La Taverna

Unpretentious, extensive menu, good food, not pricey, accommodating staff. It was a Sunday night and we had made a reservation for 10 but a couple more friends rocked up; the server was gracious about it and pulled up more chairs. I had a pizza and loved that the crust was a just a bit crispy. They also make gluten-​free pizzas which was perfect for my friend. My other friends seemed to enjoy their pizza, lasagna and pasta orders as well. Their desserts are also delicious. I usually don’t like tiramisu and I told my friend I would probably just have a bite but I think I ended up eating half of his. Oops. I think the majority of our table ordered the tiramisu (at the recommendation of two of my friends who are regular patrons) and enjoyed it. The apple pie a la mode was yummy too. So please look out for this restaurant across the street from the Shell station or Lygon Hardware, a bit hard to notice because of the font and color choice for the signage, but the restaurant itself is worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Italian food is a strange concept in Melbourne. You have the strip on Lygon Street that has just become this bogan infested tourist trap whereby restaurants charge way too much for fuck all and the quality is largely shit. Then you’ve got all these solid Pellegrini’s and Tiamo type joints that serve stoic, no frills Italian at reasonable prices but they ain’t nothing special. Then you have the more fancy end.
La Taverna would like to occupy the fancy end but their food is more Pellegrini’s (which is not a bad thing). The trouble is, you know you can get solid Italian food with zero fuss at these other places, whereas La Taverna is all about the table cloths and cutlery and shit.
So, if being a bit pampered while eating some pretty decent Italian classics is your bag, then La Taverna may well be for you. Me, I prefer to be largely ignored and dished up a quick meal with no fuss when I eat Italian. Am I a freak?