Am a frequent lunch time diner here. The food has always been delicious. The only bad meal I have had was a special on the black board. Not sure what it was called but it was a pasta dish with prawns. It looked great but I think they put in every last ounce of garlic they had in the place in the dish. It was inedible. Other than that I have always had great food and great service. I love the courtyard out the back on a sunny afternoon.
Had a pepperoni craving so visited with five friends at 6.45pm on a Saturday - got an outside table without booking but I think we were lucky. I am never fussy about decor and Bar Reggio doesn't impress. It is also very cramped on the way in and around the tables. On the plus-side, the sounds, smells, and vibe are enjoyable. Borderline too busy for the service to maintain their amicability.
They did tell us they needed us out by 8pm, and we still managed to fit in entree, main and dessert. You can have small or medium sized pizza ($12/$15 or so) and a less exciting selection of risotto, pasta, and other mains. I was happy with my Palmer St pizza (like a chilli and mushroom Hawaiian) and the morsels of everyone else's food. It didn't surprise and excite me, but it was good pizza. $5.50 for gelato in an edible portion covered in chocolate, or tiramisu were all reasonable.
Used to adore this place but I think it lost its edge, previous comments have noted the burnt pizzas and we received the same treatment last night, very burnt pizzas without the taste that once made them unbeatable. There was a time where I would recommend this place to anyone but nowadays Im not so sure. Think they're relying on their established reputation a little to much now.
My marinara last night was bland, quite tasteless, one of the first times I've left food on my plate at Bar Reggio. My fellow diners were also not overly impressed.
Don't go with a group!! $26 for burnt pizza and tasteless pasta. We went here for a birthday with 30 people on Sat night. OK so it's a large group and when our table wasn't ready we were happy to wait and got seated at about 8.30. We ended up moved onto separate tables because it was so hot and we were jammed in like sardines.
Finally the (set menu) food started, we had an 8pm booking and ate at about 9.30....burnt pizza bases (now I'm talking about 3/4 of the pizza was black) with a few pieces of tomato put on top that was sufficient to cover about 1/4 of the pizza.
Then the pasta came out about 1/2 hour after the pizza was cleared! Thankfully no one was very hungry at this point, it didn't look very good and tasted even worse. For $26pp we got burnt pizza, tasteless pasta but the salad was nice and fresh at least.
Everyone says this place is great and it seems to be if you don't go in a group!!
I went with my boyfriend (at the time) late last year, I had a good time overall. The place is busy and noisy but I enjoyed it, it made you feel at ease. I had the marinara, and the amount of fresh seafood in it was more than what I can take in, so my boyfriend took the chance to finish it off for me lol.
Overall, I had a great time there, the lights were dim (candles), it was loud but it was Italian loud, family loud, friends-having-a-good-time sort of loud.
The food is great. The menu makes climate change look rapid. I can't recall a change, and I say great. don't change a great thing. I've been eating at this place on and off for a decade, and I'm yet to tire of the seafood marinara (with spaghetti). The service can be a little rough around the edges, but I like it. Sometimes has a hint of Steve Martins "New Cruelty"...
Loved the fact that I could poped over and put my name down on the waiting list and they called me on my mobile when the table was ready. The food was all top quality ingrediants and the eye fillet was so tender.
Ok the service was not so fantastic yet they really made you feel at home. A real Italian trattoria. Return..... For sure BYO and only $1.
I love this noisy bustling restaurant and eat their regularly. Huge value for money and the Ricotta and spinach raviola is to die for, as is the schnapper, and the pizza. I'm hooked. It's BYO so don't forget the vino, to compliment the food and aromas that come from the kitchen.