Il Punto

4.3 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  4      Service  3      Value  3     

Myself and a group dinned here after close friends of our were married, we took them out to celebrate as our gift to them, we had positive expectations. We were greeted by our waitress and seated. Five minutes after being seated our drink orders were taken, unfortunately there were none of the cocktails we ordered due to the fact that the ingredients weren't ordered, there was also no Jack daniels, no midori no wild turkey and not even enough for one drink of johnny walker.

We did however order a bottle of wine, which we were informed there was plenty of, but after we ordered it the waitress then came back and informed us she had none of it after all. When it did come time to order the meals my vegetarian friend had picked a meal, but was then informed there was no ingredients for it, she then picked again, but they were also out of that item, she finally picked the last resort for vegetarians and was disappointed with the meal in the end, two of my other guests also has to re think their meal choice as they had run out of several menu items.

In the end the evening was not enjoyable, my partner and I felt embarrassed for taking our guests to this restaurant. We were not offered any sincere apologies for the lack of menu items, nor were we given any discount or compliments for not having any of the things we actually wanted to order. We won't come back.

Jan 07, 2010 

3.8 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  3      Service  2      Value  5     

First experience is certainly our last. The service was slow, food was mediocre.
Atmosphere was dull.

Dec 15, 2009 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  8     

I have been to Il Punto's numerous times, I love it, the food is exceptional and it really is like city dinning only in Liverpool! The servings are huge, tasty and well priced. I adore this restaurant and continue to recommend this place to everyone!

Nov 24, 2009 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  10      Value  8     

This is my favourite restaurant. Their beef with olive tapenade is magical, my partner loves their seafood basket and I also really enjoy their tagliatelle with prawns mmmm it's just like city dining but in Liverpool. The service is fabulous the wait staff take the time to get to know you and chat with you to make sure everything is good!

My partner proposed to me in this restaurant (as it is our favourite restaurant) and the manager/owner helped with organising the surprise and even video taped it for us! If you are looking for fine dining at a reasonable price that is local I really recommend this restaurant! Oh and also their woodfired pizza's are a must to try!

Sep 26, 2009 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  3      Ambience  4      Service  2      Value  2     

The food took ages to get to our table and when it did, my calzone was deep fried and you could see that the oil in the deep fryer hadn't been changed for a while. The oil that was left on the plate was a very dark brown. This was confirmed later on in the night when the child's meal came out with chips that were also a dark brown, cooked in the same oil that the calzone was deep fried in.

I expected that the calzone would be done in their wood fired oven but it wasn't. The mains took quite a while to arrive. I ordered the scampi spaghetti and it was pretty tasteless and the worst thing was that my seafood was not even cooked. The legs were still blue and the flesh was totally raw. My wife had the parpadelle with meatballs and the meatballs were bland as well as the pasta.

Both dishes lacked taste and seasoning. When I told the waitress about my meal, she offered to take it back and asked me if I would like something else. I said sure, let me take a look at the menu. 25 minutes passed and the menu never came. It wasn't from lack of trying to get their attention either. The wait staff were gathered around another table chatting to a group. We settled the bill and I left with a deep fried cheeze calzone, and a glass of water for dinner. Really quite disappointing.

Aug 01, 2009 

2.5 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  5      Value  2     

I ordered two take away gourment pizza's yesterday evening, they were plain, tasteless, sloppy and not worth the money. I will not be eating here again.

Apr 18, 2009 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

Ilpunto... one of the best restaurants in Sydney. I never had such pizza and pasta before. I am a pure vegetarian and it sometimes becomes difficult for me to have what I want. Ilpunto became my other home where I go and say "Tomato based pizza with all the vegetables in the kitchen" and now the chef knows me too. So he knows what to cook.

Service is too good... all the girls are good and so is the ambience. I should say things are good for the value. Guys if you are thinking to go stop thinking and just go to Ilpunto. It’s worth going! I had to relocate myself from Sydney to Canberra, but whenever I go to Sydney my evening meal is in Ilpunto...Cheers!!

Mar 15, 2009 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  9      Value  9     

Il Punto is one of the best restaurants in Sydney. I have been really through other reviews and I totally disagree with what some people have written. The main issue that I am totally and utterly against is the portion sizes. The portion sizes are massive. I can’t believe that you would have to go to McDonalds afterwards; maybe you should look into getting help for your overeating as you obviously have a problem. The food is fantastic, the people are friendly and it’s just a great overall experience. My partner and I will be returning soon to sample greater, tasty food.

Feb 16, 2009 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  9     

I was looking forward to dining here after it was mentioned in the SMH Good Food Guide 2008. I had reserved a table for my husband and I for a Saturday night and was surprised to see it fairly empty except for a large table of 15-20 people and a table of two. We decided to forgo the BYO option before we arrived to see if the wines by the glass were sufficient.

They were not to our liking so we ordered a bottle of verdehlo and our food from a very softly spoken waitress who we believe was new given her confidence. We didn't have a problem with that as it was the perfect night for her to learn. We were told a few minutes later that the verdehlo we ordered was not available but they had another label.

We declined and ordered the advertised Riesling but were also told that it was not available. We settled on a pinot gris and although I did find that a little annoying I put it down to one of those things and we were very happy with our third choice. Apologies were also given.

Another waitress took over not long after and we were given our entrees promptly which were a pumpkin and ricotta crespelle with a burnt butter sauce which was divine if not a little rich and the husband had lobster ravioli with a tomato sauce which was so fresh and tasty. A big plus was that all the pasta is made in house and you could tell.

After scrapping all our sauce off the plates the mains were timed perfectly and I enjoyed a crumbed chicken dish with proscuitto and a creamy mushroom and white wine sauce. I usually steer clear of chicken dishes like that as they end up normally dry and tasteless but this was very tender and juicy and the seasoning in the crumbing was perfect. My husband had the pork belly with sweet potato mash which was also divine.

Happy with the meals we decided to have dessert and again was also timed well. I had 3 scoops of vanilla, chocolate and mango gelato which was a great way to finish but my husband came up trumps when he ordered the fresh, hot doughnuts with a chocolate dipping sauce. My favorite are hot doughnuts but these were heaven. He also ordered a glass of sticky to go with dessert and after two dud glasses were served he was given a different wine that was not available by the glass as the alternative which we he was most happy about.

We were so happy to finally get to Il Punto and we will certainly make it our restaurant of choice for Italian in the future. The smell of the wood-fired pizzas were also tempting and we are looking forward to tasting those next time.

Dec 02, 2008 

4.3 Below Average

Food  5      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  1     

My boy friend and I dined here on a Saturday, it was quite full which may explain why the meals took so long to come out. When they did they were the smallest serving sizes I have ever seen, they both tasted great but we had to stop past Mc Donalds on the way home as we weren't game to order any desserts.

Both waitress' were quite helpful and friendly though, they assisted us to another table when the one we were sitting at for no reason collapsed on one side (thankfully our food had not arrived yet). We won't go back to this restaurant again.

Sep 05, 2008