Roberto's on Bennett — Restaurant in Western Australia

I am familiar with Roberto's work from Caffé Italia up the road, and I am grateful the continental rolls and Italian coffee continue to flow despite the stresses of opening and running a new restaurant in the midst of Perth's covid peak! Much to the detriment of his sleep I am sure...

The restaurant itself is a warm and inviting place as any good Italian space should be. Having decided to walk down in the spur of the moment, I was lucky to have secured a table. The restaurant is abuzz with activity filling the large open area with the familiar, homely noises of people eating, drinking wine, and fervently communicating... one of life's simple joys

The decor works to create an inviting atmosphere, though I cannot work out if it is originally 80's that has been modernised, or modern decor that has drawn from some of the "better" parts of the 80's

The menu provides many options, each appealing, making the choosing more difficult. There is a good balance of reliable staples like soups, risottos, Nonna's meatballs, and more intriguing dishes, like the burrata, pepper crusted carpaccio, or a medley of local deep-fried squid and cuttlefish

With a decent chill in the air this evening, I ordered the lentil soup for starters, passing other dishes in preference for something sure to warm my bones. Pairing that well with a non-assuming glass of Malbec, though in truth I have found little that does not pair well with the most humble of Malbecs

The soup was aromatic and full flavoured, as I drew it to my lips for that first taste, I felt homesick. It is amazing what great flavours can achieve, even in the most simple and unassuming of dishes

I moved on to the Casarecce al pesce spada, a fragrant, traditional Sicilian dish bravely pairing eggplant and swordfish over a light pasta with a rich but delicate tomato base. There is a warning on the menu to allow up to 30 mins for the dish, I can only imagine the effort required to balance the flavours and textures while keeping the fish soft and not overcooked. A 30 minute wait was worth it and a good excuse for another glass of wine

As a crazed chilli fiend I was delighted to see the dish served with grated parmesan and chopped chilli in oil options, both of which accompanied this dish well with little effort

After entrees you will be spoiled for choice with a vast array of delicious sounding options for pasta, pizza and mains that I can do no justice listing, only know that I must return to experience more

Because it's been a tough week - and it's only Tuesday - I have also opted for the Panna cotta paired with a cheeky French Armagnac XO in place of a more conventional Italian digestif that seems weirdly absent from the drinks menu... A venue that captures the feeling of family so effectively in its flavours surely has room for some amaro, limoncello, or nocino

The dessert is wonderfully soft and creamy, the partially sauced strawberries warm, tart and sweet, like ME! Each spoonful made me feel like I was cheating on someone, in truth though... only my diet

Overall this was a wonderful experience, the shortness of available staff from covid is noticeable, but communicated upfront, and the staff who were working went out of their way to cover what was a very busy dinner service

I wish I'd remembered to take more photos, but I was far too entranced

As an Australian with a Dutch grandmother (we also have a strong culture built around food and how we enjoy it) I leave full, sated and a little tap-shackled - like any good meal from my Oma - that I can only imagine would be the case were...

We were a party of 9 people dining here for my brother's birthday last week, and it was a meal we were looking forward to. We left there very underwhelmed and somewhat bewildered. Firstly, we ordered a few entrees for the table to share and some drinks. The staff were very friendly but inattentive. They missed my drink order and never delivered a coke to another guest at the table. The entrees were good, however the Chilli mussels were only just warm, borderline cold. The diavola pizza was not spicy at all, I've had capsicums that were hotter! Let's get to the mains, this is where the wheels really fell off! 4 serves of the special were ordered, which was the crayfish and prawn linguine. This had absolutely no flavour and was very bland, and the crayfish was way overcooked. The gnocchi were not nice either, we asked for it to be plain just with a napolitana sauce, but the sauce was super acidic and almost unpalatable! The prawn, crab meat and crayfish risotto was tasty, however, the crayfish was way overcooked in this dish as well, like chewing on a rubber boot! Along with the mains they brought out a dish with chili in oil and parmigiano as condiments. When we were done with them, a waitress came and took them from our table and placed them onto another table for those diners….bloody disgusting!! For the prices this place charges you'd expect everything to be perfect, A1. $15 for a small bowl of olives and a few slices of bread, $10 each for bottled water, $19 for a small serving of broccolini $25 for an affogato, I mean granted, there was a shot of Frangelico served with these but still, $15 for one shot of espresso and one scoop of gelato!! give me a break. Now here is the real kicker, when the bill had to be settled, there was a point during the transaction where they requested a tip, it was a screen prompt, they made my brother feel obligated to leave a tip. The lowest amount on the screen prompt was 10%, which in this case worked out to $127. We are not in the USA, tips are not mandatory, and the customer should not be made to feel obligated to leave tips. On a positive note, the atmosphere in this place was awesome! the Piano player was entertaining and encouraged a sing along. The total for this evening of mediocre dining was north of $1400. We wouldn't mind paying that price if all the food was on point and the service matched, but it failed in these two key areas. We will never...

After seeing all the stars and reading the reviews, I was bitterly disappointed with our first visit to Roberto's. It came highly recommended by a friend, and a surprise date night from my lovely wife, first in 2 years. When we arrived we noticed it was cooler inside that out, but thought some good food and a couple of Vinos would certainly sort that out. It took a couple of minutes for the gentleman behind the counter to even acknowledge that we were there, no real greeting, and turned to see out and take payment from a couple who had finished up. After he finalized the payment we expected that he would turn his attention to us and finally show us to our reserved table, my wife made mention to him that we were there on our 10th Wedding anniversary, but he didn't. For a good 4 mins nothing happened, he spoke to waiters and stood there, turned out he was waiting for the couple that just paid, their left overs. Finally after about 10 minutes of waiting we were shown to our table. A few minutes later a gentleman waiter brought over the menus and wine list. Seeing as it was a special occasion I thought I would treat us with a bottle of red. But unfortunately no such luck, that was the end of our service, we preceded to sit and chat for over half an hour without being seen by anyone. The lovely couple next to us even asked if we had been seen to yet, and were a little appalled that we hadn't. Seeing as we don't get out much we said we would give it another 5-10 minutes and then make a call. We waited 5 more minutes, no service, so we left. Even on the way out no-one acknowledge us, or even asked why we were leaving so soon.

We went on to the Elford and had a nice meal and enjoyed the rest...