400 Gradi - Essendon

Very very expensive and small portions.
I don't like giving low scores so hopefully management see this and improve their menu because it's just not right to charge what they do and give such small portions.

The service is great and we had such a nice friendly waiter with blonde hair. Give her a pay rise!

Service very slow. Ordered pasta for main meal the portion was entree size its alot money to $30 for a small portion of pasta. I know inflation is high but this is abit to much.

Love this place. The staff are super nice and super helpful. Great food and a great atmosphere. Well worth the visit.

We dine at 400 Gradi frequently. The food is excellent. Particularly the pappardelle al funghi and lasagne. You can't go wrong with the pizza either. We love the margarita, valcano, and capricciosa. The buratta starter is nice, although you have to order a flat bread separately. We don't usually have desert as we usually over order starters and mains. If you the Italian pavlova is fantastic we also tried the flower less cake.

So we ordered 4 x $59 "feed me"
& 1 $42 bistec.

Feed me = for 4 people.
Entrees: ok sized.
4 Arancini balls - tasty.
Plate of prosciutto - more like ham.
Flat bread - foccacia i dont think so, maybe serve at least 4 small breads.
Fior de latte - quite tasty, smallish serve
Calamari - forgetable, bland.
Mains: dissappointing portions!
Woodfired pizza - 4 slices, its a pizzeria, add some other flavours on some dough
Gnocchi - yummy, portiion laughable
Rocklea fish - 1 fillet for 4 people fantastic flavour but again its a feed me and portions were hilarious.
Fennel mandarin salad - ok, mweh
Desserts:
Berry pavlova - more like dollop portioned for 2?
Tiramisu - yummy but every italian would be turning in their grave.poor nonnas recipe totally forgotten. Portion for 2 maybe.
Safe to say the tastes were there but can not reccomend. (I wont eat here again)

The steak was ordered well done, came out raw. Sent back. Came back fine, still juicy. But $42 for 300grm sirloin cut - presented on plate by itself. $15 for side of potatoes.
You got to be dreaming.all bare no sauces, very dissappointed. $14 orange cake yum.
Wines way over priced
Much better italian restaurants out there.
Do better guys.

The Margherita pizza is always a winner there baked in wood oven. The woody smoked taste of the dough was delicious and the ingredients were simple and spot on.

Went as a group of three and was seated in the middle of the walkway next to a table of 20, couldn’t hear anyone at my table. Food is average and overrated

400 Gradi is one of those unique mid to high-end restaurants where the extravagant price tag is justified by the quality of their food, but yet when it comes time to pay the bill, you still somehow feel like you've been shortchanged.

For further context, I had the Mushroom Risotto and my partner had the Lasagna.

Let me first start by saying that the quality of both dishes was absolutely superb. If I was rating this restaurant on the quality of their food alone, it would be a five-star review, no doubt about it.

But I think I would be remiss if I didn't echo the sentiments of a lot of other reviews that have come before me: Yes, the quality is fantastic, I don't think many people are going to refute that. But for the vast majority of dishes on their menu, you're paying upwards of $35+, and the serving size you get for that is less than adequate, and that's putting it nicely.

I definitely get that it's a trend for high-end restaurants to charge high-end prices for small servings, and then justify that with the 'quality that they're providing'. But whether 400 Gradi can be considered 'upmarket' enough to be able to use that as an excuse, I'm just not sure.

Let's be fair here, they're definitely a step up from the fish and chip shop that sells pasta on the side, they're probably even another step up once again from a good portion of the Italian restaurants on Lygon Street. But it's also not Dinner By Heston, Vue De Monde or even Florentino. And the unfortunate reality for 400 Gradi is that there are plenty of Italian restaurants in Melbourne that serve similar quality food to what they do, and at a quarter of the price.

And now we get to the reason why this is a 3-star review and not a 4-star review: The 1.5% fee that is added to ALL efpos transactions.

Absolutely unacceptable sorry. I understand, as a business owner myself, that it costs you guys to have that Epos terminal, and that it's a business expense that you incur to maintain that service. But when you're asking the kind of prices on your menu that you're asking, I think you can incur the $1 or $2 extra, and just chalk it up to the price of doing business.

Ordinarily, this would have been a standard 4-star review, great food, small portion sizes, excessive prices. You're not the first restaurant in Melbourne to which that descriptor applies to, and you're not going to be the last. But it's just that little extra cherry on top of an already excessively expensive cake.

Would definitely go back for the food, but probably only at the end of the month when you were having a half-off sale. 3 stars out of 5.

Food: excellent.
Tahlia: excellent. Needs a raise.
Luke: terrible clubbing recommendations.

Best pizza going around.
I usually go to the crown restaurant but this one is just as good.antipasti is a winner every time we come.

One of the best style Neapolitan pizza. Also holds a AVPN accreditation to make traditional Neapolitan pizza

Too overpriced. Customer service was lovely but I personally didn't find the food worth it

I ordered the steak and didn't really enjoy the seasoning

And the menu consisted of $40 pizzas and a bowl of pasta, and even if it's high quality food no pasta would ever need that much to be 'high qulaity'. But it was a nice atmosphere

I was expecting great things based on 400 Gradi’s reputation but sadly, we were a little disappointed. I had the rigatoni al sugo which was flavoursome enough but the pasta was undercooked and it was almost devoid of meat. My wife had the gnocchi and beef cheeks which, again, was flavoursome but almost completely lacking in meat. I expect better than this when you’re paying almost $40 for a pasta dish. One bright spot was the house made bread which was outstanding.

Advertised as world's best pizza.all I can say is worlds wettest pizza. The pizza was saturated and cut into 4 huge slices, so when you pulled it apart all of the toppings had slipped off leaving a wet base to eat.

High priced and pathetic portion sizes. The staff seem like they have gotten worse over the years since i started to occasionally visit. You can tell this is purely a buisness, not a place created to give you one of those "i will be coming back here" feelings as you leave. Have actually visited all the gradi's over the years and it has never really left me feeling satisfied no matter which one i visited, so at least there is consistency within the company.

Always curious of the 400 Gradi Experience

Whilst a nice pizza, their prices are likened to main dishes at renowned fine dining restaurants in Melbourne. Unfortunatley the experience in my humble opinion does not justify a mid $30s pizza price. If you are curious also, this might be something you try just once.

Fantastic place, great atmosphere, excellent customer service, wide variety of food. Prices may appear a bit pricey but the taste is worth it.

I attended the restaurant on 23/06/21 and had a dinner with my friend.
I had a pasta, which according to the menu was $18.50, my friend also had a pasta and we had some bred with tomato as appetizer plus one diet coke and blood orange soft drink.
Upon leaving I was distracted talking to my friend and forgot to take a receipt. Upon checking it couple of days latter, I was shocked to discover that I was charged $109.00 for a meal that should not cost more than $70.00. I called the management and I was assured they will look into it and let me know. After a week of not hearing back, I called back again and made further inquiries.
The lady I spoke with said, the bill was correct and the prices on menu are different as I had to pay extra to eat in, which does not make any sense as delivery costs extra.
Anyway, I requested a copy of the bill to be sent as I never received the original, just to be assured I will be receiving it shortly. THIS NEVER HAPPENED.

On the top of all that, they messed up my order 2 times, despite explaining clearly pasta carbonara, they brought bolognaise the first time, and the second time I have no idea what that was. They also messed up my friend's order too. Not even an apology, just that the waitress is new.

Pasta carbonara was nothing special, to be completely honest I was really disappointed as I could not even eat a half of it.
All in all, horrible experience.

I would give it a rating "0" if I could, but unfortunately that is not possible.

STAY AWAY, BILL PADDING AND UNPROFESSIONAL AND DISRESPECTFUL MANAGEMENT.

The most overpriced overrated establishment in the area. Don’t be deceived by Gradis’s reputation, the extortion is real. $15 for a small plate olives. What a sick joke

Imagine buying olives from Coles for $4, then putting like 8 olives on a dish and then selling them for $15. Lmao this place screws you over with a smile on their face