Fillippo's - Burwood

It takes a lot for me to write a review. Words can't describe how bad this place is. If you survive the unbearable wall of cigarette smoke that hits you in the face as you walk into the premise. You turn left and then faced with a restaurant that is actually quite nice, unfortunately, looks can be deceiving. Right now, I'm sitting here nibbling on my veggies - having given up on my rock hard pork loin (if you threw it on the floor it would bounce). Wondering how a restaurant could charge so much for food that's so bad. If you do come here, my advice, order the steak - so far, it's the only good thing we've eaten here. Even then, that's hit and miss. Last time I sat in the bar area (Bath Arms Hotel) my eyes swelled up so much I couldn't see. This was due to the thick smoke in the air. So if you're sensitive to cigarette smoke and bad food, avoid this place. Such a waste of a refurbishment... So much potential....such a shame.

The atmosphere and decor is great! It's amazing what they've turned this place into compared to what it was before. Personally, I think they should forget about the fine dining, table service experience and focus more on it being a bistro. Table service feels so weird in a pub. Food, (in particular the pizza), is top notch - a bit pricey but you can tell they use premium, fresh ingredients.

My sister took me here for a casual lunch. I had a garlic prawn and noodle dish that was so delicious I still remember it a couple of weeks later.  This is not about service or atmosphere, just really great food.

We used to frequent this place twice/thrice a week since the refurb, recommended to friends and family and brought lots of people with us but, after a few months the service and food started to flag. Still we kept coming because 85% of the time the meal was really good.  Service kept deteriorating-  orders missed,  drinks forgotten, food not cooked well etc.Staff are run off their feet and only a couple are friendly. The head chef makes a good meal but the other cooks barely reach average. Overcooked steaks, stodgy boscaiola with no flavour and burnt pizza. The best on the menu is the tuna carpaccio because it has the best dressing. Often the specials - which run for a period of time - are sold out so the menu becomes boring and unless the head chef is in one can't order a 'special' meal. It's a really noisy place and hard to get the bar staff to understand an order - how hard is a bottle of wine to get right? Last visit involved a confrontation with a very aggressive and abusive bouncer because we didn't want to use the handicapped parking spot  in case someone with less mobility  than us needed it and because we didn't have a VIP pass he wouldn't allow us to park in a free spot or into the restaurant to ask the manager to OK where we wanted to park. We refuse to step into the place and have spread the word of the place's decline and now frequent other local restaurants that are better priced and much more consistent in quality and service.

We used to frequent this place twice/thrice a week since the refurb, recommended to friends and family and brought lots of people with us but, after a few months the service and food started to flag. Still we kept coming because 85% of the time the meal was really good.  Service kept deteriorating-  orders missed,  drinks forgotten, food not cooked well etc.Staff are run off their feet and only a couple are friendly. The head chef makes a good meal but the other cooks barely reach average. Overcooked steaks, stodgy boscaiola with no flavour and burnt pizza. The best on the menu is the tuna carpaccio because it has the best dressing. Often the specials - which run for a period of time - are sold out so the menu becomes boring and unless the head chef is in one can't order a 'special' meal. It's a really noisy place and hard to get the bar staff to understand an order - how hard is a bottle of wine to get right? Last visit involved a confrontation with a very... read more