Vitaly

5 Reviews on “Vitaly”

• Sheza18

  Brilliant authentic Italian food served by wonderfully friendly staff. Generous portions and a casual friendly atmosphere make for a great evening out. Try the gnocchi, you wont be disappointed.

  November 5, 2020, 6:18 pm

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• Ankit Malik

  I highly recommend this place for pizza lover … special mention for firewood pizza .. great collection for beer and wine …. service is Friendly …one of best Italian restaurant..

  October 22, 2020, 1:23 am

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• Artforartssake

  FOOD TYPEItalianFOOD QUALITYFour of us dined on a wet and wintery Sat night in June. Being the Queens Birthday long weekend, they had a few drinks specials, so we availed ourselves of a couple of 500ml glasses of refreshing, Stella for a reasonable $8 each, while the ladies stuck to the non-alcoholic coke. For starters, we ordered two salads: the Rucula ($12) and the Italian ($15). The Rucula was a basic lettuce salad with slices of pear, while the Italian had the mixed lettuce, tomato, capsicum, red onion, olives, cucumber and bufala, which is a white mozzarella cheese. They were both generous, tasty and nutritious salads with just the right amount of dressing so as not to overwhelm the flavours. But unfortunately, that was the highlight of the night because it was downhill from there. For mains, I ordered a Norma pizza ($24), with eggplant, cherry tomatoes and ricotta salata cheese, my friend went for the Four Cheese pizza ($24) while the ladies choose the grilled chicken ($27) and the garlic prawns with vegetables ($25). My wifes garlic prawns were dry and tasteless, while my pizza was so burned, as you can see from the pics, as to make it almost inedible. Of course, I should have sent it back straight away but, having waited almost an hour for it, I ploughed through. My friends pizza was also burned at the outer, but not as badly as mine. The grilled chicken was the best dish of the night. The meat was tender and succulent and nicely complemented by a serve of seasonal vegetables.ATMOSPHEREThe place was about half full at its peak at about 8pm; so the atmosphere was reasonably lively, and it wasnt a complete flop of a night. Dimmi are offering a 30% discount on food, so I suspect that this is whats pulling in the crowds. (because it aint anything else). The decor is warm and quite homely with timber floors, low, mood lighting and interesting pics of Italy on the wall. The pizza ovens are at the far end and in the middle, is a colourful and exotic bar display. This location has seen many Italian restaurants come and go over the past couple of years. When we first started coming here about a decade ago, it was the dreary Old Castille, it then became Made in Naples, who offered $20 Pizza Nights i.e. all you can eat pizza for $20, but they obviously couldnt do the maths because that soon bankrupted them. Then followed IBriganti which also didnt last long, but at least they spent some serious money upgrading and modernising the place, which is how it still is today. Then we had Benvenuti which survived less than 12 months. Now we have Vitaly, which, if my instincts are correct will probably also not last long unless they lift their game. SERVICEStaff were pleasant and friendly, but woefully inefficient. I had booked ahead, using the online booking facility on Vitalys own website. I must have omitted to include the time that we wanted to dine, because within a hour or so of making the booking, a lady phoned me to confirm the booking and ask what time we wanted the table reserved for. I figured that that that phone call would have been confirmation enough of our booking, even though I never received the promised email. But I was wrong, because when we arrived at the appointed time of 7pm, they had no record of the booking. Annoying. But we neednt have fretted about it, because there were plenty of available tables and the maire d, a pretty, smiling young lady, offered us a nice large table in the middle. The wait staff seem untrained and were not really properly attired. They also lacked even basic knowledge of the dishes. We had two servers: both young lads, who were very courteous and polite, but too casually dressed: one in shorts, the other in jeans and T shirt. Not the kind of attire to engender confidence. Our drinks order came out fairly quickly, but then followed a tedious 20 minute wait for the salads. Once the salads were finished, another 20 minute wait before the ladies dishes came out. They had just about finished theirs, when finally, about 15 minutes later, the pizzas (one at a time) finally arrived. Clearly the pizza chef left them in the oven too long; so we lost out both in terms of the quality and the waiting time. COMFORTWe sat at a table for six, which afforded us ample room to fit everything. The upholstered chairs are firm and comfy and one positive about dining here in winter is that its heated, to just the right temp, making it quite warm and cozy, even on a chilly, winter night. Thats rare for a Syd restaurant, the vast majority of which simply dont cater for winter dining.MENUThe plastic menu is well set out and easy to read, even in the dim lighting.TOILETSThe toilets are at the back, past the pizza ovens. They have a strange configuration, with no separate male and female ones, just a long bank of basins and four unisex cubicles, of which, only three were working. I always find this arrangement a bit disconcerting. These toilets are a holdover from the previous owners, who installed them, but now, they look a bit tired and neglected even though they cant be more than three or four years old. Having one out of service on what is probably the busiest night of the week (Sat) seems a tad neglectful. There was plenty of soap dispensers, but the 1980s hand dryer is well past its use by date and should be replaced with something more modern, or how about just hand towels?ACOUSTICSThe wooden floors, wooden furniture and low ceilings offer virtually no sound insulation when it gets busy, and even though, on the night we dined, it wasnt particularly full, near to us, was a table of rather boisterous and rowdy diners and that just made it too loud to be pleasant once they got into their stride after a few rounds of drinks.COSTWe used our Ent Book voucher for a 25% discount up to a max of $30. That kept our bill down to $120, for two beers, two cokes, two salads and four mains. BOOKINGOnly necessary if you take advantage of Dimmis 30% discount deal. If they can only half fill the place on a Sat night, cant see it being to hard to get a table any night of the week without a booking.PARKINGWe found easy parking outside on Avoca Street, where there are no evening restrictions.SUMMARYOn the whole, a disappointing evening. Service was slow, our booking had not been recorded and the pizzas were burned.

  September 17, 2020, 7:30 am

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• Sam Bhakoo

  Delicious pasta and must have Woodfire Pizza.Great range of Wine and Beer options.Friendly service.Incentive is the Pannacotta, which is too good.I highly recommend this place

  June 16, 2020, 8:24 am

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• Persis Irani

  I absolutely loved the food, the ambience, the service received. Really friendly owner who recommended some really good food. Must visit it does have some really good Italian food.

  March 8, 2019, 3:13 pm

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