Dell 'Ugo

5.3 Average

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  1     

Two words - over priced. Very expensive and very small portions, whilst I admit they were fantastically flavoured. My GF received the "Thinly sliced wagyu bresaola served under a salad of red onion, shaved fennel and capers w/ lemon vinaigrette" - for $26. This amounted to essentially some salami circles covered in a miniscule salad. Worth closer to $15 - at best.

I ordered the Spaghetti marinara w/ calamari, scallops, seasonal fish, prawns, marinated crab sautéed w/ white wine, garlic and chilli and had high expectations. This was a fantastic blend of tastes and seafood, however, fantastically overpriced at a whopping $38 for a fairly small serving - should have been $25 at most. In fact a quick reference to Toscanis menu for the Linguine Marinara comes to $18.90.

Total bill came to a gob smacking $75 including water @$9 (!!) and a coffee and we still left hungry. Save your money guys and go somewhere else in Southbank!

Nov 05, 2011 

2 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  2     

The first word that comes to mind when thinking of this restaurant is disappointment!

We ordered the Home-made ricotta gnocchi with rabbit ragu, this dish was without a doubt the most disappointing dish we have ever had! There were chunks of bone all throughout the dish. When this was brought to the wait staffs attention they offered no apology and left us with the excuse that they deboned the rabbits themselves.

The other dishes that we had (Home-made tortellini filled w/ buffalo ricotta sauteed with porcini mushrooms and organic aged eye fillet with roasted potatoes and broccoli) were quite plain and lacking in flavour. The steak was not cooked to the medium rare that was asked and the vegetable that went with the dish were few and far between.

The wait staff were not at all helpful, when we had what can only be described as a total disaster with one of our meals they were not at all apologetic and all they would offer us was 1 free glass of wine for our trouble!

All in all this is not at all what I expect of a restaurant charging an average of $40 a dish. It can safely be said that we will never go to this restaurant again!

Sep 06, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  4      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

Last night my wife and I had a lovely sushi dinner at Ginga in Southbank for our anniversary. We'd hired a sitter and had one of the few opportunities to get out without our little ones. Afterward, we decided to go for a stroll and see if we could get a nice desert somewhere. We happened upon a nice looking italian place called Dell 'Ugo.

We ducked in out of the rain and found the place essentially empty. We asked for some tiramisu, and a drinks menu to get a dessert wine. To our surprise, the hostess immediately told us to leave, declaring (in an angry tone), "We are a restaurant, not a cafe!". She pointed to the door and ordered us out. And we were happily ushered out.

Now, we were dressed nicely, not intoxicated, and were just looking for a nice way to cap off our evening. I've since looked on the del'Uga website and discovered it was the owner. Perhaps she'd had some trouble before we walked in and was simply projecting, but we found her to be extremely rude and aggressive. Fair enough if you don't serve just desserts, but her attitude and actions were past the point of being silly.

We gladly took our money elsewhere, but I submit this as a word of warning to others -- unless you'd like to be abused and treated horribly for no reason, avoid del'Ugo in Southbank, Brisbane. It's also quite overpriced for the quality of the food and service (based on a previous meal I'd had there, as someone else's guest).

Aug 23, 2011 

4.8 Average

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  1     

We were excessively overcharges, after asking for "a bit of everything" for the entrees they decided to charge us for 10 entrees at full prices despite only plating 6. We were told that three of the entrees were plated onto one plate. We thought it extremely rude of them to not inform us that this would be the case, assuming that "a bit of everthing" meant that we would only be paying the price of some sort of mixed platter, again not for ten full priced entrees.

Service was fair for the type of restaurant it was trying to pull off as. Overall a little over priced for the quality of food (ravioli was a little undercooked on some parts and no bug was identified in the filling), which is the general feel of grey st. Would recommend them step up a little in terms of quality and in terms of communication to customers. They have certainly lost one more for the future.

Sep 05, 2009 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  6      Service  1      Value  1     

We were asked to leave after being seated in a half empty restaurant and ordering two $18 desserts, a $14 port and two coffees. My friend from Melb and I were later advised by a man that they don't do coffee and cake and told to leave. We had two empty tables beside us and several more behind us. Appalling. Who sends away paying customers for hopeful ones that may never arrive? Appalling service.

Jun 08, 2009 

4 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  4     

The continental staff added charm to this mafia -esque eatery but what was served was deliriously boring and poorly cooked. Crab meat lasagne was more like a cheese fondu. The fish was high and very dry, Gravox on the chiken and asaparus couldnt save it either. The cheese board was neither fine, elegant nor worth 36 dollars. No wine in stock of selections, restaurant packing up bored staff while we were all dying of thirst ( water). Lacklustre overpriced and never to see us again.

May 08, 2009 

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

My partner and I visited this restaurant on Tuesday night. He's a foodie and has what I consider abnormal expectations of food, service etc. I'd hoped to order a pre dinner drink, however, it was the barman's night off so cocktails weren’t available. The French waitress was so hospitable though that choosing something else didn't seem like an inconvenience. Our primi piatti's were linguine vongole and homemade tortellini stuffed with bugs in a fresh tomato and field mushroom sauce. Both were amazing and perfectly cooked. Perfectly.

For secondi we had the pork and baked trout - again both perfectly cooked and it's the first place I can honestly say that the veggies were bursting with flavour. The zucchini under my trout was delicious and the trout was accompanied by light lemon/herb gravy - so lovely....until I tasted the pork with a rich mushroom sauce (about 4 or 5 different varieties) again all full of flavour.

The service was as it should be present without feeling stood over or neglected. I had the tiramisu for dessert which is the best I've eaten - including Italy and Leichhardt in Sydney as well as my friend's Nonna. I don't understand the review below regarding this dessert. My partner had the creme brulee (raspberry) which came flaming as the alcohol burnt the toffee on top (nice touch) and tasted amazing. Again I've had this dessert many times before - nothing as good as here. Both were accompanied with home made white chocolate lattice baskets and patterned chocolate. We ordered lemoncello which was very good and, without prompting, were offered a second glass with compliments of the house.

I (fortunately) didn't get a look at the bill but expect the usual $'s for a lovingly prepared meal. The other true Italian waiter was superb and knew the menu well, the front of restaurant had everything ticking over well so our meals weren't brought out too quickly. The chef is Venetian, the food only what I hope others can live up to. We understand the chef is also involved in a program passing on his skills to Brissie kids who might not otherwise get a break like this / help them better their current circumstances. Go on one of the slower nights earlier in the week like we did and I'm sure you'll have the same experience. We were so impressed we will fly back to Brisvegas just to repeat the experience. Yummo.

Feb 18, 2009 

5.5 Average

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  3      Value  1     

I recently went to Dell' Ugo for dinner for a friend’s birthday. The restaurant is BYO so my husband and I brought a bottle of wine to share but without asking the waitress proceeded to offer every arrival at the table a glass of our wine! It seemed inappropriate for me to say "no they can't have any that's ours" so with only one glass each from our bottle it was empty.

The meals were delicious but at $35-$42 each they were poor value. They were no more special than any other good Italian restaurant charging $16-18 per meal. While we were ordering the waiter kept trying to up sell us salads, steamed veggies etc and he seemed annoyed we had declined. At $17 for a side dish of steamed veggies what did he expect! I think at that moment he decided we weren’t good enough to be in their restaurant.

After dinner we decided we wanted dessert, we waited a half hour before flagging down the waitress to ask for the dessert menu. 40 minutes later we flagged her down again to take our order. She stood at one end of the long table asking us all what we wanted (group of 10) and we had to call out our orders. My husband and I ordered the "selection" at $30. Deserts were $15 each and there were about 6 choices on the menu so the selection seemed like a good idea to share.

When it arrived there were 3 items in our “selection”, all adding up to the size of 1 of the single $15 desserts. The cheesecake was great, the tiramisu was flavorless and the crème brulé was in a little ceramic butter bowl, seriously 2 teaspoons worth. A friend at the table ordered the $15 crème brulé, took a spoonful and decided it wasn't very nice. From my own teaspoonful I agreed. On collecting our finished desserts the waitress said to my friend you didn't like the dessert" and my friend said "no I didn't". The waitress just pulled a sad face and said "ohh". She didn't even ask why. The dessert was a 100% disappointment and rip off.

By the end of the night we left feeling overcharged and under serviced. It is the most expensive restaurant I have ever been to, the food and the service nowhere near warrant those prices.

Apr 17, 2008 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

Amazing food, lively atmosphere and great service. Definitely one of Brisbane's best Italian restaurants!

Dec 13, 2006