Review Stuzzi - Northcote

Pretty nice local place which we came as we were looking for some after dinner dessert. Food wise: we had the Marks cake and the Chocolate Lava cake. The caramel in the Marks cake was a tad too sweet for my liking, but the cake was nice. The chocolate lava cake was really good and it exploded. The ice cream tasted like the ice cream from Peter’s, I would have preferred a nicer brand of ice cream (maybe Bulla?). Service: the bartender/manager’s service was really good. He was very friendly and made us feel very welcome. He was also the one serving us our dessert too. The other server staff seemed overwhelmed and pretty much ignored us when we walked in all the way to the bar area/cake display. I would come back as i like the service of the bartender/manager.

Pretty spacious inside. Ate their cakes. The lava cake is moist and warm when served and matches the vanilla ice cream well. The mark cake is a little too sweet for me though due to the caramel. Upon entering no staff attended to us and it took a while before someone at the bar counter spoke to us. Service was prompt subsequently for a simple dessert meal.

Parma waw good, but in the pricey side. It was soggy underneath. The 'feta and lamb risotto' had alot of spice to it, which wasn't mentioned on the menu and was off putting. Beautiful presentation but the feta was only sprinkled on top. Specialty shake was yum.

Great food. Large open spaces , friendly efficient staff.

This is there second time I gave been here. The first time was for late night drinks, two of us ordered the Toblerone cocktail, & after a good 20 minutes, even after reminding them only one of the drinks came. The waitress stated that we only ordered one, which wasn't the case. The place was not busy at all, so I couldn't understand the delay nor the misunderstanding of only one cocktail being made. Anyway, tried the place again as a friend made a group booking & things hadn't improved. A cider was ordered, & it arrived open & when poured into the glass it was flat, it has been quite hot in Melbourne these days but unfortunately the air con at the front of the indoor premises wasn't working & to top it off coffees were ordered, again it wasn't busy, after a good 20 minutes they arrived & one if the glasses has lipstick marks on it. Disgusting!!!!!! Oh, & we asked for the bill, & it took a very long time to come, & when the test bill came & was paid for, another bill arrived!!!! Food was nice but not value for money, but after seeing the lipstick marks on the glass I questioned his clean the prep area was. They really need to pick up their game as it is a spacious, relaxed venue.

Vegetarian Salad + Pumpkin Pizza (special order) - I was walking along High Street, looking for a place for my girlfriends and I to eat when we stumbled past Stuzzi. Being on a vegan diet, I had a quick glance through the menu and saw only one vegan option. We were going to give the place a miss until a friendly waiter (Matt or Mark) said that the kitchen would make me anything I wanted. Intrigued by this, we decided to give it a go. Oh. My. Gosh. What a good move! The food was delicious, the service was wonderful and friendly and the ambiance is amazing. The girls had steak and seafood dishes which looked amazing (I'm not normally a vegan, long story) and I was having to hold myself back from attacking their plates. My salad was really nice, with fresh greens and bright, juicy cherry tomatoes. The pizza was made to order and was wonderful. When it first came out, they had put cheese on it. When I alerted them that I ordered without cheese Mark (or Matt) quickly took it back (with no hesitation) and promptly brought out another one - perfectly made to order. It's not often I write reviews (can you tell?) but I felt I needed to tell the whole story about my wonderful experience. 5 Stars, A+, and other superlatives. Will definitely be coming back.

Last visit about 3 months ago left a memorable moment - not in a good way. After paying, my friend and I went to leave through the front exit only to be chased by a young male waiter demanding proof that I had paid for the meal. Had he simply asked the staff at the till he would have known instead he took it upon himself to publicly rebuke me. The food is OK , some of it is very good but the staff and service needs to drastically improve. I've not been back since and in no hurry to but I'd go back only because on a spur of the moment decision to eat out, its rare you can't get a table at this place.

Currently I am outraged!! after sitting down for one hour twiddling my thumbs with no water or cups being brought to me, i wait looking around at the employes wondering where my food is and what is taking so long, considering there are only three other customers sitting in this restaurant with woeful customer service. sitting on dirty chairs, an employee asked me if i had ordered yet she was the one that took my order!!!! to make things worse, i find out she had not sent my order to the kitchen. I do not recommend this amateur restaurant at all changes need to be made! would love to give 0/5 stars but google doesn’t let me.