Il Centro

3 Reviews on “Il Centro”

• The Food Oracle

  I had high hopes but a rare night out but Il Centro did not live up to expectations. The table wasnt ready when we arrived, no worries. We were told to have a seat at the bar and order a drink, we did. Not that there was table service. After about ten minutes we were seated and then our drinks followed a few minutes later. The seat for two was lovely, outside but still enclosed. The weird thing is that our table was against the glass wall, and on the other side of the wall was another table but with five. One person was at the head of the table, forced to stare at our mugs the whole dinner. It was a bit awkward and I felt sorry for all involved. Anyway, after perusing the menu and waiting for some time I flagged down someone so they would take our order, the female waitress looked at me like I was crazy and said someone would be around soon. Someone came round quite quickly after that, advised the specials and tried to scurry away. Not so fast! We put our order in: Entree of sand crab lasagne (had to try it here!) and the bruschetta of the day. Mains ordered were the veal scallopini and porchetta. Entree came out in good time. The bruschetta was as described but not as expected. B said it was surprising tasty, I thought it was a bit unappetising and couldnt finish a single piece of it. The famous lasagne was also not to my liking. The sauce that I think was meant to be the hero of the dish, tasted like a caramel. The pasta sheets and crab were really nice but I could not get overly this sweet sauce on it. Then the mains. I didnt really have high expectations after the entree. Veal was unexciting, pretty standard but less pretty than you could get at any Italian joint. The porchetta was dry, one piece was visually dry, like when a piece of meat is left out in the fridge without a cover on it. It had gone dark and crusty on one side. Side was the pear, walnut salad, which was fine but uninspired. I dont think we had the same server twice, no one was particularly friendly or warm. So service and food was lacklustre. This dessert fiend skipped dessert because I couldnt face more disappointment in one night.

  December 10, 2020, 4:41 pm

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• Damo

  Il Centro was OK. Admittedly, I wasn’t famished so didn’t indulge in a three course meal, but what I did have didn’t really impress. I opted for the special of the night which was an Ox tongue and mushroom risotto. I typically enjoy a dry risotto but will tolerate it wet. But on this occasion it was if they made it in a buttery rainforest. Sadly, not brilliant, although the flavour was there. Separately, our waiter(ess) was little abrupt which did not make me feel very welcomed. I would go back, however, hoping for more next time.

  October 26, 2020, 3:01 pm

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• Canuck In Oz

  So much hype but we were disappointed by both the service and food. Six of us went for lunch today and spent about $500. We had the arancini ($23 for 3), one duck pasta, three sand crab, and two pork belly. One drink each, two coffee, and five desserts rounded out our lunch.The duck rated the best. One of the sand crabs came with extraneous hair. The pork belly was so overdone that we requested steak knives to cut the meat. Two coffee were ordered and both came back wrong. How does on get an espresso when a latte is ordered?The service was OK but nothing special and slow. The ambience was nice but overall the place was busy.Not likely to return. To to it off the waiter asked if we wanted to tip. That’s uncouth.

  March 13, 2019, 3:06 pm

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