This is my first dine-in experience in Sydney since we went into lockdown. I’ve been reluctant to dine out in Sydney given many people haven’t been keeping distance. So we choose to stay out of the CBD to hopefully avoid big crowds. We were craving some Italian food and after a bit of searching, we chose Nonna & Co.
Getting to Nonna & Co
Due to Nonna & Co being located on Paramatta Road, it was a little tricky getting there. Luckily google maps had no problems getting us there and making sure that we were on the correct side of the road to enter. There was plenty of parking, most people took up spaces on the right but there was heaps of room available to the left of the entrance.
Making things even more interesting was that the restaurant is located right next to a Harley Davidson Motorcycle shop! It was great to see that they incorporated some of the motorcycles in as part of the decor.
The Service
As we entered the restaurant, we were greeted immediately. However, after that, it went downhill. When I gave the booking details, the person had to grab someone else with the paper that included the booked info. We were initially sat at a small table which had been set up for 2 people, despite there being three of us. They then realised that the table numbers were incorrect and moved us to the larger table which was much better.
In terms of social distancing, the tables were well spread, but they didn’t seem to have a sheet for people to sign in. They also had hand sanitiser at the entrance which was great.
We chose our dishes and after about 5 minutes we were ready to order. A waitress was standing nearby, seemly waiting for dishes to come out of the kitchen but we were unable to get her attention. After about 10 minutes we finally were able to capture her attention and ask if we could place our order. After another 10 or so minutes we had to ask again and the waitress went to grab another staff member to take our order. I found it strange that she had to get another person to take our order.
Overall the service is quite inefficient, that is highlighted by the slowness to take orders and the need to get other staff members to complete the task. The staff seemed to be flapping around and it wasn’t organised.
The Food
Luckily the food made up a little for the service. I ordered crab and prawn pasta, my friend order seafood marinara and my partner ordered ragu. We also got a garlic crust to share.
Both my partner and friend said their food was great. For my dish, the pasta was cooked well and the prawns weren’t overcooked. My only disappointment was the lack of crab, as there was very little and I would have rather had an extra prawn and no crab.
The garlic crust was crip and had a slight garlic flavour.
Overall – 2.5/5
The service at Nonna & Co really let the whole experience down, if my rating was just based on the food I would have given a rating of 4/5.
After we finished our meals karaoke started which was quite loud, so we decided to go to another cafe so that we could talk. I’m glad that we had finished our food at this point. Sadly I don’t think I will return.
Take a look at my other food reviews here.
