I have dined here many times over the years but my recent experience there has put me off returning. First I tried unsuccessfully to make a booking for a table of four for lunch. The website contained out of date information about Covid and advised...on-line booking was unavailable and to call instead. The call resulted in a voice message to book on-line! I was stuck in this loop and when I rang the restaurant at 12:20 - supposedly 20 minutes after the restaurant had opened - I still got the voice message and could not get through to an actual person. We decided to chance it and just turn up for our lunch. I had pictured sitting at a table outside but the music was so loud there as to make conversation a shouting match and we found a table in the near empty and slightly less noisy interior. The service was slow. When our four mains finally arrived they were quite good, but the service continued to disappoint with us having to call a staff member over to clear the table and take our coffee orders after a long wait. The final straw was when we were advised that there was only black coffee available because the expresso machine had broken down! We got the impression it had been out of order for some time. We were able to order tea but I could not believe that an Italian restaurant was out of a good selection of coffees. I found the whole experience of organising a nice lunch for my three friends at Campari House had proved quite embarrassing.More

We found the food to be nothing special and the service lacked - items were requested but never arrived. When dining with friends (there were only 2 couples on this occasion), we very rarely have any issues in simply splitting the bill in half and...paying via 2 credit cards. This restaurant rudely refused this and advised aggressively we were to pay on card only, or they would call the police. We are middle-aged non-threatening guests and were clearly NOT about to do a runner, nor were we trying to avoid paying, so I'm not sure why the aggressive threat. If only management would think about the goodwill damage done by this approach, they might rethink. Dividing the bill for equal payments creates absolutely minimal workload and provides a good helpful "please come back" message to guests. The lost business from us and anyone else they refuse adds up to several thousand dollars over just a couple of years - i.e. no group coffee/cake, no group lunches, no group dinners. Although the establishments are in low numbers, I have many corporate colleagues who refuse to go in groups, small or large, to certain restaurants in Melbourne or when travelling, for this reason - the result: an ongoing great loss of business and income to the restaurants concerned. As we did finalise the evening we advised Simon (Manager) that they were unlikely to get a good review. His rude response was "we're a pub, we don't care" (exact words). We left with only the memory of a very poor customer experience, and any positive about our catchup with friends was mostly destroyed by the manager over this. In our opinion, his abrasive and unhelpful demeanour was deplorable, and I was embarrassed to have taken our guests to this restaurant. Further, instead of posting a review immediately, I took the time to call and discuss the matter and coincidentally spoke with Simon again. He continually interrupted, expressed little interest in anything I said or was trying to ask and then rudely hung up. I would not consider this to be professional manager behaviour. Campari House appears to us to be neither sophisticated nor fun (as suggested on their website). Sophisticated dining outlets do not behave in this way. I appreciate the customer may not always be right, but they are always important - and one of the skills of a manager should be to politely deal with any uncomfortable situation. My guess is that this manager is of the ilk/generation who refuses to accept or professionally deal with any criticism or issue that is not to their liking. It would be helpful if he undetook some management and people-skill training if he intends on building a successful career in the hospitality industry. For us, this was a very poor customer experience. We've enjoyed some wonderful nights out in our lifetime, however this was certainly not one of them.More

Campari House, eating in the outside area on Hardware Lane. We had been in Melbourne for five nights, eating out every night. I would rate this as the best meal we had on this trip to Melbourne. We elected to not do mains and to...a section of the starters, Tapas style. That turned out to be a very enjoyable. A diverse range of food and able to match with an unexpectedly good wine list. Highly recommended.More