Cafe Notturno

Look, Lygon St is a pretty rough area when it comes to food. The italian restaurants are a little boring + predictable, and I’m a fan of the head down/​fast walk approach when it comes to getting past the staff keen to get you into their restaurants.
Was recently after a quick dinner before a movie at Cinema Nova, and had to find somewhere with some decent gluten free options.
Now this place is not fancy at all, and to be honest the food was just okay, but I had a pretty alright burger for $ 15, and it was mighty quick. So I guess it’ll do. It’s alright for a quick meal if you’re not feeling like anything too fancy. I might go back for an easy feed sometime. We’ll see.

Blueberry and lemon cheesecake was yummy. So was the chocolate crunch cake. The vanilla ice cream that came with it was the best.
We wanted croissant, but they were out. So we ordered nutella crêpe, but they served us nutella pancakes instead. It was delicious though, so no complaints there. Definitely recommended.
Service is VERY slow so dont come here unless you can wait!

I went here for breakfast and I will definitely go back again. It comes close to the classic American diner experience I’m used to with relatively cheap food and big portions. The food itself is nothing fancy, but it tastes good and fills you up. I am very used to being cheated with my portion sizes for breakfast in Melbourne, so when I saw that they had french toast for $ 5.45 I went ahead and ordered two servings along with eggs and sausage. It turns out that I had no need to worry here, as the bread about an inch thick and I ended up having left-​overs for the first time since I’ve been in Australia. My only complaint was that the waitress overcharged me for something and it took me, her, the cashier, and the manager to figure out what went wrong and refund the difference of about $ 2.50. Even with that, the meal I had here put me in a good mood, and this was a very good place to start my day.

Breakfast was substandard for Melbourne. Coffee was good though.

This place only gets one star for me.
First time I went here, we were seated, and it look about half an hour for anyone to serve us. Granted, they were busy, but not even a drink order was taken. We eventually left to try somewhere else.
The second and last time, we ordered, all was going well, we were seated quickly, food came out… well all the food except for my Gnocchi. After asking three different waiters, 45 minutes after everyone else had eaten my gnocchi finally appeared. Would have left before then, but it was late and other places were beginning to shut.
To top it off, the gnocchi really wasn’t that good.

I really wrestled with how many stars to give this place. I’ve settled on three just because it’s hard to find a place to have a pizza after the pubs have shut. Otherwise, it’d be two stars.
Yes, the alcoholic milkshakes do bring all the boys to the yard. But I’m not going to be seen with a milkshake in public. So I usually have either a pizza or a pasta. The servings are alright. Good size for the price. But they’re usually a bit on the bland side.
Service is really variable. Sometimes, it’s fantastic. Other times, it’s extremely lacking. Several times, at least one person on my table has waited until ten minutes after everyone else has been served, and only then after waiting to the the attention of a waiter (another five minutes, maybe ten) do they realise «oh, hey, we forgot». Yeah. Great.
If anywhere else is open, I’d usually go there instead.

Here’s two words I wish I saw on menus beside each other more often: ‘Alcoholic Milkshakes’. YES. If a sickly sweet liquor exists, Notturno’s will stick it in a blender with some ice cream and milk, and serve it to you with a straw. Pure genius.
I’ve visited Notturno a number of times over the years, and I’ve not yet touched their savouries. Maybe it’s because I assume their pizzas and pastas will be just like every other average Italian joint along Lygon, but I think it’s because the cakes at Nutturno are so delish and ENORMOUS I don’t want to waste my stomach space on real food.
Notturno’s is terminally uncool, but I don’t care. I love coming here later in the night and unashamedly scoffing down a Tia Maria milkshake, gelati or cheesecake with friends, then complaining about how sick I feel for the next hour. Good times.

Café Notturno is alright to me — just alright.
Atmosphere:
Regardless of what the interior decoration looks like — you can’t go wrong with a well-​kept and clean establishment. Café Notturno is a classy and dimly lit restaurant that also delivers in cleanliness.
Customer Service:
The waitress was kind, but unfortunately not very professional which doesn’t mesh well with how classy the place looks. She seemed quite frantic and out of breath, but friendly enough.
Food:
I ordered the Penne Carbonara and it was really filling and delicious and at a decent prices. There was nothing out of this world about it, which is why unfortunately it doesn’t go beyond just a 3 stars for me. However, the menu does have a nice variety of things that attracted me so the potential is there if I return.
Overall, this restaurant didn’t give me much to run back to, but the prices were decent for the filling and yummy meal that I got. Combined with a nice atmosphere, a solid 3 stars sounds about right.