Criniti’s – Parramatta

Fairly good place in terms of food, presentation and ambience. Staff were average in terms of attentiveness and friendliness, which I think should be much higher considering the price for the dining experience. Could have just been unlucky, so might try again.

Went for dinner with a group of 8. All my food (grilled octopus & calimari, haloumi, lamb skewers, affogato) was excellent.
Only issue was confusion over side salads and veggies, getting numbers wrong and veggies not being cooked.
Staff friendly and tried hard to keep us happy.
Well worth a go!

What once used to be the best restaurant on Church street has become probably the worst.
When you pay $ 50 for a steak, you expect the steak to be cooked to order, not over done.
When you order a drink, you expect the drink to be free of bottle lids.
When you order scallops, you expect them to be cooked perfectly and not burnt.
That’s if you can place an order. The service is extremely poor. Zero attention and confusion as to who serves what. Perhaps if a language barrier wasn’t an issue, you could place an order efficiently.
For the past few months we’ve been returning in the hopes that it improves. But we will not be returning. I think it’s time that this restaurant moves on.

Crinitis parramatta was my absolute favourite restaurant to go to for dinner, my husband & I would go there atleast once a month. I always recommended it to people aswell.
However the last couple of times we went we were quite disappointed particulary with the pasta, had lost its authenticity. Let down considering how expensive there pastas are.
On another occasion the Brushetta bread was so stale we couldn’t eat it. When I told the waiter she apologised and said they had been so busy from a big group lunch earlier that day.
I believe every customer who is paying a fair amount should receive fresh food.

Stopped in for Brunch with a few other foodies friends as someone had a voucher.
We go 2 x breakfast platters, 4 x strombolini shakes (those shakes with a cinnamon donut on top) and 2 x pancakes.
The donuts on the shakes were huge! The breakfast platters indicate they are to share between 2 people but you could easily fit in an extra person as it has a smörgåsbord of nearly everything savoury you would want at breakfast! Bacon, eggs, mushrooms, salmon, spinach, polenta chips, french fries, haloumi and so on.
We barely could finish the food on that as we knew the pancakes would be coming. So after 10 mins waiting we asked how our pancakes were going which a waiter came out to apologise as he was going to wait till we had finished with the platters then he would put the pancakes through but they got busy and he forgot! Instead he said he would offer coffees on the house and we could pick a few of the dessert meals from the main menu instead of getting the pancakes.
So of course we got the tasting dessert plate! Seeing as we had $ 30 left on the voucher and it was $ 49 he could pay for the remainder.
Top highlights of the desserts was the freshly fried cinnamon doughnut balls and the tiramasu!
Overall, good brunch date.

Used to be good but now lagging behind and is over priced. Their service has also gone down a bit in recent times

First thing that you’ll notice is the size of the menu… it’s huge! Which of course means that nothing is made fresh on site :-(Next thing you’ll notice is the price of the wine — its expensive, but does have a number of Italian wines available if that’s your thing. I know it’s an Italian restaurant, but I prefer Australian wines. (they are available here, so that’s ok)
Not as busy as my last visit, maybe a sign that people are realising that there is nothing special about Criniti’s apart from its name.
All that being said, I enjoyed my meal and would come again occasionally in the future — as long as I have a voucher to keep the costs in check :-)

After a night at the movies on Unilocal we left Parramatta Riverside Theatre realising that we were hungry.
So we took a stroll down the street to see what we could find.
There’s quite a few options down here and they are open late (winning!) — we ended up picking Criniti’s because well, I know their pizza’s are good and the boyfran was happy with pizza.
They whisked us away and into a two seater outside in their enclosed space with heaters, which was a godsend because it was raining and cold.
We ordered and the food didn’t take long to come out at all. The entrée hit the spot and took the edge off our hunger and the pizza, which we ordered the Pollo BBQ, was moist, rich and delicious.
The staff are a bit lacking on the customer service side, although we had a nice waitress who seemed to know her stuff about the menu — even if she thought that we should get a meter and a half pizza for 2 people! I have issues finishing a shared normal pizza!!!
The prices here aren’t for the faint of heart. They are expensive. Although to be fair, I think the pizza prices are worth what you’re paying for. I haven’t tried anything else on their menu because well, why would you bother when you know the pizza’s are going to hit the spot?
I did have one issue though and that was that they let smokers smoke inside the enclosed outside area. Considering how busy they were inside and outside, I found the constant waft of smoke in my face a bit too much while I ate.

Nothing special about Crinitis. It is always too crowded, too noisy and cramped. This is just normal italian, nothing special walk 100 metres to the Sicilian you’ll get similar food and way more seating places.

Dined here on a tuesday night. It was packed and thought the food may be great. But, it was a huge disappointment. First of all the food was delayed over 45 minutes from the time we ordered. There seemed to be no order to the place, and it took forever for someone to even take our drinks order. We were not served water the whole night, guess somebody forgot the basics. Coming to the main part, the food itself was meh. The pasta (we have one of the gnocchi’s) lacked spice, and for the price was a big letdown. Not terrible, but I could get better pasta for half the price. Ambience was good though, but does not deserve the premium. My first and probably last time here. The only good part was that some of the waiters did try to help, but the system seems so broken that they could not quite fulfill what they wanted to do.

I have been to Crinitis many times. When we first started going the food was very consistent and delicious not to mention cheaper! I used to always order Gnnochi Gorgonzola — absolutely amazing. Would give that dish a 5 out of 5.
The last few times have been underwhelming. The service was below par, food was blend and the prices far too expensive for what it is.
I would have given it two stars if it wasn’t for the earlier experiences.

Have never walked out of a restaurant without being served food! So our order is taken .got our appetizer and beer. On a busy Sunday night. we wait patiently for around 20 minutes only where the bus boy comes to clean the table. we should have read the sign. On calling our waiter he asked us what our was! Really? so clueless! He says that the printer seemed to have issues blah blah. just walked out .so much for celebrating our anniversary. The waiters dint so much as even apologize. Worst service ever.

Initially, I was totally on board the Crinitis train! The hype was high, it was the hottest Italian restaurant around, and the food was meant to be exquisite!
So I went to Parramatta to try it. Yes, the food was incredible. The pizzas were reminiscent of real Italy, with the slightly puffy centres but incredibly thin base, and the sauces and toppings generous.
Their desserts were fantastic, I am especially in love with all Nutella-​related creations! Their sticky date is also one of the best I have ever tried!
However, all the foodie goodness definitely got overtaken by how busy, and uncontrolled the atmosphere was. I was being bumped by diners walking into the restaurant because there was such a crowd! And we had to repeat our order to the waiter twice before it came, because there were so many diners.
I haven’t been back to Parramatta since, but often go to the relatively calmer Crinits at Castle Towers, Castle Hill. It is sincerely more enjoyable because the food is of equal quality, but no doubt, the service is better.

The food is rich and tasty. However, the portion sizes are quite large, so none of the meals ended up being finished, which I felt was a waste. The pasta was creamy and luscious. The cocktail was tropical. The shared ice-​cream dessert was the best part.
The menu was a little bit pricey for my liking, but that’s more of a personal view than an overall issue.

This place is always packed, so my partner and I decided to try it.
Despite being near empty, they whisked us indoors to a table right against a wall in a very very dark portion of the restaurant almost out of view or sight of just about anything. The wait staff then vanished and spent most of their time hovering around larger groups outside.
When we finally did get someone to look our way, we ordered our meal and some water for the table. The non-​sparkling water that was brought out, we assumed was free tap water as every other restaraunt serves by default without asking. Nobody took a moment to inform us it’d be an EIGHTEEN DOLLAR bottle of non-​tap water that would barely fill two glasses (one each). Talk about gouging.
The burger my partner ordered was plain and tasteless. Very disappointing indeed. My ravioli may as well have been from a microwave-​at-​home weight watches or home-​brand pack of pre-​packaged pasta & sauce.
Overall, very expensive, very bad service, extremely plain food that in no way shape or form came close to being worth even half the price paid for it. Never returning again.

After spending the day sleeping off the Sydney A-​League Derby celebrations, (Sydney FC 3 — Western Sydney Wanderers 1) we decided to put on our non-​beer soaked jerseys and head into ‘wanderland’ (Parramatta, our neighbouring suburb) for a celebratory dinner.
While we were confident enough entering enemy territory, we decided to dine at Critini’s’ not just because they are a sponsor of Sydney FC, but mostly because we didn’t want our food spat in by one of the many restaurants on church street proudly declaring themselves as wanderers zones.
At its heart I think that critini’s is a great restaurant chain and brand, they have a fantastic variety of food catering to all dietary requirements. The quality of the food is exceptional, which it should be given the prices (two meals, no alcohol or entrees cost $ 100).
I had the porcini mushroom risotto, which was delicious. Nothing special, but delicious. My boyfriend had a perfectly cooked steak which he greatly enjoyed.
The service at critini’s isn’t bad, but it is cold and mechanical. The waitstaff do a great job as far as speed and function goes is great. They take orders after an acceptable time to browse the menu and the food comes out in a timely manner. They aren’t rude by any means, but I wouldn’t call them friendly or even particularly welcoming. The cold customer services really lets critini’s down as their food is delicious but if you are paying $ 40 for a main course you want an entirely pleasant dining experience, not just a tasty dish.

Ahh Crinitis. We are long time customers, mainly because of convenience. The atmosphere is great when they’re not busy, otherwise loud, noisy and very much yelling-​across-​at-​your-​partner communication. The chairs and tables are squished tightly packed together like they’re trying to accommodate for much more than maximum capacity. Because we’re regulars, we’ve witnessed the many number of constant changes that this restaurant has gone through over the years. We have a select few of dishes we enjoy, but everytime we come here we are always indecisive of what to order because the food in inconsistent and always a hit or miss. Even with our favourites. The best thing about this place are the desserts, the breakfast menu when available and the funky cocktails. Tonight I ordered a pennette soprano for the first time. And boy what a disappointment that was. Looks like I’m going to stay inadventourous even if I can’t be sure if the dish will taste the same or not. In conclusion, this restaurant is great to show for first timers, overpriced for under quality but well reputated.

Like a well oiled machine, or soulless automatons the staff efficiently whisked after empty plate after plate, and refilled glasses at a whim.
The food, as always, is a good mixture of standards and some very good hand made pasta, some great drinks on the menu (especially the mock tails ironically)
If you like your meal in a relaxed secluded location, then not the place for you. If you want good food, and fast service, it’s definitely worth another visit.

food — the veal saltinbocca was bland, not well presented and fatty. The steam legumes were steamed, barely, salted, not, would make a california raw food eater proud. the lava cake desert was overcooked (no molten chocolate), what was supposed to be raspberry coulis was jam, the ice cream that was supposed to be caramelized fig was replaced by vanilla with no apology … hoping perhaps no one would notice. Food gets a definite, rounded up 2
service — basic, fine
atmosphere — fine
value — terrible. 37 AUD for bland and fatty veal saltinbocca, 16 AUD for badly executed dessert. value gets a 1
never never again for me … the ridiculously long menu should have been my queue to get up and leave, my mistake but for your benefit … avoid this place and find a real italian restaurant, basically anyone at random should be better.

I know my son loves Crinitis but I am in two minds. They make a certain type of Italian food, one that is generous servings but not much finesse. As far as the atmosphere is concerned, you can’t ignore the crowds that turn up on the weekend. They must have something right as people aren’t that stupid. Maybe I am just too old or maybe too traditional. I like my Italian food to taste like Italian food, it has been ‘Australianised’ for the general public. Lots of cream sauces and pasta with combinations that you’d never get in Italy. The pizzas however, I can’t fault — although once again their toppings are typically Australian. But pizza is meant to be fun and I don’t object to these as much as the food.
Crinitis will soon be opening closer to my home in Castle Hill. Everyone I know can’t wait, maybe it’s just me being too critical.