Reviews of Classico

I just love, love, love this place. Delightful people, great ambience and special food. We had the tasting menu and a lovely bottle of wine. Speaking of wine, the one thing that disappointed me was the wine list. It's not ok to no wine under $85. The wines are good, but it's easy to get high quality wine at way less than that. We had: Caper foam Roasted scallop with potato  and mozarella  puree and black garlic with finger lime Tagliatelle eggplant with pork sausage Rollette shoulderof lamb with egg yoll Hazelnust ice cream with roast pumpkin and caviar Dark chocolate easter egg with white chocolate nest filled with ricotta and prickly pear Yummy, yummy, yummy!

Excellent restaurant serving Italian food. Highly recommended. Great customer service. It’s a set menu restaurant but they can accommodate a la carte. We went for the set menu and we loved every single one of the dishes in our menu. It was more food than what we expected. The wine was also excellent. Overall good value for money and would definitely come back.

Traditional Sardinian cuisine and one of oldest Italian dining room with good reputation. The style of food is very rustic and great for sharing with loved one. And the service is in between old school and modern touch. Worth to visit at least once in your life time and leave it to you for next visit. Inside looking like a art gallery or historical museum. I personally had memorable time with my mate. Tasting menu was good, but the price was a little over charged if I must pick one negative.

If it's Italian you search for search no longer. Dined here when we stayed at the most amazing hotel The Blackman which is part of the Art Series Hotels. The food and service is absolutely 10/10. To start with the bread is beautiful and crusty with good quality oil, balsamic and butter. The pastas are so authentic and even things like crispy skin barramundi and pizzas etc are all fantastic. Will be back to the hotel and restaurant again.

I just love this restaurant. <br/>I've been here several times and despite the fact that we live close by I really think it's a top class place to eat. <br/>Tonight I had the gnocchi and a rocket salad. The pasta was light and fluffy and the tomato sauce was rich and full flavoured with torn basil and dressed with freshly grated pecorino. <br/>The rocket salad is full of lovely fresh red onion, olives, semi dried tomatoes and dressed with a flavoursome oil. <br/>Bread is served with olive oil and balsamic. <br/>The service is very excellent and mainly male waiters! <br/>

Italian cafe and bar that's associated with the Blackman hotel and serves a nice selection of breakfast. Had the Italian continental which included a big croissant, a sour dough roll and a brioche donut. Their savoury options looked quite good too. The bar and daily specials on the blackboard suggests this place might be a nice spot to hang out.

Had booked lunch - turned up and was warmly invited in. Food was lovely, their Italian wine list had a good variety of wines and I thoroughly enjoyed the pasta service was good but I must admit it does annoy me to have to request water especially after ordering a bottle of wine - would go again and would recommend <br/>

Disappointing experience. We live less than 200m from this eatery and enjoy a nice meal out but for some reason we tend to avoid this place. I couldn't put my finger on why until we recently took my husband here for a birthday dinner. <br/><br/>We booked a table over the phone and were assured that there was room for the five of us, even though we had called just a few hours ahead. Upon arrival, we were greeted by a waiter (the maitre d' ?) who immediately asked us if our teens would mind sitting up at the bar while we ate at the table. The look on my face must have said it all because we were promptly steered to a table with enough room to seat us all ... Go figure. <br/><br/>The kids ordered soft drinks and were disappointed to find that their glasses were 2/3 full of ice. Basically they had three slurps and the drinks were gone. At $4 a drink I would have thought they would have been given a small individual bottle or at least a less generous serving of ice. Our regular pizzeria 500m away would have made sure of this.<br/><br/>The kids plumped for the pizzas while my husband and I shared a pizza and a pasta. At $20+ a pizza, we were expecting thin-crusted Italian style pizzas with top notch ingredients. The thin crusts were there but I don't know what cheese the chef was using - it was fatty, chewy and a sickly yellow colour. The type of cheese you get when you order cheap and nasty pizzas from your local takeaway. It was basically inedible and had to be peeled off by all three of us that ordered it. No buffalo mozzarella to be seen.<br/><br/>In fairness to the chef, the pastas were fine. In fact, my eggplant pasta was the highlight of the evening.The same goes for the wine and champagne. So for that we are grateful.<br/><br/>Classico has so much going for it - a great location, a cosy fitout and a friendly atmosphere. Skimping on service and ingredients just seems silly, particularly in such a competitive environment.

Double charged on 31/10 & no refund yet. Have eaten here twice and WOULD highly recommend if they hadn't double charged our credit card (which happens) and now ignored emails/Facebook posts, what a pain!<br/><br/>Most of us have better things to do that chase a refund. Now I am chasing Amex for them to dispute it because clearly I'm never getting my money back!<br/><br/>So I wouldn't recommend unless you are paying with cash.

Great service. Had dined at Classico 6 months ago while staying at the Blackman and the food was great! Dined there tonight! food was still good but lacked a little on my expectations from my previous experience. The service was fantastic and made our night! The restaurant was perhaps a little understaffed but thanks to our waitress Dina we were not left waiting for long. They have a very small space for indoor dining which unfortunately meant we had to sit outside (room for improvement outside is needed for winter months). On the whole what we felt lacked in some areas was made up for by friendly and entertaining service!

I've been to Classico before, but tonight they excelled themselves, the best Saltimbocca I've ever had including internationally, so flavoursome, the pancetta so subtle, my companion who is a carbonara aficionado claimed it the best ever, no creamy slush like you normally get. The wine waiter recommended an Italian wine that was excellent and reasonably priced at $42. The pasta was $22 and the veal $26 and there were 3 large escalopes in a red wine jus. The ambience is great, warm, lighting good, noise moderate and not annoying. Wait staff are experienced and educated in the menu. A very good Itslian dining experience in a city where most Itslian restaurants are over-priced and of standard (boring) quality

Classico. In one word.. Amazing! Loved the their thin crust pizza, ravioli was beautifully al dente with the right amount of filling and the sage was crisp and delightful. Bruschetta was superb, a mix of fresh cherry and semi sundried tomatoes! Service was great. Can't believe i took 7 months to finally try out this great italian restaurant when i live steps away. Classico will be seeing me regularly from now on.

Cosy little bar. Popped in here last night to grab a drink and some tapas. It's such a lovely inviting space and really cosy on a freezing Melbourne night. The place was full for a Monday night and had such a fantastic atmosphere.<br/><br/>Service is friendly and efficient with a great range of wines on offer by the glass and good boutique beer selection.

Favourite!. Staying in the Blackman hotel upstairs we initially went to this restaurant based on convenience, however, I would have traveled here if I was on the other side of town. It is an intimate setting and busy. The waiters and waitresses know what they are talking about on all levels (wine selection and meal choices). We ended up eating here more than anywhere else and will again when we return to Melbourne.

Disappointed with meal sizes. We Re visited an old favourite after a year. We were totally disappointed with the size of the meals. The raw salmon salad comprised of 2 very thin slices of salmon and little else. It was more like a tasting plate. My collegue was also left hungry after his meal. Whilst the quality is good, value for money is not. We will not return.

Excellent Italian Wine & Craft Beer. Italian Pizza and Pasta joints are a favourite of mine, but rarely does a Melbourne version have such an interesting selection of Italian craft beer. The typical offering is bland 'premium' lagers like Peroni and Moretti.<br/><br/>Wine choices are quality here too, representing a wide range of Italy's regions as well as some Australian versions of Italian grape varieties. <br/><br/>Pasta is cooked perfectly and pizzas are traditional, thin and crispy. There's also a good range of antipasti to share.<br/><br/>Highly recommended.

Was at Classico on Tuesday for breakfast , the food was cold and so slow to come out . Poached eggs with pancetta and tomato 39 Minute wait . Was late for a meeting, really upset . What the chef was doing ?? Who knows !! Scratching him self I'm sure !! Hopefully when I come back the chef will be different and the food ,hot next time . John

Stunned by the above review. Cant believe the review by SM, me and my partner go to this place every week its amazing. The English chef always takes time out when he isn't over run to ask us how we are and charm us with a free plate of olives or such. This place is worth checking out we regularly visit with friends and family.

Went to classico about a week ago ,Food was great , Breakfast was very nice best poached eggs and crispy pancetta . Waiter was great a India guy , very funny and great service. The only thing I would be negative about was a chef yelling at the waiter very loudly and rudely that every one in the restaurant could hear . Felt sorry for him and it made me feel uncomfortable hearing him yell at him ,it was good his ascent was English as we could not Understand what he was yelling about . Over all great food great service!! Yelling a let down .

Fried garlic too much. This is a stylish alfresco casual diner, and really swings in the warmer months with the windows open out onto the terrace. Eclectic crowd, as it's part of the the Blackman Hotel. The menu is simple but interesting. We've eaten there a few times, but I wish that the fried garlic was dropped from the fresh pasta menus. This ruins what should be a delicious meal. There are other ways to cook with garlic. Please no fried!

Refined Italian. Fresh home-made pasta and thin base pizzas with classic toppings. It's worth seeking out this little Italian bar/bistro at the base of the Blackman Hotel. <br/><br/>We tried Tagliatelle with a wild mushroom and sage cream sauce, Penne Ragu alla Bolognese, Vitello tonnato bruschetta, Arancini, and Polpettini meatballs. The pastas were generously sized and tasty, arancini and meatballs were perfect antipasti dishes, while the punchy vitello tonnato bruschetta was a standout. <br/><br/>There's also a concise [but interesting] all-Italian wine list covering most regions of the boot. <br/><br/>We'll be back!