la disfida

a cosy restaurant italian in the heart of haberfield. thestaffwere attentive although clearly rushed off their feet. we were served promptly, the food arrived quickly and was delicious. only criticism was that it was a bit stuffy upstairs given how crowded it was but we'd definitely go back.

birthday dinner on a sunday night, packed and buzzing. food, phenomenal, best italian in the inner west, and i am italian! gorgonzola aranchini is a knock out starter, homemade gnocchi divine and authentic italian style pizza. cant wait to go back.stafffab also. cannot recommend la dusfida highly enough

amazing food as always!! wood fire pizzas are always top notch and pasta specials are a must! tried the pana cotta for the first time this time around and it was great! i'll be back again and again, again!staffwere super friendly once again too.

these pizzas are great, i've tried almost all of them. my favourite is the pork & wild mushroom. the eraclio, featuring rocket and ricotta is good too. thestaffare reliable and consistent and focussed on ensuring a positive customer experience.

it may be amazing food but you will be waiting. after a brilliant entrée of the soft shell crab and polenta chips we have now been waiting 45 mins for 2 pizzas whilst every table around us, most who came after us has been not only served but also finished eating. when following up with thestaffwe are basically lied to by saying our pizza is next, instead of saying they forgot. it may be brilliant food but the service is beyond a joke.

don't get what the fuss is about. went there on a thursday night. it wasn't busy but thestaffwasn't overly attentive, tried to order wine but was shown the wine specials on the board ie red wine or white wine. food came really quickly almost felt like it was a fast food joint. ordered a panzanella salad and got a cylinderical terrine topped with two slices of bocconcini not quite the rustic salad we were expecting.there are many better italian restaurants around with better pizza and friendlier staff.

sensational. the food was great it lived up to was expected - traditional no frills wood fired to perfection pizza nice and light base with a 3 toppings on top (vegetarian) was $22 i would expect to pay this a quality pizza no i have no issue with price we also had a salad as a side olive,tom,balsamic,lettuce again on the money along with a garlic pizza to start awesome ..the place was was busy and noisy and kid/friendly im taking the punt this is one of the reasons why cant wait to take my kids there as thestaffwere polite and helpful..backing it baking this place

we order and the food comes out very quickly. its a bit of a mixed bag, some dishes are great, some have missed the mark with seasoning. the pizza is good but nothing special – i actually preferred all the antipasto dishes. the damage for five people for 4 antipasti, 1 pasta (bolognese which was underseasoned and the sauce tasted like it hadn’t been cooked long enough), 4 pizzas and 2 beers was just over $40 a head, so ok i suppose but not extreme value either for pizzas and a few extras (to compare – a margherita here is $22 vs $17 at lucio pizzeria and $20 at via napoli, and their ‘gourmet’ pizzas are $26, which is also dearer than others). once it was clear we weren’t having dessert thestaffbusied themselves cleaning the table and it felt like a little nudge to say ‘move on already’. i’d put via napoli over this in terms of value and overall taste northside, and lucio pizzeria in the east.

had dinner here recently. the place is deceiving looking small on the outside but quite big once you get it.staffwere lovely and attentive without being too intrusive.staffread out the specials menu two dishes we couldn't go past was the octopus with capers olives and napolitana sauce and the checchi salad with fennel and orange. the octopus was generous and very tasty, you can tell the octopus was actually cooked in the sauce instead of simply pouring it over. lots of olives and a nice way to fill the hunger hole. the salad so delicious, light and fresh. very memorable salad and will prob order again next time. we shared a pizza for main but next time will be getting our own as they are very thin. loved this place, live so close can't believe i didn't try it sooner. very recommended!! haven't been this positive about a restaurant in a while. well done :) have been here over 20 times. hands down best italian in sydney. consistently good food.

love it!. we ate here twice last week. we shared polenta chips with gorgonzola sauce as an entree, my friend had one of the pasta specials, kalamarata (pasta) with prawns and shark bay crab meat and i had the casarecce (pasta) with fresh tomato, eggplant and salted ricotta with a side of chillis in oil. my friend's pasta was probably the standout dish, but everything was fantastic.

on our last visit we had the whitebait special, the zuchhini flowers and the veggie pizza with eggplant which our waiter recommended when i asked which was his favourite veggie pizza. again, everything was great. i had a feeling the eggplant might way the pizza down and make the crust floppy, and while it did a little the flavour was superb.

we ate downstairs the first time and upstairs last time. decor is warm and inviting with lots of dark timber. looking around i noticed every diner was smiling - and there were many on both my visits - which is always a sign the food is appreciated.staffare friendly and welcoming, and you can byob.

looking forward to eating here again.

i liked it. despite the mixed reviews, my experience here was a good one. the food was great, and thestaffwere very pleasant.

don't bother, the service is terrible!. the food is not better than some of the other offerings available in haberfield. after queuing to get in, we were seated and served promptly, however unlike ohter tables, no one took the time to explain the specials board. the initial food arrived promptly however we were twice offered food that wasn't ours! once we finished the main meal, we waited to be offered the dessert and coffee menu, we were ignored. after asking the waitress if she could get it for us, she spoke to the head waiter who then promptly forgot us. he stopped, made a joke with another member of staff, went downstairs, came back up, and began a 10 minute conversation with another table. we tried a couple of times to get attention but to no avail. finally we managed to summon the waitress and advised that we hadn't received the menu we had requested and could we have the bill instead. when the bill arrived i advised the waiter what had happened and that the restaurant had missed out on an order of two desserts and coffees, and with that the head waiter (who had previously ignored the request for the menu, came over and said that the reason we hadn't got the service is because he had new staff.....this was ridiculous to say the least, as all of hisstaffwere running around trying to serve tables and were very busy. not sure about you, but blaming yourstaffwhen something like that happens isn't very professional. we paid the bill. when we went downstairs, i asked to speak to the owner, the waitress pointed him out, and the owner who was cleaning glasses behind the bar 'beckoned me over' with one finger (very polite!!). upon advising him what had happened, he said that the head waiter had already given his version of events and that they differed from mine (nice to know he had time to do that and not to server customers). he told me that there must have been a miscommunication and that hisstaffwere like family. i was appalled, all i had wanted was a simple apology, not finger pointing or being made to feel like i had done something wrong.......for the price and the service, i would strongly not be recommnending this restaurant......! take your chances (as you can see from other reviews here!)

shaza. visited on a hot night - not much cooling. the menu is very limited. did not order pizza instead several of the entrees. all cooked with a bottle of oil and no flavour including the pasta.staffattentive. would never visit again.