Il Gusto

7.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  7     

As a large group we found ourselves upstairs being tickled with the summer breeze through the balcony's open doors and gazing into the tree tops. I'm no fan of pasta and pizza offerings at an Italian restaurant, it was the specials of the day that got my attention. The waiter explained the extensive choices with the admirable memory of a savant and a thespian delivery.

All meals arrived after a fair interval so service was good. My salmon fillet was chargrilled with a lovely crisp surface and tender flesh, it was a satisfying dining experience. The specials were the winning poker hand.

Jan 29, 2012 

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  3      Value  1     

Basically I am a Sydney first timer in Melbourne and I was also lied to by the old italian dude. Fresh pasta is a lie.. fresh anything is a lie. I went with 4 others and my fiancee. Lets just go through the event from the beginning.

Walked near the door and was greeted by the italian character promising great fresh food. Followed upstairs and seated promptly. Before ordering asked for a shiraz and water, shiraz came and water did not. When we asked for water politely the second time there was an ant in my cup and the water was room temperature with an ice cube in the jug. Not enough to cool the water at all.
Fettuccine pollo avocado was ok, but pasta is not fresh because I am able to make fettuccine easily and have cooked commercially for over 6 years.

My chicken parmigiana was a Joke. Deep fried crumbed schnitzel (very dry) with tomato sauce and cheese from a packet (which I could peel off the chicken in a single piece) served with poorly chopped and poorly cooked capsicum, broccoli, and a strand of buck choy? it got worse.

Followed by the greek salad which any commercial cooking student would know does not contain raw Choy Sum (heaps of choy sum)! it had no cucumber, no tomato, no olives and barely any fetta. Don't even mention my friends caesar salad. I don't even know if they know how a caesar dressing is made. Google it.. its as simple as mayo (easy) with anchovies, seasoned, however, you wanna, e.g. lemon, worcestershire etc... but not this one... ehh.. I don't know how people can give good reviews.

Funny bout the good reviews is that they know the staffs names... ha. Entree size and main size fettuccine is the same portion size with different plate. I can simply ask another 5 friends to back me on all this. Ripped off...
I don't blame the wait staff as they did do well but the guy and the kitchen have to do something about it because its embarrassing in many ways. Plenty more but thats the least I can say.

Apr 28, 2011 

3.8 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  3     

Food took 45 minutes to arrive at the table after ordering (we only ordered fish, shouldn't have taken that long!). I asked Two staff members where our meals were, one never bothered to get back to us and the other said "we're busy tonight". Neither apologised. Food was average but priced well above what it should have been. Save yourself the hassle and eat somewhere else on Lygon Street.

Apr 24, 2011 

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

My girlfriend and I were at Lygon st looking to have a special Italian dinner. We walked past a few nice Italian restaurants along the way but somehow we were lured into Il Gusto as we found the staff at the front to be quite a character as he was quite funny. However, after having our meal I strongly urge you never to be sucked in by this staff! No matter how funny or nice he may seem. I am telling you he is a total Fraud.

He welcomed us in and kept saying how good his lamb cultets were and how tasty they were and left us with a menu to make our order. We were sitting at the table for over 20 minutes until someone came to finally take our order. We ordered the lamb cultets that took another 40 minutes to finally come to our table. As I can assure you right now the restaurant was not even busy at the time.

When we got our order the cutlets were far from being tasty as they were completely soggy and tasteless while our salad seemed far from fresh. The food was completely terrible just terrible the worst food I have ever had at any restaurant. While the food was not cheap either it was a completely rip off as when we got the bill we paid nearly $100 for poor quality food that you could buy at a butcher for a total cost of $20 and thats from a good quality butcher.

I am telling you right now stand clear of this place as you have been totally warned it is a total embarrassment to Melbourne.

Jan 09, 2011 

2 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  1     

We ate at Il Gusto because the old "Italian" tout was quite a character, unfortunately, what followed didn't at all live up to his promise of beautiful, traditional Italian food. We ordered the Antipasto, which was a major disappointment, (it was about $6 worth of supermarket deli food for about $29). It didn't look at all like a tempting selection of Italian delights, there were no sundried tomatoes, capsicum or eggplant, but instead it had corned beef.

The corned beef by the way was well past fresh and had an unpleasant smell. The ham in the antipasto was discolored. We tried to show the staff, (the tout), and he promptly had the antipasto removed from the table but didn't seem interested in hearing what we had to say. The mains that followed were rather disappointing too. When the bill came the antipasto was included andthe staff was unwilling to compromise, he instead blamed others, (who wasn’t there), and the junior staff.

Sadly it’s not always easy getting a good meal in Lygon St these days but this one was especially disappointing. I could have cooked far better myself for much less and I'm no chef. If you eat here don't say I didn't warn you. Stay away. And for god’s sake, don’t take any tourists here, what an embarrassment to our city.

Nov 17, 2010 

1.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  2      Value  1     

We had come down from Sydney for a holiday and wanted to try out Lygon St, we were railroaded by the old man into the restaurant with the claim of fresh food/ home made pasta/ only authentic italian family restaurant in Lygon St. Our experience (family of 4) has turned us completely off the supposed gourmet restaurant precint of Lygon St.

The food was, to put it bluntly, a total disgrace, 5 year olds could cook better meals. My son who loves food ended up crying over the poor quality, tasteless, plastic. My spaghetti marinara, was there any seafood in it. I couldn't really tell, there appeared to be some large mussel shells, tiny tasteless mussels and the rest a sludge. Wouldn't recommend this place to my worst enemy. KFC is a delight compared to this place.

Oct 16, 2010 

7 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  7     

I spent a full week with my friend Fernando and the staff, every evening I had dinner there. I tried different pasta and also meat and fish, absolutely italian standard. Simply is what you can find if you are invited in an Italian family for dinner. Thank's to Fernando and staff.

Jun 16, 2010 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  3      Value  1     

Terrible. Absolutely terrible. From an Italian background, I am used to eating quality homemade pasta and homemade sauce made from fresh ingredients from the farm in country Victoria.

This does not at all measure up. Lasagne al forno was from a packet with a very sloppy red wine sauce. The pasta dishes were of premium Coles/Safeway quality. The service was okay, but we had a party of 15 and about 8 people sent their meals back because they were especially awful. The rest of us ate because we were hungry.

Value is terrible. Very expensive for what you get. I paid 7.50 per glass of what tasted like "vintage" 2008 wine. Meals were in excess of $20. If you want good Italian try somewhere else but certainly not Il Gusto or Via Veneto. Horrible.

Apr 25, 2010 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

We too like many others were conned into having a meal at this restaurant over the easter weekend. The pushy overbearing loadmouth senior staff accosted us on the pavement and did not give up till we gave in, telling us how long they had been there, how cheap and good the pasta meals were and no corkage. Once we had sat down and ordered we were pretty well ignored apart from the annoying interruptions from this man continually telling us how much better his meaals were compared to the place next door.

The garlic bread and bruschetta we ordered came out on sliced brown bread, straight from the packet. The bruschetta had grilled cheese on top, just like something you would make at home for a snack, very ordinary and disappointing. The pasta meals were tasteless and ordinary and we had to ask the waiter to clear our table about 30 minutes after we had finished.

At no time were we offered dessert or coffee and we had to ask for the bill 3 times. Disappointing evening as we were dining with family members and were looking forward to a nice italian meal. Don't go to this restaurant unless you want to be ripped off.!

Apr 08, 2010 

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

Unfortunately, I have absolutely nothing good to say about Il Gusto. We have been there before a while ago and thought the meals were very average but decided to give it another go as once again the staff kept going on about how fresh and italian and cheap he was. It was a disaster, I had the 'special' crab pasta that was a crab cut in half thrown in with some pasta and a can of tomatoes it seemed, my husbands al fungi was just as bad.

The meals had absolutely no flavour. What really did my head in was that no one came to ask how our meals were even though the staff and a lady maitre'de was standing in front of us the whole time. So at the end, out of courtesy we told the lady that we were willing to pay for the meal but not the corkage because it was such an average meal she not only told us that we had to pay for corkage but was threatening to call the police because we said we didn't agree.

Last time I checked Il Gusto were spruiking about the best meals in Lygon so you would think, that someone would make sure that all the customers are happy with the meal, this is not Mcdonalds where you get up and take the meal to the counter to tell them it's not good.

To further put a nail in the coffin, when we left (we ended up paying because I couldn't be bothered dealing with such an unprofessional, rude and disturbed woman) my husband was standing next to the staff asking to speak to the senior staff of the restaurant so we could make a complaint, the woman ran out of the restaurant and yelled in front of all the customers for us to F*** Off. I have never been so insulted nor treated in such a manner for trying to be honest about a meal.

We should have done what my husband had suggested, just get up and leave. They were lucky to get any money at all, and this woman wasn't willing to take the corkage off the bill to make unhappy customers happy. I'd also like to point out she was giving away free bottles of wine to make people sit down and eat. It would take me a lot more than a bottle of wine to ever sit there again. Il Gusto is definitely not recommended.

Mar 25, 2010