Review Lello - Melbourne

Thanks @Lello 😀 my partner and I really enjoyed your restaurant! 🍝 Food was really nice, our pizza was nice and thin with plenty of toppings. The pasta was cooked perfectly and tasted great. 💰 Price is on the more expensive side, so stuck to the specials menu this time, but would definitely splurge to try some other meals. 🌃 Lovely romantic atmosphere, lots of seating and a good vibe. 🤵 Staff were lovely, a very warm greeting and table service was good too.

Pretty busy place for weekdays dinner. Better to books your table before. The place is pretty fun and service is pretty good. Good to go after work. Great value too. I highly recommended to try the gnocchi, pizza and lasagna. They were so tasty :)

3.5 star ⭐️ I really really loved the food at Lello so I am going to state up front why they got 3.5 stars from me. Their food took so so so so long to arrive. Between the mains and entrees I think there was a good half an hr in between. At lunch time. In CBD. Not acceptable in my opinion. On to the food. We had some really good entree specials- the fried zucchini with egg and Parmesan was amazing, so was the mushroom entree with a dollop of goats cheese in the middle. And thank goodness the dollop of goats cheese is in the middle because I don’t normally eat goats cheese. My friend had a mint and potato ravioli thingy which sounds weird but tasted amazing, and my ragu pasta was really delicious as well. Shame about the time taken to get the food out though, I would have loved to try their dessert.

The food is very tasty. The pasta was filled with potato and mint 😋 The zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese were delicious, but my favourite from the entree were the croquettes stuffed with pumpkin 🤤 I’ll definitely go back to try the other pastas 😄

We were very hungry and were quite pushed for time, but stumbled upon this restaurant and were served immediately, with complementary bread to keep us from going crazy! The food came very quickly and was extremely delicious, really well presented and high quality. The staff were very understanding and nice which really made the experience as positive as it was.

Service is friendly and the food gives Italy a run for their money. The pasta are all hand made including the gluten free ones, it was so good I thought they had given me normal pasta by mistake. The pizza was also flawless - thin but crispy and chewy base, toppings are well thought out. If you like reds, go for the Chianti Classico from Tuscany. I'm definitely coming back here

We were a group of 7 booked over the holidays. The restaurant was very accommodating of several number changes within hours of our booking. We had loads of room, and the venue is well laid out (you don't feel cramped at all). You can also hear one another as it isn't a loud venue. We had their $60pp chefs menu and it was sooooo tasty and so much food. We started with their cheesy garlic pizza, stuffed zucchini flowers and charcuterie platter with terrific cured meats. That was a ton of food. Then we had a break before we got the rabbit and pasta...the most moist pleasant rabbit I've had! Following that was the duck with crispy skin on a delicious cabbage salad, plus a green salad and two bowls of chips (that was the only strange part of the meal that probably could've been skipped). The dessert was a lovely semifredo with cookie and caramel, and some pistachio cannnoli. We were all well filled and loved the dishes. Highly recommend this place!!!

GOOD QUALITY ITALIAN CUISINE We dropped in without a booking before a show at the Regent Theatre one Saturday night at 6 pm. They were happy to seat us and have us finished by 7:15 for our show. We got the table right next to the viewing window into the kitchen - was fun to watch the busy staff preparing the meals. reassuringly, the kitchen staff looked both happy and focussed on their creations :) Our waitress did a great job of introducing us to the restaurant and the menu, even more impressive as it was her first night! The restaurant is fairly large but it wasn't at all noisy and there is enough space between tables (for two) to allow you privacy for your conversation. We were going to order two entrees but on the waiter's advice that entree serves are quite large we settled on sharing a calamari between us for entree. As you can see in the picture it was enough for two. I had the gnocci with rabbit ragu. The gnocci was delicious in texture and flavour. the rabbit was tasty but slightly salty for my taste (my partner thought it was just right!). Partner had the delightful vegetarian culurgiones, a sicilian stuffed pocket pasta. It had an amazing texture and a delicate flavour. We shared a fennel and orange salad I had a glass of Australian pinot grigio and we shared sparkling water. The bill was just over $100 for the both of us. Despite our limited time, the food came out with good timing and we were out the door in good time for our show. Toilets are up some fairly steep stairs and quite a walk so may be difficult for people with mobility issues. Not especially wheelchair friendly as it has split level floors. Overall a very good experience.. we'll be back again!

Managed to grab dinner for two here on a busy Saturday night. No booking, under 5 minutes and we were seated. Good wine selection, with a variety of Australian, Italian and French selections. Dinner itself, was, hands down, the best gnocchi I've had outside of Italy. My wife had the Potato, lemon and mint Culurgiones, aided a little by myself.....superb. Staff were top notch, couldn't fault a thing. Will definitely be back next time we're in Melbourne

Fantastic food - the potato pizza is to die for! Cocktails are amazing - you must try the espresso martini

Such a lovely place. The service was fantastic, the food was incredible and I would highly recommend this place. We had 3 different pastas, all amazing, beautiful and flavoursome and generous servings and the desserts were incredible. Looking forward to coming back soon.

Loved their service. They cooked my meal on a separate pan when requested to ensure my meal doesnt come in contact with any meat. Really tasty food too. :) Will 100% go again.

The food and the service were excellent. A great place for a quick bite or a leisurely three course meal. We'll be back.

Fabulous..we walked in off the street on grand final nigh..no tables but promised a call in an hour. 20 minutes later we had a table for 6 and fabulous night with amazing food and excellent service. Highly recommend.... the tiramasu garden pot is superb!!

Visitors to Melbourne staying across the lane. This became our "local" for the couple of days we were here. Enjoyed dinner, coffees, cocktails and breakfasts. Always warmly welcomed, friendly staff, great service and delicious food.

Greeted well as you enter the restaurant, delicious food, excellent service - nice wine list - has it all....we enjoy the dinner - Margaret Cunniffe VIP Business Group

The most amazing food you can have!! The gnocchi melt in your mouth and 24hours later I can still taste the flavours from my truffle parmigiano raviolini!! Too die for!!

A great place to eat authentic Italian. The staff was very friendly and professional.

Some of the best pasta I’ve had in a very long while, with delicious salads, sides and the desert was to die for.<br/><br/>I can’t recommend Lello, highly enough.<br/><br/>Service and atmosphere were fantastic, too !! <br/><br/>We will definitely be returning here again, in the future.

Had a reservation on Tuesday at 5:30pm, got a small table at the very corner, where has no waiter can see us. Personally, a quiet night and early time like that, i think they should give a better table as the restaurant had less than 10 customer the whole time. I had been wave to the wait staff for so many times, but the waiter and bar girl was keep chatting, at the end i have to walk to the front and get my bill. <br/><br/>Ordered a Moreton Bay bug Tortellini and a beef Lasagna vincisgrass. Taste was great, however, it's too pricey for such as small portion. The lasagna was 3 tiers but thin like a sheet.

For a place that charge premium prices for food, the service is pretty unacceptable on a non busy 2pm lunch hour on a weekday.<br/><br/>I walked in, looked at the menu at the coffee order station, was asked- dine in? Of which I said - yes. Immediately after two ladies turned up after me and said they wanted a take away.<br/><br/>Another staff came along and gave me a menu but took it away again to the take away ladies and just told me to sit wherever I like - without a menu.<br/><br/>I waited up until the ladies completed their order at the coffee station, this staff member never re-appeared with at least a menu, cutlery or water.<br/><br/>I walked up to the coffee station and asked to order because I was just totally ignored. If I am further ignored I would have just walked out of this place.<br/><br/>Other observations: no serviette / napkins for eat in(cut costs?), table and chairs full of crumbs (They don’t wipe their tables! I took the cleanest seat I could find) and no chilli flakes (I asked for it and some fresh chillies was what I got)<br/><br/>This rating would have been 1 for a very ordinary tasting pizza at a grand price of $25 to eat in, if the staff who took my order had not come around with cutlery and offer me water shortly after I have ordered. The service was reasonably friendly after the initial bad experience as well.<br/><br/>I had a similar non-caring experience 6 months ago when I came for breakfast although there was a reason to be forgiven since it was peak coffee hour.<br/><br/>Ok place for coffee if you are not in a hurry- they get very busy at peak hours and non peak they really do take their own sweet time to serve you.

Great Italian, excellent knowledgeable service backed up by great food, wine selection and coffee. Highly recommended.

Its been a while since I last visited Lello and I was pleasantly surprised by the improvements.<br/> <br/>The staff were professional, knowledgeable on the ingredients of the dishes and lovely and helpful.<br/> <br/>Our pastas were just simply divine, we ordered the Gnocchi Pomodoro (delicious and a generous portion) and I had the Culurgiones pasta. These potato and mint filled Sardinian ravioli reminded me of polish dumplings (only better), they were served with broccoli, almonds and a colatura di aici (some sort of umami buttery sauce) which was just a melt in your mouth flavour experience). My dish was just so exquisite in flavour and texture, I can only describe it as perfect.<br/>KD<br/><br/><br/>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<br/>Previous Review<br/>Lello is a sleek Italian cafe/restaurant on the busy Flinders Lane / Russell street corner. Nice fitout makes this venue aesthetically pleasing and brings in plenty for the early morning take away coffee run. I ended up here due to recurring train redirection causing me to walk to work in a different direction. I chose to sit and take my time over breakfast today. I ordered my staple strong almond latte and a sizeable sourdough toast with butter and peanut butter (yum)z <br/><br/>Good order delivery speed and an enjoyable quick breakfast before going about my day. Would love to come back here some time and try the Italian food they produce here (the lunchtime set menu in particular looked tempting), so wouldn’t be so surprised if I update this review at a later date to reflect some more substantial food consumption here.<br/>KD

We went for the ‘feed me’ option which can be a bit of a risk. It’s touted as 7 courses at $59 per head. It started with the pumpkin croquettes which looked fantastic and were presented well but lacked any real flavour. We had to salt ours (I can’t remember the last time I had to salt an under seasoned croquette?). Second course was white mushroom with goats cheese and toasted brioche - amazing! This was by far the best dish of the night. Bbq octopus was best but only charred on one side and not very memorable. Onto the mains and the first was prosciutto wrapped rabbit linguine. This isn’t something I’d normally order (so wintery), but it was fantastic. The accompanying sauce was rich and had been reduced for ages to pack so much flavour. Kingfish was the second main and I found it to be terrible. Lightly seared, it lacked any flavour and wasn’t pretty on the plate. I didn’t finish this dish, and I almost never leave leftovers. Dessert was a peanut butter dish and one (1) cannolo to share. It’s a bit cheeky to include 2 half desserts as 2 complete courses. A cannolo is hardly restaurant quality dessert. It’s something you buy from a bakery and eat while you’re walking. Overall it was a good meal but far behind Tipo 00 quality. Of the 7 ‘courses’ the mushroom dish and the rabbit linguine were the standouts and of 5 star quality. The other qualm is that we were here for 130 minutes on a Tuesday night. No meal should take that long. When I queried the lengthy wait times while paying the bill, our waiter said he hinted at ordering a la carte as it wouldn’t have taken so long. Tuesday nights are hardly peak time?

Pretty busy place for weeknights. Good place to go after work. The service is pretty good. We've ordered few things but my favourite are the gnocchi, pizza and lasagna. Great value too. I would come back for another dinner for sure.

Been here a few times now! Consistent pasta, love the traditional flavours. Prices are reflected in the dishes and love the atmosphere. I have tried quite a few pasta now and have not been able to fault one. A small selection but each done well ;)

Cozy Italian restaurant on the corner of flinders lane and Russell street. Lovely atmosphere and wonderful staffs. And of course the food was delicious. Highly recommended!

Excellent service. The gnocchi with zucchini was phenomenal. Great texture and loved the sauce. Ricotta ravioli with eggplant also tasted great. Heaps of ricotta inside the ravioli. Also the cab sav from margaret river was smooth

Nice atmosphere for a date night.<br/><br/>The pumpkin stuffed angel hair croquette tasted like uncooked instant noodles. <br/><br/>We were pleasantly surprised by the burrata here, which was above average, as were the buffalo we had on top of the gnocchi<br/><br/>We got the rabbit pasta which was quite soft and tender but didn’t really stand out. <br/><br/>Something special about this place is the tiramisu, which came in a pot and was quite tasty

A wonderful place with amazing Pasta dishes and mains. The gnocchi with pomodoro sugo and the special Fish of the day were super fresh and tasty- great portions too!!<br/><br/>The staff were the highlight. Very attentive, fast and friendly!

Came here for breakfast. It’s ok. The breakfast menu is quite limited but I do like the fluffy toast. Nothing surprising. Good customer service and comfortable place.

Walked in for a pre-show dinner on a blustery Friday night. We were eating early so did not bother making a booking. The after work bar queue left us waiting uselessly in the wrong spot for a good five minutes before we pushed our way through to the dining area. The venue’s manager was there to greet us and after this everything fell neatly into place. We were seated immediately and after explaining we were in a rush to get to a show, the service was to the point and prompt. Our meals, both pasta, were excellent, as was the wine that accompanied it. I can not fault our experience (once we located where we were supposed to go). Cannot wait to go back and enjoy Lello’s food and hospitality again.

From the food to the service everything we experienced was absolutely faultless. Little pumpkin arancini was to die for as was the caprese salad which was plentiful and so fresh. They are well known for their lasagne and it’s something you have to get... not the thick layers you’re used to be instead very flat but absolutely stuffed with the most beautiful flavour going around. All dishes on our table were amazing and our waiter we had was excellent. An absolute cracking place and one that absolutely deserves a visit... I’ll be back.

Nicely located, nice interior, we were seated at table for 8 closest to kitchen and the soundproofing in the place seems well done, most places you go you can barely hear each other. Delicious food all around. Had the beef lasagna. This had ragu in it as opposed to traditional bolognese sauce but was delicious. Very rich. Very cheesey. The only downside from first visit was staff: whilst friendly they were quite rushed it seemed, spilling drinks forgetting to bring the specials over & forgetting to take half the table's drinks orders. Price wise above good for quality and quantity, in the CBD it is nearly a given to be more expensive.

3.5 star ⭐️ <br/><br/>I really really loved the food at Lello so I am going to state up front why they got 3.5 stars from me. Their food took so so so so long to arrive. Between the mains and entrees I think there was a good half an hr in between. At lunch time. In CBD. Not acceptable in my opinion. <br/><br/>On to the food. We had some really good entree specials- the fried zucchini with egg and Parmesan was amazing, so was the mushroom entree with a dollop of goats cheese in the middle. And thank goodness the dollop of goats cheese is in the middle because I don’t normally eat goats cheese.<br/><br/>My friend had a mint and ricotta ravioli and that was super yummy. I wasn’t sure about the whole mint thing in pasta at first it totally worked.<br/><br/>My ragu pasta was delicious as well. Pasta was simple but pretty perfectly al dente.<br/><br/>I really wish their food come out quicker but otherwise the food was fantastic.

Top dining experience all round, especially if you love Italian food with a difference. The staff were very professional and super friendly, making it a great night for our party of 8. The standout dishes were the angel hair croquettes and the Culurgiones. It is the first time I have seen these Sardinian parcels filled with potato and mint. Not your average pasta restaurant!

Very authentic italian cuisine. With the touch of expressive italian waitress that make the atmosphere sparkling even more. The ambience is on point. A dinner here will be an amazing experience especially for everyone that enjoy italian food. The pasta is home made and has perfect composition not to thick nor thin. The desserts are tasteful and lovely.

Amazing service - I had a suitcase because I was on en route to the airport - not a problem for the staff who promptly stowed it away. Next the speedy service ensured I had water to the table within 2 min and a drink approx 3 min after I ordered. The food arrived quickly - I ordered a gnocchi pomodoro which was DEVINE. Not a bad wine list either. Will be back for sure!

Lello is a sleek Italian cafe/restaurant on the busy Flinders Lane / Russell street corner. Nice fitout makes this venue aesthetically pleasing and brings in plenty for the early morning take away coffee run. I ended up here due to recurring train redirection causing me to walk to work in a different direction. I chose to sit and take my time over breakfast today. I ordered my staple strong almond latte and a sizeable sourdough toast with butter and peanut butter (yum)z <br/><br/>Good order delivery speed and an enjoyable quick breakfast before going about my day. Would love to come back here some time and try the Italian food they produce here (the lunchtime set menu in particular looked tempting), so wouldn’t be so surprised if I update this review at a later date to reflect some more substantial food consumption here.<br/>KD

Came for lunch, had the kingfish and charred cauliflower. At first I was a bit put off by the $36 price tag.. but it was absolute value for money. It was incredible. Will definitely be back, I was very impressed. Keep up the good work 👍👍

We ordered only 3 dishes but the 3 of us felt very full! The food and customer service are both excellent. Quiet atmosphere but nice warm feeling. Definitely come back to try other food as well.

Probably some of the best pasta and lasagna I've had in melbourne all very fresh ingredients and everything is made from scratch. Highly recommend

I had lunch there yesterday and loved it. My companion had the handmade potato gnocchi and I had these amazing zucchini flowers stuffed with goat cheese, very pretty and delicious. It is a small serve you would probably have as an entree but perfect for me as a lunch ($18). Service is friendly and welcoming and I’d definitely eat there again.

Seeing this is a pasta bar I’ll focus on that! The lasagna I had was probably 9/10 absolutely delicious. Can’t say the same about the calamari, I had 1 bite and couldn’t eat it, maybe the worst I have had (they took it off the menu which they didn’t have too, I just hated it) that’s what you get ordering fish at a pasta bar maybe?? Service was good..... in short.... EAT PASTA NOT THE CALAMARI!!

Some of the best Italian I have had in Melbourne, the pasta and ingredients were so fresh and delicious! The atmosphere was very romantic and will be coming back again for sure!

I love love love this place! Has the best cacio e pepe! Their pizza is also probably by the the closest to what you can get from Rome

My fellow diners and I had a great experience at Lello last night. The ambience was great (cheerful but not too noisy); the staff were delightful and very efficient; and the food delicious, with decent-sized servings of terrific pasta, and excellent, and complimentary, bread. Too, I thought Lello was reasonably priced, considering the high quality on offer. Highly recommended!

Judging from the fancy interior and the enthusiastic waiter, I expected some quality pasta but was quite disappointed. I ordered the Scialatelli Frutti Di Mare (seafood pasta) which turned out to be bland and tasteless. The portion of seafood was also small compared to the expensive price. I can appreciate their freshly made spaghetti but the dish itself was not worth the $35 in my opinion.

If you work in the city, you’re in for a treat – the public transport system will get you there. If you are planning on driving in, and depending on the day – there is plenty of parking neaby. The food was exactly what you want from an Italian Restraurant. Warm. Filling. And fresh. Maybe I need to lift my game because I the restaurants I normally frequent, don’t live up to my expectations. But Lello was spot on.

Lovely atmosphere, great service and the prawn pasta dish I ordered was quite nice and had a lot of effort put into it. The menu and the food wasn’t incredible to go for a repeat visit however.

I visited this place when it used to be Ostaria and I like the new look and menu!<br/><br/>Lello has a very welcoming feeling, great ambience with the bright windows bringing in natural light in to the front with the more formal settings to the rear.<br/><br/>When we came in during the week for lunch, we were provided with friendly service and complimentary bread and olive oil. The bread was fresh, crusty and tasted amazing - two pieces were given per person but I was definitely eyeing off my friend's serve.<br/><br/>Food:<br/>We ordered one special - squid ink pasta with prawns and cherry tomatoes which was similar to one of the menu items, the seafood squid ink fettuccine. We were considering what our second dish could be, when we overheard one of the patrons ordering his usual lasagna and decided to follow him. The regulars usually know best!<br/><br/>I loved the prawn pasta! It came out with enormous prawns heaped on a tall bed of squid ink fettuccine and scattered with cherry tomatoes. The prawns had already been shelled for us which made eating super easy! The flavours of this dish were fantastic, the prawns were juicy, the pasta was tasty and al denté and the sweet cherry tomatoes added some acidity. Athough we had already agreed to share, I was tempted to polish off the dish myself!<br/><br/>The pork lasagna was appetising, there was good texture in the filling and the cheese added extra flavour. There was a good ratio of pasta to filling which was a welcome sight. I think I prefer traditional beef mince lasagne however. My friend enjoyed the lasagna.<br/><br/>We were quite full so didn't order dessert but the affogato and cannoli desserts sounded yum.<br/><br/>Overall, great atmosphere, yummy prawn pasta and I will be back to try the seafood pasta with white wine!

Can’t fault this place. Love it! The food, atmosphere and service 👌 have been a few times now and it never disappoints, highly recommend the homemade pastas.

Great place for delicious Italian foods. The grilled calamari entree was super delicious with a charred flavour but still tender. The pine mushroom with goat cheese mousse was heavenly. There were lots of choices for pasta to entice us. We ordered the seafood pasta and the rabbit pastas. Both of flavoursome and loved the saltiness of the pasta. Some people might find it a bit of salty side. The service were very good and they apologised when our dessert were running late. We will definitely be back.

The menu had pasta of the day which was veal pasta with truffle. It was so good, so that’s why I’m giving it a 4. Pizza was also pretty good and I also had the scialatell frutti di mare but the pasta tasted like udon noodles for some reason lol. Took a while for the food to come out for a table of 8.

A friend suggested that we try Lello based on the good reviews on Zomato.<br/><br/>We had some garlic focaccia to start and I decided to go for the Scialatell Frutti Di Mare, simply because I like seafood. The homemade pasta is delicious although I would have love if it was just a little less salty. And the only other issue is the portion size. For a main, I thought it’s a little on the small side. That was the consensus on our table of four. We wanted a bigger portion.<br/><br/>For dessert, we decided to share two different ones. See the little flower pot in my photos? That is the absolutely delicious Tiramisu from the garden. I must say it’s one of the better Tiramisu that I have had for a long while. The other ‘rock’ that you see is the Tartufo. It’s like an ice cream cake and so yum too. As you can imagine, we cleared the plate (and the pot), just short of licking it clean.<br/><br/>Another one place that made it to my ‘will come back’ list.

Lovely ambience, great beer and good pasta. While the pasta tasted fresh and handmade it wasn’t bad but nothing extraordinary. I got the margarita pizza which was nice with a good crust and yummy. Would recommend for pasta and pizza lovers.

The service is absolutely spectacular— incredibly engaged staff, warm, welcoming and with brilliant suggestions. <br/><br/>The squid ink that was on special that night was definitely the best for me, as it was perfectly cooked, with rich flavor and thin, tender calamari bits. I couldn’t taste the squid ink which was slightly disappointing, but it more than made up for it with the thick sauce.<br/><br/>The rabbit pasta was the one I wasn’t so sure about— it was a little undercooked to the point of being slightly dough-y, and the rabbit meat itself was a little bit dry. The sauce, lovely meaty flavor was spectacular, but this was a bit of a let down in comparison to the rest of the dishes.<br/><br/>Honestly, dessert is the biggest highlight. The tiramisu’s presentation is adorable with its little leaves and chocolate soil, and it’s so very satisfying to pour the hot chocolate and coffee mix into the pot— the flavor balance is absolutely incredible, with the sweet balancing out the bitter just right. It’s spectacular enough to warrant having coffee in the evening and risk sleeplessness. <br/><br/>It’s definitely worth a revisit— even if it’s just for dessert!!!!

Fresh home-made pasta! This place has my heart! Very friendly and relaxed. The venue is stylish and welcoming.<br/>I usually stop in for a quick coffee or lunch. <br/>Went in for dinner last week and had a lasagne that changed my religious beliefs... so good!<br/>Must try: gnocchi - lasagne - zucchini flowers - Calabrian sausage

I can only rate based on their coffee as I didn't have any of their food. Stopped in for a business meeting and the staff were friendly and very accommodating!! To score 5 stars based on one little piccolo and the atmosphere says a lot. Thanks guys.

I can't comment on their food as i didnt have any but their coffee? Wow. 👌<br/>Had a business meeting and the staff were courteous and friendly and respected the fact we were having a business meeting, topping it off with perfect coffee

With its high quality warm and welcoming service, I really wanted to love Lello Pasta Bar.  But unfortunately, we walked out feeling quite "meh" at the underwhelming (reasonably pricey at nearly $30 a plate) pasta dishes. . Being a blistering cold and wet Melbourne evening, my friend and I had swapped out our plans of tequila and tacos for red wine and ragu.  What we were hoping for when we walked through Lello's doors was rich, bold and hearty pastas - ordering the ragu of the day, and the lasagna.  However, what we were met with was pasta which, while cooked well, lacked in flavour and seasoning.

Excellent service, with good quality food. The pasta I had was al dente, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story behind the pasta told by the waiter who served our table. The breakfast menu and the coffee is always a delight.

Called in here last night for dinner before the theatre. We didn’t book and we managed to get a table for which we were really grateful. <br/><br/>For starters the service was excellent! Thank you. <br/><br/>For dinner we ordered rosemary and garlic focaccia which was perfect, salty, garlic w a hint of rosemary and crispy. It was the best that I’ve eaten. <br/><br/>We had a Diavola pizza (spicy) which was delicious, good pastry and great toppings. Then we had a farmed rabbit pasta which was excellent! <br/><br/>Wow what a night, perfect service w excellent food! This place is definitely worth a visit, but I’d recommend booking first, unlike me lol

Chose this place for a bite for dinner...<br/>Would prefer to give a 3.5 but don’t know how as there’s no .5 option anymore.<br/>Great atmosphere friendly staff <br/>We ordered <br/>Capricciosa pizza - lots of topping<br/>FYI- it’s a very long walk to the toilets!!

Delicious Italian fare! The Garlic Focaccia was just heavenly, and the calamari was nice and tender. I was really looking forward to the gnocchi but it was a little bit of a let down and did not melt in your mouth like I expected. The lasagne verde was different to what I expected, however it was tasty. Dish of the day was probably the Breadcrumb Maltagliati. The prawns were cooked to perfection and the flavours were spot on.<br/>Service was fantastic, and the wine list was impressive.<br/>I've had better pasta before but the dining experience as a whole was nice at Lello Pasta Bar.

Pasta made fresh daily, and serving Atomica coffee. Came for lunch. <br/><br/>Food: Lamb ragu gnochi. Gnocchi pieces were beautiful, the perfect softness. The ragu was a bit salty for me but that’s the fault of my salt-sensitive palate. Lamb pieces clearly fresh, quality meat with melting tenderness. As a bonus, the bread is made for mopping up leftover sauce. Prices match quality. <br/><br/>Service: Ray was delightful. Very friendly, helpful and patient helping me choose (he recommends the potato and mint ravioli).<br/><br/>Atmosphere: The interior is simple and refined, complementing rather than outdoing the food. <br/><br/>Great place.

Slightly overrated with lack of vegetarian choices, prices on the high side for what you are getting. Had the potato dumplings and lasagne but they could be better. Good service and love how they display their tiramisu

Nice restaurant offering authentic Italian pasta. We had the gnocchi and lasagna, they were great but a bit salty to my personal taste. Dessert was pleasant. Restaurant is pram friendly.

Great pasta though I’d give it to Tipo 00 in a competition.<br/><br/>Atmosphere and refinement a big step forward from what was here before...but still has a bar feel. Not inexpensive for what it was.

The best place to enjoy a glass of wine and fresh home made pasta. We had the rabbit tagliatelle and the seafood pasta. To die for. We finished our meal with their masterpiece, the chocoalte and hazelnut tartufo. Service was also attentive, and Pietro took care of us. Great atmosphere. Recommended.

Had a vey nice evening here with my missus. The service was excellent and the food was amazing. Loved the Salumi plate and the seafood pasta. Looking forward to returning so I can try the other dishes on the menu.

I did have the best vegemite toast on sourdough I've probably ever had this morning. Just the right amount of everything. It made me happier than it should have.

Stumble upon this place randomly and decided to give it a try. Not many pepole when we first step in, but the place is full after we left around 9pm. Great serivce and awesome food.. almost everything serve on the menu seems to be housemade.

Went to Lello for the first time last Friday night. Italian and fresh pasta being one of my favorite food, I was quite excited to try their new menu.  It was quite easy to make a booking (much easier than Tipo where you need to book such a long time in advance...)<br/><br/>Atmosphere is quite nice, same as the previous place, was busy but not too noisy / cozy.<br/><br/>Good beer list but limited wine list. Could see some Chianti by the glass but for instance no Sangiovese. <br/><br/>Entrees were nice, a little too salty. Texture of the calamari was really good.<br/><br/>The Tagliolini  with Rabbit were also nice, the sauce not too heavy and tasty, They really serve fresh pasta and cooked well.<br/><br/>Big issue was with the Ravioli (with veal, special of the day), it was SO salty that almost inedible. That was the real disappointment and why I am not rating this place higher. I was try again to see if this was an accident but that almost ruined the the whole experience.<br/><br/>Finally we shared the passion fruit Alaska for desert. Not too sweet and the cream on top was actually really nice.<br/><br/>Hopefully next time appetizers and especially the Ravioli will be less salty so I could become a regular.

Lamb ragu pasta($29-$30). The sauce and meat tastes delicious. I think it would have been nicer if there was more sauce though and bigger cuts of meat 😭. If you're thinking of trying this, it's on their special menu. The servings are quite smaller than most Italian restaurants. If you have a big appetite, I recommend ordering something from their entree menu. If you're looking for quality in pasta, then look no further. The pasta is freshly made and perfectly cooked (al dente). 🍴🍴🍴.5/5<br/><br/>🍝Centre of attention- eggplant and almond ravioli with torched Clarence River prawns and provolone ($29.80). 🍴🍴🍴.5/5 The ravioli's were all the same sizes and beautifully made. The interesting combination gives the dish some bite and is not grainy. Prawns were prepared and cooked perfectly. There were no shells to be found. The addition of sauce could have been more generous. It was more on the drier side.<br/><br/>

This was by far one of the best meals we have eaten. The pasta was really delicious and a good size. The sprouted grain makes the pasta easily digestable and the texture is perfect. The lamb was deeply flavousome and tender so satisfying. The service was fantastic, friendly and very professional. The dessert was seriously delicious and we only tried it as the mains were so good. Coffee was superb. Can't say enough aboug how good this is. <br/>I read reviews about the small portion sizes and nearly didn't go, clearly this has been rectified as every meal that came out was a good size. Couldn't finish mine!

A friend brought me here for a birthday dinner and I have to say, he picked very well. The decor was cosy yet trendy, and the staff were friendly and knowledgeable, offering suggestions for drink and food pairings.<br/><br/>The food came quite promptly and was absolutely delicious. I don't think I've ever had pasta as al dente as the tagliolini here. I now know what my perfect pasta texture is. Also my first time trying rabbit, and wow, I was impressed with the silky texture of the meat and the light almost chicken-y flavour. I also had the pear martini cocktail, which was fantastic and had a very pleasant light cinnamon-y pear-y taste (who would have guessed, right?)<br/><br/>The only gripe I have with the place is that it's TOO open. Wide open windows and an open door is very inviting, but it was a hot and humid night and all of the airconditioning/fanned air was slipping out of those openings. We were looking forward to relief from the uncomfortably warm night and we did not receive it. Other than that though, this was a fantastic restaurant experience, and I can't wait to come back when I can afford it.

Pasta Bar is a misnomer. I wandered in expecting a snack then thought I’d look like a complete goose if I walked out of what is in fact a lovely bistro and bar. This is a nice coherent space with good light streaming in. Nice place to have a meal and even watch the world go by. There was nice music playing. I liked this bistro instantly. It feels good. Service was speedy, professional and informative. I procured the $40 lunch special. Two courses, one glass of wine included. It’s a good deal. I chose the zucchini flower first. It had light very nicely flavoured batter, was beautifully cooked, had a firm stem and was superbly stuffed. This is without a doubt the best of these I’ve ever tasted. It was absolutely superb. The eggplant ravioli was excellent too but perhaps one or two pieces away from being an adequate sized meal. That’s an honest judgement understanding that other reasonable minds may differ. Beautiful coffee to finish. This is a very nice bistro. I did well to unwittingly find it. I’ll be back.

Unfortunately, not a fan at all. Service was great, hence the rating. The food is super over prized. Paid $30 for a dish of pasta, meaning 6 ravioli topped with 4 prawns. Totally fine if the dish is bursting with flavor but very bland. Would not recommend going. There are so many places in Melbourne that cost half and the food is delicious.

Yak Italian Kitchen & Bar has now become Lello, which was the childhood nickname of head chef and co-owner Leo Gelsomino. Pasta is still the focus here, and it's made fresh every day. Apart from being lower in gluten, sprouted flour is generally easier to digest, leaving less of a starchy feeling afterwards. Eggplant and Almond Ravioli come with torched Clarence River prawns and a provolone cheese sauce. The ravioli is full of flavour - a lovely combination of roasted eggplant

This place has the best coffee around. Unfortunately this is the only saving grace as they’re forever running out of breakfast. Running out of bacon and eggs but 8:45am is ludicrous.

Tried this place the evening before the Melbourne marathon a couple of weekends ago. Hoping for a large plate of pasta to carb-load, I was disappointed that my dish was an extremely small portion. I will say that every mouthful was amazing but I left feeling quite hungry and definitely could've eaten double or triple what I received. Good service and nice interior though :)

In the heart of the CBD on Flinders lane, the old Yak Italian Kitchen has transformed into a new dining experience named Lello pasta bar. All the pasta is handmade in-house and they celebrate dishes from varied regions across Italy. Fortunately this is also the case for their wine menu, varied varietals from different parts of Italy, which in itself ensures a good night. The décor is refined and has a bit of fancy about it, and the menu was traditional and unfamiliar to me in an exciting way. Safe to say you can order some food and have them pair a fine wine and your tastebuds will takes you to Italy and back.

Very good food quite great service a bit expensive always check beverage prices<br/>Recommended to order burrata salad everything is season very well

the saltiest dish ever, definitely not worth coming back! we tasted more salt than flour. the worst italian restaurant we have ever been to ever!

Really enjoyed dinner at Lello. Whilst quite similar to the previous restaurant, Yak bar, the fit out is noticeably more refined. The service was a little bit vague (I suspect our waitress was new) but otherwise everything was great. I ordered the fish of the day which was snapper fillet with caponata and braised spinach. The fish was expertly cooked and the flavours were brilliant. The complimentary bread with balsamic and olive oil was also a nice touch.

Paid for a large takeaway coffee. Waited 15 minutes for it to be made. Upon collecting it, they'd made me a regular. Told them I ordered and paid for large. The barista said the slip says a regular so I explained to him again that I had paid for a large. His reply was "we're really busy at the moment, we'll sort it out next time". No apology, no refund, no offer to make me a large. <br/><br/>Well there won't be a next time as I won't be returning. Work on your customer service and apologise when you make a mistake...simple!

do not come here for coffee and pay on card. A 50cent surcharge is ridiculous. Can't wait until they ban excess surcharging. won't be back again.

Friendly service and cozy ambience. Pizza and baby calamari are perfect, but the dessert special recommended by the staff has a strange taste.

Food was ok - we had a table next to the kitchen and at the end of our meal a large cockroach climbed up the wall right behind our table. They gave us free drinks with our meal after I asked for a discount. Sorry we won't be back 'cause where there's one roach there are plenty more. Suggest Dept of Health should take a look here

Amazing Italian staff and food. Great vibe, great place for a meal with friends and it's not so noisy that you can chat without everyone hearing. Amazing drink selection and the pasta is made and cooked to perfection. Would recommend for a small group of people and a snazzy, Melbourne atmosphere.

Loved this place! We went here randomly after not being able to get in elsewhere. Lucky we were able to get in on a Saturday night without a booking. We had a great meal, the croquettes were AMAZING! They also do fantastic cocktails here, well worth a visit! Yak is in a great location and the set out is comfortable.

Visited for my daily coffee. Not impressed with the latte I ordered, milk isn't steamed correctly, definitely rushed.<br/><br/>On top of that, I got charged 50c just to use my card, absolutely ridiculous and an outright scam that it costs that much to use a card. Won't be visiting again.

I paid $28 for this "specials" pasta (pictured). It was undercooked pasta with what tasted like canned mushrooms. On the menu it sounded awesome and when it arrived I thought "Are you joking?" It was so bland and I'm still in absolute disbelief that this is served as a dish. The service was very friendly, not at all prompt. Sadly this restaurant is not my style and I don't recommend.

Food was very good. We had the pizza with the sausage and the turmeric potatoes which was different but it was nice. We also had the lasagna which was different again but enjoyable and the pasta with the rabbit which was lovely. The duck was cooked perfectly and the pasta was delicious! Service was terrible. They were busy but they were certainly lacking staff. We noticed that every table around us was given bread with some oil although, we happened to be the only table without it. Not that we needed it, however not receiving it was disappointing. They took 20 minutes to bring us a menu and then we had to wait just as long to order our food. Overall, food was great but service was terrible.

Between 3 girls we ordered 2 vegetarian pizzas, vegetable of the day (artichoke), calamari salad and fries and trust me, it's enough food, bill totalled $83 (Good value for a good meal). Good pizzas, crust was crispy, ingredients was fresh. One of girls I was with owns a cafe and said it was one of the best pizzas she's had. I have to give her credit for her opinion seeing her experience in the industry. I would honestly never order a vegetarian pizza but glad it was chosen, the Swiss brown mushroom pizza was delicious, mushrooms were whole, something you don't normally see. A lovely waitress (Valentina?), sweetest girl.. really took care of us which counts towards our rating tonight. Next time I come back, I look forward to trying the pasta but will be hard not to choose the pizza again! Until next time.

Not a bad little place in the city. The food was decent but too pricey for what you get. The pasta was good and pizzas just ok. The service was also quite good for a busy Friday night. Unlikely to visit again but not a let down.

Came here on a Friday night and was lucky didn't have to wait without booking. Had the rabbit with risotto and it was the first time I had rabbit. Meat was juicy and tender risotto was lovely. Would come back again :)

Yak is a modern twist on Italian food. Came for lunch and the staff were very friendly and attentive. The food is nothing overly fancy but it is good (albeit a little on the pricey side). Had a Calabrian pizza which was pork sausage and turmeric potatoes on a white base... definitely not an authentic style, but the base had a good texture and the flavours worked together well.

Yak bar...how have I not reviewed this place yet? Came in for a whisky after dinner. Great little bar where the suits usually hang out on Friday night.<br/><br/>It has a great atmosphere and seating (as sometimes you don't want to be standing around all night in your high heels!!).  <br/><br/>Great reliable go to place that is not pretentious. I have also previously dined in the restaurant where the food was great also.

Food is delicious, staff are a bit weird.. not sure if that's the snobby Italian self they have in them.<br/>Food can be overpriced<br/>Haven't come back since.<br/>Take your lover, friends or family for some good Italian food.

Had a pizza. It was alright. Had a bit of mixup with the order. Service was good though. Price was average for the area but a little high for the food. Nice environment.

Popped in for a quick bite to eat, the pizzas were delicious and cooked in a wood oven. The other food coming out looked good to and seemed to be very traditional Italian which is always appreciated in my book. Good service, polite wait staff who were attentive but not overbearing. There was a nice atmosphere in there and not too noisy despite the large number of people. If I wasn't so full I would have tried the donut balls for dessert.

This is a pleasant enough place and the service is good but our meals were disappointing. The pasta is cooked in the 'italian' style (so im told) which means its undercooked. The rabbit was plentiful and moist but I was expecting more from the Ragu. No flavour. My dish was meant to have pancetta but I couldnt see or taste it. The other pasta dish with prawns was way too salty for our taste. I guess based on the rating they must do an ok job but I wont be back.

Love this place is on trend at social media now. Very active on Instgram, fb and YouTube channel to share their love for Italian food. The family dinner this time we've order their veg crape, pork & mixed seafood, rabbit loin, maccheroni and a seafood pasta. Entree delish. Main: Rabbit loin was very tender prefect cooked and its something not you can get everywhere (that's y this place keep me returning for 5 years and on). The pasta dish for my parents was a bit too al dente for my liking but they said they love their pasta. Highlight was the dessert - Italian donut filled with homemade ice cream!!! Service bit matey but friendly. My top 5 Italian place in Melb always.

The service was great- very attentive wait staff. However the food was very very bland. Between us we ordered a prawn pasta dish and a pork belly pizza. The pasta was in a tasteless sauce of oil and prawns- no seasoning/ garlic/ spice/ cheese and by the time the requested cheese arrived the pasta wasn't warm enough for it to melt or even soften. The pizza consisted of a few thin slices of pork belly and cheese which was very very bland as well. Disappointing food(maybe we were just unlucky) but good drinks and friendly staff.

A Melbourne institution in my mind. Have been here a number of times and have never been disappointed (with the food or service).<br/><br/>Pizzas are excellent. Gnocchis are soft and pillowy. Sauces are rich and complex. And they're not afraid to push some boundaries with some of their flavour combinations. All for very reasonable prices and generous serving sizes.<br/><br/>I'll keep it short. Come here for some of the best Italian with a hint of Modern Australian that you can find in Melbourne.<br/> <br/><br/>P.S. Last visit I came everything was just a bit too salty. Gnocchi ragu was slightly over and the sauted silverbeet that accompanied by rabbit tasted like it had been brined. A knock down .5 stars.

The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Express Restaurant lunches are a great way to try a new restaurant (or visit an old favourite) on a budget. For $40 you get the choice of 2 courses, a glass of wine and coffee.I generally like to try a new restaurant and so I met a friend at Yak Italian, on the corner of Russell Street and Flinders Lane. I have been past this corner many times but never really noticed this restaurant.

Wow...wow...wow !! Nice little restaurant/bar with awesome staff and fantastic food in a great location. Duck,Rabbit and pasta were our recommendations to anyone else going to Yak. We will be back 👌<br/>

Can never go past the home made gnocchi! It's absolutely delicious. The tiramisu is maybe a bit cutesy in design but is light as a feather and very very moreish!

I've been here twice now and I will be back! The gnocchi wins me over every time, so delicious. The pizza is also amazing. Would definitely recommend a visit!

This is usually a good restaurant, however, the 10th of March 2016 I went to eat there and found a sharp piece of plastic inside one ricotta ravioli, the explanation given by the waiters was quite unsatisfying - they said that they use plastic containers to place fresh pasta during the preparation-, as if it was normal to find plastic in your meal. Initially they didn’t even apologise for this incident. Instead, they offered to change my dish. I wish I could recommend this restaurant, but hazard of swallowing hard plastic is not worth it.

Honest and hearty Italian cuisine in the middle of the exhibition street and little flinders lane. Absolutely loved their menu, and delicious half roasted duck and grilled calamari entree. Great place for business lunch, friendly service and generous house bread w olives. Will be back to try more..

Wonderful, friendly service. The pizzas had true Italian flavours. The chef was also accomodating to us as one person could not have cheese on their pizza.

Good food, beer and service but...<br/><br/>Just too noisy!<br/><br/>Please do something about the noise.<br/>Even when the place is half-empty you have to shout.<br/><br/>It's also pretty expensive and has my one pet hate - tables that are lined up side by side, cheek by jowel. Nothing intimate here when you share a conversation because you have to shout and the person at the next table is a meter away.

Getting busier over the years. Clear sign of consistency. Good on them. Food is always a winner. Pizza and rabbit dishes are the standouts and reason enough to return. Prices not so much, however there are more places with less value around.

Nice selection of delicious homemade pasta and always dependable quality. They have upped their prices a fair bit and lose points on value. <br/>Good after works happy hour specials.

This italian spot isnt too bad. Some meals are ok and others are pretty good. However we found that the size portion for price paid and value wasnt too fair. But decent overall

Arrived around 8 and waited only a few minutes for a table. Our orders were taken quickly by a friendly waitress who was only too happy to tell us her recommendations. I had the gnocchi with a mixed ragout of rabbit, veal and lamb (I think!) and the gnocchi was the best I've ever had! Hubby enjoyed the rabbit tagliatelle, and my mother in law enjoyed her tortellini. We also ordered a Rosemary focaccia....it came out after our mains, which was a little disappointing, but we still enjoyed it. Overall, great place, great price. Meals are on the smaller side, which was good for a late dinner.

A humble Italian restaurant, serving nice fresh pasta and pizzas. I ordered the gnocchi of the day - gnocchi was smooth, soft and full of flavour and it was served with lamb, pork and beef ragu. Really good food, but portions were quite small - not your usual abundant Italian meal! So prepare to order an entrée, 2 mains and dessert! 😂

<br/>Off the beaten track for a cuchina ...<br/><br/>Ok place for a quick meet up / a few share plates of food and a few glasses of wine ahead of migrating to other city venues.

A really nice and sophisticated ambience for a Saturday night dinner/drinks at the bar. We had the roast duck with semolina gnocchi- duck was beautiful and tender and the gnocchi helped cut the richness of the duck. The pizza had a light pastry yet not soggy and the tiramisu presented as a small 'giardino' was not only different but the tastes of coffee, marscapone and biscuit were definitely there :) #thosemelbournianfoodies

The pork belly pizza is my fav! Been there for lunch and dinner- quite a lovely venue for an Italian meal. Only thing negative I'd say is that the chairs could be not so sturdy ( light weighted) and I did get my bill mixed up once- but all sorted without much issue.

Loved this place. Fresh home made pasta with tasty sauce, and pizzas are amazing also. Great friendly advice. Will be back here for dinner again

Worth yakking about!<br/><br/>Every year I head to Melbourne for a girlie weekend with my bestie involving shopping, eating, drinking and solving the problems of the world. We always make a real effort to try new places to eat and so it was that we found ourselves at Yak one wet and windy Thursday night, courtesy of the reviews here.<br/><br/>We arrived to find the place bustling, with a slight concern that we may not find room at the inn, but a table for two was quickly found and we settled in for our first night of catching up and eating up. Firstly the ambience is excellent - it was busy and a little noisy around the bar area, but this certainly did not make the dining area too noisy in any way at all.  And then there was the service - warm and friendly, attentive without being over the top.  Perfect as far as I'm concerned.<br/><br/>The menu got me interested immediately - interesting - my idea of heaven, having trouble deciding which of the delicious sounding dishes should pass my lips.  We decided on the caramelised onion and balsamic foccacia to start and this was to die for.  For mains we decided to share two pastas - there was no way I was going past the braised rabbit tagliolini and this was truly superb. Tender, amazing flavours and that yummy bunny was in my tummy quick smart.  We also chose the buckwheat and mushroom pasta - we were warned by our waitress that this would come out very al dente, but I was willing to go there.  Probably a mistake as we didn't really enjoy this one too much - a bit too chewy for my liking - but we can't say we weren't warned. And the flavours were really wonderful, the pasta was just a bit too buckwheat for my tastes. And all washed down with a bottle of something red - the memory doesn't stretch that far.<br/><br/>The price was excellent for the truly delectable meal that we received and whilst I'm not usually much of an italian eater, this place has changed my mind and will definately remain on my list of places I will be spending more time at once I move to Melbourne.  Thanks Yak - great stuff!

Great breakfast. I had breakfast today it was absolutely Devine .I had mushrooms and eggs with Virgin Olive oil hollandaise sauce it was so yummy .And the presentation was beautiful.<br/>I have come many different occasions for breakfast always cook and present beautiful .<br/>I work in the city and tell friends about this place for breakfast .I have recommend to all my friends come for breakfast.

Hearty Italian Cuisine. Bustling restaurant, serving a wide range of tempting and authentic Italian dishes.<br/><br/>I made a reservation weeks in advance, guessing that the place was in high demand. Sure enough, when my father and I arrived half an hour early, it was packed. We were planning to have a drink before dinner to kill the time, but were directed to our table immediately. He ordered a pizza, and I opted for the Lemon and Potato Filled Ravioli. We were also presented with complimentary bread and olives. Drinks and food all came out quickly, and impressed us. My only complaint is that the ravioli was a little undercooked, although the rich flavours coming through the sauce made up for that.

Excellent Italian that is very authentic. They make their own pizza and pasta

Pizza. So bad.

Disappointed with the service.. Disappointing experience. After informing staff that we had a show to go to and had to leave the restaurant in just over an hour, they assured us that would be no problem at all. After waiting 30 minutes after ordering we enquired where our drinks were. Staff told us that they should be a matter of minutes away. <br/><br/>Another 10 minutes went by and we enquired again to be told that our drink order had been lost and we had to order again. By this stage we were concerned our food would not come in time for us to leave and contemplated cancelling our order. The waiter told us our food would be out momentarily as only the drinks order had been misplaced. Another 15 minutes went buy and we were about to leave when everything came at once. <br/><br/>Yes the food was lovely, but having to rush and eat everything so quickly ruined our experience at the restaurant. I would have thought that just over an hour would have been enough time to order 3 pizzas and 4 drinks.

A fantastic venue for good Italian and work drinks.

A light casual Italian restaurant just tucked in Flinders Lane where I just happen walked into without a booking on a Saturday night. Waiting time was around 20 minutes and got a table for 2. The pasta menu was short but interesting with flavoured oil pasta with a range of slow cook yummmies. A vey busy restaurant and the noise level made chit chat a little hard. Inside Yak Bread to start Rabbit Tagliolini Rabbit Tagliolini

The restaurant prides itself on using fresh seasonal ingredients, and all pasta and pizza dishes are hand made using stone ground flour....The atmosphere in the restaurant is very lively, and at times a little noisy from the crowds of people at the bar, but we didn't really have to raise our voices to hear one another, which was good. There aren't any decorations on the walls, it's very simple, but the whole restaurant is very brightly lit. The service was quite fast, and the staff were friendly and very attentive.

Yak is definitely focused on its bar scene, but, that said, you can come here at practically any time. Cappuccinos and cafe-style munchies are available for daytime catch-ups, while dinner dates and family meals can also be accommodated with the large dining area and Mediterranean-meets-Australia menu.

Yak Bar Pasta is an exciting restaurant that will take you on a journey deep into Italian cooking, moreover edgy pasta dishes. It’s a colourful, fresh, creative space with underlying sophistication for the discerning diner.

The double layered pizza with an oozy layer of melt in the mouth Tallegio cheese and bits of herbaceous basil did just the trick. 

‘Proper’ is the most glowing endearment that can bestow on an Italian meal and the house made pasta at the Yak Bar lived up to that description.

It stands to reason that a kind of complacency sets in with any food that becomes a staple. Yak however is doing great things with pasta and everything else we experienced. Order the one you've never heard of and know you're in good hands.

New wines are appearing on the winelist and the beautiful looking menu is, well, awesome

Yak recently hosted a pizza competition to end all pizza competitions. Taking inspiration from the great competitions in Italy which were always held in a town square, chefs of all calibre would compete against one another and cook a pizza on large paddles which would then be judged. A victor would be announced and the pizza shared amongst the crowds.

...comfortable environment - pleasantly busy to provide a buzz but not too noisy or rushed. It's definitely conducive for girls chit chat and the tables don't feel cramped together which can be the case in Italian restaurants.

Yak is a reliable place for many of our group gatherings and we were back here twice in the last two months, at the same table with our groups of 10+. The food is always good, with a reasonable selection of wine, and we always left merry.

It was a cold Saturday night and L and I were so glad to get out the miserable drizzle and be embraced by dry warmth. We hadn't made any reservations but were happy to sit at a table in the bar. I had tragically broken a zipper that day and was feeling particularly, fragile. Thus I opted for no wine, a simple side of sauteed spinach and shared some char grilled mushrooms with L. After placing our orders, we were given some bread which looked as if it would be simultaneously crusty and soft. I kept myself from having any but delighted in the accompanying olive oil, balsamic vinegar AND ollives! What a fantastic idea to add the olives! As for our food, I enjoyed the char grilled mushrooms which was served with creamy ricotta, and accentuated by crunchy chunks of grilled foccacia.  My sauteed spinach was garnished with parmesan and well seasoned, although a bit too oily.

Disappointing. Dined at Yak last night. Service was poor. Had to ask for water and to replenish our wine. Nothing wrong with the food but overpriced for the quantity you get. Dessert was $15+ and all I got was two miniscule donuts filled with ice-cream and a few slices of orange. Wouldn't go back as not value for money.

We enjoyed our dinner at Yak, the salumi plate & pizza my fiancé and I shared was tasty. Service was outstanding. A little noisy, but all in all good.

Yummy Romantic Dinner. Went here for a dinner date on the Saturday right before Xmas and the place was quite busy. Got seated by the window side which was pretty cool! The food is to die for! All handmade and melts in your mouth! We ordered the rosemary, sea salt and garlic focaccia, which came fresh from the oven. Also ordered the fettuccine with lamb. The lamb was soft and delicious and the pasta was evidently so fresh. A Porchetta pizza was ordered. Unfortunately the waiter misheard and presented my date with a lemon and potato filled ravioli. The waiter apologised and charged us only for the ravioli, which was cheaper! Very filling and satisfying meal; better than any lygon st dinner.

Great casual Italian bar - comfort food. After losing our friends and waiting an hour to meet up with them we settled on Yak Italian Kitchen and Bar hungry and tested. The service was great, serving us drinks at the bar while we waited only 10 minutes for a table. When the rest of our party finally arrived we ordered both pasta dishes and steaks.<br/>I had the pasta with rabbit - it was absolutely divine. The sauce was rich and beautiful and the rabbit cooked perfectly. The homemade pasta was delicious. The dish was a great size for the price, I was very full after devouring the whole thing. After a few more wines we shared desserts, had a beautiful delicate pannacotta.<br/>Great casual, cosy atmosphere, good service and clean facility. Would go back next time I am in Melbourne and craving comfort food.

Sensational service, great portions and delicious meals all round. Such a great night - definitely will be back!

Mediocre for me, others enjoyed theirs.. My Pasta and Bolognese Ragu tasted like plain mince. The pasta was nice just a pity about the sauce. An offering of Parmesan or cracked pepper would have helped. Others tasted my dish and agreed it was ordinary.<br/><br/>Others in my party enjoyed theirs which was fish of the day, gnocchi, ravioli with basil and again they thought some parmesan and pepper would have been a good addition.<br/><br/>Service was ok, but I cant help think in restaurants where they charge a reasonable amount that they should remember who ordered what. They get it spot on in some of the cheaper places. Not a big deal but is a nice touch especially when they are not so busy.

Half Duck is Brilliant!!! Wow. Great food, well cooked and incredibly filling...

Best. Italian. Great for dining or drinking on so many levels, casual yet smart<br/>Always drop in for excellent fresh pasta and pizza, for a real treat<br/>order the crispy skin duck with semolina dumplings and a great <br/>Special can be the gnocchi with Sunday sauce(mixed meat ragout). <br/>Excellent value I suggest you try when next in town and guarantee<br/>You won't be disappointed

Great service. We arrived late without a booking on a busy Friday night and were told there was a 20 min wait. The obliging host made room for with stools at the bat and whisked us off to a free table about 10 mins later. Nothing was a problem. The pasta special had run out but the chef created a similar and divine version of tagliatelle with artichokes ricotta and peas. Great menu and great service.

Great vibe food and service

Avoid the pasta!. We came for a pre-theatre meal on a Saturday night. Service was good until they asked how our meals were and we said "not that great." No response! Lamb ragu pasta and vegetarian pasta special, both bland, no fresh ingredients, some of the listed ingredients undetectable. We won't be back, but maybe the pizza is better.

Great pasta. Gets noisy though.

Like it? No sorry I love it..... The food at this place is amazing and very fairly priced compared to other restaurants in the area, staff were also great and helpful.<br/>I had the rabbit gnocchi, it melted in your mouth and the gnocchi was light and fluffy unlike most which is heavy and filling, apparently it's home made just like Nonna use to make.<br/>Agree with some other reviews it is a little loud but don't let that steer you away.

Get the pizza. Went here on a busy Saturday night hoping for good Italian food and was not disappointed. The restaurant was fairly busy but we were seated quickly. The service was efficient and friendly. My sister and I both had pizzas (I had the special, the four cheese pizza) and we were both very happy with our decision. The pizza is made in traditional Italian style, with an amazing doughy base. We both managed to finish the pizzas (which were relatively cheap and quite big) but decided we could fit in dessert. We had an Italian style doughnut with pistachio ice-cream and blood orange, which was also amazing. The dessert wasn't a large serve but that worked for us because we were still pretty full after dinner. Altogether a lovely experience that I would recommend to anyone wanting a good Italian pizza.

On a Whim. Was raining and looking for a meal before a comedy festival show, hadn't booked anyware taking a punt. Well maybe we should have kept looking, Crispy duck sitting in a chicken stock hmmm, I went for the Rabbit again just not what we expected for the price. only saving grace great bottle of Red well priced and attentive staff.

Had a lovely lunch - wish we had more time to savour 3 courses. Will be back!

YUM. Visited Yak for the second time last week and its still great.<br/>Love the buzz. The pasta is fresh and tasty. Great service too.<br/>Its a bit noisy but what place isn't these days. Convenient place in the city to visit for lunch.

Delicious food (really well cooked steak and excellent chocolate fondants) <br/>Friendly, competent staff who manage to be professional but not patronizing.

Well after being turned away by a restaurant just up from yak because we had our five year old daughter with us we were welcomed with open arms at yak. Great wine, beautiful food, great welcoming service and fantastic atmosphere. The mushroom ragu with chestnut flour fettuccine was to die for and our daughter loved the mozzarella pesto. The deserts were amazing and next time we visit melbourne we will be back.

Not sure if restaurant or noisy pub. Yes, I know it's a kitchen AND bar, but it's more it felt more like a pub with some tables on the other side of the bar.<br/><br/>We turned up without a booking on a busy Friday night, greeted by a friendly member of staff, and asked to wait 15 - 20 minutes for a table to become available. No problem. So walked over to the bar to find two large flat screen televisions showing the night's footy match. I love football, in fact I will watch almost any sport, however I found the combination of AFL, and a kitchen "specialising in hand crafted pasta" highly incongruous. This sentiment was reinforced by the presence of a DJ mixing deck.<br/><br/>Clearly, Yak is cashing in on the Friday night afterwork drinks crowd, and good on them. However, I'm not really interested in having to yell over the noise of people recovering from the work week while trying to enjoy the meal.<br/><br/>The meal itself was fine. Haven't been back, but wouldn't mind visiting again at a quieter time and trying the food again, but prefer eating at places that aren't trying to have their cake and eat it too (unless their caper is providing great food and service, in a space that's nice to be in).

Wasn't happy with service.. I would not go back to this place because I wasn't happy with their service. Firstly it was VERY noisy inside the restaurant area because it's attached to their bar so it was very difficult to have a conversation....I was almost shouting and of course it was difficult to hear the waiters too. Also waiters didn't know much about the menu. One of our appetizers/starters was sweet although I specifically asked the waiter if it was sweet or not and he clearly said no. It should have been a savory dish. <br/>Then our mains took a VERY long time, and when we were done and told them to bring us our bill, they totally forgot and we had to walk to the cashier and pay and the guy standing there was a little rude, and again very hard to hear him.<br/>Having said that, their food wasn't bad but nothing special either.

Authentic flavors well balanced and delicious traditional meals. Worth a visiting whilst in town.

Ignore the naysayers. Went for dinner last night. We told the waitress that we needed to be out within 1hr15 to get to a show and they delivered. Food was delicious, well presented. Service was also great. Probably not the cheapest Italian in the area but otherwise couldn't fault it. Will visit again.

Too noisy. Could not even speak to the person across the table, the noise was so loud from the bar area. Mushroom ragu fettuccine was weirdly sweet and watery. Would not bother trying this. Food was average and noise was intolerable.

Delicious. Went here on a Wednesday night, the bar area was packed so found it hard to make our way through to the dining hall. But once there we were relieved to see free tables. I ordered the flat prawn with saffron pasta and my friend ordered the lamb and cheese gnocchi. Both dishes were absolutely delicious. The pasta was light and easy to eat. Service was fine too. I would definitely go back.

The Italian fare at Yak Bar could well be the finest I've ever experienced. The spinach lasagne w Pork Ragout was nothing short of heavenly. YB is not a cheap exercise though, but well worth your hard earned at about $60 ph for 2 courses, plus drinks. Overall highly, highly recommended!

Well worth the wait!. Had dinner there on saturday night the place was packed very busy.<br/> The food was excellent and i think a hidden gem in melbourne, will be going again.

WTF. Tried to get some dinner last night at this place. Nice fit out and it was buzzing so all looked very promising. Initial service and meet and greet was great. An hour and half later - no food. Questioned the waitress who seemed quite shocked that we were not thrilled - " we are very busy you know ". Was assured it was on it's way within 30 minutes. On saying we may call it quits she came back and said 4 minutes. Right on time - 4 minutes later - 2 meals arrived - not ours - not even close. Waiter - " are you sure ? " me - " well it was a long time ago that we ordered but I can still remember " Left the $ for the mineral water and left - nobody even noticed. Big city like Melbourne with so much competition for the diner dollar - Yak is not on my list - joke.

Amazing baby calamari and prosciutto San Danielle! Great service. Definitely recommend those two dishes.

Fabulous food, efficient and friendly service, sensational pasta. Well priced and authentic, big thumbs up! Thank you :)

Love this place. Absolutely beautiful place with great food and service

Yummy. Yum amazing food , good athmosphere and super hot italain who makes the best coffee !!!

This place has some of the best pasta in Melbourne! Went with 7 people and everyone enjoyed their meal. Really generous with their ingredients (not stingey like most other places that serve fresh pasta) and large servings. I had a main (no entree or dessert) and walked out really full. This place was so good we made another booking for the following week so that we could try the rest of the meals on the menu. Great service too!

Great coffee and Toast. I know this isn't a typical review - but I wanted to say that Yak does an awesome job for people looking for a quick and cheap breakfast. Their Toast is soooooooooooo good, topped with your choice of spreads (my favourite is plain butter). They also make a good coffee and have a wide variety of other breaky fare - such as muffins, crossants and toasted sandwiches.

Absolutely delicious food and top notch service.

Beautiful pasta. Had an amazing pasta special here on Friday night. Think this place is a hidden treasure in Melbourne

Delish!. Great lasagne! Lovely vibe to this place somewhere inbetween a bar and a somewhat formal restaurant. Great menu but overall the lasagne is a must have - not huge (be warned) but incredibly tasty!

Great experience. The staff at Yak Bar were very accommodating of our large group (20 ppl) and made us feel very welcome. The food was beautiful, and the group were very impressed with the service. Commendations to the kitchen and front of house staff.<br/><br/>I know I will be back for sure!

Great night. Went with rellies on a Thursday night. The place was fairly busy but staff were helpful & attentive. We shared a variety of entrees - the croquettes which were just too almondy for me but the others loved them, the prawns = ymmm & the stuffed zucchini flowers which were divine. I had the rabbit which was melt in your mouth delicious. My partner had the Vincisgrassi (traditional lasagne complete with sweet breads) & said it was the best he had ever eaten. Our two relatives had the gnocchi & cannelloni & enjoyed them a lot. Great atmosphere & delicious cocktails, would recommend.

Have been to Yak bar twice. The first time early in the evening. It was easy to get a seat and served, the calamari was delicious. <br/>The second time was a different story. With six bar tenders and only two people at the bar when I got there I waited for 15 minutes without getting served. This was with 4 people who had come to the bar after me being served. At this point my friends and I left as the service at this place is that bad.

Best desert I've ever had! Italian doughnuts with pistachio ice cream in a blood orange sauce, this is a dish that has the most incredible balance of flavor, texture, it's absolutely perfect!

Yum. Dined here on a Saturday night without a booking, the place was pretty crowded but we were seated straight away. I loved the feel of the place, on a cold wintery night, it was really warm and cosy. My friend and I shared the pumpkin/angel hair pasta tapas and duck crepes...soooo good! Then came the complimentary bread and olives (fantastic) and we shared a spinach and ricotta cannelloni and a hand twisted pasta dish with zucchini, pesto and buffalo cheese. For dessert, you can't go past the italian donuts filled with pistachio ice cream. I loved this place and will be back!

Not really a fan. I didn't like my angel hair pasta with squid ink sauce. it was served with a fresh oyster, scampi and calamari. too much pasta and very fishy smell.

Mm comfort food with a nice touch. Our italian waiter greeted us warmly and explained the specials for the day, they always sound so much better with an accent! Service continued to be excellent. <br/><br/>complimentary olives in oil and balsamic vinegar with bread took me back to Firenze straight away and the pumpkin croquettes with a cheese sauce were a perfect way to start off our lunch. <br/><br/>my lunch time buddy's slow cooked lamb gnocchi of the day was just right and the pasta i had (potato, cabbage, burnt butter sauce something something) was so unusual that it was all gone before we knew it.<br/><br/>decor was a little overwhelming but we chose to concentrate on the food. overall, thumbs up.

When I want pasta I come to Yak bar. Ragouts are splendly comforting and the last time I went I had gnocchi, which I avoid like the plague but these parcels were mouth watering and flavorsome. Okay the decor can match the experience but when you serve such great food who cares!

Recommend. Calamari entree, he sweet potato rosti..the gnocci delightful....good to see the pasta in the kitchen window hanging from the rack...enjoy

Ox cheek gnocchi with fennel...YUM. Gnocchi was light and pillowy and the ox cheek was so rich as flavoursome and just melted in my mouth. A fab pasta dish!!

Pasta was devine!. My friend and I were in the city and came across this place (after looking on Urbanspoon) and fell in love with its pasta dishes. My friend ordered the special of the day which was a gnocci with rabbit and pork sausage and I ordered the agnolotti filled with potato and lemon - the pasta just melted in your mouth. I normally wouldn't order pasta for dinner but you just can't go the pasta here! And oh, the complimentary bread they supply with balsamic, oil with olives was a great little touch! I don't normally eat olives but I'm now a convert!

Yummy and fun. Love this place. Great food. Fun atmosphere.

Excellent. Great place - good atmosphere and amazing food.<br/><br/>Had the tagliatelle with pork, and it was melt-in-the-mouth stuff.<br/><br/>Wine list is extensive and a good beer & cocktails selection too.

Yum! Will be back.. We ate here for the first time Friday 13th May before a Comedy show. Very glad we did. The service was great - efficient, friendly and informative. The food was yum from start to finish - fresh pasta, light gnocchi, fall off the fork meat and to finish off we shared the doughnuts with pistachio icecream and a creamy nutty cappuccino. If we had the room we would've had another coffee. This is definitely a place we will return to. The atmoshphere was pretty loud as the place was busy with the Happy Hour rush but that wouldn't stop us from returning since everything else was spot on!

Great Food. Four of us ventured in on Sat night for a quick meal before a show.<br/>We were pleasantly suprised. the best pasta I have had for a long time.<br/>We all ordered gnocchi with rabbit,pork and beef ragu.<br/>Absolutely delicious!!! and a lovely bottle of Italian red wine.will most definately go back.

I love the pasta here. The pasta is cooked perfectly and deliciously fresh. The ragu sauce is rich, tasty and the meat falls from the bone. So soft. The only problem is that the serving sizes are a bit small! Would love more of it!

Awsome Night With The Boys. Visted this place for the first time last night, could not fault a thing. Serivce was great and so was the food. Will be back here very soon.

Everything was Delicious. Interesting menu and hard to decide what to order. The entrees of mushrooms and calamari were fantastic - with plenty of bread to mop up the juices. We had the rabbit and the pork pastas. Pasta for both dishes was fresh and the meat juicy and tender. Rabbit can often be dry but this was fantastic, and the pork ribs just fell apart. Will definitely be going back.

TO DIE FOR. Had a beautiful lunch yesterday with my husband at the yak! The calamari were gorgeous and I had to stop myself from Dipping all of the crusty bread in the delicious juices. My pork pasta was to die for. The tasty, delicious pork just melted in my mouth.My husbands tagliatelle with the tastiest rabbit sauce ever, was exceptional and the tiramisu was a real delight! It was polished off in seconds and we asked for another serve!! Cant wait to visit again!!! We even dreamt about it last nite!!!

Ate there on 8 February 2012. Entrees, cured meats and caprese type salad, were nice. We had three pastas (prawn, pork belly, rabbit) and they were all awful. The prawns tasted like they had been in the sun for 3 days, the freezer for 4 and under a heat lamp for an hour. The rabbit meat was find, but served with pasta that tasted like vomit. The pork belly was served on a "pasta" that looked, and tasted like, packet hokkinen noodles. Despite positive reports from some friends previously, be very careful of eating here. Spurn it as you would spurn a rabid dog carrying a redheaded stepchild. This place is worse than Hitler.

Delicious. What a find in the cbd, this is a great italian pasta bar. Home-made pasta is really good and reasonably priced. I recommend the gnocci, had a delicous 3 meat ragu when i was there, also the rabbit pasta. Our waiter was great as was the venue. Only complaint is didnt make it to dessert because of some seriously bad music put on by a dj at 8.30 pm or so.

Good pasta at good price. Had tagliatelle with pork ribs in rosemary sauce. Tender pork ribs with meat falling off the bone, just right rosemary sauce, and beatifully cooked pasta that was handmade. The price is very reasonable given the quality and quantity. However the desert, donuts with blood orange, took ages to come. The donuts turned out to be quite soggy and doughy and tasteless.

Great value, good night out. Had a great time here with a girlfriend last night. We had a booking for 7.30 but bad weather and Saturday night traffic meant we were running a bit late. Called ahead and the staff were very gracious about pushing our booking back. <br/><br/>We ordered the angel hair, pumpkin and amaretti croquettes to share ($10 for 4) The taleggio cheese sauce and fried sage leaves really brought the flavours out. Nice starter.<br/><br/>A glass of Riesling for me ($9) and a glass of sparkling for her ($7.50) came at the same time some complimentary olives, olive oil and bread. It was a busy night and our mains took a while, but they're worth the wait. <br/><br/>My friend was disappointed to hear the tagliatelle was all sold out, and she's not a fan of pork or rabbit so she instead settled for spinach and ricotta cannelloni ($21). Being a vegetarian, I was glad to see there were a few interesting options available - I finally decided on the lemon and potato agnolotti ($20). The potato filling was incredibly creamy and smooth, with a hint of lemon, and the sage leaves again helped bring the flavours together.<br/><br/>We were planning on staying for dessert, but the smaller portions proved too much - the food is of a high standard, and a little bit goes a long way. The service was attentive, and helpful, and the wine list is impressive. Will definitely be coming back ASAP!

Excellent place! I had the lamb gnocchi and it was absolutely amazing! The bread served with it was warm and crisp. We went in a large group and we didn't have to wait long at all for our meals and the quality was of a high standard.

Overpriced. Nice pasta, but over-priced, small servings

Value for money, with good service a bonus. I have been to the Yak Bar many times now. The food has always impressed me - value for money is hard to find at this end of town, but Yak Bar delivers it in spades. The lamb ragu gnocchi (gnocchi of the day) had silky soft, dumpling-like texture gnocchi, with beautifully slow-braised lamb. We shared two starters, the Home made Calabrian sausage with grilled smoked scamorra cheese, and Local Buffalo mozzarella with tomato, frisella bread, green chilli and basil. Both starters were a good size, and very moreish. The sausage was rich without feeling heavy, and the salad style bruschetta was well balanced. Our waiter gave us first-class service, even though it was a busy evening. When a glass of wine took a little while to come, he deducted it from our bill. However, we were so pleasured with the entire experience, we were happy to pay for that glass as well as giving a 15% tip on top of that. Love this place, and hope it's here for many years to come.

Love Yak. The pasta is absolutely delicious. Have dined here many times, and love it every time. Yak is good people and good food.

Great lasagne. We went on a busy night, but they some how sat us down within seconds ( 2 people). I ordered the lasagne which was probably the best I've had in my life. We requested the food be served quickly as we had to attend a show 1 hour later. Everything was prompt and we were early for the show. I would definitely go back and order lasagne again :)

Was at Yak Friday night 6th August. I can't stop thinking about the gnocchi with ragu. Well worth a return trip. Service was great too. <br/>Just a great spot.

Surprisingly good. I'd always passed this place and written it off as it looked more pub grub than anything else. But after being asked to join some friends for lunch, was pleasantly surprised.<br/>The staff were friendly and showed in the delightful service.<br/>We each ordered a main, hoping that it would be quick, since we were all pressed for time.<br/>The cannelloni, duck breast and pork neck arrived with generous portions. The pork neck was a tad dry, but sauce was aplenty and the the aroma of the meat laid on a bed of perfectly cooked borlotti beans. It all helped me scoff it down quick smart and get back in time for work.<br/>I'll try the pasta next time!<br/>The cannelloni my friend ate was silky smooth and delicate. The duck was a little salty and a little on the dry side but was accompanied by three perfect rounds of what I think were semolina.<br/>Like!

So much flavour, so little time.... With a show in town on Friday night and after reading a fresh, glowing review for the revamped Yak Bar we needed little more in the way of incentive to drop in and give it a try. We'd been here a couple of times prior to the changeover but mainly for dessert and drinks at a late hour, so this was something new.<br/><br/>Let me just start by saying that the new Italian menu and the artisan pasta is good.….very, *very* good.<br/><br/>Entrees for the two of us were small; the angel hair pumpkin & amaretti croquettes with taleggio cheese to share but they were packed with loads of flavour and great texture.<br/><br/>Melpoda had the gnocchi of the day with (I think - braised) lamb, which was absolutely delicious and the gnocchi just melted in your mouth. Being a farm boy and having grown up catching and eating the odd rabbit I chose the tagliolini with rabbit, ligurian olives and thyme that blew my tiny little mind clear out of the ball park. Hands down the best tasting rabbit I've had in years.<br/><br/>The sauce managed to be both rich and subtle at the same time and the flavours were out of this world - the olives made the dish in Melpoda's opinion (and I agree). I think the real kicker for me was when one of the waiters saw me looking despondently at the sauce left on the plate after I'd finished the pasta and asked me if I wanted more bread to sop it all up….HELLS YES!<br/><br/>Not many (so-called) "discerning" restaurants would be happy to let you do that for some reason and would have likely whisked the plate away before I'd had a chance to get at the sauce leftovers...not this time!<br/><br/>The dessert selections are standard fare ranging from crepes to waffles, tiramisu and the omnipresent affogato. We settled for the affogato and tiramisu respectively and were pretty happy with the dishes; they're not on the same impressive scale as the mains but I'm guessing that's the point. By the time you get to dessert after hauling yourself through such a tasty, savoury main you're proably better off with something small and neutral anyway.<br/><br/>The staff are friendly and approachable and willing to help you with the new menu / selections but bear in mind that they're still getting used to the changes themselves so a bit of patience during busy service might help.<br/><br/>We're definitely coming back.

Amazing new menu. Yak Bar has undergone an amazing change! The new owners/chefs (not sure which or both it is), have absolutely breathed new life into Yak Bar (though the decor could still do with an upgrade...). The menu has lots of very varied options, the day we were there, there was also 5 specials. We tried the trhe vegetarian pasta dishes except for the cannelloni, they were all fantastic! My favourite was the cabage potato and burnt butter sauce one, it was DIVINE! <br/>We also tried the pumpkin croquettes - melt in your mouth soft and smooth on the inside and delicious crunch on the outside. <br/>My meat eating friend described the lasagna as the best he'd ever had. <br/>The service was also super lovely, especially the Italian waiter *swoon*<br/>Can't wait to go again!

Fine dining food at pub prices. We wanted an early meal and stumbled upon Yak in the CBD last Saturday night. At 7pm it was full! Always a good sign. We ordered calamari to share while we studied the menu. Calamari came out quickly and was absolutely delicious, not the old deep fried variety. I had an Italian Pinot Girgio and my partner a Spanish red. Heaps of great Aussie and international wines by the glass. The waiter explained the pasta was made fresh daily and there were so many to chose from. Suffice to say my linguine with prawns was a winner and himself had the crispy skin duck with gnocchi, OMG! We've eaten at a lot of fine dining places where the food was nowhere as good as this. We'd go back tomorrow. Service was friendly, relaxed and efficient. What's not to like!

New owners - bye bye pub food!. Went there last Saturday night as I'd been told that a new team had taken over. Italian in style with fresh pasta made daily. The waiter suggested the four of us share what he described as "Italian tapas" brilliant! The prawns in zucchini flowers were outstanding, followed by crispy skin barramundi, duck ragu and rabbit to die for. Talked into dessert we had lemon crepes rolled like cuban cigars. They are obviously still working on the fit out and winelist but the food was brilliant. Definitely one to try.

Unimpressed. I'm usually pretty easy going with things but we went here for coffee/dessert and a few of us had cocktails. The desserts were average and we would have been better off buying something from the supermarket. The cocktails were unacceptable. They tasted like straight alcohol with a bit of juice on top. We all tried the two cocktails before deciding we just couldn't drink them. We asked the waiter to put some more mixer in them, so he added in some sugar syrup but they still tasted like something I would concoct at home. There weren't even any decorations to make me feel like I was drinking a cocktail. I guess this would be OK if I wasn't paying that much.

Yak Not Yuck. Yak Bar's atmosphere was your typical pub's ie. dark, loud, crowded. Their tapas were amazing but very expensive, and their service was so-so. Still deciding whether to come back or not.

Standard pub grub. Yak bar does the standard fare pub grub easy to find in Melbourne. It's well presented and in large portions and while nice, in my opinion it's nothing special. However, we had a nice meal and the service was good.

Unacceptable. Lovely atmosphere (if you can ignore the football on the large screen plasma), but thats it.<br/><br/>Meals are obscenely overpriced for sub-standard, tasteless pub food. Everything on the menu sounded delicious, but instead every taste was overpowered by battered blandness; with no reprieve from the mediocre side-salad of bean sprouts and lettuce. I left feeling ill and unsatisfied after a $50 per person experience.<br/><br/>Would be a fine venue for drinks only. Just go somewhere else for dinner...

I like it but.... The Yak Bar has two great things going for it: one, the delicious food (try the duck risotto - to die for!); and two, the Atomica coffee beans.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, both of these things are let down terribly by the sub-standard service provided by the staff, who appear to care more about interactions with one another rather than their customers.<br/><br/>Aside, the place DOES have amazing food, the coffee is one of the best in the city, and the ambience is pleasant. After-work drinks are also tops.<br/><br/>So, come for the food, hope for good service.

But…then Pierrick Boyer from Le Petit Gateau came with guns blazing with his first ever dessert pizza. Oh my goodness, what a showing! A homemade raspberry jam base is covered with peanut praline, fresh raspberries, dark chocolate and vanilla mascarpone. I'm honestly amazed at how perfect he got this pizza, covering it plenty, but not letting the base get to wet, and really providing a symphony of textures to explore. The produce really shone through as well, the raspberry jam and vanilla mascarpone rich and full. Might have had 3 slices.

The pasta at Yak is definitely worth gaining weight for. It’s delicious, reasonably priced and the portions, while not Sofia’s restaurant humungous, certainly fill you up.