Modo Mio — Restaurant in Sydney

Highly Recommended. Possibly the best Italian restaurant in Sydney.

My wife and I live locally and had wandered up to the top of Terminus street unsure of where to eat. The occasion: An infrequent night off from parenting.

Stopping just outside of the restaurant to make a phone call, the maître d' (a friend of the owner) approached us and asked if we were headed out to eat and suggested we try Modo Mio. Initially I said thanks and he headed back inside, five minutes later he re-appeared and asked again if we would be interested. Now, normally this would put us off....but his persistence had won us over and so in we went.

Best decision we made all night.

We chose the experience (basically a degustation menu) and were then given the option of CUSTOMISING it to our tastes (does it get any better)?

We swapped the Prawn Linguine for Pappardelle, and requested the Tiramisu instead of the Mousse for dessert (but received both anyway).

We then spent the evening immersed in Traditional Italian flavours with a modern take.

The Antipasto (including the Burrata) was all high quality produce and served for sharing, beautifully presented.

The Arancini were amazing, light crispy shell creamy centre and flavour filled with truffle and taleggio, and perfectly balanced (the taleggio was not over powered by the truffle).

We switched the Prawn Linguine for the Lamb Pappardelle which was deliciously hearty and filled with slow cooked aromas of rosemary and pecorino and the handmade pasta perfectly cooked.

The Gnocchi was the shining star of the meal, it felt firm to the touch with a little bit of bounce but when placed in the mouth just melted away, exactly as it should being perfectly soaked in truffle and gorgonzola.

Dessert (Tiramisu for myself and Mousse for my wife) were the perfect way to finish the meal. The Tiramisu in particular would be my recommendation. It was semi deconstructed and filled with praline for crunch, marscapone along with espresso gelato and along with the Limoncello was a spectacular way to end the meal.

Many thanks to Brendan (maître d') , Antonio (Owner - who we spent about 1/2 an hour bothering with talk of Italy) and Jem (Head Chef). The night was amazing and we will return.

Alex and Rachel.

PS: It was $150 for the two of us - Drinks included. PPS: Not sure if i need to mention it but the table service was impeccable and all of the staff...

Should have checked the negative reviews first. My recommendation, dont go, just not worth it. Seems like this place used to be good but maybe the chef changed. Lot of their past patrons seem to be saying in negative reviews, the same thing, that it was good before but now its just bad. Went to this place considering the good reviews expecting a fine dining experience as thats the impression these guys give from the website. But this place is so underwhelming its almost a joke. Menu is limited to 4 or 5 options for mains and with those kind of prices and a small menu you expect something amazing. So I ordered Salsicia el pattette, a great italian dish simple but packed with flavour. What I got was (see the image), two ovecooked sausages with boiled potato, no flavour or presentation, could have bought sausages from my local butcher and boiled some potatoes. But thats not even worse so my mum orders Scarola pizza and what we got just blew our mind. Just see the picture, undercooked dough with a bunch of boiled greenies smacked on it, no salt, cheese or any effort whatsoever. I have had this dish several times at other restaurants and its lip smacking. We also ordered a eggplant parmigiana and a margerita pizza, and low and behold, absolutely no flavour, I mean guys you cant get the classics wrong. Not sure how these guys are running it and I have no doubt reviews are fake or may be they used to be good earlier. This is not a place you will go to a second time. So guys you want fine dining italian experience may be you need to look beyond castle hill. But if you like a dark setting with dark roof and dark furniture and super uncomfortable metal chairs with no cushions, combined with super underwhelming food, smug staff who know well that food isnt good, and pay super premium prices for it, this is the right place for you!! For me I learnt an important lesson, never judge a book by its cover and dont trust the reviews. Always look at negative...

Being Italian I had high expectations for an Italian owned and run restaurant and was dissapointed. I ordered the spaghetti carbonara that was put in a cheese wheel before serving. I've had pasta served this way before but it was always plain seasoned spaghetti put in the cheese wheel and is always delicious! Putting carbonara pasta in there made it way to heavy and rich to eat. When the waiter asked how my meal was I told him I found the dish heavy and he said "yeah it is isn't it". I feel like if you know a dish isn't that great why not fix it? At the beginning of my meal I was offered a spoon for the spaghetti but it wasn't brought until like 30 minutes later. Adding to that we weren't provided with table water (to rince my mouth of egg, cream, cheese and salt) he filled my glass but didn't leave a bottle on the table which was annoying. Speaking of drinks I asked for a Lambrusco and was brought a rosé. I don't know how that was mixed up. We saw a waiter giving a table near us a tray of limoncello. On the wall was a poster all about the restaurant and on the poster it said "enjoy a limoncello on our balcony" or something like that. However there was no limoncello on the menu and we weren't offered any on completion of our meal, as we have experienced at other Italian restaurants. Neither were other tables around us other than the one mentioned before. My favourite thing at an Italian restaurant is pannacotta. And there was no pannacotta on the menu. There were only 3 pastas offered on the menu and a gnocchi. We got a pasta, gnocchi, pizza and two drinks which came to a total of $96. My recommendation is that the owners of this restaurant take a trip to Puntinos on crown St in Woolloomooloo and in darlinghurst to see what real home made Italian food should taste like and how to give good service. There you will find amazing food and reasonable prices. They make all their own pasta, pizza bases and sauces onsite. I wish I just went...