The Forge Pizzeria — Restaurant in Victoria

Came in for a 7pm seating on valentines day. Restaurant was at about 50% capacity. So not overwhelmingly busy. We we're seated at a joint table with 2 other couples in a shed like setting, to which i could have stayed at work and ate in a warehouse. We were then moved inside to a more appropriate setting.

The very under qualified "younger staff" had no bed side manner at all. As curly sue the staff member abruptly walked out as we were walking in pushing a pram, one would expect a politer staff memeber would hold the door open for us. Not the other way around. We have been seated for approximately 1 hour and 4 mins and our main order is still yet to be taken.

The "salt house bacon" in the carbonara is an insult to Italian food. Bacon. Does not go in carbonara. Guanciale does. Among asking what "salt house" meant. We were told, that it is simply steaky bacon.

We ordered a bottle of wine. Which we had to open. And pour ourself. In an environment of gen z staff that are to focused on self entitlement rather than customer service. In an italian Restaurant full of staff fresh out of high school that can not pronounce any of the menu. Which is insulting to the Italian culture and food.

I recommend the owner or manager focus on customer satisfaction rather than money. Play some Italian music or lounge music not the top 100 off of the radio. Which has stopped twice for a duration of roughly 15 minutes of silence. Educate your staff on customer service. Your menu. And respect for the people of which, keep you open, the customers.

And you may. Have a decent Restaurant that will retain...

Amazing food that was let down by mediocre service (sorry to say). We arrived here at 4.00pm and were seated straight away as it was pretty quiet (only two or three other tables were occupied in the restaurant at this time) Awesome, thank you! We were offered drinks straight away, which was great. It was after this point that the service went downhill. We waited about 15 minutes for the waiter to return to take our order (again the restaurant wasnt very busy at all). We ordered an entree which we shared, but it was plonked on the table and the staff member ran away before I could politely ask for a share plate. (Not a big drama). We finished our entree and my husband tried to catch someone to get a second drink order, but couldn't. When our mains arrived, they were put on the table and the staff again ran away before I could ask for some cutlery. We sat there trying to get someone's attention so that we could have some more cutlery (there clearly wasn't any cutlery on the table when they dropped the plates down). We finally were able to flag someone down to get some so some of us could start eating. The food was really spectacular. Really beautifully cooked, fresh and tasty. When we finished, we asked if we could have a takeaway box for the leftover pizza, 15 minutes later, no one had given us a box, they had forgotten. No big dramas but just a couple of little things in the service perspective that let the experience down overall. If I rated on food alone, it would...

Went here with a couple of colleagues on strong recommendations. Went for 'The Bacon' and wished I didn't. It took substantially longer than my dining companions pizzas to arrive and looked flat and uninspiring. Whilst I appreciate pizzas and bacon in themselves are fatty foods, this pizza was oily to the point of drenching my hands and literally leaving a high gloss sheen of grease over the entirety of the platter upon which it was served. As such the dough was damp and lacklustre, and the toppings lacked any punch to make it worthwhile. Avoid it. I did however sample the pulled pork pizza and it was substantially better and quite nice and by all reports the Butchers was of similar quality.

One thing that did catch my eye while waiting were the sheer number of staff on duty. While I congratulate The Forge on it's efforts in providing employment to many of Ballarat's youth, the distribution of labour was far from balanced. Around only half the tables were occupied during my visit and while some staff were clearly taken with socialising down by the pizza oven, the girl serving my table (the one with her hair in twin buns) was scurrying around doing her best to cover half the floor alone, doing so with a lovely smile and great interaction with her guests. She was certainly the standout...