Teatro Southbank

Teatro, I was so very pleasantly surprised by you!
I am likely a pretentious jerk at times when it comes to food, and I’ll admit that the riverside Southbank restaurants in Melbourne wouldn’t be my go-​to, but they were close to Hamer Hall the evening I was attending a show there and my pal and I were hungry on a timeframe. We skulked the riverside and eventually settled on Teatro and their pizza menu. Amy and I split a vego pizza between us (it was fresh, with beautiful melted cheese and a chewy, woodfire-​bubbled crust) and grabbed a tasty, fresh cocktail each from the decent list presented to us.
We didn’t have time up our sleeves to lounge or check out the dessert menu, but the staff were friendly and attentive and we got to our show just in time. Nailed it, Teatro.

Just had dinner, fig Pizza mouth watering, tapas was amazing, staff were very nice and welcoming, excellent service, it’s a must, going back soon

I gave this restaurant 4 stars simply for the focaccia. Having lived in Sardinia during my childhood I grew up eating sandwiches on focaccia– a delicious salt bread that kicks your taste buds into overload. Since my family moved from Italy I have had many a imposture focaccia, none coming close to authentic focaccia. Until now! Teatro was an unsuspected surprise! Proper focaccia served with a black olive spread! I was in an olive, salt, carb heaven!
We also ordered the fried artichokes which was also a great choice. They came with a lemon dipping sauce that compliment the artichokes perfectly.
Everything else we ordered was okay:
lamb cutlets, octopus and chorizo skewers, and calamari. Nothing to rave about, but nothing terrible either.

Good food but service is lacking.
Situated next to sake below Hamer hall, this little restaurant is trying to make a name for itself with good selection of tapas. Nothing fancy, but the food is well cooked and arrives promptly. The service on the other hand is left wanting. I suggest leaving your hand up and hope someone sees it — eventually. The restaurant wasn’t even full when i was eating here but flagging down someone was — difficult. There are better restaurant around but if its somewhere you want to go before a show at the arts centre this might be one to try

Want an amazingly good selection of fresh Mediterranean food?! Want an authentic experience of Andalusian food with the lingering Arabic influences in the dishes?!
Then this isn’t the place for you. It’s almost as though the idea behind the restaurant was to look on the map and point out as many cuisines around the Mediterranean region. Having seen someone else having the hummus dip it was a definitive must try. A good hummus is almost silky in texture and there can never be enough olive oil mixed into it; this hummus was however taste tested by a chipmunk. It contained an overpowering taste of the tahini that ruined the whole thing, not to mention the bread that came out was cold and had never been warmed up and so was a soft gooey mess along with the hummus. Obviously someone hasn’t had the pleasure of fresh warm pita dipped in hummus.
Then to the pizzas, salty salty salty. Every now and then I would find a solid Chunk of salt in them. The dough was average and the ingredients bland with little to none of seasoning, adding a large amount of salt was meant to hide the fact it was bland.
I give it two stars because the waiters were fast and attentive, and well, good service should never be put down. Shame the food was as usual a complete failure and something for the too hungry to care crowd. Not even worth the visit out of your way, best to save it for a stuck in the area visit, and even then there’s better.

Decided to give Teatro a try pre-​theatre and very glad we did!
We explained we only had 45 mins and the cheerful staff were immediately there with menus and advice about which dishes would be quick.
Our drinks arrived promptly and a couple of tapas dishes soon after — both really tasty, and there were lots of other interesting dishes we’d like to try. The woodfired pizza also arrived quickly and was really good, with just the right amount of topping for the perfectly charred thin-​crust.
We chose to sit outside for the river views, and the heaters kept us comfortable on a cool-​ish July evening. The inside vibe is fairly modern, but the rows of bottles, tins, pumpkins etc. are a nice nod back to a more traditional style.
The bill arrived without prompting and we left happy and on schedule. Not ‘fine dining’ 5*, but it doesn’t set out to be. Good rustic food at very reasonable prices, good service and nice ambience — what more do you need?
We’ll definitely be back to try things at a more leisurely pace…