Cafe Cavallino

The pizza was atrocious! My partner and I ordered a large Margarita. It was oily, salty and had no flavour to it what so ever! Not enough tomato base and no herbs. It honestly tasted like those frozen pizzas you’d buy from a supermarket. I regret not going to 400 Gradi, paying less and buying their Margarita which was rated best in the world.

Absolutely repulsive food. I would rather lick the bottom of a homeless mans foot than eat here again. I can not believe it is still in business. It must thrive on customers with amnesia.
Pasta is 100% pre boiled who knows how long ago, the pizza is like cardboard, the chicken on my salad was bone dry, I wanted to grate it over the pasta as a garnish.
You would be better off eating mac and cheese out of a sweaty gym sock, and you’d save yourself the cost of their over priced laziness.

Very average food, and they have the gall to charge you $ 2 for a tiny little container of balsamic vinegar when you ask for extra. With so many other great choices on Lygon st, look elsewhere!

Having newly arrived in Melbourne we’d heard of Lygon street as a good place to find some fresh food. Deciding to take dinner pretty late (past 10.30) we wandered down Lygon street and settled on Café Cavallino, the staff seemed nice and attentive and there was a buzz around the place, and the atmosphere was inviting.
We began the meal with some bruschetta and focaccia, the bruschetta used garlic bread most probably store bought rather than made in the restaurant, it’s not hard to get it right however and it did taste decent but it’s definitely sad to see nothing home made yet. The focaccia was burnt underneath and almost tasted as though it was from frozen, perhaps not store bought but they definitely pre make them.
I’m a huge fan of well made pizzas, sadly this wasn’t the case here. They have fresh bases in the window but what we got was an oven cooked pizza that was burnt at the bottom and somehow cooked in under 5 minutes. The sauce was scarce (everyone knows too much sauce and ingredients soaks the base but this had more cheese than anything else). It seems like the focaccia and pizzas share the same symptom, pre-​made, unoriginal and over cooked.
My girlfriend ordered the gnocchi, they claimed homemade and fresh but I’m doubtful, it was cooked well however and no complaints. The sauce was a bit too salty but many restaurants seem to do this even in Italy.
It’s disappointing overall because I wanted to like the place, the atmosphere was great and the staff were attentive and cheerful. It just fell short with the food and quality, nothing like an Italian ristorante but then again it can be hard to find that even in Italy. If you want to come for the vibe and buzz then it’s a good place to be, if you want good home made authentic food then it’s best to go somewhere else. Not to mention overall pricey for the quality you receive.

For desserts you have got to drop in here, there are some amazing gelato and cake choices and even the coffee is good. True Italian delights and they have a smoking and non smoking areas which is good as I cannot handle the smell of smoke while I’m eating. The staff are friendly and service was quick. It’s nice to sit and watch the passers by and listen to the multicultural chatter nearby.

Beautiful pizza. Large menu. Terrible service. Waitress obviously hated her job and did not want to work. We had to continuously ask for more drinks, the bill and even had to put our own left over pizza in the box ourselves

Papa Gino’s was packed today and we needed a plan b for today’s lunch with friends from WA AU. While my partner was waiting for an available table for our original planned restaurant, I want to scope out café cavalino.
When the table did not come through at plan a, we walked over to café cavalino and sat on their terrace.
This is one of those restaurants you know has so much potential. The one issue I saw right away is that the wait staff are ‘roaming’ without going to the table. We waited twenty minutes just to obtain water and finally order a bottle of wine.
We ordered lunch and stared with a large margarita pizza which honesty was delicious. As an ad don we had some tasty garlic bread as well — a fresh and delicious combination which lessened the blow to the service opportunities faced at the beginning of our experience.
We all had pasta dishes which were slightly above average and concluded with tiramisu and the most tasty mars bar cake — totally pages mic, from a food perspective, of course.
As I mentioned, if service improves, this place can really turn some heads. I would love to visit again in the future and hope the management corrects the attention span of their wait staff.

There are too many other good pizza places in the area to waste your time here. Slow service. The pizza was greasy and had almost no sauce.

After wandering the rows upon rows of Italian eateries on Lygon Street, my companion and I finally decided on Café Cavallino. Why? Well mainly because we needed to be headed back to Grattan Street, and it was close by, looked busy, and seemed affordable.
Let me start with the positives. The service was pretty good. The staff try and be engaging, generally seem quite accommodating, and by and large were pretty responsive.
The food however, was really mediocre. I started with the Split Pea Soup. It was actually quite good. Strong flavours, tasty, it was perfect on a winter evening as a starter. I then had the lasagne, and my companion, gnocchi arrabiata.
The lasagne was a very generous portion, there was a good amount of cheese, meat, and pasta… but I was a bit turned off by the fact that about 20% of it (mostly in the middle) was a bit cold. Not fridge cold… just noticeably colder than the rest of the dish, and probably just under 30 degrees. Definitely not what I want when I expect a hearty, warming lasagne.
As for my companion, the arrabiata sauce was (apparently), excellent. They had skimped on the anchovies, much to her irritation, but the olives and sausage were very satisfying. The gnocchi themselves however… not so brilliant. Mushy, a wee bit slimy, they somehow managed to be overcooked (texture) and undercooked (taste) at the same time.
We didn’t want to risk dessert, so we left after that.
The place next to them had a guy making gnocchi in the window though. Maybe we’ll try that next time.

Café Cavallino was the go to place when I was at RMIT University in the city with friends.
We always used to get the Mushroom Steak, before then, I haven’t had much experience with fine dining (not that this place is fine dining) so this steak was a big deal for me. It was delicious as they soak the steak with mushroom sauce, the steak was rather easy to cut and cooked reasonably well. You have the choice of either garden salad, vegetables or chips. If you want both salad AND chips you have to pay extra for which is a bit of a let down considering some restaurants include both such as the amazing steaks (probably the best out there) cooked by Station Hotel in Footscray.
I have had both chips and garden salad, the chips are nice, especially when you dip them with the mushroom sauce provided with the steak as it’s in abundance. The garden salad is nice, but it’s nothing special, so I wouldn’t pay more for it. If it came with the steak, then that would of been a different story.
I have also tried the Garlic Steak here served with white wine, garlic, crème sauce, parsley, basil and Parmesan cheese. The first time I had this steak, it was lovely, however the second time the sauce was slightly burnt. However, it didn’t ruin the meal, but raises the question of consistency.
Lemon Lime Bitters has always been my preferred drink here and it’s done exactly how you would expect it.
The Capricciosa pizza is tasty and I feel Café Cavallino have a good thing going on with their pizzas. You won’t be disappointed if you choose a pizza.
I recently had a Mushroom Steak which is served with mushrooms, crème sauce and parsley, garlic and Parmesan cheese and it was disappointing. I did enjoy the steak, but it was a little tough and annoying to cut. The mushroom sauce was as good as it has always been, but the quality of steak has suffered. They have a lot of work to do to match up with the excellence Station Hotel has to offer.
Inside is cosy, and you might want to avoid outside if you don’t like breathing smoke with your food.
Although Café Cavallino can get extremely busy, you don’t need to book. It’s great how you can wander in there at anytime and be fairly certain you’re going to get a table (in saying that, please book, you might leave me a compliment saying, damn you, Mike!!).
The service can be quite slow. When you have to wave your arms around like you’re at a concert, it becomes a little concerning. Most times they’re good, but far too often you’re left wondering if you’re eventually going to be served.
It’s not too expensive and it’s not too cheap either. A large Capricciosa costs $ 18.50 and the steak, $ 29.80. The pizza is justified, as it’s a tasty pizza and about the norm you would pay for a large, but the steak is expensive for what you get. Considering for a few more dollars, Station Hotel blows this steak out of the water.
Café Cavallino was in danger of 2 Unilocal stars, but over the years, I have enjoyed the steak and pizzas with friends while relatively enjoying myself.

Lygon street. It’s like Norton street in Sydney but probably better.
Got taken to this restaurant under the impression that it was really good so I had high expectations. The place was really busy on a Wednesday night at 8.30pm which was really strange for me.
Being greedy and wanting to taste as many pastas as possible We ordered the mixed pasta for $ 37.90 and chose the fettuccine pescatora, spaghetti bolognese and beef tortellini cabonara. I enjoyed the pastas in that order. Beef Toretellini Cabonara probably wasn’t the best pasta sauce combination.
Great atmosphere and vibe. Loved the outdoor dining. Wonderful evening :)