Tiamo

Tiamo is a Melbourne institution on Lygon Street in Carlton. Serving up Italian cuisine, you can expect big hearty servings of pasta, inexpensive wine and self serve bowls of dried Parmesan.

Unfortunately, on this occasion our experience didn't live up to the hype. The penne ragu for $19.90 came out lukewarm - which was a shame, as the pasta itself was cooked al dente and the sauce was rich with flavour. There was also a piece of hair in my pasta which you can see at the bottom of the bowl in the picture below - not ideal, especially seeing as it was clearly visible and could have easily been caught by the waitstaff.

The service was also on the disappointing side - whilst friendly, our waiter spent most of the time fooling around with another waiter rather than taking our order, remembering our requests for chili flakes and Parmesan, and offering us desert.

With so many other amazing Italian venues in Melbourne - especially in Carlton - I will not be rushing back to Tiamo.

Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2.5/5
Venue: 3/5
Value for money: 3/5
Total: 11/20
Verdict: Don't bother - there are so many other better Italian joints in Melbourne.