 negatives of this restaurant - if I were to nit-pick. Firstly, the toilets are rather small - servicing only one person at a time. This might be a problem on packed nights. Secondly, there is no pepper offered on the tables. Rather, the pepper is grinded for you by a waiter. This might make it hard to get to the perfect amount pepper added. (However, they do offer you your own salt and parmesan cheese - so I don't understand why they can't do the same with the pepper!)

5 stars out of 5. Overall, if you are looking for a place for a get-together or a birthday celebration in Summerhill, you have found the...

First of all i would just like to start off by stating that i do not mean any disrespect to the owner or any of the staff who deliver excellent customer service & who would not do anything to jeopardise their position or reputation as individuals, even when customers display minimal disrespectful behavior for what i am about to say. In the last year or so i have visited Andiamo Trattoria at Summer Hill about half a dozen times or so to buy take away pizza & on every one of those occasions i had fallen ill as well as those who dined with me. Now, i am not implying that a particular individual would be so irresponsible to tamper with my food but it has happened on every single occasion for it to be just a coincidence. I am not entirely sure if the food being used is past it's used by date but i feel that there is a member of staff who is not using the appropriate measures when it comes to hygiene, especially when handling food. The first & second time because the visits were so far apart, i didn't think much of it until i decided to make a few more & i am certain that after the recent experience, i will no longer be visiting this restaurant again & will do everything in my power to make sure this matter is investigated by the N.S.W food authority! I think it is despicable that somebody would even think about tampering or use unhygienic methods to prepare dishes for people which are consumed, never mind that they pay a little extra for quality. As a heads up to management, i think it would be a wise idea to keep an eye out for certain individuals who think it is okay to serve food regardless of their cleanliness, just because they are not consuming the dishes themselves. As a customer, whether i display rudeness or not, which i have not on any of the occasions i have visited Andiamo to buy take away food, i expect at the very LEAST, to be given food that is consumable, without being poisoned as a result! The one star given to them was by Google & i myself have decided that they are only worthy of a "0" & again no disrespect to the owner or any of the staff who follow all the necessary protocols when it comes to working at an establishment where "appropriate" consumables are served to human beings & it being obvious that, i have not seen any animals dining in. BEWARE...