Grossi Florentino Cellar Bar

80 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 3000. 9662 1811
Score: 31/40
Great Italian food and great prices. But this story comes with a twist.

When a friend suggested Grossi Florentino’s Cellar Bar for a quiet dinner after work, I was a bit relieved. We both work in the CBD and I was a bit over Chinese and was going to suggest Pellegrinis. I have a warm, gooey soft spot for Pellegrinis, but their food has become progressively more hit and miss. I’d heard fantastic things about the Cellar Bar, which is the most downmarket of the three sections of Grossi Florentino, the middle branch being the Grill and the upper most branch being The Restaurant on the top floor.

It’s a remarkably pretty venue. The lighting is soft and it has the unmistakable hustle and bustle that you want in a busy Italian eatery. We were seated at the bar (unlike the Grill and Restaurant the Cellar Bar doesn’t take bookings) while we waited at a table, which took very little time.

The menu is short, but really quite extensive and like a tour through good Italian cooking. There was old favourites like bolognese, calamari and minestrone, plus less common highlights ox tripe. I chose Sarde Arrosto – sardines roasted, speck, crumbs ($18). My colleague went for her usual, Tortellini con Zucca Della Luni Giana – pumpkin tortellini with fried sage leaves ($18) and I can see why it’s her usual because they were beautiful. Lots of pumpkin filling, so you could really taste it and it was sweet and buttery. The sage leaves were a classic and worthy accompaniment.

My fillets of sardines had been sandwiched together with herbed crumbs and then wrapped in the speck. They were lovely, but a little bit oily. The accompanying couscous salad had collapsed from its moulded form, which didn’t worry me, but had clearly come straight out of the fridge was a little too cold, removing some of the flavours. Overall though, the dish was lovely and light. The servings were generous, but we had some sauteed, cheesy spinach on the side ($8).

There is an extensive wine list and some lovely Italian soft drinks, so I had a chinotto. After dinner, the waiter asked if we wanted dessert and we agreed to look at a menu. He explained they didn’t have a menu and just proceeded to reel off desserts that they could offer us, including tiramisu or perhaps a chocolate souffle, which was eventually, after much deliberation (dessert is a serious business), what we chose.

Off he whisked and 20 minutes later, a suspiciously large, suspiciously perfect chocolate souffle arrived at our table. We wolfed it down (it was not awe-inspiring, but lovely ) and asked for the bill. When the bill came, we almost fell off our chairs. They had brought the souffle down from the top tier restaurant, where main courses cost upwards of $50. With no forewarning, we had ordered ourselves a $26 dessert. Needless to say we were mortified.

When it came time to pay, I mentioned this to another waiter, but they seemed non-plussed. I felt betrayed and taken for a ride, while my dinner date was apologetic because it was she who had ordered the gold-plated finale!

Now, some might say that we should have asked the price. I disagree. I think that when you’re sitting in a restaurant that serves dishes of a certain expense, if you’re ordering something that costs substantially more than any main on the menu and there is no written record of the price anywhere, on any menu or chalkboard, that there are ways to indicate to the diner that it is from a different pricing structure. The masters of this are the impeccable staff at Vue De Monde, who always indicate what an extra course/dessert/truffle addition will be adding to your bill.

It was a great shame that our meal ended on such a sour note – it was otherwise really enjoyable. I would say that there is a lesson here for all of us – both in eating at this particular venue but in eating in any venue that has a bistro/fine dining component.

But there is a little postscript to this story. While preparing this review, I visited the Grossi Florentino website to check some information. I noticed there was a feedback form. Given that I’d written our experience in full already, I put in some feedback. Within 30 minutes, the manager of the restaurant had emailed apologising and informing us that Guy Grossi (who is Melbourne culinary royalty and was CCd into the email!) would like to offer us a complimentary souffle at a time of our choosing. While it is unfortunate that the matter couldn’t have been handled in a more appropriate way at the time, I’m relieved at the response and have upped the service component of the score slightly. It’s dissipated the sour taste in my mouth and now I can happily go back to enjoy a pearl among Melbourne’s best value offerings. Aesop would be proud.

Service:  5/10
Food: 8/10
Value for money: 10/10 (exluding the dessert)
Ambience: 8/10

Website: www.grossiflorentino.com

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