montalto restaurant

montalto comprises a vineyard, olive grove, cellar door, fine dining restaurant and piazza , the latter serving a small, casual menu of local produce. most of the tables at the piazza are outdoors and offer amazing views of the vineyards and their huge vegetable garden. the atmosphere here is very casual, with ordering and paying at the bar. the menu is pretty small and mainly comprised of pizzas. we ordered: carrot and ginger soup with tahini mayonnaise ($14) at first, i thought the idea of mayo on soup what a bit strange... but it ended up being no more than a drizzle of tahini on top. i loved the soup. there was only a subtle hint of ginger and the carrot puree had a rich, creamy texture. i loved how the soup was

perfection. our favourite place on the peninsula - absolutely love it. always had brilliant service and the food has been excellent every time. can't recommend montalto enough

we were very happy to have our lunch at montalto, particularly our pick with the chicken pizza!

number 1 dinner. i went here for my sister's birthday. it was a friday night, though wasn't too busy.
i had the pan fried barramundi with the veal tortilini which was amazing! though the desert just topped off everything, i had the chiboust which is by far one of the best things i have ever eaten.
plus the montalto wine to match is perfect.
definately a winner!

excellent service, great wine list, wonderful food and the deserts complete the experience

the scallops were amazing, pan roasted with some sort of leek reduction yum, i can't go past scallops on the menu.

ill bathe in that olive oil. gorgeous setting, there is only 2 courses or 3 courses and it is a little pricey but the food was so amazing.
beautiful olive bread and the most stunning olive oil ive ever had.
we then had a lovely complimentary (its hard to see it as complimentary when your paying the price you are) amuse bouche of a pumpkin or sweet potato or some equally orange vegetable soup. yummo.
i chose the quail and foi gras terrine on some lentils and that was lovely, could have been bigger but then it was so rich probably better that way. my sister and cousin chose the scallops, why every restaurant removes the roe i dont know? its so tasty..but they were cooked beautifully and very sweet.
i then chose the lamb rump with braised haricot beans and it was to die for! best lamb ive ever had.
a decent serve too, lovely and tender and some good crispy fat on there too, wonderful. my sister chose the pork belly and was slightly dissapointed that the crackling was not the crackling she imagined and was a little rubbery.
my cousin chose the duck and was very impressed, the sweet potato mash was packed with dates which was a little too full on she said.
we had two bottles of the fantastic pinot and were very content. though i feel slightly guilty for the money ive spent, dont you hate that?

my partner and i have visited the cellar door many times but today we wined and dined. we were given a private picnic lunch as a christmas gift. due to wet weather the picnic lunch was relocated from the outdoor vineyards into the restaurant which was just as lovely. the picnic lunch comprises 3 platters and a bottle of wine. platter 1 was entree platter 2 main and platter 3 was dessert. the food was delicious, could not fault it nor the wine. having said that there was one big fault! when i contacted montalto to select the picnic lunch date i explained special dietary requirements. mine being anaphylactic to all peanuts, tree nuts, fish and seafood. i was reassured that i would be well looked after. i was even contacted yesterday to reconfirm the booking an again reassured my allergies were taken care of. upon arrival today i was also informed all was taken care of. platter 1 was a grazing platter that had asparagus with hollandaise sauce, olives, beetroot tapenade and quail pate which was lovely. platter 2 main course arrived a delicious lamb and beef slices with vegetables. well presented and just as i was to take a bite of the beef i observed a green garnish that looked a little like pesto!!!!! oh no my partner called the manager immediately who took my plate and the entire dish away to the chef to check if the pesto did ibfacr cobtain pinenuts as much pesto does ubless it was a basil pesto. the pesto was infact packed with pinenuts!! had i eaten it my picnic would have been an ambulance ride to hospital. the manager apologized abd 20mins later a newly prepared dish returned lamb slices abd instead of beef there were duck slices because apparently it would have taken too long to cook a new beef again!! i am not one for duck but my partner is so i enjoyed the delicious lamb and partner had the duck which was also excellent. in conclusion, for such an outstanding winery and restaurant the service on the day was careless, my life put at risk that was suppposedly taken care of i was so reassured. clearly not! i would return to wine at montalto to combine it with a dine i also would as i expect this will be a lesson montalto will learn and hope it's staff will be capable of dealing with food allergy better in future

wost experience and shocking staff attidude problem there!. drove from melbourne to montalto, we even pre-called to double check it was all fine to come, there was 15 of us, as we got in there, they were busy but not too busy and yet we had the manager come over to us and asked how many, we then told him we called earlier, and he said quote 'oh well, your just going to have to leave, its not my problem but we wont cater to this many people, have a nice one'. he then waved his arms to point to the exit, and said, ok theres the exit.. on our way out, there was a group of over 20 old ladies, funny enough, he servied them. but then a group of 6 were asked to leave from another waiter. they have the worst attitude, will turn back people based on what they want, so if your going to drive there, dont bother, rude staff, they cannot catter to too many people because their service isnt good enough and they do not pay attention to customer service,they have horrible attitude problem and think they are amazing.. really not going to bother going back there even if they served wine made of gold. very dissapointing!

still the best dining experience on the peninsula. a regular haunt.

what an experience. my wife and i spent a belated wedding anniversary at the montalto restarant. we had the following dishes: as a starter wine we both went for the montalto sparkling. my wife had scallops and crab meat as an entree and duck for the maincourse. marco's recommendation was a pinot noir with the duck which went perfectly. i had a 2008 chardonnay with the asparagus and a 2003 chardonnay with the barramundi. the food was excellent as was the wine. it fitted perfectly. when you think they ca't top it, all of a sudden along comes a yoghurt based panacotta topped with a rhubarb sorbet and strawberries. it was definitely a sensational experience. we'll certainly be back. brilliant food preparation, great staff and wonderful setting.

great service, good food, lovely wine and a fabulous ambience. very enjoyable lunch will be back


-----29 aug, 2010-----

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let me tell you about the wonderful birthday i had today- made possible by the boy, and my sister who surprised me with a pressie when i got home. this will be a picture-heavy post (well, the most picture-heavy i've ever done...) obligatory outfit check b

tubbymaster is sitting at his desk, a white-wash trestle table upon which his imac is perched. as he taps out an email, he hears the nearby television stutter then hop to yet another channel. he glances over his shoulder at tubbymistress, who is reclining

birthday lunch. loved the service, the welcome, the ambiance and of course the food & wine.

as usual, it was it's high standard of all the above that draws one back again and again.