Review Vapiano Canberra Centre - Canberra

We thought it could be a nice place to have lunch. But Lord have mercy we were wrong. Sometimes, restaurants/cafes can have an 'off day' and this must be it. I'm giving this place a 1-star only because it had nice wait staff service and nice venue. The food, cleanliness and cost is another story. **COST - the cost is not paralleled with the food quality. We've had better pasta for a fraction of the price. **FOOD - we all ordered pasta for each. Sauce is bland, pasta noodles are way too overcooked. And when we scooped the pasta, it was like massive clump of ball (because it was overcooked). **CLEANLINESS - we were appalled to see ALL SIX glasses has either a lipstick stain, onion skin or oily surface on it. Either somebody forgot to turn on the dishwasher or you forgot to plug the chemical. It was really disgusting that we had to wipe our glasses clean. We barely drank from them. And we thought Italian restaurants have higher standards in the food. But that day felt like they didn't leave any ounce of respect to the food. Really disappointing. Please don't bother coming to this place if you're looking for authentic Italian food because this is not it.

Ample space, light and airy with real massive olive tree adds a nice feature. Not a massive menu, no entree options and traditional pasta/pizza options not available such as chicken basciola. Pasta itself tasted a bit like gluten free type pasta so a "different" pasta feel. Staff are lovely and welcoming though and drinks menu is massive.

Good -Paid school holiday activity is strongly recommend!!! Value for money and so good. My kids had this activity twice because they loved it. Also staffs are so good with kids which is real hard job. I am waiting another school holiday activity. -Good interior design. -Good portion of food. -Tasty pasta and pizza. -Clean indoor toilet. -Happy hour is good. -Good location in Civic. Bad -Bit saulty food sometimes.

Nice restaurant to come to with family, nice and roomy with an open kitchen area and simple clean decor. Meal choices is mainly pasta, pizza and some salads. Pasta meals have choice of pasta's and also zoodles (zucchini noodles). Kids meals and desserts, and beer/wine available too. Not overly expensive. Would be nice to have a couple simpler dessert choices for kids, as current options are too big and fancy for kids.

a mindblowing place for some authentic italian food. we had the raviolli, rissotto and pesto pasta. a lovely mojito too ;) JUST ONE SUGGESTION U GUYS SHOULD GIVE A BREAD BASKET WITH A DISH WITH GARLIC OIL INFUSED WITH HERBS FOR SOME DIPPING AND THEN LATER TO HAVE WITH THE MAIN DISH.. great place for lunch as it has amazing light and views of cannberra centre ! a very nice and refreshing place due to good celing height !! i loved the service and the bar too.

My friends and I thoroughly enjoyed the food here, unfortunately the only thing that really let this place down was the service. Waiting 30 minutes for a coke when all our cocktails had already come out and we were nearly done with them (ordered at the same time), waiters reaching over people rather than coming to the side of the customer to set the drinks/food down, not clearing away plates and glasses and allowing them to pile up even though the restaraunt wasn't extremely busy and there were plenty of wait staff hanging around. If plates and glasses can't be cleared in one go, the wait staff who are clearing that table should come back to clear the rest of the table. Hopefully in the future, more training can be given to the wait staff on how to serve and clear properly.

Disillusioned would be the best word to describe Vapiano from my experience at the venue today. My partner and I where looking for somewhere new to eat on the streets of Canberra. We came across Vapiano by chance and thought we would give it a go. The venues presentation was amazing. Eye catching signs stating about the new zucchini noodles available on the menu. The venue has a fresh and open plan design with modern furniture. Each table is decorated with fresh real live herb plants.. basil, rosemary etc Unfortunately even though the venue on presentation was amazing and had a great atmosphere. The staff did not hold such standards. Service staff where not very helpful and did not display the most basic customer care service skills. Items where placed on the table without a word what they where or anything. Looking at the menu the meals where very well priced and entrees quite cheap. We ordered a entree to share in expectations that it be enough to share for 2 at $10. Honestly it was very tiny and took ages for the Entree to even come out. Our main meals where a bit of a disaster. After quite a long wait (the venue wasn't busy) our meals where dumped on the table. The waitress had disappeared before I could explain that one of the dishes where wrong. My partner chased down a staff member. Who than took the incorrect dish back. We than where left with 1 dish and yet another 20min + wait for the correct dish. The staff members said that there was two dishes with the same name. One being a pasta dish and another risstto. I had clearly pointed on the menu to what dish we where after but still got the wrong one. The quality of the meals was nothing to rave about. The risstto was very moist but the rice was over cooked and lacked flavour. We both did enjoy the gnocchi with basil pesto but agreed it was fairly small for the price. A few things which did shock us for a venue like this one. There was no table water available. Instead customers where expected to get up and get a small glass at a time which created a lot of unnecessary foot traffic in the restaurant and annoying on a hot day. Beer (Pure Blonde) came out in cans instead of bottles. Personally when dining in such an establishment like this I expect bottles even if they cost a little more. Cutlery is available at the front counter. It didn't really make much sense that staff didnt bring it over or set the tables. They bring your food to the table anyways and customers are paying for a service. After today's experience I don't think I'd recommend this place or be in a hurry to come back anytime soon.

We are long time fans of Vapiano Sydney so were keen to try out the new kid on the block - Vapiano Canberra. Straight away it felt comfortable and familiar. Same great decor. Same fabulous offerings including Happy Hour with house beer and wine just $5 ! But there were some small differences. No complicated card ordering system. The pasta also felt a little more generous in serving size. Staff also seemed happier and all levels were prepared to pick up a broom. A sign of a great team ethic and clean kitchen. Though the Sydney restaurant is hugely popular I think they could still learn a thing or two from their Canberra cousins. Loved it!!

An interesting concept. Ordering and paying and then having the food brought to your table. Reminded me of local clubs but in much smarter surroundings. The food was delicious, the gluten free gnocchi a winner. You can get a kids meal for $10 which was great value. Wanted garlic bread. None to be found. (That’s a first for any Italian restaurant I have ever been to) Tried to order gluten free garlic pizza for entree but despite it being on the menu it was not available. How about a Margherita then? Ok, one gluten free Margherita ordered. Mains arrived, no pizza. Mains completed, still no pizza with apologies from the lovely staff. Finally, as we seriously regretted ordering the pizza and wanting to go home, it arrived, fifteen minutes after we finished our mains and just as we were ordering dessert. Boxed and brought home. Not quite what we planned. The desserts were simple but good. We would all like to go back. Book a table if you aren’t comfy on bar stools. There seemed to be way more bar stools than bench seats at tables. Don’t order gluten free pizza unless you want it to take home at the end of your meal! You can order extra of the things you like like prawns or olives for a nominal fee with your main course. That was fun! Have dessert, you know you want to! Good value for money and even the cold pizza tasted great later so it’s well worth a visit and you can help yourself to cold fresh water at the bar.

Thought we’d try out this new restaurant for a girls dinner. What a huge mistake. Where do I even start.... walked into restaurant and tried to grab a waiters attention to find out which reserved table was ours. Lots of staff running around looking lost but no one really helping anyone. Once we sat down we asked a waiter about ordering and were told that the drinks were table service but food was ordered at counter. Then tried to order drinks with a waiter and were told we’d have to order at bar. Lined up at bar then told we had to order food and drinks at the counter. Finally got to order with our table number but were given a table buzzer instead??? and were told about a 30-40 minute wait for food but were offered free bread. Waited 1 hour before asking waiters if we could have some bread before food came. Food arrived after 1 hour 10 wait and one wrong order, two not even cooked. Sent back and then came back still uncooked and tasted awful. No one came near us after that to check if food was better and waiters cleared glasses around the full bowl of pasta and not once asked if all was okay. Well overpriced for the size and standard of food. No table water either, had to line up at the bar to fill your own tiny glass, but felt like we were in the way of the waiters collecting drinks from bar. Toilets were messy and no paper towel! I literally do not have one good thing to say about this place. Will not go back. What a huge disappointment.

Horrendous wait time for our food. Ordered pizza and three pasta two of them kids meal. Only the pizza came. We were so tired and the kids so sleepy we left after getting refund for the non served meals. The pizza was ok nothing exceptional. The pizza I get from farmers market is vastly better. Would not recommend coming here.

Loved the vegetarian food and gluten free options on pizza and pasta. Have been there three times, they always deliver good food and service. I would suggest to try Pesto con spinachi pizza and Gamberi pasta with Campanelle pasta type. You will love it �

I ordered 3 meals with the girl at the counter and I waited for ages. Suddenly she gave me a bag containing my orders. Eventually when I opened it, I argued with her that I still ordered a Garlic Pizza! She said no, thats only what I ordered although I paid for $70 plus. Then I walked out with so angry! Before I reach my car, I decided to went back and ask her my reciept as I definitely ordered 3 meals. Then she started to retrieved at the till AND eventually found out I really had ordered a Pizza!!!!! She then gave me the pizza without even telling an APOLOGY! Very unprofessional staff and foods are below quality taste of an authentic italian. When I got the pizza, the pizza was very small! Why? It was so small in a large pizza box! That was rediculous! What kind of managers does this restaurant have? No common sense at all!!! Definitely won’t be coming back again!!!!!

It's difficult to put in to words how bad my experience at Canberra's Vapiano was. It began with extraordinarily poor service, which persisted for the duration (forgetting your drink order three times is generally not ideal). But sadly it was accentuated by bad food. Really bad food. Spaghetti carbonara was a congealed mess. Inedible. But much better than the embarrassment that was the ravioli my wife endured. If you're reading this, I emplore you to run. Just run.

I love Vapiano Canberra. Since they opened this wonderful new venue I’ve been 3 times celebrating birthdays and family time. The staff is very kind, super chilled vibes and happy faces inside of the restaurant. I highly recommend this venue! Thanks #Vapiano

I visited this place with my special friend from far away a week ago. I'm really impressed about this system because I haven't seen this type of restaurant before. At first, the waiter gave us the chip card with great welcome when we entered a restaurant and we took a seat. But we didn't know how to use this system well, the manager Tiago came to us promptly and he introduced the way to use a chip card. we oldered Truffle oil pizza with extra prawn and Pollo Amatriciana with pepperoni. Actually that was meatless pizza and added prawn because we are meat lover, this is one of reason I love this system. If I want, they can make my own food with any ingrediant. Even I can watch them during they are cooking my food. We were both satisfied about the tasty food and service, especially a friendly atmosphere, the duty manager gave us special voucher for cocktail and we are gonna go to have dinner again soon. Very nice.

This place is a shambles! We went there over the Easter weekend and will never go again. Most of the staff didn’t know what was going on. When we were seated I asked the waiter if we could order some drinks. He said he would be right back to take our order. He never came back and when I went inside to find out what was going on I was told you had to order drinks at the bar! The waiter also failed to tell us that you had to order your meals inside aswell - that there was no table service! For the price you pay there is no way you should have to line up to place your order! I counted around 8 wait staff running around so not really sure what they were doing! I didn’t even get a meal in the end - they attempted to cook it twice and both times was delivered to our table uncooked! It was a massive fail! The Manager ended up coming and trying to explain how they cook their pasta - that it is on a timing system and that it may need adjusting! Unfortunately this is obviously not working out as both times you could tell the pasta was not cooked just by looking at it! Most people sat around us were having issues aswell with their meals and seemed confused as to what was going on! Also very funny that most of the people putting down 5 star ratings are staff!

This is our new favourite family restaurant. The food is great, the staff are friendly, and the prices are reasonable. It’s also a great place to go with my friends for lunch during the week.

Very good 1st impression even knowing Vapiano from other cities/countries. Fantastic decoration, very clean and modern, super cozy environment. Food is GREAT as expected. I can say that I also have a new favorite dish! Just loved the ‘table service way’ to conduct the restaurant as it’s a fast food. Great job guys! Keep my best thoughts about everything. Thank you!!

Vapiano lover from Germany came for a visit to canberras Vapiano! Warm welcome, friendly and courteous staff! Drinks were served immediately, food followed 20 minutes after order. Food like in Italy! Definitely worth another visit!

I can’t remember having a worse dining experience. The McDonald’s happy meal pasta was better than the pitiful food I was served. How much did Vapiano pay for all the fake reviews?

Haven’t been into the restaurant (though it looks gorgeous from the street) but have ordered food from Deliveroo. Totally wonderful pasta and there’s always something nice thrown in like free bread or mineral water or gummie bears 😅😍 The desserts are amazing and they offer heaps of vegetarian options, recommend 10/10! ❤️

Levi makes the best cocktails ever. The Bramble is my new all time favourite � (I’m moving to Canberra for this cocktail �

Vapiano = Crapiano. Booked 3 weeks in advance for 14 and yet got stuck on two separate tables barely able to hold 10. This of course led to kicking my shins on the table, having waitresses walk closely around you all evening and a patron knocking into someone behind me resulting in a drink down my back (which I promptly cleaned up off the floor as it appears that’s not a job for the staff). Food wasn’t too expensive, that is until you remember that it’s not table service (which no one really tells you) and the portions aren’t particularly generous. They also managed to get some of the drink orders wrong, and give three of us the wrong ravioli meals. I have to wonder if they know that customers are going to complain as they require you to pay before you get the meal. The fit out is clean and trendy, and the food was alright (if basic), but that’s about it. Don’t waste you time or money when there are many other better options nearby.

Terrible Food. Overpriced. Spaghetti was overcooked and the sauce was horrible. Complete waste of money. My advice: Save yourself the disappointment.

This was such a good night out. We got seated in this amazing little seat around an olive tree, it had this really secret vibe and we loved it. It was the shift manager that took care of us and he was just so good, very pleasant but also authentic, really just wanted us to have a nice time. Quick with the drinks, quick with the food (we ordered the Diavolo pizza - amazing), and we got a little freebie from the trainee at the bar because she was learning cocktails! What a night for me and my date, thank you so much

Great pizza at a good price during lunch. My colleges tried pasta and risottos and they love it. The drinks menus have good mocktails that are good when you need to come back to work.

The second time visiting it was as good that the first time. It was really busy but the waiters were helping us to find the table. The food come out in a reasable time.

Great place to catch up with friends. I recommend to book a table because the restaurant is really busy. Happy hour drinks is very good and the food is fantastic with a great service.

Very good place to have lunch with kids. The staff are really good and the food and drinks are amazing. The price is reasonable. We will be coming back soon.

We had a very good experience on Saturday night. We had a reservation and the place was really busy.  They have an amazing menu for cocktails that was so hard to choose but staff and manager were helping us with it. Highly recommend to try it

If you looking for a place to have drinks with friends it is the place. Very good cocktails, wines and beers. Very good service and atmosphere. Highly recommend

It is a place to go if you want good food and good drinks. The staff is really nice and always happy to help. <br/>I'm coming back soon totry the desserts.

We thought it could be a nice place to have lunch. But Lord have mercy we were wrong. Sometimes, restaurants/cafes can have an 'off day' and this must be it. I'm giving this place a 1-star only because it had nice wait staff service and nice venue. The food, cleanliness and cost is another story. <br/>**COST - the cost is not paralleled with the food quality. We've had better pasta for a fraction of the price.<br/>**FOOD - we all ordered pasta for each. Sauce is bland, pasta noodles are way too overcooked. And when we scooped the pasta, it was like massive clump of ball (because it was overcooked).<br/>**CLEANLINESS - we were appalled to see ALL SIX glasses has either a lipstick stain, onion skin or oily surface on it. Either somebody forgot to turn on the dishwasher or you forgot to plug the chemical. It was really disgusting that we had to wipe our glasses clean. We barely drank from them.<br/>And we thought Italian restaurants have higher standards in the food. But that day felt like they didn't leave any ounce of respect to the food. Really disappointing. Please don't bother coming to this place if you're looking for authentic Italian food because this is not it.

Great place to dine in!! Very friendly service and also not to mention the new Super Green Rissotto is to die for. Definitely will be back again!!

We two me and my husband came today for dining in. Awesome services and food was delicious. Only drawback is they don't accept Cash.. But loved the real olive tree!!

Having visited the Sydney branch, was looking forward to a good meal at Vapiano in Canberra. We ordered the Barbeque Pollo pizza and the Gamberi e spinaci pasta. The pizza was average, while the pasta was really sad. Unseasoned, super dry and flavourless. The only saving grace was the service and the beautiful ambience. We were super disappointed.<br/><br/>My ratings:<br/><br/>Food - 2/5<br/><br/>Ambience - 5/5<br/><br/>Service - 5/5<br/><br/>

Very beautiful food, extensive options for pasta that can be custom made to your liking. Hubby really enjoyed the Gamberi pasta so much. The nutella cheesecake was also not to be missed! Customer service was top-notch, very welcoming and friendly. Glad we stopped by at this place on our recent visit to Canberra.

Food is delicious!! Really great atmosphere and great experience for my anniversary. Got a lovely surprise dessert for my anniversary at the end (complimentary). Exceptional service.  Loved it!

The most underrated restaurant in civic! The newly released lunch specials are soooooo good! High quality food with large size as well. Love italian food and this restaurant would be the first choice when I am in the mood for pizza or pasta. The crispy and thin pizza base is just perfect. Will go at least once a week!

Great food and  very friendly staff even when its very busy as mine's visit was but the staffs are very accommodating and warm. They will try to help as much as they could.

Delicious lunch specials with so much variety. I love coming to Vapiano Canberra during the day as the atmosphere and decor is so beautiful and refreshing.

Great location at the heart of the city with lots of space and outside sitting area too!! Great food without any doubt!! I will be back when I am back to Canberra again!!

Great Place to dine in for casual lunch!! Tap and go concept loved it. Food was great and bunch of friendly staffs!! Real olive tree inside the restaurant was just amazing

I used the uber eats and the food arrived excellent and very quick. <br/>Of course I'll ask more often. Excellent and very good price.<br/>I recommend

I was having lunch yesterday at Vapiano it was a great experience. The staff was so kind. The food was good and they have mocktails that also was really good.

This is a very nice restaurant  Food taste great and the staff is very kind and professional. I can't wait to be back and eat here again. If you are in the are, don't forget to check it out!!

Good restaurant with a good menu having option for Gluten Free that is good. The atmosphere was really good. The cocktails was amazing as well.

I visited Canberra and I had a great time at vapiano, that has a nice area inside and outside. The staff are friendly and the food is amazing you can really taste fresh food.

We were visiting the city and we decided to have a lunch in Vapiano. The place is really nice having inside and outside area. The staff are really friendly and the food is amazing.

The food was very low quality but expensive. The price should include a fine dining service but and despite failing to deliver on this they provided a meal so small<br/>we had to get more food elsewhere.

Excellent experience. Great welcome and nice atmosphere. The meal was served hot and excellent taste and the drinks was amazing. Staff was very friendly.

Vapid, over-priced pseudo Italian. Avoid as if  your life depended on it. I feel ashamed that I even entered this place, allowed my partner to order, and ate a small portion of the swill they served up to me. This kind of place makes you wish there was a wing of the Calabrian mafia that went around enforcing quality in Italian restaurants overseas. Expensive too. $87 for 2 adults 2 children no drinks.

Excellent experience since we walk in the door and being greeted by an employee. Meal was served hot and excellent taste. Staff was very friendly and helpful.

Went in early afternoon on a Monday and were the only 2 in the place. Friendly greeting from staff on entry but all downhill from there. Had to go back to counter to prompt staff member for our ordered drinks after almost 10 minutes (still no other customers) carbonara came out as almost a solid lump. Very stodgy consistency, pasta was under done, and whole dish tasted burnt. Bacon bits were cremated hence the taste. My partner had a small Hawaiian pizza she said tasted of seafood. Was refunded for the pasta under the angry stares of some of the staff/owners (2 heavily manscaped young men). Don’t waste your money.

We had been to the one in Sydney CBD and it was OK so decided to try this one. It's quite different.<br/><br/>Staff were all super friendly.<br/><br/>So many of the dining chairs were disgustingly dirty. So many of them. Not from crumbs or anything but stained from spillage. I think it's the type of material, but it looks really bad.<br/><br/>For some reason every water glass at the self service station was dirty from lip marks.<br/><br/>We were delivered a pasta but apparently it was the one with added prawns so they came back in a few minutes and asked for it back and gave the other one. The taste was actually quite nice but a bit on the extra Al dente. I'm. Not sure of the quality of the cheese on top of the pasta tho.<br/><br/>The ceaser salad was very nice. Crunchy leaves. Nice sauce, not too much or too little, nice anchovies (added extra).<br/><br/>Bathrooms nice and clean, although I don't get public bathroomz where you need to use the handle to get in and out, it's like your grabbing someone's unwashed toilet hands....<br/><br/>All in all I might give it 6 months and try one more time.

Both our pasta dishes were clumpy and overcooked, when I lifted my fork the whole dish came up in one blob. The prawns were also dry, rubbery and obviously overcooked. We waited thirty minutes for our pasta to be served and it was absolutely not worth the wait or the $40+ we spent there.

Quite disappointing. The only positive was the fairly good customer service. Nice large venue that had so much potential. They don’t take reservations which resulted in a 30 minutes wait. They also don’t take cash which was super inconvenient. The food was a huge let down. Menu looks amazing but for an ‘Italian’ restaurant not to be able to properly cook pasta is very poor. I ordered the pumpkin ravioli of which the pasta was so incredibly undercooked the entire thing was hard and very unenjoyable. The sauce was very bland and watery and just a bit of a disaster. My partners pesto pasta was slightly better however still bland, pasta underdone and oily. I do not recommend this and sadly will not be returning.

Very poor. Vapiano has a strange system of ordering where you go to two different places depending on if you want to order pasta or pizza. Except if you’re ordering lasagne - that comes from the pizza area. Then you get a buzzer, but you don’t have to collect your meal - it will be brought out to you, if the waiters can find you. The buzzers don’t seem to help. <br/>All this I could forgive if the food was great. Or even good. Sadly, it was neither. My $20 plate of ravioli was tough and tasteless, and seemed as if it has been sitting around for a long time. It was also tiny, although given the taste, this turned out to be a blessing. I dislike food waste. <br/>I can only hope that the Friday night on which I attended Vapiano Canberra was an aberration.

A great menu which allows you to modify the type of pasta for the meal. Food is not the best but not the worst. I didn’t get around to their drinks or desserts but it looked great. Despite being a quieter week night, the wait for food was quiet long and they mixed up our order too. We had several staff members asking us what our order was. It’s casual dining so expect to self serve your water, cutlery and pay at the counter. They don’t take bookings for less than 8people as advised over the phone when I attempted to book beforehand. Definitely worth a check out as it does look very inviting from the outside.

This place looked so promising and we hoped it would be a great replacement for Jamie’s (their service weren’t great but their pasta and pizzas were pretty good)... we weren’t too impressed during our first visit - Caprese pizza was waterlogged. Pumpkin ravioli was tasteless, cold, thick and floury. We thought we’d try again to see if we’d caught them on a bad day. Had Crudo pizza - it was better than the Caprese pizza but nothing special. Tried spaghetti carbonara- it was clumped, gluggy and floury. We don’t think we’ll give this place another go...