La Cacciatora - Melbourne

I have been to La Cacciatora four times and really enjoy the Italian country cooking. Their pizza by the metre is excellent and slightly different to your run of the mill. Their mains especially the game are all excellent.

Many years ago we lived in the heart of Carlton and often went to a cosy Italian family restaurant called La Cacciatora. We had to return to Carlton recently and were amazed to see the restaurant still there and still thriving forty five years on. Surely such longevity could only happen in Melbourne. The Mercogliano family originally from Vicenza established it 1959 and it's still in family hands, with personable granddaughter Eleanora serving our lunch and her sister Bianca the pastry-chef on maternity leave. The Cacciatora translates to "The Hunter" and sure enough there on the wall is the portrait of Grandfather Attialo who founded the restaurant, in hunting gear, gun in hand, with dogs sniffing at the brace of pheasants hanging at his waist. I had the lobster ravioli and my wife had pappardelle with duck ragout, both with fresh homemade pasta. Both were delicious. They are also famous for their quail, duck, pheasant and rabbit. The lunch was made even more memorable with a reasonably priced and excellent bottle of Barbera D'Alba. Sadly the Italian Cassata we used to enjoy for dessert was no longer on the menu, but the Gelato was a good substitute. The old world decor has remained unchanged over all these years but for us this was part of the charm. It was heartening that in contrast to Sydney where it's rare for a restuarant to last even ten years, Melbourne is prepared to value and appreciate it's culinary history.

Our party of eight all enjoyed the pizza served here. The restaurant is a little dated and doesn't have the same vibe of long ago. If you are not fussed by this and just want a no fuss, reasonably good pizza at a fair price then go for it. The crab linguine was very nice on the day including the crab legs it was served with.

Place was nearly empty and we waited over an hour for our pizza. Even after asking several times and constantly being told 5 minutes the pizza arrived. Pizza was disappointing, oily and not authentic. Won't be going back.

Service was average - staff were nice enough but we weren't even aware there were specials til after ordering when we happened to see a blackboard with poorly written options on it.Menu was odd in terms of not actually giving much a description of what the food was including pastas listed with 'meat' (chicken? beef?) and cheese (what type?) as well as named pizzas without listing their toppings.The food itself was great although apparently there was a 'mix up' meaning two of us finished our mains before the other two even started.There are nearby Italian restaurants that give a much better dining experience and equally good food.