Fresh User Reviews in Northern Melbourne

4.8 Average

Food  9      Ambience  6      Service  1      Value  3     

Decided to give this resturant a go tonight with my partner, we walked in on a saturday night about 630pm and it was dead, so we thought we'd get a table easy. No! The staff were annoyed because we didn't have a booking, and although all their seats were vacant except for few people they did not want to take us in. They then told us if they did, we would have to be out by 8pm. We were hungry so we just went ahead.

The food is good and tasty, but the staff customer service levels.. nothing. No service. I had to grab the girls attention to get served to order, and they didn't even take my order until they were ready despite being told I was ready.
They would bring out food, and not even serve it on our plates (we ordered buffet). Buffet was not worth it as the meals were small and for the price of $35 each would have been better selecting our own.

We did not get asked if food was ok, or if we would like more water. I asked for the food to take away, and I got a plastic container and bag thrown at me to do it myself. Ok, so the food is tasty but the staff are absolutely horrible, horrible. No Tip.

May 26, 2012

1.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  1     

Made a booking for 12:30 last Sunday for 4 people, after waiting 1.5 hours with one reminder in between that we were waiting for our food and seeing other people come in after us, order, eat and go. enough was enough asked the waiter at the 1.5 hour of waiting and was told it would an extra 15 minutes.

Honestly we all had ordered salads and I could have made them in 5 minutes. No prioritisation even after mentioning that we were waiting for our orders, extremely disappointing. Fortunately we went somewhere else and had an excellent meal after only 30 mns of leaving the Urban Grooves.

May 25, 2012

5.5 Average

Ambience  5      Service  6     

Average scores all around. A much better rating than I would have given the first time we tried to eat here as we didn't even manage to get served! (so we left).

May 24, 2012

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

Delicious fresh unique food at a fantastic price! Super friendly service and great atmosphere, can't wait to go back! Nom Noms!

May 24, 2012

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  1      Value  1     

Unfortunately, seems to have changed hands, bruschetta base charcoal and inedible, we were placed next to busy toilet/kitchen door exit, asked to be moved in 1/2 empty restaurant and told not possible being fully booked, it remained 1/2 empty whilst we were there.?

Requested risotto from menu, told not possible on a Saturday night to prepare. Poor service, only a hint if lamb ragu sauce in pappardelle and inadequate serving size. Don't waste your time or money.

May 19, 2012

6.5 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  6      Service  8      Value  6     

I'd heard mixed reviews about Bellissimo, so we decided to try it for ourselves. The staff are very friendly and do their best to make you feel welcome. This is a huge restaurant with enormous potential, yet there were very few diners there and on previous occasions when I have walked past, it has been the same.

The food is pretty good, but not outstanding. We decided to start with one of the Italian wines on their wine list, but they were out of stock of all of them! The next wine we chose was Australian but also unavailable. Finally, we managed to get a very nice shiraz. We then had garlic and herb breads which were ok, though unremarkable. Being only a few doors from a fantastic sourdough bakery, perhaps, they would do better sourcing their bread there?

For my main, I had the Tournedos Bellissimo which consisted of steak, topped with seafood and mushrooms and served with vegetables. This was mostly good, the green beans and capsicum were delicious and very fresh, while the cream potatoes tasted like they were cooked yesterday and reheated. The serving sizes are adequate, but a little small for the price (mine was $30.50). There were a number of strawberry dishes on the dessert menu, but all were unavailable. I had the chocolate profiteroles which were lovely and I'm told that their tiramisu is outstanding.

I can't help thinking that this place could be so much more. As I said before, the staff are wonderful and they deserve to do well. The restaurant seems to be aiming towards fine dining, (however, the tiled floors and red-checked tablecloths are more typical of a trattoria) but is serving bistro-quality food.

While they don't do pizza here (although there is room in this area to provide good-quality authentic wood-fired pizzas), I think they could make the restaurant more family-friendly by broadening their menu along the lines of, say, Gennaro's in Eltham and keeping an eye on stock levels so that most of what is on the menu is available.

To me, Italian restaurants should be lively, welcoming, generous and hospitable and I'd love to see Bellissimo achieve this. Greensborough needs it.

May 14, 2012

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  10     

We had a great dinner at Taxi Boat last night, the food was fresh (not greasy), nice ambience and very friendly staff. We shared an entree, 2 mains, rice and dessert with drinks and cost $35 each, great value! Chicken Pad Thai and the sticky date pudding was especially nice! Will definitely return and recommend to others.

May 13, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  6      Service  9      Value  9     

Inthanon food is Always delicious, I've been eating there since 2004. One of the best thai places around. Food is tasty, not overly oily, great selection good sized serves. Yum.

May 04, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  10      Value  9     

I went out for dinner with my family the other night as I received the restaurants menu in the mail so thought I would give it a go. And it was fantastic everyone of my family members enjoyed their meal. The staff were lovely with a fantastic atittude. It is a great environment I would recommend it to a lot of people and its cheap and has alot of deals. Even home delivery is fantastic!

May 02, 2012

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

Good food and good service, overall great place to dine with friends or take the family, there pizza was very nice better than most places in greensborough, their parma was delicious and real chicken breast not processed and good size, recommend you try this place.

May 02, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

It was out first time at Byzantine and we found the food to be delicious and plentiful. The service was good for a busy Saturday Evening (our waitress was great). My husband and I will definitely come again and bring our friends and family. I think it is really good how the bread is brought out without asking for extra.

Apr 28, 2012

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

Food is great, service excellent and staff always friendly and courteous.

Apr 24, 2012

1 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  1      Service  1      Value  1     

This place used to be great but it recently changed hands and the new owners are very rude. We ordered take away pizzas and they were all extremely burnt underneath, as in completely charcoaled and inedible. Also, one of the toppings was not what we ordered. I rang them to complain and they hung up on me twice. We didn't have time to order new pizzas, but I went back to the restaurant to show them the burnt pizza, hoping they would offer a refund, but they refused. They said if I didn't like it I should go to Domino's across the road. I tried to argue with them but their English was not that good. After spending $50 on pizzas that we couldn't eat, I managed to get only $10 back.

Apr 23, 2012

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Drinks  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Wow, couldn't have asked for anything more except we did, and got it! Haven't been here in a while but will now be back before you (we) can say Thank You! Perfect everything, the meals were great and the fish special that one of us ordered was stunning! No cons to mention only pros - great!

Apr 21, 2012

9.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

A delightful food store with amazing coffee and delicious, home-made food cooked on the premises.

Apr 17, 2012

3.8 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  4      Service  1      Value  5     

If you're going there to buy a cake, buy it and leave. I have been there a few times, and most of the time it has been poor service, as the woman rarely remember to smile at you. I have been forced to get lunch from there as it is one of the few places in Preston where you can get a decent pastry.

Today was the last straw. Firstly it was not too busy, and there were dirty dishes throughout the cafe, I had to sit on a dirty table. There were many ladies behind the counter who could have cleared, but decided to gossip between one another instead. I ordered a spinach pide and cap. My order was forgotten, as the waitress who served me was too interested in going on her break during the peak period of lunch. 15 minutes later a lady started yelling from behind the counter to all the seated customers that someone had missing a pide.

Eventually I realised what the yelling was about and put my hand up. She then proceeded to ask me who took my order, where I point to one of the two ladies eating their lunch visably on the other end of the cafe. The lady who served me looked me in the eye, and swore she didn't serve me, passing the blame. The two chose to argue in front of all customers about the mix up. It was quite embarrassing and infuriating for the lady in question to be denying the fault in front of staff and customers.

Eventually they brought out my missing padina and cap. The padina was luke warm,(obviously forgotten). When another lady brought it out to me, there was no apology for the mix up and wait. To make things worse, the lady in question who forgot my order, started whispering with her colleague looking at my table. It was so unprofessional, and I have never experienced such a business that can operate with a bunch of staff, who have absolutely no concept of great customer service, efficiency and attention to detail.

I would be very embarrassed if I was the cafe owner, and very worried. I am now completely lost as a customer and will be going to somewhere else from now on.

Apr 17, 2012

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  10     

Great place for a casual meal with some terrific wines and very reasonably priced. Service was excellent and you could almost imagine you are tucked away in any Italian city. Most highly recommended.

Apr 09, 2012

7.8 Recommended

Quality  8      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  8     

I had my Environ facial last week and it was the most relaxing facial ever! My skin feels really soft and even my girl friends mentioned that I had a glow on me. Will definitely go back again!

Apr 06, 2012

1.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Service  2     

Tried this on 30/3/2012. Worst food and service Ever, just 2 of us in restaurant when we first arrived ordered drinks, 10 minutes later to be told that they were out of condensed milk for the tea, chicken pandan was raw, (not part cooked) raw, we also ordered mixed platter, chicken skewers were raw, curry puff tasteless, they brought us the wrong soup order and soup arrived last when we requested it to be first. Never again.

Apr 04, 2012

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  5      Service  9      Value  10     

Food was fantastic, both delicious and cheap, staff were very friendly and helpful. Terrific place to eat, although the ambience is limited due to the small dining area.

Apr 04, 2012