Only 1 star because I HAD too.

The food was expensive and gross. The risotto my little brother has was dry and tasteless. The Cabonara I had was just cream and bacon with badly cooked spaghetti. The pizzas resembled domino’s pizzas for twice the price and half the size and the drinks were warm!

The waitress was rude and offensive from the moment we walked in. The flyer said ‘open until late’ so when we turned up at 9pm and were seated we did not expect to be told that the kitchen was closing so we needed to hurry up. We should have walked out then but because we had been working at an event from 8am and just completed a nearly 12 hour stint we were too tired.

The only good things about the the experience was the cheery man who cleared our dishes and when we left.

Do not go there!!!!

Do I have to grace it with 1 star?? This was the worst dining experience of my life, and I urge you never to set foot in here. We waited a long time to get anything other than drinks and garlic bread, then the trouble started when I asked if the food was going to be much longer, as we had two tired children at the table. Then the staff started hanging around glaring at us as if I had committed some terrible breach of courtesy. A waitress eventually came out and started slamming plates furiously down on the table. One of the orders was wrong, so the waiter who took the order stormed over and read out the order that he had written down, “and I read it back to you!” (no he didn’t!), then stormed off again. The correct dish eventually came out about 20 minutes after the rest. The quality of the food left much to be desired. My sister from England took 2 mouthfuls from her steak then couldn’t eat any more as it was inedible. The risottos were stodgy and salty, and the pasta in the lasagne was revoltingly chewy. There was no apology for the inedibility of the food or the long wait (over an hour!). This was the Torquay Riviera transported to Taupo (except without the laughs). I repeat, DO NOT EAT AT THIS RESTAURANT!

No Go Zone! me and my family visited this place 0n 9th of January 2012. as we were visiting my sister in Auckland and decided to go to taupo. we are from Australia. when we reached Taupo we decide to go for a for pizza. This restaurant looked nice we walked in the waitress was very rood but we didn’t think much of it , we sat down and menus were given, when she came back for orders she was in so much hurry, we ordered some food but waitress was not happy she kept asking that’s all ! we were 9 people and ordered 8meals my sister was not much hungry she wanted to share with us. But waitress kept asking her what about you, you not gonna eat any thing even though we told her we want to share.

then she went away and after five minutes she comes back and tells us that they don’t have fish and chips that one of the kids ordered. and we told her not to worry about it. and you can not imagine what happened next another waitress dropped drinks on my daughter and no apologies at all.

After 20 minutes food comes risotto that was ordered by my daughter was a Gui gluck and full of salt and same goes for pizzas full of salt and we asked for tomato based pastas but the rude women brought creamy pastas and we told her but we wanted tomato based ,to our horror she picked our pasts with anger and left without any apologies. and after some time came back with same pasta but added tomato paste.

we were very upset we could not eat, another waitress asked is every thing OK we told her no we are not happy

After few minutes the rude women turns up with a chef he tries to ex plane that there is nothing wrong with our meal by then I was fuming then I asked the chef that he can try the food and talk to us and he did, but and he couldn’t say any thing and we got up and paid for the meals. to remind you we hardly ate any thing. and still no apologies. So if you thinking to go their don’t be fooled by the decors service is the worst and food ??????????????. That is the worst experience of my life.

Where do I start, we booked a group in wait staff were very rude, half our group got there meals the other half had to wait for a long time, staff were asked several times how long until they received ther meals, were then told it was our fault as our orders were too confusing! Food was ok but overshadowed by the bad service, We were still eating our meals when a staff member called the police and told them we were leaving without paying, we were still seated and eating when the police turned up, apparantly a staff member overheard someone say we were happy to pay for the meals but not to happy to pay for the service, and took it upon themselves to call the police, the owner was yelling at us to pay and leave, so there we were hurrying through our meals so we didn’t risk arrest by the local police, we then were escorted from the premises by the rude staff members with the police waiting outside, the owners friends then started abusing us, never in my life have I ever had such disgusting service, I’m surprised they are still in business, Faulty Towers has nothing on Milano, patrons dine at your own risk and if you read other reviews they all have a similiar theme “the rude owner” so steer clear and take your dining out dollar elsewhere

Came here after a long weekend at Taupo race track, when we arrived we chose our seating and let the waitress know where we had chosen to sit, after about 5 minutes we had still not received any menus and when I checked the waitress was walking around the restaurant checking empty tables to make sure there were glasses and cutlery, so I went up to the counter and grabbed my own menus. After another 5-10minutes there was still no sign of the waitress to come and take our order, another gentlemen came and took our order after asking if we were alright. We received the entree in a short amount of time and the mains werent too far behind. We both ordered the Fettuccine di Pollo for $20.90 each, when it came out the sauce was thick and didnt feel like an authentic Italian pasta dish, barely any mushrooms. We then went to pay for our meal and the gentlemen who had served us was raising his voice at someone in the kitchen over something small which I thought was a bit unprofessional. Its a real shame that this restaurant has deteriorated as in November 2010 we visited this same restaurant, received brilliant service and really yummy authentic italian meals.

I’m sure this restaurant relies almost entirely on tourists as I cant see any locals going back there if their experience was anything like ours. To be fair we did arrive on a very busy summers evening, with full tables spilling out of the door. The owner/manager insured us we could still be seated and went inside to grab us a table.Our orders were taken and the food came out before we even had our drinks. My friends food that is. After waiting 5 mins I politely asked the waitress where my food and our drinks were. As she tried to go inside to check she was accosted by the (possibly drunk) owner, who demanded that she get him and his friends wine! She returned five minutes later with my meal and drinks, only to be interrupted from doing her job yet again by the owner. I believe he was asking where his drinks were! I couldn’t quite believe it. The meals were then less than satisfactory, the pasta being overcooked with minimal sauce, and my friends food being cold by the time mine came out. When we (swiftly, to get out of this dump as quickly as possible) went to pay, there was huge confusion about what we had actually eaten, and the girl on the till seemed to have no idea what she was doing. I’m sure this is a result of huge staff turnover and lack of training (I would walk out after a day on the job with this guy!). They try to cram as many people in as possible with minimal staff and resources to cater adequately for them all. I just feel sorry for all their tourist victims who don’t get to read these reviews.

WE debated over this and portafino..The ambience looked great here….

The waitress was unattentive, and the food took way to long to arrive, it was Friday night and it was busy.. but in my mind still took way to long,
The veal parmigana was sad…crumbed veal??no hint of anything else that usually accompanies parmigana the salad that came with it was sloopy but sadly the highlight of the plate, wernt given the option of seasonal vege we were served chips….
dissapointing.
the owner and his wife were on a roll, was good to see someone enjoying themselves.we would probaly return, hopefully not to remind us how bad it was the first time.

Food wad ok, pizza nice but staff a little unfriendly maybe the owner is rubbing off on them!!!

To start off with the positives, the water was cold and the garlic bread was very nice.

The seating in the restaurant saw us sitting at a table for two in the main thoroughfare where half of the people in the place kept banging into our chairs. The service was very rushed and inattentive, although when we got there there were more staff than customers.

I ordered a seafood risotto, and my wife ordered tortellini. The mains arrived within about 5 minutes of us ordering, and somehow both were very overcooked (I guessed that a microwave would have played a big part in cooking both).

The pasta was soggy and well overdone, and very similar to the pre-made packet pasta you buy in the supermarket. I suspect that the rice in the risotto was probably from the same pot (or microwave) as in the multitude of other rice dishes on the menu.

We left after about 30 minutes in the place and will NEVER return. They did offer us a whole $3 off the price of the pasta, although it was hardly touched.

We were VERY unhappy with the service we received from Milano’s. On entering the place my husband was just about pushed out of the way from the “owner” you would think he would step out of the way of his customers entering his place and not the other way around. My husband ordered a pizza and it was so salty, and far to much
BBQ sauce, as for my meal, well the pasta was undercooked and the bits of chicken were tastless. We have had much better food at Hells Pizza and better service. The food is also expensive. We are locals and in the hospitality industry and we will not be recommending this place to our guests. You can only crook some once.

I have eaten at Milano’s on numerous occasions and can say with all honesty that this is without a doubt my favourite restaurant, the menu is very extensive and easy to understand, the wines available are fantastic (I recommend one of the Luna da Luna wines), the staff are very pleasant, helpful and attentive and the food is magnificent. I took my two and a half year old in with me on one of these occasions and there was no problems taking him with me, the staff fussed over him and made sure that his every need was catered for. Thank you Milano’s for making every dining experience I have encountered at your fantastic establishment a memorable one and will be back there again very soon.

My partner and I had a terrible experience dining at Milano last weekend. Our entree was the fungi niko dish that came out with more onion than mushroom and dipping with oil and they were both under cooked this was to be served on garlic ciabatta, it wasn’t it came with the most pathetic piece of pita bread. This for starters was not a dish i would even cook at home let alone pay $15 for and we were left with the dirty plate until our mains came. We both ordered the pollo Funghetto and the pollo florenza, we both liked the sauces that came with our meal but we were quite confused as to why you would be served a salad and vegetables. The pieces of chicken were very small and the potatoes that came with my meal tasted like they’d been sitting in the fridge for a day or two and they were fridge temperature! They had about 5 staff standing around the bar doing seemingly nothing yet we were not once asked how our meal was or whether we wanted another drink and even when we left we did not see our plates being cleared. All in all it was a horrible experience and an expensive one at that we just wanted to get out of there as fast as possible!

We had a booking and the staff rolled his eyes and looked confused but found our name on the book anyway.
Their were 6 of us, but the mains took just over an hour to arrive. Table was shacky and the risotto I had was full of tomato sauce in a big bow! Lack of flavour, it was just way too salty and seafood plate was full of vegetables with stingy seafood items.
Staff was unprofessional and dropped the plate heavily on our table with the wrong order for one of us. Waitress’ hair looks messy and one of them had real oily hair and looked she hasn’t washed her hair for a week. It is unhygienic and totally killed our apatite.
Worst Italian food I ever had. Are there any real Italian working there?? Sorry but we will not go there again.

I was very impressed with the quality of food and staff at Milano.
There is an extensive menu, and both my partner and I found our meals delicious.
Our waitresses were polite and friendly, and we were able to choose where we wanted to sit, even though the restaurant was quite full.
Would definitely recommend Milano to others.

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent.

Great meal, great service, great wine

The meals are a really great size and well presented. It makes it hard to eat them, they look so good.

Keep up the great work. Will be visiting the next time I am in Taupo.

I am sad to say but we did not have a good experience at your restaurant. First we were approached by a waitress who did not smile, we ordered our drinks and were very clear as to what we wanted, one of our friends ordered a lemon, lime and bitters with vodka, she just received a lemon lime and bitters and was charged for this also so the waitress had not listened to our order properly. Then two plates of steak were ordered – medium rare- they then came to us as very rare!! None of us were keen to complain and the boys enjoyed it anyway so they ate it (once again the waitress did not listen, or it was not cooked as asked) Then we had two plates of spaghetti carbonera, This being my most favourite meal to order so I have eaten this many times. This was the most flavourless meal I have ever had, we once again did not feel comfortable about complaining so ate half, but could not bring our selves to eat the rest it was so bad (even after applying copious amounts of salt and pepper to give it some flavour). After this we were so disappointed that when another waitress asked us how our meal was (once again no smile) we had to tell the truth. She did not apologise, instead said OK and walked away. When we went to the counter to pay we told them we were not happy to pay the full price of the pasta because it was so bad, the waitress spoke to the chef, and came back and told us we could only have $2 off the pasta as we had eaten it, I had not finished mine,and the other had been given to one of the boys to finish so we didn’t waste it (he can eat anything i must add). We were appalled by this lack of effort to please a customer and the fact that no apologies were made for any of the mistakes and bland tasting food. Overall the worst restaurant experience I have ever had. I am not one to complain but this was so bad I just had to. Its a fact that a customer who has a bad experience, but which is remedied by an apology and some effort to make up for poor service leaves happier than a customer who had a good experience overall because an effort is made to value you as the customer. We handed over hard earned cash for what we hoped would be edible and what we ordered, sadly it was not. Maybe this restaurant should learn something about customer satisfaction to make sure customers want to come back and that word of mouth is positive. Very disappointing….