Toscani’s North Lakes

The Short: Great quality food, with expensive alcohol, an outdated on-​line presence, and staff who could do better.
The Long: My wife and I visited Toscani’s for the first time on Monday 15^th Dec 2014 because the website suggested that Kids Eat Free (this special will no longer be up there after our visit BTW). We mentioned that we saw the offer on their website, but the waitperson said that this offer was not valid, and they display their specials in-​store. I pulled them up on this quite bluntly and suggested that we came here specifically to take advantage of this offer, and that if it was on their website they needed to honor it.
The waitperson looked like she wasn’t going to budge, but could see that we weren’t going to take «no» for an answer. She finally relented and said she would call Head Office and see what she could do. Head Office let her honor the deal, but for us only, and only for this visit. It wasn’t a great customer experience to start off our first visit to Toscani’s.
Aside from this, the quality of the food was really good. I had the BBQ Meatlovers Pizza, which was loaded with carnivorous offerings, and a really delicious and tangy BBQ sauce. My wife’s burger was reportedly juicy and had a good coverage of salad.
Kids meals hover around $ 7. Favourites such as Chicken|Fish and Chips are on offer, and the chicken nuggets are all breast meat (no compressed chicken mince in sight). You don’t get a drink or ice-​cream like other places do for kids.
Booze is on the expensive side. My wife – a savvy wine drinker – said that the house sparkling on offer was $ 9 a glass, and you could get a whole bottle for that when reduced over at the neighbouring Dan Murphys. A glass of Stoneleigh Sav Blanc was $ 9, which is on the high side. My beer, advertised as a «4 Wives» (James Squire) turned up at my table as a «150 Lashes» (James Squire). This wasn’t even on the drinks list. Surprise!!!
We did not get a meal check or a water check, even though the restaurant was not that busy. We didn’t seem to be the waitperson’ «best friend» after our offer debacle, and my wife told me after we left that the waitperson snapped a «well you can’t get the kids meal with that item» at her when one of our fellow diners ordered from the lunch menu. Overall, the service was the worst I’ve had for a while.
Three stars for food quality.