Pretty Boy Italian Steakhouse

3.5 out of 5<br/ <br/ Just goes to show how important service is, a lot of reviews on here mentioning great service, however ours was mediocre given fine dining prices<br/ <br/ The good stuff:<br/ Food is overall of very high quality, our entrees were very nice, presented well. Mains we tried the wagyu and non wagyu which were all very good, tender, and melt in your mouth, a little undercooked but i've noticed a lot of restaurants doing this recently. Sides were all very nice, especially the texture of the salad. Choc fondant dessert was fantastic, the citrus sorbet matched well. Nice atmosphere venue, not quite the typical traditional fine dining <br/ <br/ <br/ The Bad stuff:<br/ we had had empty water glasses, water bottles, drink glasses the entire meal, and we had to serve our bottle of wine ourselves. Also asked for dessert menu, waitress didnt come back. Balance between price vs service not good enough. Kobe Wagyu 9+ tasted good but I dont think its the real stuff from Japan, the real stuff is marbled like crazy and you dont need a knife to cut<br/ <br/ Overall, enjoyed the meal. Thank you

Lovely waiting staff who strike the balance between professional and warm. The zucchini flowers were good but a bit plain compared to the succulent flavours and textures of the fig prosciutto, truffle gnocchi and baby barramundi. Classic, almost unfussy fine dining done right.

My Rating: 4.5<br/ <br/ I never thought to find an Italian steakhouse in a hotel. What a hidden gem! Delicious food, excellent customer service and centrally located restaurant. <br/ <br/ LOCATION<br/ <br/ Pretty Boy Italian Steakhouse is situated on the first floor of Novotel/Ibis Hotel on Little Lonsdale Street, between Elizabeth and Queen Street. It is only a short 6 minutes’ walk from Melbourne Central.<br/ <br/ For a restaurant hotel, we were quite impressed with the spacious dining area. There are 3 separate area’s including the main section which has the large open kitchen, walled section with another dining space and a curtain drawn for private large functions.<br/ <br/ SERVICE<br/ <br/ The customer service at Pretty Boy is impressive. Exactly what you will find at a fine dining restaurant which you wouldn’t even expect in a restaurant hotel. The only thing that I would really comment is staff speeding through the menu highlighting each section. Could have easily slowed down and introduce or highlight food items otherwise could have just left us to view and return to assist us with any questions.<br/ Throughout the night, our waiter was very attentive, asking us how our meal was, if needed a top up on drinks, and general nice short conversation here and there which is very rare these days from waiters.<br/ <br/ In my reservations I had indicated it was a birthday celebration, and the waiter had good attention to detail as post our meals, he advised us that management has offered us complimentary drinks in which my friend was very excited and ask if wine would be included as he was enjoying his red wine so much, the waiter smiled and said he will try his best and see if he could make it happened. He disappeared quickly and came back within minutes and advised with a happy smile that he has arranged that. As I don’t drink alcohol, he offered a special house mocktail which I readily accepted. Upon leaving the restaurant our waiter offered to help us take photos and even gave us a drink card each for Floyd’s Wine Bar which is on the second floor of Novotel Hotel.<br/ <br/ MENU/PRICE<br/ <br/ ENTREE: <br/ Kingfish Crudo, tomato essence, black garlic mayonnaise, capers, olives, $17.00<br/ <br/ San Danielle prosciutto, roasted fig, ricotta salata, vino cotto, mizuna, $17.00<br/ <br/ MAIN: <br/ Chef's Top Cut Kobe Scotch Fillet 350gram, $95.00<br/ (Sauce options with steak includes: red wine, mushroom, green peppercorn, truffle butter, horseradish cream, Sicilian salsa <br/ <br/ Nonna’s Favourite Pasta, $33.00<br/ (Gnocchi, black truffle, porcini, portobello ragu <br/ <br/ SALAD: Radicchio, green bean, cherry tomato, balsamic, $9.00<br/ <br/ DESSERT: Summer Berry tart, ricotta, grappa, $17.00<br/ <br/ VERDICT<br/ <br/ The Kingfish Crudo was nicely presented and tasted delicious. The fish was well marinated and full of flavour. <br/ <br/ The prosciutto however was a little disappointing, flavours was not balanced enough. The mizuna mustard leaves were not enough to lighten the heaviness of the roasted figs which were quite sweet. <br/ <br/ Gnocchi was a small soft pillow of goodness, light and fluffy. It’s the first time I’d seen gnocchi in such small pieces which I think is brilliant, so much easier to consume and enjoy. The dish was well cooked and had just the right amount of black truffle to give it the flavour. The mushroom and sauce complemented well. I’d definitely return just to order the Gnocchi black truffle. Simply delicious! A standout dish.<br/ <br/ The Kobe scotch fillet (350grams yes was expensive, however with TheFork 50% promotion, it was a no brainer to indulge! We ordered it medium rare and it came out perfectly cooked and well seared. It was easy cutting along the marble grain of the meat. The meat was tender and very tasty. The shredded cabbage, parsley and parmesan salad that was on the plate with the scotch fillet was refreshing and complemented well with the meat. We had option to order a sauce for the scotch fillet and we opt for the truffle butter. But to be honest, sauce is not needed at all, as the meat itself was quite enjoyable alone.<br/ <br/ Our salad of Radicchio, green beans and cherry tomato was quite a small serving which was disappointing. It was an OK salad, nothing to really mention.<br/ <br/ I was already feeling quite full when my friend said that we should order dessert. Normally I would always jump at wanting to have dessert, but on this particular night I wasn’t sure if I could fit it in. The summer berry tart was very colourful and they kitchen staff had “Happy Birthday” written in chocolate which was a surprise for my friend. The berry sauce was a little too overpowering but still quite tasty. We requested without grappa (as I cant take alcohol and they added a scoop of berry sorbet which was tasty and refreshing. Balanced well with the lightness of the tart.<br/ <br/ Note: at time of posting this review, I had revisited Pretty Boy just for the black truffle Gnocchi! Same quality and consistency. Delicious!

Lizzie’s first impression: Sophisticated, best pasta and great service. <br/ <br/ Lizzie enjoyed: I was sceptical coming into this place as it was one of the hotel’s restaurants but I am very glad I did. The pastas we ordered were absolutely gobsmackingly amazing and I wished the dish never ended. I tried the squid ink pasta with crabs and chilli. It was simply impeccable – al dente, plenty of flavour, good amounts of crab, the perfect dish in my eyes. We also ordered the wagyu ragu parpadelle and it was also quite yummy. We tried a side of greens which were Asparagus and it went well with the goats cheese and crushed almonds. <br/ <br/ Lizzie did not enjoy: I wish more people knew about this place because I will be certainly telling everyone about it! <br/ <br/

4.0 Very Good<br/ <br/ Located within Novotel is this spacious Italian restaurant specialising in steak but that’s not the only thing they do well. We made sure we had our food in multiple layers to get the full dining experience.<br/ <br/ We start off with a cocktail each, I tried their Amaretto Sour which had that distinct bitter almond taste, reminiscent of amaretti biscuits. Quite a bit of head on it but very tasty. We later moved onto a local red later that night to have with steak.<br/ <br/ For primi we started off with some chargrilled sardines in a simple basil and green chilli dressing. It had a nice burnt taste to it, the bones on the fish itself weren’t as soft as I’d expect from cooked sardines and were a bit spikey, still edible however. We also shared some fritto zucchini flowers which were nicely crispy and filled with goat’s cheese and a bit of ricotta and kumato underneath.<br/ <br/ The pastas followed soon after and they were the highlight of the night, I really wished we got main sizes! We got nonna’s favourite which was gnocchi in black truffle, porcini and portobello ragu. The black truffle did not overwhelm in flavour and pairs well with mushrooms as it always does. Gnocchi was cut small so you get little pillowy morsels in each bite. My friend who dislikes truffles tried to have more than his fair share, once again I always have to lead the way in making firm decisions such as this. The pappardelle in wagyu ragu was just as good, pasta was al dente and the meat was tender and packed flavour.<br/ <br/ For steak we got their 800g 30-day dry-aged rib eye steak, medium rare as requested and pre-sliced for easy sharing. There were a couple of pieces that were a bit tough from the sinew but other than that it was smooth sailing. We had some sauces on the side of Sicilian salsa and red wine (both included), not particularly required as the steak can hold its own. We also had some fries to the side which were crispy but didn’t have a strong rosemary flavour to it.<br/ <br/ For dessert we had their tiramisu which was constructed to order and served with a scoop of coffee ice cream, I particularly enjoyed the crispy wafers they threw in and the smooth mascarpone. We also had their chocolate fondant which had a pleasant cakiness to it. To the side were some stone fruit (peach) and a lemon sorbet, quite sour. I tried pairing this with the fondant and as expected, did not work. Treat as two separate entities on the plate.<br/ <br/ If you come here, make it a priority to load up on those carbs, the pasta dishes were strong standouts. Or why not rock up early to Floyd’s bar for pre-dinner drinks? (I think it should be a separate segment on Zomato, it’s a completely different menu and on a different floor)