Casalingo — Restaurant in Victoria

Casalingo, Apollo Bay (late July 2025) – A Coastal Gem with Heart, and Room for Al Dente Improvement

After a long, scenic drive from Melbourne, we arrived at Casalingo in Apollo Bay a little early at 6 pm, hoping to beat the dinner rush and unwind with a good meal by the sea. The setting alone, rustic-chic, warmly lit, with a relaxed coastal charm, set the tone for what turned out to be a mostly delightful evening. And while the food had a few missteps, the service was absolutely outstanding, earning this place a special place in my memory.

From the moment we walked in, we were greeted with genuine warmth. The bartender was friendly and efficient, setting the mood with a welcoming smile. Our main server, a young Japanese woman, was polite, attentive, and clearly proud of the menu. Two other female servers rotated through the evening, checking in at just the right moments, never intrusive, always thoughtful. It felt like a well-oiled team that actually enjoyed taking care of guests. Service, 5 stars. In fact, it’s rare to see such consistent, heartfelt hospitality outside of fine dining.

We ordered a spread meant to celebrate the coast and countryside, A medium-rare steak, which arrived just a shade over, more medium than rare, but still tender and well-cooked, with good flavor, 4 stars The marinara pasta, a classic, but more on that in a moment A warm spinach and bacon salad with potatoes, hearty, rustic, and comforting, though the spinach was a touch on the salty side, likely due to the bacon, the potatoes, however, were perfectly unseasoned, which I suspect was intentional to balance the salt, 4 stars And to drink, a soft Sangiovese and a Tempranillo, both excellent choices that paired beautifully with the meal.

Now, the pasta.

I need to be honest here, this is the third time in as many days in Australia I’ve specifically requested al dente pasta and been served noodles as soft and limp as flat rice pho. At this point, I wonder if it’s a cultural preference. Do Australian kitchens interpret “al dente” as “fully softened”? Because what arrived was the opposite of toothsome. The texture was uniform, mushy, and lifeless. I had stressed it clearly to our server, who even wrote “al dente” on the ticket, so credit where it’s due, they tried. But the kitchen either didn’t understand, or defaulted to a softer cook.

To their immense credit, when I mentioned it, they immediately offered to take the dish back and remake it. That kind of responsiveness is deeply appreciated. But the damage was done, this was the weakest dish of the night. 1 star for the marinara, not because of the marinara, which was fresh, garlicky, and full of briny seafood, but because the noodles ruined the entire experience.

Still, I’d return. Why? Because Casalingo has soul. The vibe, the service, the handmade pasta and pizza, yes, they make their own, there’s real craftsmanship here, even if the execution on the noodles missed the mark this time. I’d come back to try their house-made pappardelle or a wood-fired pizza, confident that, with this level of care from the front-of-house, the kitchen can, and likely will, get it right.

And yes, I forgot to take photos of the steak and salad, proof that we were too busy enjoying the moment to document it. Sometimes, that’s the highest compliment a meal can receive.

Final scorecard, Service, 5 stars Steak, 4 stars Spinach and bacon salad, 4 stars Marinara, noodles, 1 star Overall, 4 stars, for heart, hospitality, and the promise of a better bite next time.

Would I come back? Absolutely. Just, maybe I’ll whisper “crunchy” next time I...

Let me say up front that everyone we've met in our current travels has been super chill. Until tonight. At this restaurant. Food here for us was fabulous.

Our wait staff was very friendly, and clearly inexperienced enough to where they feel they can't stand up to some of the kitchen staff.

We had delicious main dishes and my pinot noir was very good, as were my 2 other visitor's entrees. However, when my salad was rather heavy on the dressing, so I finished my meal & asked one of the waitresses if I could get it boxed for "take away" (to go) so I could eat it for lunch tomorrow. I asked her to request the cook to put a couple of fresh lettuce leaves in there so the salad didn't seem so 'wet'. She comes back with a nice box, confirms to me, when asked, that they've put more metrics in it. The salad was clearly wet as ever, so I waved her down again, we ended up having a chat about whoever the kitchen staff was who refused a customer's request was actually also being a jerk to HER (putting her in a bad position). She gave me a look like, "is it just me, and I confirmed that no, it was not HER. She'd only been there 2 wks, yet is already seeing this inner-service industry misbehavior.

She comes to the table w the old wet salad and a new one & says the new one is a take away, therefore cheaper. I decided to just let it slide...until my husband got charged for 2 salads. Hold UP. I mean, take your drowned salad back.

I had spoken to the acting shift supervisor and she said she was SO GLAD I told her what happened & it gave her something to discuss w the kitchen staff later (about service).

I sent the guys on their way bcs I wanted to ask this gal why they double charged us. Suddenly the owner comes out. I won't be able to do justice here to what an asshat he was. He was verbally hostile, accused me of at least 2 things I had never said AND never owned responsibility, in fact, initially tried to blame it all on the young waitress and was irritated when I didn't buy it. Oh dear God dude, really, you're gonna blame stuff on some 20 year old? Here's a tact to consider: come out to the table YOURSELF to see what a customer may have actually requested.

He would benefit from anger management classes STAT. I have never seen an OWNER act like this guy did. And I've served time in the 'service industry'.

Again, I don't agree that the food is anything but delicious, but we all could DO WITHOUT the primadonna attitude. Sans HIM would have...

We stayed in Apollo Bay for two days. Since there was a big sporting event happening on the same weekend, we couldn’t find a booking in their main restaurant, so we booked here as we both like Italian food.

The place is spacious, with many tables scattered across different areas. Staff were friendly, if not trying very hard to be friendly.

We ordered the Antipasto for two - cured meats, duck pate, dips, cheese, olives and crispy bread ($27); in addition to Linguine Marinara - fresh mussels, prawns, scallops, calamari, fish, olive oil ($32).

I also ordered the 2018 Bellvale Pinot Grigio (Gippsland, Vic) ($12).

The Antipasto was served quickly, and we liked the combination of cold cuts. We had to wait a while until the main course was served, and once it arrived, it did not look at all as we imagined it!

Yes, it had seafood, yes it was made with linguine pasta; however, the sauce had nothing to do with Marinara sauce! To my knowledge, Marinara sauce is a tomato-based sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions. This was NOT Marinara, as there were no tomatoes in it! Unless the chef thought it was and just decided to make it the whitest Marinara in the world of pasta. You can see the picture and try to spot the tomato sauce, NONE! And it did not just end there. The food was tasteless, and the seafood didn’t seem to be fresh at all. It just looked like the chef put things together in a hurry, made them wait as if he was creating a masterpiece, and decided to charge people $32 for it.

And what made this experience even worse was that there was a group of people on the top level who were very noisy and made us all extremely uncomfortable. The management didn’t care, and we just wanted to finish the food and leave.

The extra star was only for the Antipasto; otherwise, this is the most overpriced restaurant with the worst food. Don’t...