So in the words of Nike - Just Do it!! There is amazing food…read more& there is food with love....this is food with love!! Aaaaaand.....I loved it. Gorgonzola Gnocchi that just melts the heart, ragu, staff who care, great wine! Come here, just come here......you will leave more whole!

One of the best meals I've had in Australia…read more We had no idea what this place was like, we were just up at the north end of the Hunter Valley and saw it listed no our wine tourist map as a place to eat and phoned ahead for a reservation (it was a Sunday at 2:30pm and places were closing). We got in and I'm so glad we did. It's Italian villa style. The dining rooms have arches and iron chairs and Mediterranean accents. The outdoor patio is relaxed, covered and sunny. When we arrived people were playing bocce on the back lawn. My wife and I shared one of their large pot roasts, lamb in our case. It was absolutely delicious. We love food served like this, meat and veg and seasonings all slow-cooked together. It was very European and a perfect excuse for a long, slow lunch on a hot, sunny afternoon. The wine list had an extensive selection of Italian wines. For those worried about air miles they also have a selection of wines - by the glass and bottle - from a winery just down the road. The atmosphere was continental and perfect, with happy families, leisurely lunchers, and lots of wine. The service was exemplary, and all delivered with a smile. If you believe a great meal requires a great experience as well as great food, The Beltree is a spot worth seeking out.

This place isn't the top-ranked restaurant in Polkolbin for nothing. Superb nouveau Italian with…read morebrilliant service and a small but well-curated menu. Lovely Tuscan staples like rabbit and porchetta augmented with fusion dishes make this a pretty faultless nook of bella Italia in the heart of Hunter wine country. The panna cotta and the peach sorbet bellinis both have to be tried to be believed.

When I moved to Penrith I was in search of authentic Italian food. Where I used to live I had a…read moregreat Italian restaurant near me so I needed to find a new one! I love everything about this place - the food is excellent quality and is always steaming hot when it's served. I've had pretty poor luck with finding fresh tortellini from other places (always frozen or store bought) but the pasta here is amazing. Everything is fresh! Decently priced too. The service is excellent and you will almost always find the owner cooking in the kitchen. He is always very welcoming! When I found out they did take away it basically made my life! I have recommended this place to all my friends and family and they love it too!

This place has potential, the people were fantastic but unfortunately the service was very…read moreslow....don't go hungry as you will wait. Our entrees didn't take to long to come out, but we waited over an hour for the mains and with kids starving that was a hard wait. The food was great especially the pumpkin ravioli definitely a massive win.

Amazing food amazing staff and amazing atmosphere we were a very large group of 19 people they were…read morehappy to accommodate us and ecen did so without comprising the quality of the food the chef and staff even took the time come out to sing happy birthday to my mother with her cake the chef introduced himself after our wonderful meal. Thank you all you made our night out memorable

Excellent friendly service & great foods - it's like partying at your family place - a must for…read moreeveryone.

Good old Mum and Pop team running this establishment. After passing it every day for nearly 3…read moreyears, I thought my wife's birthday would be a good occasion to test it out. My expectations where extremely high and i must say, they where exceeded. I had the cannelloni, mum had the fish in tomato source, dad struggled to finish his Veal Parmigiana, my wife some creamy meat and our 3 year old enjoyed putting endless parmesan on her penne Bolognese. Nothing like home cooked meals, if you cook at home like this, adopt me. It is in the old school building in St. Ives, which makes it already extra special. Free standing building with outdoor seating as well as kitsch Italian indoor room. Parking never a problem, the atmosphere really throws you back to a time where medici ruled over the north. This is NOT a modern Italian restaurant or some fusion thingy. If you ever been to Tuscany, the low lands what is Venecia, if you ever ran through Verona and screamed loud Julia at 3 in the morning, than this restaurant is for you. It does not get any more authentic than this.

Great Sicilian/ Italian Mediterranean Fine Food Nothing like…read moreit!! Highly recommended Dingo Dave

The Sicilian is the name of a book by Mario Puzo, the guy that wrote The Godfather, and about a…read morehundred other things besides. That book is excellent. The big family knees-up dinner we had at this place was a 3-star good. It's a lovely fitout, dark and classy with an open balcony looking out onto the blue, blue ocean, as blue as ol' Blue Eyes' eponymous peepers. The North Coast is a luvverly place, but come the busy season I think they get casual staff in to deal with the demand - the lady we had did her level best but the Fawlty Towers theme music was playing somewhere in the background. The meals... well, there's an old Italian nonna in the kitchen saying "Ehhh, you too skinny!" because they are HUGE, like Hulk Hogan sized, just giant hearty servings. My garlic prawns were tasty, the salt and pepper calamari were the biggest rings I've ever seen, and really beautifully spiced, and the garlic bread and bruschetta were delicious too. The head of the table wasn't super keen on the lamb cutlets or the paella, which toed the risotto line and was caught in no man's land, but the T-bone got destroyed with vim and vigour. Will be sitting on the balcony next time.

Came here on a recommendation from a friend who lived here while completing her studies. The…read morerestaurant is not too big so service is personalized. It's also busy as more customers after us weren't able to get in. Not knowing what's good on the menu, we took AI's suggestion. And AI matched what the server suggested! We got 3 dishes: *Cantabrian anchovy, sourdough, cultured butter *Spaghetti cacio e pepe *Mafaldine, prawns, tomato, kombu butter I loved the mafaldine the most as it has the added texture of pangrattato. I learned later that Pangrattato, or "poor man's parmesan," is a classic Italian topping made by frying coarse, stale breadcrumbs in olive oil with garlic, herbs, and chili flakes until golden and crunchy. I think it's a bit pricey for a small and simple pasta dish. However, I might be comparing this to North American prices.

There isn't enough praise to describe how much we enjoyed our meal at Ragazzi. We sat at the bar…read moreand I highly recommend that. The staff is friendly and engaging and watching the final prep on the food was great fun. We started with an Australian merlot and two local oysters. Both were so good. I had the pumpkin ravioli and OMG they were exquisite. Caramelized pumpkin seeds? Really? The cacio Pepe was just as good. What a delight this meal was. Wish we had leftovers!!

Yummy food Lovely waitress…read moreRecommend Great for whole family or just as good for a nice couples location

Much appreciation to our waitress. After only 3 (including myself) of our 9 person booking turned…read moreup on time; 2 more 20mins late and the rest a ridiculous 45mins late. She remained friendly, bubbly and more than helpful. Offering us a smaller table thinking they had cancelled. Probably didn't want to waste the large table but we also did look a bit lonely sitting their nearly empty. Again staff in general were polite in moving us on as the last table and having gone beyond their closing time of 9:30pm. Also having to tell one of our guests that the kitchen had closed (they wanted dessert), whilst I lowered my head in annoyance at the request. I don't know if they always split bills but after a membership card was presented for the 10% discount they proceeded to take more of their time to accomodate this. Now to the food. Arriving to check in our reservation, we were passed by 2 enormous trays of food that I later found out were sharing platters. One ordered at our own table consisting of rib eye steak, ribs and sides. Bring your hunger game! A semi seafood platter also available. My partner and I ordered the 10oz rib eye (medium as standard) with saloon sauce for him and chipotle bernaise for me. The steak looked.... different. Putting it down to the slow cooked process? Tasted amazing regardless. But be warned, the steaks appear to be coated or dry rubbed with chilli flakes. I didn't mind it at all but my partner said his mouth was on fire. I tried his and disagreed strongly. Maybe his threshold was low that night. The side of chips were well seasoned and it was nice to have veggies included over salad. If I had to be negative I'd say the Texas toast could have been done better. Dry due to the thickness and needed more garlic flavour. Already have them in mind for a return trip for my birthday.