Nicolini's Italian Restaurant

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  7      Value  9     

We are local and our interstate friends wanted to go to dinner in Surfers. We really hadn't been into Surfers for some time, so we went to Nicolinis knowing they had been there for many years and still going strong. We all now know why. We had a great night, the food was fabulous, service was great and they have quite an extensive wine list which suited their menu well.

We have reaquainted ourselves with Surfers Paradise and also Nicolinis. Congratulations we will be back and will tell all our local friends to do the same.

Mar 22, 2012 

4 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  4      Service  4      Value  4     

Sorry to disappoint the admirers of this restaurant but we didn't have the best experience there this evening. We are staying at a complex around the corner and wanted to dine in a nice Italian restaurant for our 7 year wedding anniversary, so we looked nicolini up on this site, read the reviews and decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

So off we went with our 11 month old in tow. We ordered a Shiraz and their signature cocktail (not sure what it is called but it had lemon sorbet, champagne and vodka in it). The waiter tried to talk me out of it saying it is very sweet and would ruin my meal, but I love sweet drinks. Anyway, I told him it should be fine for me and he agreed to make it. With that order of drinks we ordered a small tropical pizza and asked them to bring that as soon as possible for our fussy, teething little one (we'll try anything at this stage).

So off he went while we were trying to decide which pizza dish to order and the waiter comes back with my drink saying that he changed the drink to make it more bitter. It tasted nice but I really would have prefered to make that decision for myself.

Anyway we ordered 2 pasta dishes and were told that they would probably come out before the pizza because the pizza guys had large take away orders. After a few minutes though the pizza arrived and it was delicious. The pasta dishes slowly followed. As my husband was digging through his fettucini marinara he saw something that at first glance he thought was a twig of dried thyme or something but as he moved it kind of shined.

To our surprise it was a piece of metal. It was a curly piece of jex or steelo about half an inch or so long. That just did it for us. The manager came around, apologized, took that dish and the drinks off the bill and hoped we would be ok with that.
Well, my worry was my little one. What if we gave him some of that dish to taste and he swallowed the metal! We left very disappointed. Would not recommend.

Dec 11, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  9     

Amazing Italian restaurant. Friendly and courteous staff, incredible dining experience. We're hooked!

Sep 03, 2011 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  1     

My Wife and I were down the coast for a few nights on our 1st anniversary.

We went for a walk around our hotel to find a place to go for dinner. Came across this restaurant which from the outside looks like a nice, small Italian restaurant.

Ordered pizza bread for starter and we both ordered the cream ravioli for mains.

The pizza bread was literally thin pizza base with tomato sauce on it. Very bland as there was no herbs/cheese.

The mains came out (around $20 each) in tiny bowls. They were that overcooked it was nearly impossible to pick up with a fork. Not only that but it was the most flavourless pasta I've ever had. Save your money and buy a latina pasta pack which will taste a thousand times better.

We only ate about 3-4 ravioli 'pieces' each and told the waitress about how bad it was.

She offered to get us something else but we just asked for the bill. We aren't really ones to complain but we were quite nice about it explaining what was wrong.

So after about 5 minutes of what seemed to be a 'group huddle' around the register, they gave us the bill and said they will "take one of the mains off the bill".

Looking back now I should have made a fuss and only paid for the pizza bread and drinks but we just paid our $30-40 and left.

Any restaurant worth it's salt would have taken both mains off the bill at the very least. We didn't even get an apology.

I would never go back to this place especially not for the price (even considering the fact it's at surfers). Don't waste your money.

Jun 13, 2011 

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  2      Value  2     

Excellent food, pasta a la marinara was awesome, very good location and very good choice, pizza looks nice as well.

Jan 06, 2011 

6.3 Average

Food  5      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

Service was excellent, however ordered a coffee and the milk was burn coffee was bitter. I had fettucine creamy sauce that a bit tasteless. Not sure if other items will taste the same. Quite pricey for the quality.

Jun 04, 2010 

3.8 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  2     

Overpriced average food, cook has no idea of flavour, pizzas okay though a little greasy.

Aug 15, 2009 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  8     

This place is great, we have eaten there a few times of late and it's still fun and good fresh food. The guy that wrote the dud review must be a competitor, because I can’t fault the place. All the Ray White guys go there and they are a real tough crowd. It’s excellent!!!

Apr 18, 2009 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  2      Service  5      Value  1     

I am afraid that Nicolinis is existing off its past reputation. After 10 years of visiting the Gold coast we finally thought we would give them a try as we kept seeing ads for them in all the Surfers Paradise brochures. What a disappointment that was. The food was no better than the frozen dinners you buy from the supermarket.

There are many much better and much much cheaper Italian restaurants around. To top it off we were charged $16 corkage for a bottle of wine I brought in that two out four of us drank but they still insisted on charging for all four of us at $4 per head. Whatever you do keep away, they are a rip off.

Nov 05, 2008 

7.3 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  7     

This is a really nice place to eat with great service- we really enjoyed it.

Aug 23, 2008