il centro

pity the food wasn't hot.. whilstservicewas enthusiastic and professional we felt a little like it was assumed we were not accustomed to dining at such restaurants and explanations were perhaps a little condescending. none of us had been at il centro for a few years but had been before.
my big disappointment was that my duck ravioli was just a poorly reheated obviously pre prepared dish. not good enough for dining at this level. my microwave at home could have done a better job.
my tiramisu was also disappointing, not a slab of luscious moist cake dripping with cream and liqueur from a freshly made pudding , but instead a moulded single serve tower, sort or resembling a snowman, with as much soul.
shame.

a bit pricey for what you get.. its not bad italian food, but it would want to be for what you pay.servicewas great

we had such a lovely dinner here last saturday night. the sand crab lasagne was everything promised and more. i felt a little disappointed in two things though. the waitress seemed put out with small requests. for example when i requested bread she snapped how many? and seemingly slammed them down in front of me on her return. they were so busy though so perhaps she didn't mean to come across this way. she did come across rather curt and unfriendly throughout the dinner though continuously pursing her lips. also towards the end of the night i could smell bleach being used in the kitchen to clean. i asked our waitress if this was common practice when diners are still eating. she said that she would check what was going on and went to the kitchen. when she opened the kitchen doors, i could see two people with gloves on scrubbing what i assume were pots. the waitress returned and said nobody was using bleach which was pretty silly to say because they were and if she honestly could not smell it then she believed who ever in the kitchen had just lied to her. we were right in front of the kitchen bench and it was either used on the floor directly behind the counter or somewhere nearby. i am pregnant so the smell became almost unbearable and i had to walk outside. the shame here is that the hard work that went into the foodservicewas ruined for me. after our table spent close to a thousand dollars (for party of five) it was a shame that such highs were mixed with such lows.

dined here twice having sand crab lasagna ( yum ) and the duck. both times had excellentservice& experience.

one of the best italian restaurants in brissy.

it has it all: great food, goodserviceand last but not least, the ambience, being right by the river.

and they have a dish you will not find anywhere else in the world: lasagna.

hold on; lasagna you say? this is no ordinary lasagna, it's a sandcrab lasagna...with the most succulent sauce.

i've even had a friend fly halfway across the world, across the pacific, from nyc to try this signature dish of theirs!
and this was the first fine dining place in town i took my missus to when she visited from interstate.
did i mention, they do a delectable tiramisu...

pretentious restaurant with very average food. first impressions of this restaurant was that it was not friendly. the first few waiters who served us did not greet us with smiles or a good evening, how do you do. we were given menus and asked if we wanted bread to start, and were given 2 servings of the sourdough bread the most expensive kind (when there were 3 kinds of breads to choose from but we weren't asked) - some may think this is just efficientservicebut i thought it could be more considerate to let us choose. i had the sandcrab lasagne entree size which was still very filling because it was so creamy and rich. probably a dish you want to share with someone else with some less heavy dishes on the side. the salad was probably the best thing served - it was fresh and the amount of dressing was perfect. my sister had the vegetarian gnocchi entree size but it was so tiny in comparison to the sandcrab lasagne entree size. it had about 10 pieces of gnocchi in it?

the desserts were good - raspberry souffle was the best, creme brulee was so-so, i'd say there's a lot better out there. also coffee was terrible especially at $4.50 per cup, i wouldn't have minded paying $4.50 for a cup of coffee if it was actually good and served hot!

throughout the night the staff weren't very friendly (only 1 out of the 5 i talked to was), some had communication problems like i had to ask for panini twice before it was served, i asked about the banana bread and the waiter went away and told another waiter i wanted banana souffle instead of raspberry souffle and it took another time's explaining for the waiter to understand.

overall it's just a pretentious italian restaurant on the riverside (they don't even have a good view) - unfriendly staff, average food, place lacked in ambience - won't be going back again.

simply great.serviceis okay, but food is good. i recommend.

beautiful food!serviceis excellent and the views spectacular

i’m sad and disappointed that this restaurant has changed so much - was a ‘go to’ for special celebrations and catch ups. it used to have excellent, consistent food and top notch, professional service. there were quite a few issues with our meals (for a group of 6) on our last visit and theservicewas some of the rudest i’ve experienced, ever. in terms of meals, calamari was slightly undercooked and oily, the sand crab lasagne recipe has changed and the portions are smaller, out of three steaks ordered at the table, none of them were cooked correctly and one had to go back to the kitchen as it was significantly over cooked, the pepper sauce was almost inedible. theservicewas not good and the worst part of it involved my drink order. i was ignored as the waitress asked another two at the table what they’d like and offered to get a taste for them. when she returned, i asked for a description of two different whites - one i said i liked the sound of more and would it be possible to taste it before she poured. her response “well i’ve got to get to other tables so it will take a while”. unbelievable. i don’t think they’ll get my repeat business. such a shame it’s changed since the george’s sold it.

so much hype but we were disappointed by both theserviceand food. six of us went for lunch today and spent about $500. we had the arancini ($23 for 3), one duck pasta, three sand crab, and two pork belly. one drink each, two coffee, and five desserts rounded out our lunch.

the duck rated the best. one of the sand crabs came with extraneous hair. the pork belly was so overdone that we requested steak knives to cut the meat. two coffee were ordered and both came back wrong. how does on get an espresso when a latte is ordered?

theservicewas ok but nothing special and slow. the ambience was nice but overall the place was busy.

not likely to return. to to it off the waiter asked if we wanted to tip. that's uncouth.

i had high hopes but a rare night out but il centro did not live up to expectations.
the table wasn’t ready when we arrived, no worries. we were told to have a seat at the bar and order a drink, we did. not that there was table service. after about ten minutes we were seated and then our drinks followed a few minutes later. the seat for two was lovely, outside but still enclosed. the weird thing is that our table was against the glass wall, and on the other side of the wall was another table but with five. one person was at the head of the table, forced to stare at our mugs the whole dinner. it was a bit awkward and i felt sorry for all involved.
anyway, after perusing the menu and waiting for some time i flagged down someone so they would take our order, the female waitress looked at me like i was crazy and said someone would be around soon. someone came round quite quickly after that, advised the specials and tried to scurry away. not so fast! we put our order in: entree of sand crab lasagne (had to try it here!) and the bruschetta of the day. mains ordered were the veal scallopini and porchetta.
entree came out in good time. the bruschetta was as described but not as expected. b said it was surprising tasty, i thought it was a bit unappetising and couldn’t finish a single piece of it. the famous lasagne was also not to my liking. the sauce that i think was meant to be the hero of the dish, tasted like a caramel. the pasta sheets and crab were really nice but i could not get overly this sweet sauce on it.
then the mains. i didn’t really have high expectations after the entree.
veal was unexciting, pretty standard but less pretty than you could get at any italian joint. the porchetta was dry, one piece was visually dry, like when a piece of meat is left out in the fridge without a cover on it. it had gone dark and crusty on one side. side was the pear, walnut salad, which was fine but uninspired.
i don’t think we had the same server twice, no one was particularly friendly or warm. soserviceand food was lacklustre.
this dessert fiend skipped dessert because i couldn’t face more disappointment in one night.

i love the food there, very yum. however, theirservicewas a bit debatable, normally bread for start is free, but they charge, and also they came to me said they can arrange some ice cream for my baby, i said thank you. i thought they were just being nice, but they charged that ice cream as well. they could just come and ask me if i d like to order desert, that would sound proper. because i didn’t want to order ice cream, and they didn’t ask me what flavour i want , so i thought it was just a gift. feels like i got trapped.

excellent food, exciting menu, greatserviceand clean and modern setting. on the pricey side of dining experiences, but worthwhile for an occasion. food was served promptly.

probably the only couple of minor things i can think to critique would be: the size of the table allocated to our dining party of 6. it was probably better suited to 4 people. no one had any elbow room and it wasn't like the place struggles for space. and secondly, one of the waiters was a little frustrating to deal with, as his english was very poor, so orders had to be repeated 3-4 times before they were properly comprehended.

this restaurant certainly has great atmosphere and the view of the riverside is quite spectacular.serviceis good too with friendly and efficient staffs. however despite that we were quite let down by the food. the duck course was tasty and well balanced but the rest of our crab meals were rich and lack diversity in flavour and one of them was probably overly salty. perhaps we did not pick the right menu choice, but for what we got that night, 2.5 stars based on the price to quality ratio.

re-visited this one-hatted restaurant last saturday for my birthday celebration. well, it was as busy as usual. our table was allocated near the front entrance so we enjoyed the river view while we were having our dinner. we were greeted and served by very professional wait-staff. other than that, it may be my high expectation, overall dishes were only average to somewhat below my benchmark. entrée of quail and daily chef recommendation seafood soup did not ring the bell. quail was bland and fortunately the whole dish was saved by the taste of polenta, figs and crumbed walnut, otherwise the negative impact would be quite high. seafood soup was done with good taste and enough seafood but the presentation of the soup was not that great. mains of their signature sand crab lasagne and risotto gained back some marks. however, i would prefer the presentation of the lasagne as the same as their advertising picture with crab shells; having said that, the quantity of crab meat and the texture of pasta deserved thumb-up. risotto came with generous amount of king prawns, rice of the risotto was done spot-on but the king prawns were slightly overdone. at last, we ordered the daily special banana soufflé, which was good but still has a big gap from the soufflé that i had at vue de monde. overall, ambience 4/5,service4/5 and food 3/5 so review mark 3.5/5.