Best pasta in Melbourne for sure. The napoli sauce is amazing
We are lucky to have Italy 528 as our local Italian. It has a small but terrific menu of authentic Italian pastas, salads and pizzas. It’s kid friendly and has a great homey atmosphere. There’s always a steady stream of pizzas heading out the door. Highly recommend.
Never been here! However, I think I would absolutely love it. I get a really nice vibe from this place and have actually been dreaming about it a fair bit. Hopefully one day I’ll make it down!
Had their pizzas at a friends place yesterday and they were amazing! All choices of pizzas had good flavour and base was perfect. Will be back very soon! Thank you
A nice local Italian restaurant with good, friendly and homely service. The pasta with ragu was a clear table favourite and worth ordering. I thought the gnocchi alla sorrentina was nice but the prawn and spinach pasta special was absolutely delicious! Pizza-wise, the base was light and thin. Overall a good local worth visiting.
Really delicious pasta and desserts. Pasta making class was excellent, learnt a lot and rachele made us feel very welcome in her restaurant.
Best Napoli sauce I’ve ever tried, a great place to visit if you want a traditional Italian dish. They offer gluten free pasta too which is great. Just waiting for a gluten free pizza option which would be amazing.
A great local option! Easy to book online and a warm family atmosphere.
We went with a group of 6 and the entree portions were fair. We ordered a serving of the bruschetta and it came with 8 pieces.
Neapolitan style pizza, wood fired with a thin base.
I felt that there could have been a more generous amount of toppings on the pizzas.
We also ordered a Gnocchi Sorrentina, a oven backed gnocchi in a Napoli sauce with burrata.
The sauce was a little on the bland side but the gnocchi were divine. So soft and light, they were a beautiful texture.
A great restaurant for dinner with the family. A warm casual dining experience.
We were a walk in on a Friday night, a little late so we missed the rush, and we were welcomed and seated at a nice table not to close to other patrons. It's been a while since I've been here and I soon remembered that the restaurant can be a little noisy as it's a little minimalist in terms of its fittings and fixtures however it's extremely clean and well ordered. The staff were very friendly and helpful and always wore a smile, something that's missing from many other restaurants. Our margherita was great with a perfect thin base. I had the special gnocchi just perfect and the others had the Orecchiette with broccoli that were equally as good. The serving sizes are not enormous but what you get is well prepared flavoursome food that will satisfy you. We shared a ricotta cheese cake, light with lovely sutble flavours; a great way to finish the meal with a good coffee. Really worth a try and all at a reasonable price.
Had the delight of trying both the Margherita and Napoletana pizzas today and I am truly in love. I have never tasted pizzas this fresh, light and delicious with the most perfect base. I have tasted pizzas both in Italy and at 400 Gradi and this tops both. It is simply “pizza heaven”. I look forward to my next visit and trying out their pasta.
Amazing authentic Italian! I have been here many times and it is always delicious. Would definitely recommend the gnocchi and the sopressa pizza.
Best pizza in Melbourne. $13 Tuesday’s is even better. Nice place with fantastic fresh Pizza using quality ingredients and the best dough! We have been eating at this place every week since we discovered it.
Bellissimo pizzas. Had the quattro formaggi and had cheese dreams for 3 nights straight.
Also finished off my friend's capricciosa and it was just as good.
They're the traditional type, with a thin but moist (yes I said it) base, and minimal toppings.
I'm getting moist just thinking about them. Must stop writing
We live around the area and stumbled upon this place whilst going for a walk one night. Cute little restaurant that has nice touches of it being family run.
We ordered the quattro formaggi pizza and it was delicious, taking us straight back to our travels in Italy where the pizza was not over complicated, instead simple with quality ingredients and a great base.
Will be back to try there gnocchi and other dishes which looked equally as good.
I live just down the road from this place, and every time I either go in and dine or order Uber eats it is so delicious! I love the gnocchi with tomato based sauce and also the pizzas are sooooo good as well! It’s such a gem to find in ascot vale because to be honest there’s not a lot of great dinner places around this area! So we are super lucky to have Italy 528! The service is great and a lovely atmosphere!
Visited here intermittently over a fair period now and have not faulted.
Nice compact menu which never disappoints. Dishes are generous in all respects - preparation, flavor, freshness of ingredients and presentation.
Attentive and effortless service.
This place has the best pizzas in the area hand down! They are wood fired ultra thin and crispy. If you are looking for a really good hearty Italian meal this is definitely the place to go. Prices and reasonable and they also do half price pizzas on Tuesdays!
This place is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! The pizza is thin and crispy and very tasty. We ordered the pizza reginella and pizza sopressa. Seevice also great and decor is light. Will be coming back here.
Josephine DeIeso Scarfone
+5
Excellent food, service and atmosphere. The owner is renoun for her home made pastas. Simply the best in Melbourne. Freshly made daily with fresh homemade sauces. The pizzas are to die for.
Beautiful pizzas, but the stand out was the home made pasta with mushrooms and burnt butter and sage. The agrodolce salad is a must have, great flavours of radicchio and pomegranate seeds. Leave room for dessert, there's always something interesting. We have had a tasty pear chocolate and pistachio cake on a previous visit. We always have a good night.
Have been meaning to try here for months and finally went last Saturday night. I'm so glad I did because it was delicious! My boyfriend and I had bruschetta and pizzas and all were fantastic. Italy 528 is definitely just as good as the more well known Italian restaurants. We thought the price was very reasonable and the service was excellent. Will definitely be back :)
My partner have dinned here a number of times with work colleagues and have finally made me dinned here. Yes I was a little reluctant because pretty much all restaurants on mt Alexander Rd does not deliver....I have to admit the pizza we had for entree was cooked to perfection - fresh out of oven and the dough had a very nice texture! We had a pasta each which were definitely home made and was delicious.
Customer service was excellent and I would definitely come back on a Tuesday for the special $13 pizza night!
This place deserves to have the place filled but I think one of the reason why it doesn't attract more diners could possibly be the price because it is very costly for a simple pasta dish to be $30.
Excellent pizza, homemade gnocchi very good but overpriced for $24 - smallish serve and lacked a bit of zing. Tomato based cause a bit bland. Service very good. Wine good - generous serves at a reasonable price. A long narrow restaurant with one split system to heat it. I was cold. Unless you are seated in front of the sole heating - wear the thermals in winter. Also very noisy. Not conducive to intimate conversations. Ratings - Food 8. Ambience 4. Value for money - 5.
Fantastic, best pizza I've ever had.
Lovely staff that friendly and very authentic and the Choc cake was beautiful.
Will be back for sure.
I've been coming to this magic place for a long time now and there are so many good points I don't know where to begin; I'm an Italian, so I would say my knowledge of good pizza is fairly high and this pizza matches the best ones I had in the "Bel Paese" (Italy).
Rachel the owner, and the two waitresses are always very friendly and makes us feel like we are very welcome there.
Giuseppe the pizza chef is absolutely brilliant and definitely knows how to turn his pizzas into a masterpiece. Delicious dough, very light and not too cheesy topping that makes it easy to finish one pizza on your own.
I'm a regular now and I will always come back to get "Pepè's" pizza!
The only gourmet pizza I absolutely love! You don't have to wait to long and and perfectly crisp and cheesy. And pretty affordable too. Omnomnomnom :)
Absolutely love this place! I'm Italian, born in Italy and this place really takes me back to my own country.
Pizzas are delicious and ingredients are definitely authentic! They really taste as good as they do in Italy. Love it!!
Perfect bases with a slightly charcoaled bottom, crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle and just the right amount of top-quality ingredients. The Pagano was especially good with the peas adding a little burst of freshness to cut through the richness of the cheese, prawns and good olive oil.
A Caprese salad is the perfect (and terribly healthy- calcium is important for strong bones, and well, basil is green...) accompaniment to a pizza binge. Big chunks of buffalo mozzarella, ripe tomatoes and sweet basil drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.
The gnocchi melted in my mouth (just perfect) and the desserts were so delicious (not overly sweet). The service was friendly and down to earth. The food tasted just like home and the atmosphere was warm and relaxed. A hidden gem I say and I would love to go back!
Amazing Pizza!!. Situated on a quite corner of Ascot vale this beautiful designed italian restaurant is well worth the trip, The sauce used on the base of the Pizza is full of wonderful flavours and the base is perfect not to thick or thin and toppings are fresh and all complement one another without being to overpowering. We were both very impressed with the service and food. The house wine was also a great combernation with our meals. Can't wait to go back!
Is a Hidden Gem. Remember the last time when you walked in a restaurant; totally unplanned and be amazed by the food? Well this is exactly how I felt about Italy 528.
An evenly thin base gives consistency of slight chewy yet light texture and not overly crispy edge. And because of this , I rate this place higher than D.O.C, I- Carusi & 400 Gradi, at par with Lardo.
May be is a quiet night or perhaps right energy, right ingredients make it one of the most delightful pizza experience. Will come back on busy weekend to test for consistent result.
Menu chosen - Pizza Zucca, Home made Gnocchi
Best authentic Italian food that you will eat in Melbourne. Great service, great atmosphere... A little pricey but worth it. Could not recommend this highly enough.
I won't use comments such as 'the best' or 'as good as' or 'better than'. There is plenty of great pizza places in Melb serving traditional wood fired pizza. This restaurant is definitely one of them! A great pizza made with quality ingredients and plenty of passion.
Only the best. Since we found this place, we have never had ordinary since. It's this or nothing. Service is great, food is spectacular and never had a problem with seating. Always accommodating. Well done Rachel and Antonio
More signage needed !!!. Firstly they need to do something about their shop signage. You can drive right past it and not notice it.
Pizzas are great. Good serving of steaming hot pasta. Prices are acceptable for quantity. Service can be poor at times and not really friendly. You have backpackers serving you who put on a great smile but not sure if they understand you. Felt pressured to "hurry up & eat so we can give your table away" ....not what I wanted to feel walking out that door.
Delicious Italian!. Came down to Italy 528 last night to check it out after hearing good things... We ordered the prawn pizza, special fennel sausage pizza, prawn linguine and penne napoli. The pizzas were light and tasty, the pastas were delicious. Met the owner who was friendly and accommodating. We will definitely be back to try the antipasto board which looked amazing!
A Good wood fired pizza same as you would get at Carlton , Northcote, Fitzroy
Close.... Have been eagerly waiting to try this place, wondering, does it stand up to I Carusi?
I'm sorry, it doesn't, but only by a margin...the pizzas are great quality, but the tomato base is richer and more developed in flavour at I Carusi.
On the other hand, the ambience is much nicer here, they've done a great job with the renovation, wine is served in wine glasses, etc.
So, my review is positive and I will be back but if you don't believe me try I Carusi (the original in Brunswick) and see what you think.
A gourmet pizza in the Inner North. Been there numerous times since it opened. I love D.O.C in Carlton and so do I with this joint. I was so uber excited hearing this place was to open in Ascot Vale.
The Pizzas are fresh, delicious and just simply superb. Great ambience with service to match. Casual, easy and no fuss place that make you want to come back more and more... the daily specials are always fresh and tempting
Ascot Vale does need restaurants like this.. so thank you to have it opened here..
Takeaway Pizza. I have ever only had take away pizaa from here but oh my was it yum. I have always had fantastic pizza from here, especially the prawn and pea pizza and the capricossa. Try them :) I would highly recommend it! Their pizzas are simple, elegant and flavoursome.
I should eat in one of these days, but i prefer a pizza in a box - for some reason it always tastes better!
The Moonee Valley region is lacking so much quality in the way of food and coffee, we are WAY behind other areas and it's just embarassing and unfair! Thank god for Italy 528!! Finally a (and I mean only ONE) restaurant that is turning out amazing food that is of exceptional quality and tastes like your nonna just cooked you a meal. This Place is absolutely awesome EVERY time. The Gnocchi bolognaise is just divine, so is the broccoli pasta... And the Pizzas!!!.... Well honestly you would be forgiven for thinking you are in Italy! Take note people... this is how it's done. Lets hope more eateries like this keep opening up in Moonee Valley! Well done Italy 528! Won't be long untill it is impossible to get a table at your restaurant!!
Mainly serves pizza, with a couple of pasta dishes on the 'specials' menu. We had the hot salami pizza, which was quite tasty and definitely hot! The pizzas have thin bases and toppings are sparse with quality ingredients, the way a good pizza should be. I also had the gnocci with bolognaise sauce, which was delicious! The service was also pretty good.
My first visit here was tonight. Absolutely loved it. The service from all staff was outstanding, friendly and attentive from the moment we walked in to when we left. Thin based pizzas with just enough toppings which is what good quality Italian pizzas are about! Thank goodness I have found a great new local!
In the vein of Ladro, Meine Leibe and the other high-end pizza joints, Italy 528 brings super-thin-crust pies, bejeweled with quality ingredients - perfect Ligurian olives, Fior de Latte cheese, sliced to order Proscuitto, that kind of stuff, and a tasty tasty base sauce. That thin base holds it's crispiness well, has just enough body to allow the flavorsome, textured dough to marry up with the sparse but precisely applied toppings. This is quality pizza, as good as any I've had.
The same people that opened D.O.C in Carlton has opened up Italy 528 in Ascot Vale… finally! This pizza joint is less than 5 minutes walk from our place. Mount Alexander is slowly turning into quite a cafe/ restaurant strip. Secretly, I really hope that it turns into the next Brunswick or Smith Street but I highly doubt it will happen anytime soon but there is hope. New places are opening up to older establishments. We just need really nice cool and funky cocktail bar to make this strip rock and roll. I am very optimistic, aren’t I?
After moving to Flemington from Carlton, I’m so glad this place is down the road.
Authentic, no-nonsense, wood fired italian pizza at its best, perhaps it’s largest fault lies in its less than creative name but don’t hold that against them. Keep up the good work Italy Five Hundred And Twenty Eight👌🏻
One of the best Italian pizza restaurants in Melbourne. The food is very fresh & authentic, you can tell it's been made with love! The only downside is sometimes there can be a bit of a wait for food (even though the wait is worth it). So if you're in a bit of a rush then might be better to order ahead and get takeaway, so you don't miss out on this great Italian pizza/food. #bellissimo
Best Italian food in Melbourne, incredibly authentic and such a homey feel. Wouldn’t change a thing!
Great food, authentic and consistent. Not the warmest of hospitality and could do with some heat in the restaurant. All guests were in coats seated at their tables.
Stand outs are the Pizzas and Gnocchi.
Beautiful food! Taste amazing, nice staff and gives off a cozy feeling
Amazing selection of traditional wood fired pizzas, handmade pastas and many other goodies, including their infamous ricotta cheesecake!
Overall pizza was good, dough was great and generous toppings but a bit on the watery side. It was a friday night and only 2 girls waiting tables. Both very lovely but so busy so it took 45 mins for the food to come out
The Margherita pizza I had wasn't too bad, but the wait time could have been shorter. On the upside, they do uber eats, so you can order takeaway food. The pasta is delicious.
The menu's are a bit of a novelty with plate, knife and fork outlines, and a space to play battleships, as well as a sudoku and a connect the dots puzzle. About to order dessert, I hope the cheesecake is delicious.
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