Friendly service with authentic Italian staff! Great Food…read moreand Good Coffee! The owners of Sapori d'Abruzzo 861 have taken over the old Il Portobello restaurant site in Essendon. They have fully renovated the restaurant to make it more open & spacious. This does cause a bit of noise when there are a lot of patrons, but the friendly service & great food definitely make up for it! The menu has traditional Abruzzo meals to enjoy and a good wine selection for accompaniment. All in all it is definitely worth a try with a friend, partner or large group of friends. There is also a large function space upstairs to enjoy!

I worked here briefly as one of my first jobs in Melbourne. I can't say I paid for a meal but I was…read moresurely cooked a few good ones. Halal meat always tastes amazing in my experiences. I sampled some of the chefs chicken and beef with veggies and marinara (tomato purée based sauce) yum! There are pastas with cream sauces and some fantastic looking seafood dishes and trust me when i tell you the portions are american sized. This is a really comfortable family owned restaurant and they really are lovely people. It gets pretty crowded but they do take bookings which I recommend you do especially if going with a big party. There's no alcohol, but the do fresh juices, coffee, and really amazing desserts.

My wood fired pizza Calzone Piccante was all I expected and more. Spicy Pizza with great taste; the…read morespice was well balanced with the fine tastes of the rest of the pizza, yum. The Affogato can be developed further in presentation but the port and port glasses blew me away, long stemmed tulips.

I was blown away by how delicious this food was and how seamlessly integrated the vegan options are…read moreon the menu. In most restaurants, the vegan options are an afterthought and are few and unimpressive. Not at Shop225. Almost all of the menu options can be made vegan without sacrificing taste, quality or ingredients (they have impressive plant-based cheese and meat substitutions, which the menu says some of which are made inhouse). The artisan pizza crust was delicious! You won't be disappointed!

Wow! WoW! WOW! A…read morelocal friend told me about these Pizzas and took me here. Being a Pizza fanatic, I am not easily swayed....but my, were they delish! simply fresh and tasty ingredients - the key to an amazing Pizza. One (smaaaaalll) downside: The procuitto wasn't as good as I've had elsewhere, worth a mention, but still doesn't sway my review. If there was a points system, I'd give a 4.5 in total, but there isn't ... and by far isn't worth losing an entire star!...as everything else was perfect - I even found myself thinking about it days later! They also do an amazing gluten free pizza...hard (if not near impossible) to tell the difference Also, very well priced. Go check it out.

I love a good honest gourmet pizza. I don't need no cheese burger stuffed crust heart attack in a…read morebox crap. I love the traditional pizza that flows out from the stunning wood fire oven. The place is my local little piece of Italy. The staff here are helpful, welcoming and know their stuff. The menu is small and covers pizza, pasta, salads and some traditional Italian inspired desserts. The drinks menu covers all your basics with some beautiful Italian wines. I'm a huge fan of the Azzaraha sparkling. Your not going to be slammed with a huge menu here, it's all about quality not quantity. Whether you eat in or take away this little spot is with a visit.

I expected mediocrity at high prices and I was still disappointed. Prosciutto, calamari and…read morefocaccia were quite nice, however the anchovies had 6 small fillets, no different to store bought anchovies, while the olives had an unprocessed and still bitter olive within. Pizza Diavola was nice, but the Pizza Rustica was bland and heavy, and the veal scallopine had split by the time it had arrived to the table.

They could serve me a plate of plain pizza dough here and I'd be in heaven!…read more We booked for 6:30 on a Tuesday night and to my surprise it was actually quite busy. We were tucked away in a windowed corner, worrying me that we would never been seen by staff. I clearly had nothing to worry about - everyone was attentive, fast and funnily enough, Italian! It took us about 2 seconds to choose our meals. I'm used to going to 90 secondi which has an identical menu. Margherita and gnocchi with 2 glasses of Sangiovese rosé. It couldn't of been more than 10 minutes before everyone was on the table in front of us! Absolutely delicious and the perfect share meal. Once we'd scoffed down the food we opted for the Nutella calzone. GET IT! Don't worry about the rest of the menu. Just get the calzone! It was almost more satisfying than the meal itself! So much chocolate, so so much chocolate and delicious pizza dough and perfect ice cream. It's very big though and can easily be shared with 2-4. It's nice to know there's an authentic pizza place less than 10 minutes from home for something a little different to the takeaway joint around the corner. It's made the regular list.

We enjoyed our first trip to Cirelli & Co. the food was lovely. Unfortunately, the service was a…read morebit underwhelming. My husband and I ordered a panzerotti to share as an entree. My husband ordered the gnocchi sorrentina special as a main and I ordered the mussels from the shared plate menu which I wanted as a main. The waitress didn't write down our order but confirmed which dishes we wanted brought out when. We weren't surprised when the dishes were not brought out in the correct order because she didn't write it down!!! The panzerotti and gnocchi came out together and I had to ask for my mussels to be brought out. The owner/manager was apologetic and offered a free drink which was lovely - the offer was not honoured and we were charged for all our drinks. Oh and 3 of my mussels were not open upon cooking but were served to me anyway, very disappointing. In terms of the fitout, the tables are extremely small and difficult to share dishes on. I'd go here again but I'd keep my order simple.

A beautiful little restaurant in Brunswick West with an intimate rustic feel. The menu is short and…read moresweet which I think is great, not overwhelming with choices but rather dishes that have been perfected. The food, authentic Italian, the truffle risotto is to die for. The regular specials are always a good choice. The mussels in the bread bowl, yummm! Desserts are absolutely delicious however a dairy free / gluten free option would be great for those intolerant. For those not in the mood for too much the antipasto platter is divine and some beautiful imported wine to choose from. Amazing host and very friendly staff. Highly recommend and one I will definitely return to.

If you want to eat a Real Italian Style Pizza then this is the place to visit…read more Choose a Gourmet Pizza to achieve this. Good service and more importantly great prices. I do not recommend going there on busy days because of insufficient seating. Quite hard to order over the phone for pickup on peak days as well. Don't get me wrong though, this pizza is definitely worth the small inconvenience.

The best pizza and pasta I have ever had, great service highly recommend place to eatread more

In my 5 years of living in Australia, I never had pizza that wasn't sub-par. On my trip back last…read moreweek to visit friends and family, Leonardo's finally changed that for me. While expensive, this place actually knows how to do pizza right. Sauce was flavorful, ingredients were fresh and high quality, and the whole vibe is just right. If I wasn't the only American at our table of 10, I would have forgotten I was in Melbourne! Seriously though, this place is great. I'd recommend getting there early to get a table as we had to wait more than an hour for a table for a large group, but it's worth it!

Anchovy pizza and broccolini salad are really good. Also this is the only place in melbourne that…read moreserves bud light