Buon Venuti Ristorante & Pizzeria — Restaurant in Hibiscus and Bays

Being from New York with Italian heritage, life in NZ has been rough on me when it comes to finding what to my tastebuds is 'real' Italian food. I've been to so many places that have an Italian name but make something... else. Not a wop to be seen in the kitchen, and never a sauce like I know a sauce should be.

THIS place knows what that is. What a joy to accidentally find them last year. We've eaten there frequently since, and have yet to be disappointed after having a number of their menu items. Comfort food for us, at last!

From their sauces to their veg to their meats and seafood (I've had I think nearly half their menu at this point)... the balance of flavours is just right and straight-up Eye-tale-yin!

If you want Kiwified or Fancified Italian, well... you may be surprised to find that the authentic recipes here are pretty darn good even if no purple button-down shirt skinny jeans reviewer would approve of it because it isn't 'hip'. Give it a go, see what the 'real deal' tastes like.

The food is prepared 'home-style' and not 'production style', which means that your order is made scratch when you submit it. When busy, wait times will get on the long side for the food to hit the table - but it's not negligence, it's that she's making everyone's fresh and not assembling pre-cooked stuff. (The baked pasta dishes are worth the wait, BTW)

The decor and 'feel' isn't modern, new, or special in any way - but it looks and feels like what this sort of restaurant should look like: comfy, cosy, and very stereotypically Italian in decor. I like it because it reminds me of so many awesome little Italian restaurants back home in New York.

The portions are more than fair - I'm a pretty big eater and I am happy with how much is on the plate. My partner and kids struggle to finish up.

Service is... well to be honest the service is spotty. Some nights it's great and I'm pleased, other nights I am annoyed at inattentiveness. But we don't go there for a sense of being pampered, we go for the food. Again, the food is awesome.

So go! And tell them the short American...

My partner walked into this place last minute. I was craving something like ramen noodles. But we had already eaten out at a Korean place the night before. Anyways, we were instantly welcomed in and set at a table by a young fellow. This waiter was very lovely, polite and patient. He let us settle in, he asked us politely if we were okay with the table choice. He then asked if we wanted a litt candle on our table. This was super cute as it was Valentine’s Day but we weren’t really there for that. But it totally set the mood.😅

He kept us informed and allowed us to sit while he went grab us water. In the mean time we had a think about what we wanted to eat on the menu. At the right time he was back to check on us and we ordered.

The food didn’t really take that long to come out either. The food was delicious though!

We had calamari and prawns for entree. They were both great with the great sauces they were marinated in😍

For our main, we had Rack of lamb and an Alfredo fettuccine with ham and chicken. The fettuccine sauce was delicious with everything in the pasta. 😍 My partner had the rack of lamb and he said it was lovely but just a little too “tomatoe-y”😅 Then again, he doesn’t really like tomatoes. So for that I’m sure it was still great cause he ended up eating it all!

Hospitality and customer service was GREAT, from the start til we walked out the door!

Big ups to the Buon Venuti Ristorante & Pizzeria! Your workers make it more comfy to sit there and talk whilst eating food😍 That last minute turn up ended up being our fave part of the night!

We will definitely be back to try...

The worst dinning experience i have ever had!!!!!!The evening started out great, the waitress was very polite, service was quick (not surprising the place was empty). My partner and i decided we were going to go for the king prawns which we changed because they were served without the shell on, we went with the pizza instead. Well my pizza was completely raw. the middle was so raw it was like eating wet bread, which was a pitty because the topping where nice(once they had been scraped off). when the manager/owner came over i handed him few pieces of the middle to show him which were firmly stuck to my fingers. He then proceeded to argue with me telling me how everyone prefers it that way. Anyway after about a minute or two i said to him really did not want to discuss the matter any further and for him to please leave us alone, which was ignored. we ended having to leave . We walked to the counter to pay where he continued to argue. All we wanted to pay and leave. His attitude towards his customers is disgusting and i am not surprised my pizza was raw in the middle. If you pile in inch worth of toppings in the middle with nothing towards the edges and cook it at low temp of course its going to be raw... SIMPLE LOGIC!!!

So i challenge any Italians out there please go try his pizzas and leave a reveiw. I honestly believe he is giving...