Review Scalini's - Auckland Central

We really enjoyed our experience at Scalinis last night. The food was amazing and a special mention has to be made to Andrew our waiter who kept us entertained all evening and his faithful assistant Dora! Thank you, we had a wonderful dinner and will definitely be back!

Was a wonderful first time experience. Out of all the food, the pizza, pork belly and dessert were the best. The cheese literally was sliding off the pizza as it was fresh and piping hot!

I've been here a couple of times with my partner and both times I've been thoroughly impressed. For starters, the atmosphere is quite nice. We have sat both in the outside area and inside. The owners have made two nice areas for enjoying your meal. The staff are extremely friendly and accomodating and the food arrives at the table quicker than most restaurants. The prices are slightly cheaper than other similar restaurants. The one thing I was really impressed with though, is the policy that gluten free pizza is available for no extra charge. I don't have an intolerance, but this just struck me as a very kind thing for the restaurant to do for people who usually have to spend a lot more on food. So if you're gluten intolerant, this is a great place for you to go!

Cheap and cheerful. Awesome! I can see why there are polarised reviews for this place. The food is comfort food, not fancy. Think 1980's NZ Italian food. The pizza was thin and light not the modern hand stretched doughy wood fired fancy modern Italian pizza you are starting to see around Auckland. Likewise the pasta looked cheesy and rich, not fancy. The atmosphere was great, but again not fancy. Plastic plants, fairy lights, plastic woven chairs, red and white chequered tablecloths. Dean Martin playing over the staff shouting at each other in a mostly jovial way. Great location, spectacular views if you get the right spot. I don't know anywhere else in Auckland that you can get a stubbie in a restaurant for $7, especially not in beach front property. This was indicative of the great value! They also do byo. This is a perfect place to go if you want somewhere you can relax and enjoy, eat and drink and have fun. If you want cool, fancy, trendy, or exceptional food, go somewhere else.

Had a really lovely meal here. Lovely spot and food was amazing. Must try the mussels! Staff and service was great. Excellent little spot. Fitout could do with an update but hey not fussy for a little local. This place is also on uber eats. Only other down comment would be dessert prices at $10.50 although the serving was large you could share easily.

My friend and I went to Scalinis and had a lovely meal the staff where very helpful and attentive. We sat in the outdoor covered are but were kept nice and warm as they had heaters It had a cosy atmosphere and highly recommend it. I cant wait to go again

The service was fantastic and the food is outstanding. The raw fish isn’t available on Uber eats so I’ll be shamelessly showing my face multiple times a week

We just love Scallinis - Michael and his staff are just fabulous - if you don't like a bit of light hearted abuse don't go - and you will be the one missing out. It is like faulty towers mixed with easy listening Sunday music.

Great food and service. Need a little freshening up on the interior and mixed sausage pizza could have a little more meat for a hungry carnivore. Will be back!

Food was all delicious. Not big servings but good size for me. Aside from lasagne that was huge. Big eaters will need 3 courses. Waiter was really cool! Really helpful and fun. Enjoyed our night.

This is our family favourite. All the meals are good so everyones happy. Best Spaghetti Bolognese in town.

Literally created this account just to write this review. Went here the other day with friends, while waiting for our food we could hear the manager(?) SCREAMING at his staff, cursing at them. Already this is awful, but to make matters worse, he then proceeded to insult his staff TO CUSTOMERS. It was an incredibly uncomfortable experience for everyone there, and the staff looked very miserable- fair enough. Food was nice, but that manager completely ruined the place, he continued to yell throughout that night and it honestly scared my friends. Feel very bad for the employees there, they did a fantastic job.

Best Italian restaurant I've been to. Amazing location on waterfront.Funny host and great atmosphere.

Great service, BYO + no corkage. Ordered the Mussels for and entire. Sauce was out the gate and you get plenty for your buck. Tortellini was pretty disappointing. Not great portion size and lacked flavor. 4/5 for the mussels and 2/5 for the Tortellini.

I really love their pesto and the sea food pasta is great. It is one of the best I had and the pasta itself is high quality too. Portions are big. Owner has roots from South Italy, you can identify this in the spices used. I did not enjoy the pizzas, too much cheese, but my family did .BYO is free and there is live music sometimes. It has a great potential, some design to revive it would be great. It is very casual. The atmosphere is nice and Michael the owner is really welcoming. Rizam, the new waiter was great too.

Ordered the Pork belly $32. I queried the staff to ask if the pork belly would have crackling. When the meal arrived it was a soft pork skin. I assume the chef knew it wasn’t crispy crackling so put the pork gravy sauce on top which made it very soggy and unedible. Practically chewy pork skin. Menu did not state meal comes with veges but they did. We ordered vegetables for $7 dollars each (4 plates) which was only boiled carrots and courgettes with pepper on them. $28 dollars of veges. I would not return here for a meal.

We had excellent service from the friendly team and the food was absolutely delicious! Such a lovely dinner! I highly recommend the fettuccine al Pollo

We've enjoyed some marvelous dinners here in the past but last night's Marinara pizza was a real disappointment: too cheesy, which I now realize is possible, a couple of shrimp and dozens of olives... With the stones still in.<br/>Our waiter was very sweet but he must have been all of 12 - seriously.<br/>This has been our romantic, Friday night treat for a long time, but we're going to look elsewhere.

Personally, I love Scalinis. Great vibe and every time I have been the service has been great and the food delicious! Lovely small (family run, I believe) Italian restaurant. Reasonably priced and great BYO option. One of the best places to eat in St Heliers even East Auckland...

Would not recommend. Over priced and so average. Not worth the money at all! We ordered a pizza garlic bread and Margherita pizza. No tomatoes or basil were on the pizza, only cheese and tomato base! So disappointed. Pizza garlic bread was worse, dry and tasteless, no garlic oil just crushed garlic thrown on. Will never be back.

Tasty food- steak and scallopini. BYO an advantage. good service by restaurateurs family. missed chance to offer dessert. vegetables served with main meals. Will return one day - better for flavuor and friendly service than other restaurants in area.

I found that the pizzas were very greasy and oily, and apparently the manager abuses the staff. The shop and dining was nice however. I probably wouldn’t be very keen to go back, but maybe it will happen. I recommend not getting the pizza, the other meals aren’t so bad so try them. Thanks for the experience anyway 😄

Great food. Very accommodating and enjoyed every visit. BYO, not a problem. Always willing to fit you in and the pizza always has a good amount of topping.<br/>Good music on Sundays and also kid friendly.

I loved the Casa Pizza and the garlic as well. Cozy location but we usually phone order and pick up which is convenient for those saturday nights

highly recommended -- Amazing restaurant to go and eat. food full of flavours, huge portions for such a good price. great staff full of life and excitement. will deffinetly be eating here a lot.

great itallian reastaurnt. we had lasagna and lamb shanks. for not super busy the meals were brought out staggered so much one was half finished before the second arrived. taste and quality amazing. deserts were another story. we had chocolate sundae and creme brulee. chocolate sundae was not chocolate ice cream and creme brulee had a soft top. even after more of a blow torch still soft in places. mains amazing, service and deserts well below average.

Do not dine here .. absolutely no love in their bland pizza’s with cheap ingredients.. pizza tasted like an awful greasy cheap cheese & canned tomato toasted sandwich. Presentation was also terrible. <br/>Bacon & mushroom pasta tasted like old seafood. <br/>We ate none of it. And asked for our money back. <br/><br/>

Awful food. Probably the worst ive ever had. Example. How hard is it to cook vegetables? They cant even do that...covered them with a layer of peppetr. When we complained was told by the owner to f*** off. Waitresses were great. Pity they have to work in a third rate hole like this. Heard the owner abusing his staff. Worst dining experience ever. This place is a disgrace.

Visitors please don’t come here - the locals know better <br/>Overpriced tasteless bland pizzas<br/>Staff spoken to by owner in such a rude manner<br/>We have now been here 3 times and that’s the last time, besides not enjoying several tasteless meals we always seem to be overcharged<br/>Check your bill before you leave<br/>

i rate this place i have never had a bad meal and rhe owner always comes and checks if your meals were good....now tell me an owner that does that!!!!

Thoroughly enjoy the pizza here, the crust base is super thin and crispy, they’re quick to bring food out and very friendly staff. Very consistent in all areas.

I like the food here but I don't want to have to listen to a owner yelling aggressively at his staff. It makes the staff feel awkward and the customers feel awkward

Nicest staff and owners! Food was delicious and really nice food! Even if the food had been bad I would go back due to the friendly and kind staff but the food was fantastic so it was a win win!

Terrible tasteless pizza. Ordered the Quattro and opened the box as soon as it was ready .. looked really bad and had a really soggy base. They clearly use the cheapest ingredients possible. Don't waste your money at this place.

Have only visited and eaten here once.  The location right next to the waterfront is handy. The service was friendly, and the food was great.

Scalini's is awesome, it is one of our favourite "go to" restaurants when we don't feel like cooking or we want to bring out of town guests.  Both my husband and I love the fish (snapper) special and my favourite pasta is Pasta Ventura (the chef adds chicken and makes it spicy at my request).  We have always had excellent service and the fact that it is BYO makes it very reasonable.

Poor and very rude service. Had to wait over an hour for food when they said it would take only 10 minutes. They made no attempt to compensate

Extremely bad I'm afraid... food was tasteless... the missus had the calamari, cooked well but "salad" was a dollop of fancy lettuce, slice of lemon, no dressing $29 bucks. Seriously bad value. Service is average as staff are lacking a bit of training. This ain't fine dining and its seriously overpriced and not a great environment at all. Spend ya money elsewhere like Moretons..

Nice fresh meal. Great pizza. Owner was straight and honest. Great guy. I would definitely order takeaway from here again! The restaurant is always busy! A good sign.

Been to scalinis often in the last couple of years for takeaways and its always great pizza. Got a large order last night and it was perfect. The tandoori flavour is a favourite and we tried the bacon and egg flavour which is unreal. Highly recommended

Pizza is ok. Pasta is ok. Both are acceptable and what i would rate a 3.0 for taste. But worth half what this place charges. Its way Over-priced for the quality and the service level.

Owner is rude. Disengaged and you feel like you're a pain being there instead of a paying customer. I'm sure he is a nice guy but wow if he wants customers to come back he needs change of attitude. <br/>It's a real shame as the food was actually quite nice. Beware though for $7 side vegetables - u will get about 1 broccoli, 2 cauliflower, and maybe a few slices of carrot. <br/><br/>Interior deco could be waaaay nicer.

We haven't eaten here in years but often grab pizza to go. We've never been disappointed so was shocked at the reviews I've read. You may have to wait a while as its always very busy but the pizza's we have had are tasty. Must say I have been witness to people behind the counter arguing which isn't the most professional but as I'm not eating in hasn't bothered me that much

What a dump. <br/>Mistreated teenage waitstaff who are probably paid 5 bucks and hour, who spilled pizza on my sons head, then picked it off said a quick sorry and then walked off. <br/>An arrogant owner. <br/>I ordered soup. It came as a massive bowl of soup with no bread. I asked if the had any bread at all and was surprised to hear they do not have any bread in the restaurant. <br/>Tried some of my wifes pizza. It was not good, she was hungry and actually didnt finish it.<br/>The owner was yelling at one of the shy little waiters inside and we could hear it.<br/>Probably would have been better off at the pub over the road.<br/>Wont be back.

Extremely disappointed in the service and quality of food last night.   Pork belly came out under cooked and then came back worse a second time round. It was completely burnt black to a point where you couldn't even eat it. After having to wait whilst everyone at the table ate their meals and then be served something uneatable you wouldn't expect to pay full price for a meal you couldn't eat. However they were still determined to charge us three full priced meals for three pork belly's that we couldn't eat. Just shows the arrogance of the owner, and the poor manor in which he treats his customers and staff. This will no longer be my go to local.

Don't know what all the bad reviews are about, this place is all good. Great staff, good Italian, happy days. <br/>Will go back for sure! <br/>After a mare of a week this place is just what the do for ordered. The small pizza was big enough to be a main and was very tasty, the best part is that it's byo therefore your not paying a 200% mark up for a bottle of wine.<br/>

The most depressing $110 I ever spent... Mothers day 2016 my husband and I dined at Scalini's (our first time) we did entree's king prawns and garlic bread the 4 prawns were extremely dry the sauce however was nice and the garlic bread was okay. Mains eye fillet steak the steak was very dry and the sauce!/gravy was over powered by thousands of peppercorns which didn't make for easy eating because we kept having to spit them out. Dessert creme Brulee I have never ever heard of strawberries or raspberries in a creme Brulee disgusting. And they forgot to serve us our drinks hmmmm. Well when we went to pay we saw the reason why their food was not authentic they didn't have an Italian chef. Well this taught me to stick to what I know DE Niro's at Elliott Stables where they have Italian chefs and their eye fillet melts in your mouth I am sorry I ate else where.

Unfriendly service. Pasta was average. Garlic bread was as dry as a cracker. I had one bite and threw the rest out. Pizza was the same. I read the recent negative reviews but thought I'd give it a crack. Spend you money elsewhere. You'll be disappointing.

A nice location, but that is where the positives end. I've been here twice since the new owners took over a few years back, once dine in and once takeaway; both times were bad experiences and I will not be returning despite it being the closest Italian place to where I live.<br/><br/>The first time we ordered a 'Chicken and Avocado' pizza (not sure if this is still on the menu), which arrived with no Avocado! We complained and told them they should of mentioned they were out of Avocado when we ordered, since it was even in the name of the Pizza - but no refund or apology was offered.<br/><br/>The second time, we got takeaway. The Spaghetti Bolognese was ok, but nothing I couldn't cook better myself - it smelt a bit funny (my daughter who will demolish Spag Bol from most italian places, turned her nose up at it and refused to eat it - I thought it was Ok but agreed it smelt a bit strange). <br/><br/>The Pepperoni pizza should of been called an 'Onion' pizza, because it had about 5 times more onion (most of it uncooked) on it, than the few miserable pieces of Pepperoni. Seriously, what is up with the Chef that they think it's okay to put such an insane amount of Onion and almost no Pepperoni on a Pepperoni pizza! <br/><br/>This place has potential, but they need to employ a better Chef - the food here is currently very sub par. You would be better off staying at home and heating up a $5 supermarket pizza, unless you have an Onion fetish that is.

Scalinis what a shambles this place has become, since the ownership change its home down hill. <br/><br/>The rapscallion running this dying resturaunt is a slap ya misses butt while showing you to your table type operator. <br/><br/>The only good thing was the Chicken el Polo . Was very tasty

6 of us from our book club dined ar Scarinish in december. We'd heard it had changed hands so thought we'd give it another chance. Took us an hour to get our mains. We were served by 16 year olds. The mains were mediocre to say the least. To top it all we were stuck inside, could barely hear ourselves talk. Such a disappointment, sadly shan't be returning.

Scalini's serve up reasonable food... decent Pizzas and other mainstream Italian dishes. Unfortunately the setting and experience could cost you a lot of money. This is due to the rather large centre carpark being patrolled by a somewhat dubious wheel clamping outfit. Michael from Scalini's doesn't do himself any favours by supporting this endeavour. Even on a Sunday they will clamp you and ask for $475 to release should you buy a Pizza and head across the road to the wonderful St Heliers beach to eat it. This is totally unacceptable. My advice is to NOT risk it and head somewhere else. If however you are willing to park a fair way away then yes Scalini's do offer a good meal.... just don't dare step foot outside the carpark if you have your vehicle there!!!<br/><br/>This has now been resolved so am increasing the score.... Scalini's do make reasonable food and the service is pretty good. A local Italian restaurant that deserves it's place in our beautiful day...

Lovely evening. I had the King Prawns as an entree which were divine, some of the nicest prawns I have had.<br/><br/>Lamb shank as a main, I felt like the lamb was a tiny bit over cooked, flavours still full and very enjoyable.<br/><br/>Nothing wrong with the service, but also nothing super special. Overheard a loud conversation with a customer about the battle over parking between establishment owners.<br/><br/>Creme brûlée was tasty but let down by the cheap strawberry topping on the side with rainbow sprinkles, not super classy.<br/><br/>I felt like it was a little over priced. Only a 3 because of all the little things that could have lifted the whole experience. I tiny bit more work/awareness across the board would make this a great Auckland eatery.<br/><br/>

So this was my first visit here so i knew it was a risk, 3 adults and 2 kids arrived for our lunch. Seating was fast, service was great the waiter was very knowledgeable and pleasant enough, the live band was pretty entertaining the kids loved them, good ambiance then the food arrived, what a let down, the antipasto was a few ingredients on a plate nothing special, the pizzaz's were warm not straight out of the oven hot, which was disappointing and the creme brûlée was a cold clumpy custard texture with blueberry something at the bottom that we didn't finish. Id go back for the pizza but next time id tell them to bring it out straight from the oven.

Ate here a couple of nights ago and thought the food and service were great. We were a large group and they catered to us brilliantly. I had the garlic pizza bread and spaghetti bolognese, while the bolognese lacked a little tomato flavour overall was a great meal. Dunno where these bad reviews are coming from.

Went here with a group of about 10 people the other night despite the bad reviews, and absolutely loved it! The service was outstanding and the food was delicious. Our group ordered the pizza, pastas, chicken, and salads. Everyone in the group thoroughly enjoyed their experience here. Highly recommend!

Not sure where these reviews have come from but I really enjoyed my evening last night! Went to Scalinis to celebrate a friends birthday had low expectations because of reviews & if it wasn't for a birthday I would never have gone. Everyone's food was absolutely beautiful I risked it & ordered a pizza after seeing someone else's & it was amazing! It was not 'thrown together' it was packed with toppings I loved it! The service was great as well super friendly waiter and our food came out quick. Will definitely return & I suggest you try regardless of other reviews :)

Quite possibly the worst restraunt (if I can even call it that) I have ever been to! Pizza was terrible with massive chunks of onion with everything else just thrown on top. Staff were just weird? Don't even know how to explain it. I'm not a very confronting person so when I was asked how my meal was I said okay even though I wish I had off asked for my money back. Would not recommend at all!

Its so sad to see this beautiful place go downhill we should all write a complaint on complain.org.nz and get things back to how it used to be!!! So disappointing!!!! Great location Awful food!!!

Absolutely my worst dining experience in 20 years of living in Auckland. The Manager said to us upon arrival "Sit Anywhere", when we pointed to a spot he replied 'Not there'. This was obviously his idea of a joke. The hilarity continued...<br/><br/>The waiter (I use the term loosely) took our wine order, which was then almost thrown at us by the surly 20 year old bus boy, (the 'Louis CK' sketch about 20 year old's who hate their jobs was playing in my mind at this point). After a few more minutes the Waiter returned with this stunning quip "are you ready to order...you've been nibbling her ear off for ages!" (referring to my girlfriend, it was our 3 month anniversary). I hadn't, we'd only been in the place 15 mnutes. Let's call this completely inappropriate remark #1.<br/><br/>The meals came and the waiter made another quip about my Fish 'Tasting Like the Sea...Wink, Wink'...at this point I was starting to believe I was hallucinating, and my girlfriend was incredulous because the waiter was making leering glances at her, but the best was yet to come! <br/><br/>Once our meals were finished and cleared away, the waiter then re-appeared with the Desert Menu, let me quote the scene in it's entirety: Waiter " Let me thrust the desert Menus at you (addressing my Girlfriend), Thrust! Thrust!" These last two remarks were accompanied by pelvic thrusts with the desert Menu, directed at my girlfriend! At this point I burst out laughing because I truly thought I must be hallucinating or stepped into an episode of 'Fawlty Towers'. <br/><br/>Epilogue: As I was leaving (and paying) the Australian Chef who took my money asked me how the meal was. My reply was 'Food was nice but service was very odd...' His reply? 'Yeah, the boss can be a bit hard case". I replied ' Yes, and the older waiter too". <br/>His reply to that: 'Oh, that guy's just a F&^%$'N Weirdo!'. Priceless. Needless to say, will not be returning.

We used to come here all the time for an amazing meal.<br/>But now it's pretty average.<br/>Some of the staff are great fun others are waiting for close time.<br/>The food was just like any other.<br/>The pizza choice was creative and good for a change.<br/>Overall disappointing.<br/>Sorry scalinis. :(

our overall experience at Scallinis, on New Years eve night,  was to say the least very disappointing.  The service was very poor and I found the owner to be very ignorant. The Pizza seemed to have its toppings just thrown on, with poor quality ingrediants. We werent given any plates, so had to eat this from the metalic pizza plate. The fish on risotto, had lots of bones and nearly choked on them, it  was over cooked and dry, with no seasoning - very bland.   never again ...buyer beware

What happened to this place?  It used to be great. I have been coming here and dining in or getting takeaway pizza for 10 years.  We had a disappointing pizza over summer and haven't tried it again until tonight.  Sadly we have dubbed it the lazy pizza.  The toppings were thrown together quickly - wedges of onion and mushrooms remained uncooked and the chewy rind left on the bacon.  The base was nice but the cheese was chewy an un-evenly distributed.  I know Scalinis changed hands a few years ago but I really miss one of my favourite Auckland Italian restaurants.  We won't be going back. THE FOOD SCRIBBLER

This is possibly the worst restaurant I've ever been to. My pizza was $28 and tasted like it had been bought at a supermarket and heated in a microwave. It was terrible. The garlic bread was the same. On top of that the waiter passed me the pizza on a hotplate over the table, I almost dropped it but I held on and burnt my fingers. Do not recommend

Arrived at Scalini's and was greeted by a friendly waitress, we then went to our seats with hats all over the chair, plus a broken chair. We then ordered our drinks, entrees and mains. <br/><br/>Drinks arrived in a can with a straw ($3.50), wasn't even given a glass with ice (its the little things that matter) our calamari arrives ($16.50) with 6 undercooked calamri, plate was messy and lettuce was dry. <br/><br/>Garlic bread came and it was clearly undercooked with a dirty plate. <br/><br/>Our mains then arrived my partner got her pizza and it looked as though my 4 year old niece had been let in the kitchen to throw on all the ingredients, pretty much half an onion uncut on one piece (where is the love?) With a bit of salami and capsicum. The pizza also arrived on the same tin that was used to go in the oven (no care what so ever) <br/><br/>I got the spag bog was nothing to rave about seeming as it's an Italian place I can make better ones at home..<br/><br/>We then went to pay and was told it was $77.00 i was in shock however payed not realising though I was charged $27 for a pepperoni pizza that was undercooked with little to care on how it was made. (I could get a much better $6 pizza at pizza hut) <br/><br/>Overall, would never return again and I'm quite frankly still very angry at how much I was charged for the quality of the meals and overall experience. <br/><br/>Place needs a serious looking at.

Lunch on Sunday 16/2/14. Did not book. New the band that was playing and hoped to get a seat or table. Very hot sunny day. Had not been there for a few years. <br/>Very attentive friendly owner/manager and staff. Found a cool table in the shade. More seating was available in the courtyard. Great relaxed vibe with friendly loyal locals and excellent trio live band. Excellent prompt service and food. Great lunch and drinks menu. Raw fish entree and Marinara pizza were excellent. <br/>Nice touches for summer, were the large sail awning for some shade and a selection of sombrero hats if in the sun. <br/>Next door wine bar Le Vie En Rose is a good option if not dining, as both venues share the same area and off road car park.<br/>Overall excellent venue, service and food. Will definitely return. Worth the drive from Mt Eden, along the lovely Tamaki Drive.

Pizza missing quite a few ingredients that was on the menu but that's ok...however, 6 of us dining and only 5 pizzas delivered to our table and after a good ten minutes we queried where the 6th pizza was, the chief got super aggressive and rude...clearly forgetting who the customer was! With so much choice is St Heliers, not sure if we would go back and definitely wouldn't recommend the place based on the chef's reply to a simple query, surrounding takeaway pizza places a great alternative at a fraction of the price and service with a smile...always!

Went to Scalini's for my mum's birthday. There were tables free out in the sun and we were told by the owner/chef that no one can book a specific table, but when when we arrived we were not allowed to sit at the free tables in the sun. Instead we were seated indoors. The food was pretty good, nothing to grumble about. The best thing was a swing/lounge band playing while we ate. Awesome. HOWEVER, we asked to book a table for new years eve and were told you cannot book and we would need to arrive at approximately 9pm to see what is available. We arrived at 9pm and there were two tables outside free so we began to sit at one. A waiter came over and told us we couldn't sit there as it was booked! This is after the owner/chef told us no one can book a table! We were asked to sit inside, on the one table table free, next to the toilet. We said no and that we would like to sit at one of the free tables outside. The waiter went inside to speak to the owner/chef. The owner/chef made some aggressive actions and came out to speak to us. He was very rude, telling us we could not have the tables outside. We were puzzled as the policy was clearly explained to us before when we had tried to book. He had told us 'you cannot book a specific table', but here he was telling us the tables had been booked. We explained to him we were confused and upset and that we were not sure about coming to Scalini's again. He said 'fine'. To top it off, as we left he called over to a friend at the bar next door and said 'come and sit here', signalling to the tables we were trying to sit at. We went down the road to La Vista and had a lovely meal and a wonderful new years eve. Such a shame that the owner/chef was so rude and aggressive towards us. We wanted to spend our evening and our money there. He obviously wanted to have some rules for us and different ones for his friends. What a rude and aggressive man. We will never go back.

OK so even though this is an upmarket area this restaurant is not and doesn't pretend to be, so with that in mind we had an enjoyable evening meal here. The boys serving were inexperienced and lacked any finesse they didn't try to locate us inside as requested as there was a cold wind coming in from the ocean we ordered and noticed a more sheltered table and took it upon ourselves to move there, the orders were taken and delivered in good time however the lack of professionalism was evident as plates were banged down on the table etc, the best part was the food (mussels entree superb) it was great and drinks were served promptly and at the correct temperature. So for little more than a takeaways price we had a nice meal in a great location.

This is very poor value for such a good location. We ordered the tomato and mozzarella entrée and only got four small slices of both a tomato and mozzarella on a large plate for the excessive cost of $16.50. Even at $10 it would be expensive. We felt ripped off.<br/>Also my raw fish was carelessly placed on a very hot plate for serving. There is much room for improvement out of this kitchen.

Looked like a nice authentic Italian restaurant, but the main chef (owner?) does not know how to treat customers. Ordered a salad main that had half the ingredients missing. We went to tell him, and he was defensive and told us no it's not missing anything. We showed him and he took it back, brought it back again but still missed quite a few things. No apologies. Coffee is also horrible and took half an hour. The pizzas were quite nice but didn't make up for the rude manager/owner. Won't be coming back.

Was there last Sunday towards the end of the band playing and enjoyed it as I love music and yes, the island girls were at it again and just loved it! Management has changed since a couple of years ago and it seems like they've scaled it up a bit....Will be there again today to enjoy that music and food!

Had lunch there on Sunday. The Jazz band was fantastic, as was the food and service. The island girls were up dancing and everyone was having a great time. The band makes for a cruisy Sunday afternoon. The BYO without corkage charge is such a good idea. Recommend the garlic pizza bread and steak.

Have always loved this place! Went for dinner with a group of 5 friends on Saturday night and was as great as ever! Pizza's were lovely and garlic bread is a total winner every time. This place has never dished up a bad experience yet for us and continues to be our favourite restaurant in the Bay area. Keep up the great work.

Have been to Scalinis a number of times - but on Saturday night we gave it another go.<br/><br/>Appears New management are in - and things have definitly changed.<br/><br/>After 30 mins for entrees - and 1 hours for mains (without explanation) our meals arrived and 2 were fairly sub-standard.<br/><br/>1 pasta dish was watery (menat to be creamy tomato) and had old/overcooked/dry chicken.<br/><br/>Fish of the day (@ $33) was overcooked as well - and served with a wrinkled 1 week old &amp; mouldy piece of lemon. Nice!<br/><br/>Pizza was okay - but I rememeber the Pizza here being superb.<br/><br/>It is such a great spot - right on the beach, its a shame its has slide so far.<br/><br/>After eating what we could, and finally tracking down someone to speak to - they were unresponsive - to the point of blatantly ignoring us.<br/><br/>Some of the group left - and we finally got some one to respond back to our satisfaction. What followed was truly bizarre.<br/><br/>They seemed to think nothig was wrong with the food, and said they could only take off the $7 garlic bread. Evertually the removed one of the meians off the bill - but seemed a bit ridiculous that no apology was offered.<br/><br/>I can't recommend this place at all.

Have been a number of times over the years. It can be very hit and miss. When its good its great though. Love the big steaks in creamy peppercorn sauce. <br/><br/>Pizza's can be fair to average some days and deliciously fab others.<br/><br/>Worth a go, usually good and byow a bonus.

What a disaster of an evening. The staff have not heard of service, my main came out 15mins before the garlic bread/pizza and another 20 mins after that we got my sons pizza main. The waiter blamed it on the owner and the owner blamed it on the waiter. <br/><br/>It surely wasn't because they were busy and rushed off their feet; we dined at 6:20pm. <br/>the place was only 1/4 full.<br/><br/>We were planning to go there Friday and order pizza to take to the beach with some friends. I would rather walk to Mission Bay and go to Toninos than ever dine or order food from Scallinis again.

On Saturday night four of us celebrated our wedding anniversary at Scalini's. What a fabulous night. Although the restaurant was very busy the wait staff were very friendly and our meals were absolutely first class. We have been coming to Scalini's every anniversary for the last four years and we all agreed that this was the best meal we have had. Our compliments to the exceptional chef and the wait staff. Thank you for making our night special.

<br/> Today 13 Jan was indeeed Black Friday. Abominable food abominable service ...main delivered before entre after a wait of 1 hour...people seeking refunds as was so bad......never to return<br/><br/>Went back there for Son's 30th at end of March wondering if it would be as good as he recalled it in January 2011, this time with 8 people &amp; 4 week old baby. They delivered very well. All meals well presented and appetising- a variety was ordered and everyone enjoyed their meal. Byo which is a bonus- meals came with vegetables and we had a good celebration! Gordon (Maitre'd) looked after us in a timely fashion.

A group of us went out for a friends birthday. Firstly the wine glasses were so dirty they looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in quite some time. The mains were fairly average. When one of us questioned why the meal didn't come with potatoes as listed on the menu ... the reply was that they had run out! They had also run out of green milk so the skinny lattes became fat ones. The options for dessert were also limited because they had run out of those as well!!! (It was a Monday night). The mud cake was chocolate cake and quite dry. The cheesecake I am sure was "Crofters' from the supermarket. I would not recommend this restaurant. Most of the mains were overpriced.

I love this restaurant. A lovely atmosphere and great food. Vegetarian pizza was delish! Will happily go back.

I will start with the end of the meal,I was by this time so furious with what slop that restaurant passed as fine food I asked my wife to go and pay as I could not bring myself to.I started by selecting a glass of merlot and was surprised when it arrived that the volume lasted the distance from the Bar,the tide was below even scrooges sense of right.The mains were tasteless. Would not recommend.

The mussels are really good. They were done in a beautiful coconut cream and I think sweet chilli sauce and the calamari was good too. The dessert presentation was done really nice and the service was good. I will definately be back.