The best thing about brunch is that it's leisurely. You can sleep in, be dangerously hungover, be…read morelatex-clad after a massive ride or would just rather have someone else serve you a tasty fry-up. No matter what state you're in when you finally reach your destination to break your fast, it will always be on an empty stomach. So here enters my gripe. Like a bear, I become increasingly grizzly when time stretches between meals. So when the time to receive a menu after being seated feels like the amount of time it takes for three other tables to be seated, watered and menued; roaring more aptly replaces the feeling of grizzly. I don't think I've heard the words "just one second, guys" repeated so frequently in one sitting. Once we received our menus, chosen what we wanted, we promptly shut them to indicate we were more than ready to devour pretty much the entire menu. A good ten minutes, and three, "just one second, guys'" later, we ordered. By this stage, I could barely hold a conversation over the ferocious grumblings of my stomach, yet alone concentrate on sipping on what was the most watery tasting orange juice. The snail-paced, unfriendly, abrupt and just plain rude service was unfortunately not compensated by a delicious meal. Simple raisin toast was unbuttered, causing the diner to butter their own luke-warm toast. No salty-buttery, cinnamon-raisin explosion of a tastebud party here. The slightly over-cooked poached eggs looked like they had been poured straight out of the pan, as they slid around the plate in a pool of water. The bacon...well it just looked like ham; not at all crispy. Not once did the wait staff check on us, nor the other diners around us, and two more "just one second, guys'" later, we had our plates cleared and bill on the table. With a grand total of five one seconds', this was one very prickly grizzly bear.

Trattoria Italiana is a diner's delight - an enticing combination of French & Italian. If you…read moreenjoy good food, amazing coffee and excellent service then get yourself there! Located on Racecourse Road in Hamilton, on race days alfresco diners can enjoy the parade of frocked up fillies sporting extravagant fascinators that dawn the sidewalks. The food here is divine. Delicious fresh pasta dishes, succulent seafood stews, delectable pizzas and a great selection of entrees and desserts that will make your mouth-water. If you are a coffee lover like me, then you simply must order their affogato which is fit for a Queen. For only $6.00 you get a big scoop of creamy vanilla ice-cream served in a martini glass. This is topped with a crisp wafer biscuit and accompanied by a shot of hot, aromatic coffee which is served in a petite silver jug - very elegant. After eating out in Ascot I always take a walk along the Brisbane River, it makes me feel much better after overindulging and is quite a pretty walk with great views of Newstead House and gardens and Brisbane CBD.

We had a wonderful meal at this family run restaurant with a friend on Friday night. We shared a…read moredelicious starter of seared prawns and polenta, tagliatelle al pesto (with chicken & sun dried tomatoes), Mountjoy pizza and Contadina salad followed by one of the pastries from the cabinet with a scoop of gelato for dessert. The food was delicious and the bill came to $97 for the 3 of us including corkage, which we thought was very good value. It's very popular here so you need to book a table if you come on a Friday and Saturday night, and be prepared to wait for your meals.

I had high expectations for this place. It looked great, the place was packed, atmosphere great,…read morethe Italian canvas prints on the walls were beautiful and the staff were really friendly and efficient. Plus, I love Italian so I was keen to try a new place. I got takeaway from here last night with 2 friends and unfortunately we were a little disappointed. It was not terrible, but not great either. The pizza was dry and had not much cheese or sauce and the 2 pasta dishes we ordered tasted good but looked awful. I got ravioli with noci sauce. It came with only 7 small pieces of ravioli in a large plastic container. If you eat with your eyes, it was not the best look. The pasta was ok and the walnuts were good too but for $15, I expected a little more.... food.

Great Woodfired Pizza! After stumbling across this local…read moreCarina restaurant by accident, we came here for an early dinner on a rainy Monday night. My husband and I shared a Capricciosa pizza with a delicious thin base and excellent quality toppings, bug risotto and a house salad. We enjoyed every item we ordered. The food came out quickly, the staff were attentive and friendly, and the prices were quite reasonable!

This amazing restaurant serves authentic Italian food with engaged service as they love to chat…read more The decor looks fantastic and it inverses you into Italian culture with the paintings, seating and the entire restaurant overall. The food is traditional and amazing everytime.

Nice restaurant on a some what busy but quiet street. This place gets super busy so make sure you…read morehave a booking. We had the mussel napolentana, pizza, calzone and the fettuccine marinara. Food was delicious! We cleared the plates

This is one of those places that has me coming back because of one particular dish. They're an…read moreItalian restaurant so there's a range of great food to choose from. Pizzas are always a good bet here. But the best thing about this place is the calzone. It's a closed pizza with artichoke hearts, ham, mozzarella, tomato & olives alongside a nice little salad and pizza marinara sauce. It's a big meal so be sure you're hungry. The whole place has a nice atmosphere suitable for many occassions. It's not too spacious so depending on the patrons it can get a bit noisy but generally it's relaxed. The seats are not the most comfortable though. Like other Italian restaurants, this can be a little expensive depending on your budget but I always found sharing pizzas is a good idea particularly if you're in a group. Campo also offers catering services and do take aways as well.

I have a feeling we gambled on the wrong menu items as everyone around us were really enjoying…read moretheir meals. The bruschetta was nothing more than sliced tomato on bread with a very light oil/herb glaze, the pizza was not memorable, the special which sounded mouth watering was a seafood risotto that had listed swordfish and various shell fish as ingredients and though it appeared a lot of TLC went into it it fell flat on flavour. Now for the winner: the lasagne. On the scales of lasagne it was simply good - but in comparison to the bland or boring previously mentioned menu items we settled on it being the winner. Its a nice little setting filled with happy diners, its too bad we didn't ask one of them to order for us.

Best pizza and amazing pasta. Come here for the only good panna cotta in town…read more Not a bad dish on their menu. Table service. It is a bit fancy and will need bookings on the weekend but dress up and enjoy the nice ambiance. Tartufo means mushroom so I guess their tartufo pasta is their signature dish. Great date night place.

This is a beautiful restaurant. Food was authentic Italian, delicious and well presented. Baccala…read morefritters tasted sensational as an appetiser. Veal carpaccio was excellent and the Vitello Tonnato was truly special. Risotto confit duck and broad beans was cooked to perfection. My Mafalde pasta with pork sausage, mushrooms and ricotta was truly spectacular. Desserts of semifreddo and sfogliatella were a lovely finish to the meal. Decor in the restaurant is a modern take on a traditional Italian restaurant (don't expect red checked table cloths - far too classy for that). Service was very Italian and we felt well looked after. Chef and maitre d' were friendly, helpful and available. We will go back. Recommendation: go there really hungry and go through every course, make sure you taste everybody's food in your party, give yourselves plenty of time to enjoy this little bit of Italy in Brisbane.

Our team is here for work and chose this just on the menu. It was raining and they took care to…read moremake sure our table was dry. They offered drinks while we waited. The staff is exceptionally friendly and expedient and the food was tasty. I had the calamari risotto and it was really good.

Although on the other side of town, Beccofino is much like its spin-off restaurant Julius. Both…read moreoccupy prominent corners and offer a fairly refined, adult atmosphere (though you can bring kids if you've got money to burn). Both offer thin crust pizzas, whose highlight I think is the sauce, and both offer a round of expensive sides and desserts to fill you up. Both are likely to please most diners (unless you've got gluten or dairy issues, in which case Italian is never going to be your friend). I ordered a margherita, and frankly, I liked it at least as much as the slightly more expensive pizza with buffalo mozzarella at Julius. In the interest of getting some decent nutrition, I ordered a sauteed beans and greens side, and was fairly pleased to discover that it was heavy on the beans. I wish Italian places did more with beans; there are some great ones available. All told, I wish their menu had a little bit more on the vegetarian side, but what they do is executed well, and for an occasional splurge, it's a nice place.

I treated my Mum to lunch at Gianni for her birthday and we were both really happy with all aspects…read moreof the restaurant, food and service. Being a coeliac, my Mum was so impressed with the gluten free options available and we devoured the antipasti misto plate, with gluten free garlic bread and delicious salads. The desserts were also really delightful and again, offered several gluten free choices. Located right by the river, it's the perfect spot for a long, relaxing lunch, with friendly Italian wait staff.

I celebrated my birthday here recently and was impressed with the calibre of food they served. A…read morelittle slice of Italy happened here with 15 other of my friends. The atmosphere was very loud and we were seated on a long wonky table on the outskirts of the restaurant, but when the food came, it was time to be merry. The staff are really helpful, efficient and kind enough to translate some of the menu for you. We tried the Pane Casareccio which was bread with organic olive oil and balsamic ($9) which was freshly baked and really a great starter if there was ever any great a starter. Then we had several pizzas which were served on a freshly made base, very crunchy and not soggy (good thing), the toppings weren't as many as I'd have liked to be on a pizza of that size, but it tasted very nice, authentic and how wrong could you have gotten ordering the pizza? My friends ordered the gnocci and some pasta, which in turn tasted sensational... there is not much I can fault this place with. The mains will set you back $25-30 usually but with the location and authenticity of the food, it is pretty much worth your buck.

Great Italian pizza at a very reasonable price. Also they do a range of pastas and pastries which…read moreare a good veriety.

Great pizza cooking in a true Italian style. The bases are always really tasty and the prices are…read moreaffordable with pizzas being $5 for a small, $10 for a large, $2 more for half&half, gluten free, or vegan bases. The range of traditional pastries and pasta mean there's variety and dessert too.