What another brill dinner! Nothing can fault this charming restaurant. Excellent service, authentic quality Italian food, and wonderful staff. My family are regulars here, because it is one of the best restaurants in Welly, if not the best Italian!
Have to recommend the Braised Beef Parcels and the Tiramisu. Perfection on a plate.
Thanks so much Giuseppe and staff!

I had waited a long time to go back to Wellington to this restaurant, the former owners served superb Italian food. While I could not fault the greeting or service the main content of a top restaurant is the food. Myself & my two companions were extremely disappointed with our meals. Sorry MariLuca Ristoro, I will never be back.

As long time diners at Maria Pia’s we were keen to try MariLuca last night. Everything was fantastic – staff, service, ambience and the food was outstanding – can’t wait to go back to try the rest of the menu

We loved it!!!

Maria Pia’s was our family haunt for dinner, so we were tentative to try the new Mariluca’s. But we were SO pleasantly surprised!

The decor has had a brilliant uplift – it looks so much lighter and more inviting now. We had a brief wait for a table so were offered (my new favourite) aperetif of Campari and sparkling Italian white wine.

The service was knowledgeable and friendly – I had the lamb which was DIVINE, and everyone at the table was attacking my sauce with their bread! My mother had the special of asparagus risotto, which she absolutely loved. My partner and brother both had the steak, which was cooked perfectly, their only comment was that neither thought it was a perfectly well-rounded dish like the risotto or the lamb – they felt it was missing a bit of a wow-factor.

The desserts were divine and we were each given a limoncello as we were the last ones in there polishing off the lovely Italian wines!

We will be back. Lots.

This is the first time I have ever written a review and do so now as I was so impressed by our experience.the service was probably the best I have had in wellington.the atmosphere was great and the place was full but we were never left waiting, the staff were attentive and funny.i had the potato gnocchi which was delicious and a lovely italian red.complimentary limoncello completed the evening.we will be making it our regular.

I had no idea Maria Pia’s had closed, but was I pleased to see this new place was still Italian. From the moment I was warmly greeted by Giuseppe (he used to be at Hummingbird) like a long lost family friend I knew I was going to enjoy my evening.

A glass of prosecco was a perfect match to accompany my tasty bruschetta. The montepulciano we had was just divine, but the highlight of the evening was the pasta! I chose the pappardelle with duck sauce. It was exceptional – generous thin ribbons of pasta with the most delicious duck sauce. Not so much a sauce as a ragout with lots of duck. It seems Roberto (I recognised him from front of house at Osteria del Toro) has revealed a hidden talent – not just the friendly front of house service, but he makes the pasta himself. I also tried some of the clam linguini – it was beautiful!

I didn’t have dessert (so unlike me) – but I did finish the evening in true Italian style – with a limoncello. But I’m definitely going back – the tiramisu I saw at the table next to me looked amazing and I do love a cheeseboard.

If you are looking for somewhere with exceptional service, a warm cosy atmosphere, and great food and wine then I would give this place a go.

Seriously haven’t stopped thinking about that pasta.

MariLuca Ristoro
as reviewed by Ask The Locals on 19th August 2011

Maria Pia’s is dead. Long live MariLuca Ristoro.

We chose MariLuca’s tonight, as I was out to impress my friends who aren’t locals, but one is half Italian. Now the pressure is on. To impress an Italian raised foodie is not won over lightly. There was much thought and deliberation into where to dine. I settled on Maria Pia’s, only to discover that they were closing and new proprietors would be taking over just days before we were to dine. Was this to be a too risky proposition? I decided that in my experience, new owners will try hard to live up to the highly regarded reputation of the previous owners, but also want to put their own stamp on what is now their own name. The new proprietors (Guiseppe Malaponti from Hummingbird) did not disappoint.

So, you want to know, what did we order? Are they truly authentically Italian? How busy were they? And will they be able to live up to Maria Pia’s reputation.

Everything. Yes. Very. Yes.

Wine first. Of course. Italian. Again, of course. When in Rome, as they say. My Italian friend chose for us, choosing the 2008 Montepulciano D’Abruzzo, a Poggio Ai Santi wine. Very fragrant and light and moreish a wine, as never I have tasted. Normally we go Central Otago Pinot Noir. And that is as far as I can venture into the red of wines. But, this wine had just enough body and character to please everyone at the table.

So, wine sorted, and half an hour in and we still hadn’t settled on whether we would be doing antipasto, entrees, soup, pasta or mains. The Spanish had it right. Just start bringing food. So, we ordered the antipasto platter to share, some char grilled bread and a seafood plate. The antipasto was perfection, and completely stole the round. Olives, Parma ham, salami, grilled aubergine & zucchini, marinated artichoke & mushrooms, pesto, cheeses, beans, fritata, rocket, all with chunky char grilled sourdough bread – perfection.

An hour later, we are now onto the second bottle of Montepulciano and thinking we could manage something else to eat. So, bets are laid, rules established, it was to be couple-teams choosing the best meals wins. DH neutralised the carbonara by Team USA with another carbonara. Team USA then stuck with seafood to have the clam linguine. Team Locals final choice was braised beef ravioli with crispy sage. Score!

To read the rest of our review and to find out if Ask The Locals ravioli was enough to outscore the linguine see: http://askthelocalsnz….