I Gladiatori Osteria Romana — Restaurant in Sydney

POSITIVES: Came for Valentine’s Day and although the staff were very busy, they were exceptionally friendly and were always smiling. Decor is lovely and the finer touches to the restaurant are really nice. They’ve done well with the space they have. The pasta was great!

NEGATIVES: The staff were very forgetful. They forgot one of our starters and our second order of a bottle of sparkling water. Also when I asked to have my unfinished pizza put in a box to take home, they accidentally threw it away and I never got it. Asked for it after paying the pill and they told me what had happened. Lots of apologies. Last negative is the pizza. There is a lot of competition around freshwater and manly for the best pizza and although I thought it was ok, it’s nowhere near as good as pocket pizza in manly or Pizzah (down the road). It’s different but not quite up to the competition.

IN CONCLUSION: This place has so much potential. I will definitely go again but the staff need to be prepared to remember orders and requests regardless of how busy they are. I appreciate that they were very friendly and apologetic but for other customers, that won’t matter to them and through the mistakes they make, some people will never ever return. Looking forward to coming back once they have their alcohol licence and perhaps some background Italian music. Keep up...

DECEMBER 2024 My husband and I had date night at I Gladiatori in Freshwater this week. Sadly, the quality of the food is significantly lower than our previous visits. Both pizzas were tasteless (outside of the tomato sauce base). I had the Calabrese and my husband had the Porcona. Service was excellent and attentive. Sadly, something has happened that has changed the quality/flavour delivery. 3/5 (with food a 2/5)

FEBRUARY 2024 Awesome as always! Authentic Italian:) 5/5

Inside and outside seating available. On a warm night we opted for outside. And then for our first dine in experience we shared two pizzas - Calabrese (Tomato, Spicy Salami, Nduja, Provolone and Mozzarella) which was stunning and a Funghi (Truffled Mixed Mushrooms, Basil, Mozzarella, Ricotta Salata) plus a tasty Rocket Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Pears, Ricotta Salata, Olive Greche, Balsamico. And the burrata is delicious.

Service was warm, friendly and efficient. The vibe was great - a real sense of community. BYO on Monday to Thursday.

Oooh, and worth mentioning, for dessert you can stop at Mr Gelato by Matteo a few doors down - yes, authentic...

We were the table mentioned next to the review below haha. We absolutely love the food at Il Gladiatori. However, we have been twice now with terrible service experiences. The first time we visited the restaurant we made a booking. Upon arrival they had no knowledge of our booking and had to make a table for us. We ordered drinks and food and 40 minutes later we hadn’t received anything. After kindly asking the waiter where our food was we were informed that they lost our order and we had to re-order again. Tonight, we booked again, and upon arrival it took them 15minutes to seat us and they had no knowledge of our booking. We then ordered straight away and 40 minutes later we did not receive anything (including the cokes we ordered!). The waiter then comes over a few minutes later and tells us that they have lost our order (again). I very kindly and politely told the poor waiter that this is the second time this has happened to us. He was very apologetic and kind, but it’s just incredibly disappointing that a restaurant with wonderful food has such terrible service. I am not sure we will go again. The waiters are not responsible - it ultimately comes down to...