Sam's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Sydney

I don’t like bad mouthing restaurants, but this one was a huge miss for me and my review should be taken as feedback, as caution for future customers, and not as an attack towards the business.

Food Hygiene: I watched the staff prepare our food and it was really disgusting. A lot of unwashed hands handling food.

One particular staff member made pizza for other customers and then just wiped the food on his shirt before going back to his phone. Actually a lot of the staff members were on their phone at the food station. Don’t know why.

When we took our food home, I found hair deep inside my pasta whilst I was eating it. Don’t know how, because the pasta tasted like something store bought and microwaved. Adding to that, I also have food poisoning now 🤷🏻‍♀️ In hindsight, I should’ve taken a photo.

Food Quality: for $13, we could’ve made the pasta ourselves. It wasn’t even edible which is the bare minimum for food really. I wanted to like this restaurant because it seemed like a cute family business and I wanted to support my locals but I wouldn’t come back. It wasn’t just disappointing it made me sick.

Service: the staff were fine. I can’t complain too much about that. There was a bit of wait for our food even though we were told to wait 15 mins.

Just a few things to consider. I hope all the best for this place. But I also don’t want anyone else...

1st time here for dinner last night 27.7.22 & loved every dish we ordered & great friendly service from all staff on top

We ordered:

Sam's special - medium pizza. Toppings & base were great - it was browned nicely without being burnt

Seafood marinara spaghetti - best I've had in Sydney. Seafood was fresh & perfectly cooked. It wasn't fishy like all other marinara sauce bases I've had & the pasta was perfectly cooked - just over al dente, which was soft yet firm, & not soggy

Prawn linguine w/tomatoes, pepper & basil oil. It was perfectly cooked but not enough flavour - almost plain. I asked for more sauce & chilli, which they adjusted for me & it was the best prawn linguine I've ever had. This wasn't a menu item & only on their specials for the night, but they assured me that I could order it again 🤤 I should've taken another photo of the improvised version

Feel bad for those who gave low reviews - we came early on a weekday as the weekends are busy, so maybe that had an impact. Our first time here (technically) was on a Saturday night & they were packed out busy & the food wait time was an hour so we left instead of waiting. That could've had an impact on the type of service & food quality experienced 🤗 glad we returned & highly recommend, based...

My friend and i went here tonight for dinner for the first time...It was so busy from 6 o'clock on wards...We sat at the front of the restaurant as the back section was booked out for a function..We were served as soon as we sat down and our food came less than 10 minutes later..Both my friend and i had a small pizza each and garlic bread...Throughout our meal, there was non stop activity as it was very busy...The owner greeted us really warmly and friendly and the staff were lovely and up beat for such a busy night. The pizzas were really good with plenty of toppings, as was the garlic bread..My friend had the tiramisu for dessert which looked delicious and quite a big serving...I don't know how she fit it in after the pizzas and garlic bread but she managed it.

This place reminded me of the good old days when the service was friendly and welcoming..I can see why it is so busy..The food is great and along with the friendly staff ,make it a really pleasant place to eat...We will be returning here again. Try and book if you can so you wont be disappointed upon arrival ...It books out fast.

I rate this restaurant...