Review El Toro Pizza & Restaurant - Geelong

Friendly staff , quick turn over on food pizza was great , Kids enjoyed their meals as did the wife, Cocktails were average considering there price tag .

One of the best Chicken Parma + grilled vegetables & Pizza ! Gets Very busy after 6pm but the service were always so good !

First time in eating out in ages and El Toro has been a favourite, however we will not be going back again. The steak meal served was so salty that you could not eat it - everything was salty, the vegies, the sauce and the steak!! The waitress took the plate away and "informed the chef" then asked if we wanted dessert or coffee. My partners meal was average to say the least. To add insult we were charged full price for the salty meal and 24 hours later I am still trying to remove the salty taste/burn from the inside of my mouth.

My husband and I went out for our 50th wedding anniversary this evening, and we were both satisfied with the quality of the food, however I was unsatisfied with all of the yelling and verbal abuse coming from the kitchens, regardless of the circumstance, its very unsettling to overhear the manager or boss yell at the staff, I felt rather unsafe and my husband told me to leave a Google review. Good food, but unsafe atmosphere. Might just get take away next time.

Went for dinner with my partner and the place was a shambles. Sat near the pizza counter and saw a lot that was happening. Granted it was busy but they made multiple orders incorrectly including my own. Sam the boss was very aggressive and rude to his staff, 1 in particular who looked like he was new. This staff member was handling the pressure quite well for a new staff member but was getting ordered around by Sam. If I was this new guy I would have told Sam to stick it and walk out. I even overheard Sam and other staff mocking and “bitching” about this new guy behind his back. The man next to us even commented that his wife used to hate coming here because of how aggressive Sam was.The young lady at the counter was also great and handled the busyness very well and with a smile on her face while all other staff were rude. Our pizzas weren’t cooked very well and were very rushed. Won’t be hurrying back here anytime soon.

Awesome food. They even made my parmi American style with spaghetti. Best one I've had since New York. True legends.

I called El Toro after the pizza restaurant we initially booked for Sunday 2nd January was closed when we got there. I called at about 6pm just as the evening was getting busy, by 6.30pm our party of 10 were seated and ordering our drinks and meals. The restaurant was very busy and yet they made room for all of us. The staff were very friendly and ensured we were comfortable and ready to take our drinks orders. Within minutes our drinks were served. Within 20 minutes, our meals were served. We ordered a variety of pizza's, mains dishes and chips that all were huge servings, totally delicious and excellent quality especially after considering how busy they were, there was nothing to complain about here! The staff would check on us on regular basis, but not over bearing and Helen; the waitress that showed us to our table and took our orders was exceptional. It was a great night, great atmosphere and we were well taken care of. 5 STARS Thank you El Toro Pizza Restaurant for turning our night from being left swinging in the breeze having nowhere to dine to having delicious food and a memorable evening.

The food is awesome, I think the best lasagne I have had. Great menu, good prices, the pizzas are awesome as well. Plenty of seating inside, with a few on street tables as well. Service was great, very friendly and quick. You can get take away as well.

Our favourite place to eat! Lovely fresh ingredients on our pizza. A must try for dessert banana pizza with ice cream!

I had a yummy meal at this establishment. It was the entree pesto fettuccine. As an entree size it was quite large and I had a full tum tum!!! It was sooooo yummy. I also shared some chips with my friends and family. They were salted to perfection tbh. I enjoyed the complimentary mint at the end of the meal. 10/10 would dine again.

Best pizza and pasta I have had in a while!! Fantastic service highly recommend!! �

It's a really lovely family restaurant.. the food is amazing and the service is great. It's our favourite place to eat out..

The best Italian restaurant in Geelong!! Best service happy and friendly we'll definitely be back.

I don't normally review but my wife and I have been coming here regularly for 3 years and during summer a Saturday night stop here has become a ritual. The service and pizza is second to none and I don't even bother reading the menu when the Sam's special is so damn good. And the Sunday lunch is great when we miss the Saturday night ;-)

Great food, great service...a 'must' place to eat anytime we are in Geelong

Excellent food, service and value at El Toro. If you love "old school" values, this is the place for you. A great family restaurant.

The best Pizzaiolo for ever in Geelong..

Fabulous meal...especially the Banana and Ice Cream Pizza ..... thank you Rob

Great service and friendly staff, best pizza in Geelong

Great food nice and cozzy restaurant and great service would definitely come back again

Don’t be fooled by the unassuming shopfront... Great interior (the big room) and professional but friendly service. Food is amazingly well done & full of fresh ingredients. I ordered Spaghetti marinara & hubby ordered Pizza Sicilia (he works close to Lygon St in Melbourne so very choosy on pizzas). Kids friendly and big portion of food. It does get busy.... We came at 6pm for dinner and didn’t have any bookings.

G'day, El Toro has been going for years<br/>Heaps of people eat here.. Its very busy...and the pizza has a noticeable fresh quality about it!<br/>Family friendly...reserve a table..❤

Pizza so greasy and bad it made me want to puke. Don’t waste your time and go elsewhere! There are 100 times better options to eat less than a stone throw away.

Fantastic authentic pizza, great flavours and always so fresh when dining in. Would recommend the Pescatore pizza.<br/><br/>I need 140 characters so here they are.

the man on the phone was rude when i spoke to him. No please, no thankyous, no how are yous, nothing. Even got my name wrong (completely off from what i was saying). He told me it'd take 30 minutes for a quick order to be finished which i thought was off. <br/>I went in to collect my food, all he did was stare at me. No "Hi, how can i help you". Nothing. Picked up my food, quite expensive for an average meal sized meal. Out the door i went after no words from him except "whats your order?" and the price. <br/>The chips was cold and soggy and looked like it was from mc donalds, the pizza was cold and too spicy, the greek salad lacked onion, the calamari was soggy and tasteless. Not recommended.

Great service with a smile. Had coffee and ordered takeaway pizzas. Really interesting flavours that other places don't have. Finally a place that has pumpkin on their pizzas. Will definately go back and try more of their food.

Sam is the original owner and repurchased the restaurant a couple of years ago. I have been coming here for over 30 years and have not had a bad pizza or meal ever. Great Italian food at an reasonable price you truly get what you pay for. The best pizza's in Geelong for my money.

SUPERB!! We had no prior plans to visit this place, but the family was getting tired of cafe food and wanted something different, and we found THIS AMAZING PLACE!!! The portion was big; we ordered 2 pastas and a large pizza for four, and had 4 slices of pizza left. <br/>Chicken pasta w tortellini $19 was excellent; the flavours were on point and left us wanting for more. Marinara pizza $26 had a generous portion of seafood and the Tutto Mare $21 was great as well, though it did not stand out from the other dishes.One of our best meals in Melbourne! The restaurant was also beautifully decorated w paintings and the service was great! Staff were friendly and very helpful. Definitely value for money!

Second time back here. Both times here before Cadel ride to carbo load. Garlic bread delicious;). Pasta was awesome. A bit of a combo of meal with few additions. Best Italian I have had in Gellong. Will go back next year;)

A great family restaurant with great Italian food. Reasonably priced and a cosy atmosphere with their open fire. The service is exceptional (probably the best I've experienced) and attention to detail was excellent even down to the real roses on the tables.

Good family pizza restaurant. Meals are very large but tasty & a reasonable price. Staff are very friendly too. If you are expecting fine dining you will be highly dissaponted but if you are expecting family friendly, homestyle Italian cooking, then you'll be happy.

Positive experience with their home delivery. Waited about 40 mins on a Saturday night. Pizzas were still nice and warm. A good choice for a night in.

This place never disappoints excellent food with friendly helpful and attentive service as usual ... I highly recommend this place. Great family atmosphere and very reasonably priced.

We waited two hours to have pizzas delivered, with multiple calls to the restaurant to work out what was going on with little avail. When the pizzas finally did arrive they were stale and dry. I will never go to or order from El Toro again.

Great food, great service!. Our table of six enjoyed a lovely meal at El Toro last Saturday night. The restaurant was full, but service was excellent - prompt and attentive. We dined on a combination of pasta and pizza, with everyone declaring their meal to be extremely tasty. Our coffee was accompanied by a complimentary glass of port - such a nice touch. . We will definitely be back.

Best pasta in Geelong. This is the place to go if you enjoy a bowl of pasta, good service and a pizza. Always made to feel welcome. Great family restaurant.

We ordered a pizza for delivery, and after being told it would be fifty minutes waited two and a half hours. The pizza was nice but average, staff were apologetic which we appreciated, but our complementary garlic bread was cold, happy to try again but needs improvement.

An improvement with the old owners back

Made our extended family with 6 kids feel very welcome. Great food, great service. Highly recommend if you are in the area.

Extremely disapointing. We came to El Toro with high hopes, only to be let down by sloppy service, poor food and lengthy wait times. For three people, we decided to share a large pasta and large pizza. After waiting for at least 30 minutes, we were served a small, watery bowl of spaghetti which was, quite simply, pathetic, and had to be sent back. The pizza, a half and half, had a crunchy base, but the toppings were of a cheap quality, and used in far to great a quantity. Our pizza was overloaded with disgusting ham, which made the meal close to inedible. Put simply, El Toro failed to live up to its expectations, we would advise you to look elsewhere for Italian in Geelong.<br/>1.5/10

Great Food, Great service & great pricing!. We were a table of 4 and everyone enjoyed their meals, the chicken parmie was tasty and really big in size, the two pasta dishes were fresh and devoured quickly and the gourmet pizza was absolutely delicious, the base was still crisp underneath and prawns on it were a good size. Service was good, although if all the meals were brought out at once it would have been flawless. This will be a new regular spot for us!

Had the qtr pizza to get a sample of a few. Chicken and meat lovers are good (hard to stuff that up!). The sausage one needed work and the pesto bocicini roasted cap was pretty good. 3 out of. 4 literally!

Delicious food, great prices and exceptional service. A must visit!

Fast friendly service . Reasonably priced menu, with huge range of pizzas and pastas made in front of you. Gourmet pasta was a nice mix of Mediterranean veg . My partner enjoyed lasagne but felt it was a little saucie . All in all an enjoyable dinner on a freezing winters day

Quality at its finest. Afte.... Quality at its finest.<br/>After a busy day visiting friends my wife and I thought we would detour through the heart of Geelong to get a bite to eat before heading back to Melbourne. There we stumbled across El Toro. At first entrance the restaurant is quite warm in appearance and very inviting, and so are the staff.<br/>Within minutes of being seated glasses of water were served and our orders were taken. much to our surprise our meals were served quite quickly even though it seemed quite busy as the restaurant was close to being a full house.<br/>Our main meals that comprised of salmon on a bed of kefler potatoes and leak was outstanding and something you would expect to receive at a fine dining restaurant. My wife's pizza on the other hand was delicious. Nicely cooked base with fresh toppings. <br/>The much anticipated desserts were next and again not disappointed. The apple crumble is a must order together with the oversized and decadent tiramisu. All in all El Toro has gained another loyal diner and i will certainly make any excuse to pay them a visit.

Great Pizza!. Came for a family birthday party. The food was GREAT and the staff couldnt be more freindly and helpful.

El Toro's. What can I say. Used to be a wonderful restaurant.... but in the recent few months it has had a terribly rapid downfall.. the staff are so rude and it seems like they Dont have the time of day for you. I tried speaking with the owner.. and no satisfaction whatsoever and they also came across rude. I think they have had a change of stuff. It just has no family feel... appalling

Mediocre at best. Went there for a friend's birthday. I had pizza, which was just OK, but nothing special. It sounded better on the menu that it actually was.<br/>I had a few Gin & Tonics, but they seemed a bit light on the gin. I didn't see, but I'm pretty sure they were putting half shots in them.<br/>Service was a bit crappy - not particularly attentive. Probably wouldn't bother going back.

Fantastic pizza bases. Thin crust and good quality toppings. Gourmet pizzas are a must to try.

Little Italy in Geelong. El Toro's is an amazing place to dine. The food is exceptional! With generous serving sizes, our meals tasted like they were out of an authentic Italian kitchen. The staff are very friendly and I would definatly recommend El Toro's to anyone passing through Geelong or that was looking for somewhere nice to dine.

El Toro's Restaurant in Geelong is definitely highly recommended..mouthwatering pizza & pasta!! Not to mention how great & friendly the service was...it is a must try,will be back for more thats for sure & im from Melbourne!

Deliciousness!. Great restaurant, light hearted and casual but still with an essence of fine dining. Ordered the chef's special gnocchi and the paella that was recommended by the waitress and loved both. The paella was generous with the seafood and chorizo and had great flavours. The gnocchi was delicious, I’ve had it a few times before, it’s become my favourite to order there. all in all, a great experience, ive officially become a regular. :)

This place is wonderful. We make sure we come here every time we are in Geelong. The ambience, service and food are all fantastic!! We had pizza with the lot, fresh pastas, calamari, tirimasu and coffees. They were all cooked to perfection and tasted amazing!! Highly recommend this place!

Friendly and good value. Left this restaurant feeling full and happy. Food was flavoursome and well priced. Had a set menu and had garlic bread, pasta, small pizza and a glass of wine all for $30!! Staff are friendly and smiley.<br/>Will go back anytime

My favourite Geelong Restaurant. El Toro is a great choice for a delicious meal at an affordable price, with a casual atmosphere and staff that are friendly and ready to cater to individual requests. My family go every Friday but I also sometimes go with friends, it's a versatile place in that way as it has just been taken over by a young, energetic couple who from the beginning made an effort to know our names and make us feel welcome. On top of that the food is really good and there is a lot of choice. A great place to be, one of my favourites as a local!

GENEROUS & DELICIOUS. What a great place to go out for dinner to. Am yet to taste a pizza as good as the way this place makes it. The pescatora pizza is absolutely delicious and the marinara pasta was full of seafood with a great tasting sauce. Loved it.

Best Pizza in Geelong. Just when I thought there were no decent Italian restaurants in Geelong - I discovered El Toro - and I was pleasantly surprised. My partner and I went there on a Saturday night, and although the restaurant was quite busy, we found our waiter friendly and attentive. We ordered the "Our special" pizza - and the flavour was amazing. The dough was also great - no soggy pizza here. We also had the gnocchi with the "Gourmet" pasta sauce. The gnocchi was light and fluffy and the sauce was a great vegetarian option. Overall, we were pleased with the experience - cant wait to go back.

Went there with my hubby over the weekend, had pizza and pasta - both delicious! Pasta had a lovely sauce that was bursting with flavor. Pizza was cooked to perfection and I even ate the crust (which I don't normally eat). Staff were helpful and so friendly. The atmosphere was casual and comfortable. I will definitely eat there again when I'm in the Geelong area.

You need a plate to eat food

I'm sure the foods okay, but you shouldn't have to wait for 15 minutes before someone comes to take your order. At least take a drinks order from your customers when you seat them.

Simply bad!. We've been here quite a few times, but never as bad. <br/>Pasta was overcooked, bland and dry. I told the waitress, but her explanation after asking the chef was the menu said "cream based" not "cream sauce". Excuse me?! Clearly I'm one unhappy customer but she couldn't care less.<br/>My friend ordered an Italian sausage which was worse. Hard and dry, the sausage was almost horrible to chew; vegetable on side were not well seasoned and the chunk of broccoli and cauliflower didn't look very appealing either. Total failure!<br/>We would not have ordered the coffee and cake at the beginning (if we knew the meal was going to be that bad).. Anyways, Tim Tam chocolate cake was at room temperature, no ice cream and the cappuccino was one of the worst I've tried.. Honestly the froth was not light and fluffy, almost looked like soapy foam to us... <br/>I'm definitely crossing this one out of my list!

Average at best. Nothing special about this restaurant. Their pizzas are ok, their ravioli was severely undercooked and when I informed the waiter, he took it away and brought back a new plate which was again, undercooked and cold. Won't be going back!!!!!!!!!

Still good.... A classic place for a relaxed bowl of sketti and pizza. Always good, always yum! Not too fancy, so very casual dining.

Love the food. Pizzas are awesome. Come here often. Only problem is that the Pasta's come out 10mins before the Pizzas, so maybe coordinate your orders!