Review Antica Ricetta - Canberra

We arrived luckily before the dinner rush. We were seated without a booking, great service & amazing food. My baby was even catered for with fresh vege pureed. My 6yo loved it so much he ate a pizza all to himself.

Really great - good to see Ricetta back to its best. Great authentic Italian food, quality service. High quality olive oil and bread, pizzas as good as they get, lovely setting and attentive service. Superb boutique Italian beers and wines are icing on the cake.

I don’t like to leave bad reviews, everyone has an off day right? but after being treated with such contempt by the waiter on Friday night, I am still upset enough that I will share. The waiter didn’t catch my drink order, when we asked where it was he said we didn’t order, I disagreed and a simple ‘no problem, I’ll get that now for you’ would have been great - his response was then to state a few times that we didn’t order it.. he seemed upset that I wanted a drink..8 people at the table, usually a quick count would have told you you were missing one and hadn’t heard me.. no harm done but he was so insistent that I didn’t ask for a drink… other people heard me order! very odd. He also delivered a bottle of wine to another couple at our table - not the one they ordered, but the supplier gave them it instead apparently, so that’s what my friends got, no mention there was a change, just poured and left. And when they questioned he explained as if that was obvious. Again very odd. Another member who was running a little late asked what beers they had - his response.. ‘it’s on the menu if you look’ He proceeded to behave in a very passive aggressive way for the rest of the meal. I had the seafood marinara, which Unfortunately was served lukewarm with a few mouthfuls having actual cold spots. The fish had been cooked well and it was a nice enough pasta and sauce - so maybe mr passive aggressive just left mine sitting out for a while prior to bringing it over.. honestly.. who knows I wasn’t about to call him over through and question it, I just skipped dessert- he really seemed to take a dislike to me. None of our party of 8 could understand what his issue was, but we all found him distasteful and I can only assume he is a relative of the owners or he just has a job because staff are so hard to come by right now. Sorry but I wouldn’t go back if he was still working there. I would point out at this point that all other staff we spoke to were lovely - but one written egg really can spoil it.

Disappointing. We don't usually Italian because we have a vegan in our party. We thought this one had a few vegan options, and we were sick of having to eat Asian all the time. We tried 3-4 times to order a vegan pasta dish. A few times I suggested a tomato sauce with vegetables. They couldn't cope with this. The waiter finally suggested a tomato and basil sauce. With a sigh of resignation, it was obvious this was the best they could do, so she said yes. A very basic spaghetti in tomato sauce arrived, with 2 basil leaves on top. The only basil on the plare. I wanted to offer to go to the kitchen and show them how to makes something basic. She said it tasted like "spaghetti oops". I understand there is a resistance from many cuisines to offer vegan, but we had hoped there had been some progress. Clearly not.

I asked for Halal food, instead they have lots of vegan options. Love their pasta and pizza. And Italian moca coffee are fantastic. Located in a very quiet street and best place to catch-up with friends.

Disappointing. Our first visit specifically to see what it was like with a view to a birthday celebration in a few weeks. Most meals were fine, my pasta was great and a reasonable serve, but my husband could not get the wine or dessert he wanted, and his much anticipated lasagne was dry, small and very similar to something from Aldi. At $26, not so great. But our biggest issue was all service stopped once we got our main course. By 8.45 the restaurant was fairly empty but to get our dessert order taken, and then pay the bill, the staff didn't want to know us. Dirty plates sat on the table, no follow up service of any kind. One waiter stood with his back to the room for ten minutes chatting to one table. The manager stood with his back to us chatting to his table of friends. The young waitress at the bar simply looked through us. Certainly, not what we were expecting given the reviews, and certainly not somewhere we'll return to.

Just an absolute rip off for what we received. One pizza, barely recognizable as a pizza and the adult eating thought it was average and for $25 we would have been better fed eating 3 Domino's pizzas. The pastas were half filled plastic containers with more sauce than pasta. The gnocchi contained approx. 15 pieces of gnocchi for $25. The pesto tasted ok but the butter sage was tasteless. The fettuccines were overpriced as well.

Antica was our first choice for our girls night out dinner. Our group of 5 chose the large antipasto platter as entree shared by us all. The quality, freshness and abundance was exceptional. Choosing a main from the wide selection was made easy by the knowledgeable waiting staff. The selections were good with something for everyone. Staff were all friendly. We had a wonderful experience and enjoyed our authentic Italian meal. Looking forward to returning soon. Highly recommend Antica Ricetta.