fitzrovia

fantastic coffee! breakfast is pretty special as well. great atmosphere and views. not sure about dinner but definitely will be back!

great experiences. i have been to this restaurant twice now. it is just up from the intersection with grey st. it is small and intimate allowing for some of the best and most personal service around. outside tables are great for these summer nights and for people watching or smokers. a varied menu at reasonable prices with a matching wine list. patricia and the other staff will make you feel most welcome and look after your every need. i eat out a lot and am very happy to recommend this place for atmosphere, menu, wine list and service. enjoy!!

variable food, stingy service. attended with a christmas work do and had a set menu. i found the food varied between "this is amazing" to "i could make this at home" (roast lamb and beans). vegetarians would have been pretty happy with the menu, carnivores, not so much.

they were obviously operating on an alcohol budget and tried to restrict guests to 1 glass of champagne in a really declasse manner and were super stingy with filling the wine glasses and only eased up when it was obvious that the wine was holding out. yeah, i can understand that you've got your bottom line to consider but at least this could be managed in a more graceful and less obvious and school-marmish manner. why create work for yourself by taking wine bottles away rather than leaving them on the table? bizarre.

i know they were under pressure with a big group booking but the service was really uptight from the very beginning of the evening and set the vibe.

the food is good if you like that sort of food.

finally i made my way here. i have heard so much about fitzrovia. friends of mine that are st kilda's locals are referring to fitzrovia as the trendiest venue on fitzroy street.
so it's taken me a while (busy shopping and catching up with lots of work) to get here, so finally i arranged to meet with a few friends to try fitzrovia for brunch and a pre christmas get together. to our surprise we were able to book a table on saturday the 24th of december. yes they take bookings!!! very lucky to be able to book a table because upon our arrival, the place was totally full with people, drinking cocktails, really inventive fresh fruit juice concoctions and enjoying the amazing food. the amazing views from the restaurant over albert park and the city skyscrapers made our day. the venue is just full of elegance and indeed it is a marvellous addition to fitzroy street. we had to wait a bit for our food, but i can understand that as the place was packed. the food was tasty and the freshness of the ingredients was obvious to all of us. my house smoked ocean trout salad with poached eggs was the best breakfast i had for a long time. we requested a few food alterations and they were happy to satisfy our needs. coffee: perfect !!! service: attentive and very friendly and keept smiling although so busy and running around a lot.
well, i have a new place to go now and i will bring more of my friends. the dinner menu looked amazing too. so thanks guys we will see you soon again ...

not a great place but could be. the food is good depending on the day, it's pricy and the service is simply apalling. wait staff are all over the shop, rude,sloppy and service is on bali time.

airy, pretty cafe on the up and coming part of fitzroy st. fitzrovia's st ali blends make for winning coffee, though service can be slow at times. poached eggs are delicious and the sourdough a wonderful accompaniment. the trout on a bed of fennel, rocket, hummus and sour cream was just divine - creative, carb-free (a rarity for brunch) and gorgeous. amazing fitzrovia; keep it up. a lovely addition to the area.

had breakfast here with friends last sunday and it was very good. eggs perfectly cooked, beautiful fresh ingredients, great juice selection. will be back.


-----05 nov, 2011-----

another great dinner here! love the prawn cocktail and my pork main was delicious!!


-----15 sep, 2011-----

fantastic!!! went for dinner here thursday night and it was just so impressive! love the elevated dining room with excellent views of the city skyline. beautifully designed dining room, old melbourne charm meets an organic freshness with crates of produce on display, open kitchen, high decorative ceilings, massive glass frontage-just spectacular!! and the food-so impressed!!! we ordered the crispy school prawn with 10,000 island dressing-was so so good-and we are not big seafood eaters or avocado eaters either but was really delicious. we had the pork belly and ribeye steak mains with a side of roast potatoes-really unbelievable-possibly the best steak dish iv had in melbs-seriously! then we finished with the decadent double chocolate tart with a espresso martini-(which came highly recommend by the barman)-was a wonderful conclusion to a memorable dinner. we had marco the owner come round several times to see how we were enjoying everything, he was very friendly and genuine. service was great and we will definitely return soon. clearly a great chef in the kitchen, seriously flavorsome food-we loved it!!! a fantastic addition to fitzroy street! highly recommend....go now!!!

still hungry. service was excellent, however food was overpriced, undercooked and a very small serve. we had to stop on way home to buy something else to eat !!

the midas touch. marco and paul have done it again. i have been to fitzrovia 3 times since opening and have been impressed each and every time. the gnocchi has been a standout and the chocolate tart was fought over (will be ordering two next time!). breakfast at fitzrovia means i have a new favourite breakfast haunt - the creme brûlée french toast is the perfect way to start a weekend. glad you are back!

so happy to return again and again .... we trust marco and paul, and so were happy to try fitzrovia. since our first encounter we have been back again, and it was even better. marco at front of house is flawless, easy and efficient, and with the staff emulating him, it works. sitting at the bottom of the stairs felt like anywhere in europe, with the evening passer-by's an interest in themselves, and who on venturing in were welcomed with a style also reminiscent of europe. we shared a large fresh, flat-head, panfried and grilled with many times fried chips and string beans and a bottle of chablis to match. paul, we will be back, again. it was a faultless meal made all that special because it was not on the menu but suggested by marco. and to end we had a cheese-cake that, as my partner said, was a defining moment in her long a varied discovery for the best cheese cake. it was all that our waiter said it would be and more. we will return... again!

i opted for the istra daylesford dry-cured bacon, smoked mozzarella and pear relish toasted doorstop sandwich. if anything in that last sentence is not deemed heaven on a plate then i don’t want to know you.

the right ambience. you don't feel as if you' re in fitzroy street when you dine at fitzrovia. it has a very european ambience. step into a casual area with a bar and a couple of tables then up a few steps to two spacious dining rooms simply decorated, wooden floor and high ceilings and well set out tables and chairs. the kitchen is in view and it is like a performance to see the cooks at their tasks. the floor staff are friendly and attentive without being obtrusive. our waitress, a charming spanish girl was particularly delightful.
the menu covers all bases without being too expansive. we ate grilled asparagus with chevre and avocado and fried prawn cocktail as starters. the prawn/avocado was delicious and plentiful, a modern take on the 70's dish. the baby prawns were fried to a crisp and and sat on a tumble of salad ingredients including a yummy cocktail sauce.the asparagus dish was less successful - when grilling asparagus the thicker variety keeps it's moisture and is therefore sweeter.
mains were a rack of lamb - correctly cooked to medium rare which was succulent and tender.; and baked leather jacket ( a delicious sweet white fish not often seen on menus) served on a stew of brown beans well flavoured and teaming beautifully wit the delicate flavour of the fish.
we ordered a side of snow peas with black sesame seeds and a very large bowl of crisp and tasty snow peas was served.
we did not have dessert but the small menu sounded delicious. an excellent st ali coffee was served and enjoyed to complete a satisfying dinner.
fitzrovia has lots to commend it and we will certainly return. it is open for breakfast lunch and dinner all days except monday.

came for dinner on saturday night. not sure what the all the hype about the prawns with 10,000 island dressing, there was hardly any dressing on them, let alone 10,000 islands worth. however, our mains were faultless, we ordered the lamb, the beef and a side of polenta chips. wow, melt in your mouth tastiness, definitely made up for the bland prawns. service needs work though, waiters seemed a bit all over the place, we did have to ask for our wine to be filled up, if your going to take the bottle from the table, for the love of god, keep our glasses topped up. if i'm going to be really critical, the menus were print outs on a4 paper, it looked cheap and the tables next to us caught on fire. in all, a pleasant evening, this restaurant is new and with a few tweaks could be amazing. i will give it another go.

room to improve. i'm usually willing to give a venue two or three tries before i make any judgment. but fitzrovia didn't tick my boxes. service is great and very friendly. i just wasn't overly impressed with my experience and food here. starting with the tiny juice at $7.50, but what got me was being offered toast with my breakfast salad of asparagus. which i ordered. and then finding they charged me $2.00 for it on the bill, on top of $21.50 for the salad already. a tad stingy in my opinion. seriously charging for bread? these guys have good pedigree in the industry, or so we are told to believe by certain online publications. i hope my next meal at fitzrovia goes better.

absolutely flawless. marco and paul have done it again! the fit out is beautiful and original, not another generic industrial feel cafe. the service is impeccable, with marco, charming as always, taking care of the front of house. it is so refreshing to visit somewhere that has staff who don't treat you like you ought to feel privileged to have them serve you for a change! the coffee is so smooth and velvety that they slide right down and leave you wanting more, and oh my god, the food! the menu has a bit of something for everyone with delicious and original dishes that are pleasing on both the eye and the palette. the serving sizes are perfect, not too much, but more than enough to satisfy. well done boys, we once again become your regulars!