Mortadeli — Restaurant in Victoria

I was very excited to try this and I was let down. Really disappointed by our experience at the pasta bar. Firstly, we were contacted in the morning to confirm our booking. I asked if possible to add a seat to our reservation (which was bar seating) and they said no problems. That was all fine. Unfortunately my friend's child became ill so I had to remove that seat. Given I expected they'd be busy, I called not even half an hour later and apologised and said we wouldn't need that seat after all. The person I spoke to said "great now I have to rearrange the booking again" sorry what? You're just shuffling a single bar seat on the computer.. it was 10:30am and our booking was for 1:45pm. I don't understand the rude reaction when I was trying to be considerate of their booking needs. We arrived to the place at 1:40pm. Saw our bar seats were set up. The lady seating people said we had to wait outside. Meanwhile, 2 young women she clearly knew said they didn't have a booking but wanted to eat. The lady instantly seated them. Why couldn't we just take our seats at our already set up table?? We got seated at 2pm!!! Once seated, we were not offered any water or anything for over half an hour. Meanwhile other customers were seated and served their meals when they'd arrived AFTER us. A couple sat down right behind us after we'd been waiting 20 minutes for some water or even someone to just ask if we wanted drinks, and they were instantly served and given drinks and food before our drinks order was taken. We made eye contact as a hint multiple times to different serving staff and they looked at us and walked off. We eventually had to wave someone over to get some water and drinks. I paid $35 for 7 small parcels of ravioli. Absolute rip off. Pasta is so cheap to make. Yes it can be time consuming - but the serving size for the ravioli was abysmal. My friends ordered the ragu and carbonara which was a much larger serving size for about the same price. Very odd. The ravioli sauce wasn't right, was very bland - needed more pepper or something to make it more interesting, it just tasted like butter. Honestly if I'm paying $50 for a single small serve of pasta and a glass of wine, I want the service to be great and the food to match. Just because you're a "trendy" new place is Torquay, doesn't mean you can't treat your customers like they are below you. Service is everything in the hospitality industry and you'd do well to see that. Take a leaf out of successful businesses such as Pellegrini's - their food is impeccable and the service is exceptional, with a price point about...

Horrible customer service. After booking this restaurant for my husbands birthday and looking forward to it for so long we were told that the restaurant does not cater for dietary requirements and as one of our guests was vegan there would be nothing for her to eat. My husband spoke to Jordan twice and was told that due to it being his birthday they would make an exception to the 24 hour booking rule. However the next day they then proceeded to charge us a $240 cancellation fee. Having known this, we would have attended the booking as this is a ridiculous amount of money to loose. When trying to explain this to a very rude and unaccommodating restaurant manager we have been consistently shut down and referred back to “the box we ticked” when making the booking. For a venue in Torquay not to cater for vegans (not even a simple olive oil pasta as we had even suggested) and then charge us this extraordinary cancellation fee when we were told twice that it would not occur is down right disgusting. And the rudeness of the French restaurant manager to my lovely polite husband was jaw dropping. We are regulars to the area, my husband works for a well known local business and our guests live and work in Torquay and we will not be supporting this business in the future.

In reply to Mortadelli’s response below: This is simply untrue. There is no mention of not catering for vegans on the “box we ticked” agreeing to your terms and conditions on opentable, the booking platform you use for reservations. And I reiterate, we were told by your staff that this fee would be waived not once but twice. My husband was not threatening when he called to question the charges, I was sitting next to him when he made the call. Do not try and twist the narrative. The restaurant manager was being belligerent and rude and he was hoping to come to the restaurant and chat with the owner or someone else that wasn’t so abrasive. We also hoped that speaking to someone directly via instagram we could have a better dialogue but reading your reply below, obviously not! My husbands message on instagram was in no way threatening and it’s absolutely disgraceful that you would say so on this public forum. I am happy to copy and paste his message on this thread.

However, reading reviews on google this is something that you do to your customers regularly. It is sad the stance you have taken, the way you have spoken to my husband and your preference to thieve this insane cancellation fee than value continued business...

Tonight was my seventh (yep, count ‘em — 7) visit to the Pasta Bar this year and it was heartbreakingly disappointing. We have been there throughout each season and menu iteration and haven’t once been let down by the offerings. Until now. Firstly, the good points: the staff are exceptional. So friendly and attentive with great knowledge of the menu. The atmosphere is equally incredible. The old school Italian diner vibes are guaranteed to transport you to a simpler time and place. It is a real asset. If I was writing this review a month ago following another outstanding meal, here is where I would profess my love for the food. But sadly what we ate tonight was a hollow imitation of previous dishes. The Gnudi, which never fails to impress, was devastatingly underwhelming and under-seasoned. The Rigatoni alla Norma, a past favourite, lacked its signature heat and depth of flavour. Contorni of Romano Beans provided a welcoming complexity but not enough to uplift the pasta. On a positive note, the house baked Focaccia is a true standout. And the Cacio e Pepe Arancini is an inspired addition. Otherwise, it was rather forgettable meal in comparison to previous ones. We declined dessert, too sad to extend our dinner and risk further disappointment. Hopefully it was a once-off. We all have bad days — we’re only human. Not to mention it is the busy festive season. But it was also the quietest dinner service I’ve attended there. And I might be trying to convince myself that it hasn’t lost a bit of the soul...