Pizza Bar — Restaurant in Victoria

I wrote a review about this place before, but the owner replied and I felt I had to correct myself. I was accused of defamatory behavior because I said some ingredients are not original. I should have said the products don’t taste as what is advertised. I do not know if I was unlucky and was served non-original products, if they cook them in such a way that the taste is lost, or what. I just know that what I was served as buffalo mozzarella and san Daniele, did not taste anything like the original. The owner says his wife and partner are Italian, as if this was evidence of good quality. Well, so am I. And I am Italian in a “I come from Italy and I have eaten the real product my whole life, including in other places in Australia” way. Their identity, which I respect, has nothing to do with knowing the difference between the real deal and something similar. Buffalo mozzarella has a significantly stronger taste and SD general taste is sweeter than what I got. So I apologise for giving the false impression that I was suggesting the owner might have been aware that I was not being served the genuine ingredient. I should have said my experience was below average because the very specific ingredients didn’t taste as they should have. I mentioned the issue to one of the waitresses the first time I went. My criticism went unheard, given that, when I went back, those ingredients tasted (and I am not saying they were, but to me, the person expressing their OPINION, they tasted) as fake as the Italian spirit I saw when stepping in the restaurant. Therefore, a public, polite review is only fair.

After accusing me of defamation and pulling the“I can sue you”card, the owner suggests I came from Melbourne to eat and then says I have broken lockdown laws. He obviously does not take into consideration that if I was living in Melbourne, I wouldn’t go to an “Italian” restaurant in Geelong. Furthermore, if they take Covid rules seriously, as he claims, how would have I been able to eat there, given that they would have definitely asked me for ID, as they are supposed to? Luckily, I live in regional Victoria, so his accusation of me having broken the law falls as flat as the taste of the mozzarella I was served as buffalo.

Later, the owner tries to guilt-trip me by saying that a lot of people can lose hours of work because og my review. This is as inaccurate as the spelling of some of his dishes. Does he know that he is advocating for silencing negative reviews that are just a law of the market? After all, if only positive reviews were allowed, he would take customers from other restaurants, so wouldn’t he be responsible for the loss of their jobs? I assume he doesn’t mind this law of the market. To quote him, his demand to silence negative reviews “will end up affecting[...]staff members who have gone through hell[...]To kick people whilst they're down, trying to recover from 4 lockdowns is quite frankly un Australian”. I will refrain from mentioning the irony of him calling me un-Australian (implying that non-Australian people, like me and some of his other customers, do sneaky and immoral acts to damage others) and then doing the same thing, indirectly.

The owner does not reply to my opinion that they overcharge for what they offer, that the environment is the caricature of an Italian restaurant, and that the menu is full of wrong categorizations of foods and misspellings. He mentions that some recipes come from Nonna M. I don’t know if she is a real person or the perpetration of an Italian stereotype about how nonne cook and their names. However, I know that her recipes are either wrong, or were modified in a manner that Italians would not recognise in any other way than “fake Italian”. If the owner knows averages and reviews, he’ll know I’m not going to destroy his business with a review too long to be read by anyone who’s not a fan of internet drama or by someone looking for self-validation and should work on their stereotypes and ego.

And now he won't reply, but try to minimize me attacking the fact I answered and not...

I have no idea why this place has so many good reviews. I hope I was simply unlucky and it is usually better, but frankly you cannot get much worse than this. I got curious about this place after reading two really negative reviews, so decided to try and I wish I never did. The only positive thing I found is that there are worse pizzas in the area (let's face it: Geelong is not the place to go for Italian food), but this does not mean much. The prices of food are really high, which I would be fine with, if the quality was equally high. But no. Environment: it's a joke. It's what you would expect in a film depicting Italy if the set designer had never been to Italy. Random crosses, Catholic imagery and paintings that no one in Italy would ever use or put together. I lived in Italy more than 25 years, so my opinion has some value. I don't doubt the owner got suggestions from someone with an Italian background, but, as I said, only people with a stereotypical understanding of Italy would decorate like that! Menus: full of spelling mistakes in Italian (showing how "original" they are) and total misunderstanding of Italian food (I laughed a lot when I read what they think "secondi" are). Pizzas: I already mentioned the price. Given that the pizza was poorly cooked and the ingredients really bland, I did not find any way to justify the cost. Service: when I told (and showed) the waitress that the pizza was not cooked properly, she barely apologised and just left, without trying to fix the situation or at least ask if I needed it cooked in some other way. From what I've seen in other negative reviews, now the owner will reply with some childish accusations (and childish grammar) that have nothing to do with what I've written and will behave unprofessionally to try and put the blame on me. He will probably also try to say that I should be ashamed to leave bad reviews when people need to work more, as if it was my fault that his restaurant is so bad. Well, believe what you want: the bottom line is that I cannot recommend enough to stay away from this place. If you feel like decent Italian pizza in an acceptable Italian environment, it is worth driving to Melbourne. If this place wasn't trying to pass for Italian it might have got another star, but their pathetic attempt to be Italian through stereotypes gets...

Was given a one hour and 10 minute sitting. Orders not taken until had been sitting at table for 30mins. Drink orders taken but not delivered for another 15minutes. Food delivered to table at 55minutes. Then at 1hour and 10minutes while still trying to eat the pizzas and literally putting food in our mouths, was told our table was needed for another sitting so can we hurry up. One hour and 15 minutes we asked for our dessert, that had already been ordered initially with the main meals but not brought out to us. Was delivered scorching hot and under cooked dough. And again while putting the food in our mouths was told that the table was required for other people. 5 staff hovered around the table as we stuffed our faces then packed up the children. Staff non apologetic for the delays in meal and drink delivery to the table or inconvenience of shovelling in our food while they loitered like seagulls for the table. Angry glares from staff. By all means have certain time limits on sittings but if the venue are unable to deliver in the time frame designated then do not penalise the paying customer. Think this restaurant need to reassess their model of business. Would not recommend this restaurant as a pleasurable dine...