EAT > Johnny Vince & Sam’s, Melbourne (10/20)

Any new Italian restaurant opening on Carlton’s Lygon Street needs to have something special to be noticed.

The premise for Johnny, Vince and Sam’s restaurant is to capture the daggy cool of 60s and 70s vintage with some classic Italian dishes and there are aspects of this that are excellent, but on the day we visited well it was sadly a miss.

I had been really looking forward to visiting Johnny, Vince and Sam’s for a few weeks, I had seen some social media and my anticipation was building for a rich dollop of kitsch, with the style of the place and its tongue in cheek mockery of having a meal at Nona’s where there are doilies (under plastic), green velour lounges, chandeliers and much more.

The food is all the classics too for entree there is a a range of salumi, mortadella, calamari, arancini and eggplant parmigiana. Pasta dishes include spaghetti and meatballs, rigatoni with beef ragu and orecchiette with broccoli. There are pizza dishes and a few mains steak, fish and veal schnitzel (Camela’s Cotolette). For dolci there is Cannoli, Tiramisu, Cake from a Lemon Tree and Pav from Sharon de Neighbour.

The menu is full of gags all playing on the Italian 70’s home theme, so whats not to love, it is a daggy place and daggy is definitely the new hip.

Arriving on a warm day (no bookings walk in only) we were directed to a table inside and promptly ignored by the four waiters.

It took 20 minutes to attract attention for a drink and nearly 45 to get someone to take an order. A number of times my fellow diners suggested we get up and leave, this just isnt good enough, especially for Melbourne where we are very proud of the quality of our dining experience.

We waited for our food, commenting on those around us. There was no bread offered and we had to ask twice for water for the table.

Ok so to the food I had the Pasta With’ A De Meatballs (spaghetti and meatballs $29), which were ok nothing wrong with the flavour but nothing remarkable either. The other dishes at the table was Sam’s Spezzatino – a beef ragu with rigatoni ($29)- good flavours but drowning in parmesan cheese and the last meal was a Capricciosa From’ A My Town – a very small oval pizza ($28).

At the end of the meal we were not even offered coffee or desert – this was the worst service experience I have had in recent years.

As we walked away my friends collectively agreed that we were unlikely to return, the gimmick of a daggy fitout was never going to overcome the service or just ok food.

I hope things get better but next time I am thinking of a retro experience I am going to visit Maria’s Trattoria near the Queen Victoria Markets or The Waiters Club in Myers Place where I am confident the food and service will live up to the experience.