GROSSI FLORENTINO Review

Worth a trip to Melbourne. Desserts are exceptional

Ate at the grill.
Food was exquisite and in good sized portions.
Excellent wine list.
Informative and friendly service.
Pricey, but we would return.
Bookings recommended.

Amazing food, best service in Melbourne and a must do regularly.

Moving away from more traditional food, Grossi felt like they were trying to be fine dining while keeping their Italian roots and couldn't quite pull it off. The food was good, but not worth the price, in my opinion. The wines were excellent and my wife and I shared the wine degustation.

Hated this place ever since it was taken over by Guy Grossi.

I have eaten at The Grill once but I tend to visit The Cellar Bar much more often due to its lower prices and more relaxed environment. I find the food in both cases quite lovely and favour their tortellini above anything else for a main. I think it is one of the few restaurants in Melbourne where the pasta is properly cooked and not over sauced.

Following dinner the deserts are fabulous, my favourite being their baked cheese cake which I find to be the best I have tried anywhere in the world. They also offer a good selection of cheeses and other assorted deserts.

The Cellar Bar is rather casual but can get a bit crowded around dinner time. Luckily they stay open till 11 which makes it a great place to have a late dinner or coffee.

The Grill is a lot more formal and the service is very complete. Reservations are not always needed but advised if you are going for dinner.

Oysters not fresh. Service was great but food was disappointing. Disappointing food with great service and greatly inflated prices.

Impeccable high end service and food. A place to treat yourself

Impeccable service and delectable food. We wined and dined leaving with a happy heart and a full stomach. The service swept us off our feet. Thank you Grossi Florentino! Beautiful restaurant interior living up to it's 90 year old story, fantastic service and food and champagne. (Sidenote, I recommend bringing a layer if you feel the cold easily)

We were actually at Cellar Bar which is next door, but still owned by Guy Grossi. They do amazing food, simple and delicious. We have been going there for years. If you want great pasta without the pricetag of Florentino, then go next door to Cellar Bar.

Great service. Good food. Very nice setting. Colleague proposed in this restaurant.

Always nice to grab a coffee and sit out the front on a beautiful summer day. Can t wait until summer. Love this place.

Old school service, amazing Italian food and sensational wine list. Bravo.

Nice food a bit expensive confusion over up and down parts

Fantastic service at all 3 restaurants .
Good is amazing. Fresh ingredients .
Excellent pasta and sauces .

This review is for the coffee I had today at Grossi Florentino. I intend to go back for lunch and/or dinner too.

I have mostly been very specific about the taste, temperature, strength and presentation of coffee. I was at Grossi's too. But Marianno (who is always full of energy and enthusiasm) ensured me of a good coffee. It was indeed a greatly satisfying coffee..a new Guatemalan flavor which they recently started using.

The place is vibrant and one can feel the buzz. Waiting staff is friendly, welcoming and smiling. I think they are the ones who keep the place vibrant. Service is good and ambiance is very Italian. There is a certain energy at this place that touches you with its warmth. Loved it!

We are on the Bellerine peninsula. So delivered to us on 29th Oct. Thank you we shared our beautiful food. Generous serves. Easy to prepare. We miss you Grossi restaurants we will be back when safe to do do. My husband says best tiramisu ever. Thank you so much xx

High quality Italian restaurant, enjoyed the food very much.

Order the fried rice. The best I've had anywhere. The other food is as you would expect - high quality. Not cheap in fact very expensive. Its all true what they say about the food. The atmosphere is however just above average.

Florentino was much better before Grossi got involved.

Excellent service team. Food was above average - tastes, presentation and quality all spot on.

Had an amazing night with my boyfriend. Staffs were really friendly, professional and very knowledgeable about the menu. Can t wait to come again.

Genuine italian cuisine, some popular and traditional dishes from the villages, must come back to try more, fine dining service and experience, but not too pricey, like $30-60 per dish - not hundreds

We dined at the "Cellar Bar" on Saturday night, I liked the interior and feel of the place, very European! Although our waitress was lovely, the service was a bit of a let down and really slow. Loved the wine and felt like a generous pour!

I ordered the crumbed veal, and we had to wait quite a while for mains to arrive, when they did I had been presented with veal ragu pasta, so unfortunately I had to send it back and wait again for my correct meal.

When it finally arrived the veal had 2 pieces, one of which was paper thin and quite dry and unappetising. In addition it was laden with way too much salt and pretty much inedible, I only ate most of it because I was so hungry! The chips however were fantastic. Next time I'll try the lasagne.

We had tiramisu for dessert which was yum but lacked presentation, just slopped on the plate and very heavy handed with the cocoa powder.

Overall it was acceptable but lots of room for improvement.

An excellent upmarket restaurant, upstairs, an institution in Melbourne, rich and stylishts decor. Contemporary style Italian menu fully authentic.

Great venue, sumptuous food, good wine list, friendly informed staff. Very chic.

Amazing food, incredible setting. Definitely makes for a memorable night out.

Upscale Italian restaurant with view right on the street, good for occasions.

Good selection of comforting dishes and wine at surprisingly affordable prices. Oxtail pasta was what dreams are inspired by.

Amazing food wonderful professional service. I didn't realize it was a 3 course dinner.....but totally worth it!! Was the perfect place to spoil my partner on our early Valentines Day dinner.

One of my favourite places, and last weekend did not disappoint. Amazing food, beautiful atmosphere, and great service.

We went to the Grill downstairs for a casual night out. We ordered three entrees - all of them were wonderful. The two pastas that we ordered through were only okay. The portions were relatively small unless you upsize it (price not stated on the menu). The duck pasta lacked taste and flavour but the pasta itself was delicious. The duck Ragu at 38 Chairs South Yarra was wayyyy more impressive. The boar pasta was yummy but the pasta was too firm for our liking.
We are definitely willing to try their items on the menu next time we are here, but we won t order the pastas again.

Outstanding food, service and atmosphere. One of Melbourne's most beautiful places to meet, dine, or spend time alone with a wine.

Nicholas, our waiter was exceptional old school, traditional table service from the way he seasons the wine glasses to the way he gives recommendations whilst knowing his food and wine in great detail an absolute professional! The pastas we had were wonderful, beautiful creations probably the best we have had outside of Italy from a simple spaghetti with fresh truffle to the gnocchi all were delicious! The entrees not such a fan of but will definitely be back when next in Melbourne. Thank you.

Very nice Italian food. Go to second floor for fine dining.

Love this place. I come to the cellar bar every time I'm in Melbourne. Always have the eggplant parmigiana - never fails to hit the spot.

Amazing food, great service, warm friendly and welcoming. A wonderful place to escape a cold winter's night and indulge your senses

One of my favourite places, Amazing food, beautiful atmosphere, and great service.

We have to thank Guy Grossi for opening his fabulous restaurant and cooking for us on Melbourne Cup Day to celebrate our Nonna's 90th birthday. The food was exquisite as expected and the service faultless which added to the experience and enjoyment of the days celebrations.

Delicious food and very attentive staff. Food was overpriced but we thoroughly enjoyed.

Late night coffee and supper post theatre downstairs. Italian to a T. Love the place.

Just had a late lunch great food, wonderful tastes and great service from such professional staff. Wagu rump and chargrilled octopus tops the menu here.

We went at the florentino: the food is really great but is serve really slowly in between course that make you be starve at some point. For the wine: the sommelier was a great help for choice of wine. Except that for the service is not the best: when you book, if you don t mention that you don t want the grill they put you downstair on the grill restaurant that is more a bistro kind. If you not lucky, you have got the table like us in front of the door with the wind.. Then, we have ask to go on the dining that is more what we wanted. Unfortunately, we have been at the table with a white wall on 2 corners that make you feel, when you have the white wall in front of you to be at the visitor area of a prison. For information you can have better in other rooms with beautiful paints... As well, we was having thick glasses really casual of the bistro when other table was having nice thin glasses, we ask to change it, the waitress (a bit rough) told us that they was in the washmachine.. She bring us it 2 min after.. I will have prefer to have they straight in the beginning. As the end (we had the 9pm service) they don t propose dessert, we make an allusion to have have cheese at the end.. The waitress, didn t bring anythings and clean our table, and all the table around make us understand that the restaurant is closing and starting to do a lot of noise.. So the service was disappointing, we have felt to be consider as a 2nd class customer.. that don t disturb me normally but when you do a restaurant once a year like this one at more than 500 dollars for 2 and you feel starve and not considered equally as other guest, that really make you feel to had a bad experience...

The food is fantastic but it is the service that really sets this place apart.

Service was good, food was very average and over rated, we ordered the muscles for antree and they served unopened muscles amongst the open ones, this is a big no no. Pasta was very average as well. Wouldnt recomend it , you can get a much better pasta and cheaper elsewhere.

Professional service, amazing food and a range of great wines you can choose from. Being half Italian half British, I can say that this is possibly the best Italian restaurant in Melbourne.

Dined at The Cellar Bar last evening- 'memorable' because the food and timing of service was so exceptionally poor.

I have rounded up times.



We foolishly assumed that menus, water or a drinks request would follow. Another 10 minutes elapsed and a drinks waiter arrived with menus, and just as rapidly disappeared.

However, once we placed our glass of wine & G & T' order another 10-15minutes passed before they appeared; at which point we asked could we order food / have some menus?

At this stage we had been at the table for over 30 minutes.

Once the Menus arrived via disinterested / rushed / exuding "I have done this a 1000 times get on with it" vibe...Maitre de... we placed our main orders and asked for bowl of olives and fresh oysters as starters, thinking, that will not take too long ...surely?

25 minutes passed and I called over the Maitre de to ask why were we waiting so long for a bowl of olives & fresh oysters? His reply..."Senora the oysters come from our grill" ..so that is why"

Hmmm not really a rationale for these simple items.

Still no bread, water, cutlery had arrived. Another 10 minutes elapsed & a flurry hit our table of olives, oysters, bread, cutlery, water glasses.

At this stage we had been at the table for over an hour.



The oysters, which when we had earlier enquired as to their origin, we were informed they were, "fresh from Coffin Bay"

The oysters served to us were loose & so small and so salty we could not eat our compliment.

Coffin Bay oysters are Internationally recognised for their quality, flavour, size, firmness and usually offer a sweet lingering aftertaste. The oysters that were served to us were oceans away from that description!

Before I get to the Main Event...I must stop to comment on the bread...we were served a small basket of fat, white, doughy, cake consistency slabs which were as far from traditional Italian bread or similar, as Rome is to Melbourne.

I was embarrassed, as I had brought my guest to an experience that could have been expected on any tourist strip around the world where the rider is usually 'enter at your own risk' and don't be fooled by the pictures in the windows of the dishes on offer !

The Main Event.... and by now, I'm sure you've guessed we had a long wait between clearing and our main meal arriving...my guest had ordered veal scallopini which was (not described on the menu ) but served piccata, with a dollop of mash.

The two small, dry, tough offerings were pushed around my guests plate and the mash saved his hunger and plate of green beans we shared.

But the absolute stand out as an atrocious MINUS -10 was the Spaghetti Vongole that I had ordered.

The pasta.....al dente was a faded dream ...............tough, chewy, flavourless, no briny sauce suggesting clams were on offer, no parsley, garlic, chilli or oily flavours...just dry spaghetti which if I had to place a bet, my money would be on ..it came out of packet!

The clams microscopic and with hand on heart I state...the first 6 were completely OPEN; FLAT OPEN; EMPTY, no remnant of membrane, SHELLS ONLY??? The next 4 (only 10 in the dish) were teeny, tiny flavourless dots. In all, no more than a teaspoon of sea meat!

I should have known by then, that anything to follow was going to be substandard & the chopped chilli I requested was less hot than todays temperature !

Florentine Celler bar and grill has amazing pasta almost every time. Excellent service every time. Well priced cocktails. One of the best tiramisus in Melbourne! My daughter also loves the service and sticky date pudding every time.

We try and visit Florentino whenever we're in Melbourne and we're never disappointed. The service and the quality of the food is outstanding with none of the pretentious bollocks that can come from top end restaurants.
The 6 course menu was amazing from start to finish just enough to leave you happy and content. The only downside to the evening was the female waitress who had all the charm and personality of 80 grit sandpaper not sure if there was a language barrier issue but she utterly devoid of any personality what so ever. But other than that everything else was perfect and we left Florentino having had a wonderful evening. We'll certainly be back! Thank you!

Decent sizes but just average taste. Great big coffees!

Excellent location, decor and food. Not very vegetarian friendly.

The food was fantastic. Great atmosphere. Definitely worth visiting.

The pastas we had were wonderful, beautiful creations probably the best we have had outside of Italy from a simple spaghetti with fresh truffle to the gnocchi all were delicious!
Nicholas, our waiter was exceptional old school, traditional table service from the way he seasons the wine glasses to the way he gives recommendations whilst knowing his food and wine in great detail an absolute professional!
The entrees not such a fan of but will definitely be back when next in Melbourne. Thank you.

Lovely Bourke St cafe - sit outside or in their ultra cool interior. Coffee is good.

Shared an amazing night here with my wife. Food and staff were fantastic.

Five star service, environment, food and experience. Love it..... love it.... love it!!!

Wonderfull restaurant wonderfull food and service,i been twice there and both time i ead very sstisfact price say little hight but value for money

Always enjoy dining at Guy Grossi' Florentino,
Excellent service, the waiters always greet you at the door
on arrival, water is served as soon as you arrive at your table.
Food and service excellent - if your going to one of the Theatres
nearby - the Fast Menu is great -
If you have never dined at Florentines - it's an icon of Melbourne -
and well worth a visit.

Amazing meal, amazing service in a traditional Italian environment. Great way to celebrate a special occasion

Wonderful food and service. A Melbourne institution with all the good parts and none of the bad.

Fabulous food and wine. The service was beyond reproach. You are always made welcome, like part of the family, thank you Nick and all staff for a memorable night.

Every year we have our wedding anniversary and we go all out and everything is beyond expectation. Service is impeccable and the food is out of this world. I cannot recommend this enough. This is a must do for anyone who has a spare night in Melbourne.

How does Guy Grossi and his team consistently and elegantly keep this beautiful Melbourne treasure at the top of its game year after year?

By getting the fundamentals right - great food, a superb classic service style, experienced staff who want to create beautiful moments and a warm and sophisticated ambience. I've been here in the summer and sipped on ice cool drinks as a relief from the sweltering Melbourne sun; I've been here in the winter and eaten gorgeous sugo and pasta to keep the chills at bay. Each time remains a beloved memory, another page in this restaurant's endless story of food, love and generosity.

We had a get together here last night for our daughter's 21st. We ate in the upstairs restaurant. All I can say is wow...just wow. The service was amazing, the food superb and we met Guy Grossi who wished our daughter a happy birthday. A really nice bloke.

Had our 5th anniversary dinner here! Was absolutely fantastic. Waiters were lovely and extremely knowledgeable. One heard we were interested in the steak and brought a raw one over for us to see! Really enjoyed the whole experience.

One thing is the front door was really hard to open. We stood outside for a while because we thought it was locked and didn't want to force it.

Had lunch at Celler Bar today food was OK but service was terrible. Sat outside first waiter spilt alot of water on small table when pouring, no sorry or attempt to wipe down. We decided to move inside, ordered and received bread and entree. Others came in and sat down, wife asked for wine list but waiter couldnt be bothered, seemed to be more interested in other patrons. Dissapointed as we were only in Melb for 4 days, actually disappointed in whole Melbourne vibe maybe we had Sydney smell about has that they obviously didnt like.

Hard to beat Florentino's Cellar Bar on Bourke Street. Here service is a tradition, and excellent food and beverages are a call of the heart.

Impeccable service even when a cockroach fell out of the ceiling vents and landed on our table. Food was better than I expected for the price. The flavours were well balanced and left you wanting more. The wagyu beef is worth a special mention.

When we want to celebrate we choose here!! The best service ever! Great food, great atmosphere, love this place. Thanks for all

Great night out....top staff, excellent food...Thx Max.

Sat outside on a balmy evening. Service was great and really enjoyed the food.