Osteria Lume Italian Woodfire Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

We are regulars to this restaurant and have been for many many years. We recommend it to many of our local family members and friends but after my phone call with them tonight I will not be doing that again. So after 2 email enquiries stating we will be a group of 11 and 5 of those will be children, I received a call stating they cannot seat more than 9 people because they are currently understaffed. I understand this so said that our group of 11 includes 5 children so they will share food and would equate to feeding 9 adults at a table. The response, we don't have SPACE for you all at one table as we are a small restaurant. So I explained that I was happy to be placed on two seperate tables. The response was there was actually NO AVAILABILITY for us all to come in at the same time on two seperate tables that night and that we would have to come one group at one time and the other 15 minutes later.....So after this phone call, I jumped online and booked one table of 6 and another table of 5 AT THE SAME TIME with absolutely no issue at all. In fact, after I made those two seperate bookings to seat us, I went back onto the website and was able to make another booking for an additional 4 people at the exact same time. If you don't want families with children in your restaurant just say so! Don't make up rubbish to deter families. This was supposed to be for a birthday dinner and was the first time I have brought my children along with me. If you have kids, go to Lupa or Terra Mia who happily welcome adults AND...

So many things its hard to summarize. Have been here a few times in the past and enjoyed it. However it seems like everyone working is just going through the motions and does not gaf. We came in sweating as it was 30 degrees, staff mumbled to sit wherever and went back to folding pizza boxes, avoided eye contact then swapped another tables water without giving us a bottle. Then we were told the whole section on the menu of italian craft beer hasn't been available for awhile but menus haven't been updated. Feel bad wait staff have to tell customers that all the time coz they cbf making new menus. Food came out all at once which I thought was strange for Italian food. The caprese had one measly basil leaf on it. Tomatoes tasted like woolies medley. The pasta sauce tasted like dolmios and was watery. Pizza wasn't too bad but no offer or parmesan, pepper, anything. It all just lacked love. Service was so awkward, "and you guys don't want desserts or anything", it was as if they wanted tables in and out as fast as possible and the place was almost empty. No one was rude it just felt like the back have lost the passion and the front have no idea. Also this is probably a personal thing but the music was inappropriate for the vibe of...

It's been a few years since I went back for pizza at Pizzeria 50. It seems the pizza has gone slightly down hill unfortunately in my opinion. Although toppings were fresh & flavour was great, the dough itself was a chewy texture. I dont remember the dough being chewy/rubbery or I'd not have returned. Im a known woodfired pizza chaser & I've chased pizza for most of my adult life & even though it wasn't bad by all means, compared to many woodfired pizza establishments, its rating on my list has slumped. Also I was surprised if not shocked to see grated Parmesan on my rocket salad. As an Italian, if I make or order this salad, it's always & only with shaved Parmesan. Even my non italian foodies use shaved. Never have I seen grated on a rocket salad before. But I will say our 4 cheese gnocchi were fantastic and glad we tried it. This is not meant to be a negative review at all but constructive feedback. The staff were wonderful, the restaurant clean and buzzing &...