Really cute place on the main drag in Hampton. The pizza was better than most in Melbourne, and the…read moreservice was super-friendly.
The pizza here has a very thin crust. As an American, I staunchly refuse to eat pizza with a fork and knife -- I always eat it with my hands -- and this is the type of pizza that you really need to fold because the crust is so thin. It's so thin that if you pick up a slice without folding it, all your ingredients will come sailing merrily off and will no doubt end up in your dining partner's lap. Which may get awkward.
In spite of its uber-thinness (or perhaps because of it), I really loved the crust. Soft and delicious. We all know people who have an irrational hatred of pizza crusts, people who will ALWAYS hack their pizza crusts off with a knife, lip curled in disgust, no matter where you take them.
Trust me, even these people will like the crust at La Svolta.
My boyfriend and I both had vegetarian pizzas, mine without cheese to make it vegan. (His was the "Parmigiana" and mine was the "Ortolana.") Mine came with eggplant, mushrooms, olives, tomato, and capsicum.
The pizza bases are all non-dairy/non-egg, so you can choose any of the vegetarian pizzas and ask for no cheese to make it vegan.
Service was fantastic -- the servers all sounded like they were actually from Italy, which is nice. They were very friendly and helpful.
Food was pricey but this is Hampton, after all. Luckily, the portion size was quite large by Australian standards, so it's worth it. We finished our pizzas but only because we hadn't eaten anything else all day.
The place is a bit loud and crowded, but I didn't mind that at all. If you're on a first date and trying to have an actual polite conversation, La Svolta might not be the best pick, but otherwise it's fine.