Rinaldo's Casa Cucina - Wangaratta

Great pasta, had the gnocchi ragu and the pappardelle with creamy mushrooms and shaved truffle. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a reservation, but had take away twice. Good for business being booked solid, but we would’ve liked to eaten in, so book early.

Dined here on a Tuesday night with my partner, after have had rinaldos several times previously but only for takeaway and was always satisfied, not blown away but satisfied. We decided to eat in and spoil ourselves with a night off cooking duties, because surely...if the takeaway is okay dining in would be better? Wrong! We started off with entree’s of grilled prawns $18.50 and zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta $17.50, the two grilled prawns served to us were grilled nicely and sitting in a lovely garlicky olive oil “finished with home grown parsley” the menu says which is no where to be seen and would of added a nice touch of freshness, the plate has more olive oil than prawns, would of been nice to have this dish served with a piece of grilled bread or the kind wait staff to advise us to order a side of garlic focaccia to mop up the oil. Now the ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers with basil pesto, there was nothing pleasant about this dish what so ever the batter was soggy and left the strangest chalky texture in your mouth, the ricotta filling tasted of water! Salt anyone? Needs to be seasoned heavily and is missing some herbs and parmesan cheese in the stuffing , poorly executed. For mains we opted for eye fillet wrapped in prosciutto with potato gratin, spinach and mushrooms $35 and also rigatoni pasta in a tomato sauce, pancetta, chilli and parmesan $27 Straight off the bat the eye fillet arrives and looks nothing like what is expected where is the “prosciutto wrapped” no where to be seen if it’s cooked into the eye fillet then the slices are far to thin to add anything to the dish, the “mushrooms” was one dry piece of button mushroom, the potato gratin was black dry and under seasoned literally tasted of nothing needs more moisture and seasoning cream? Salt? Thyme? Garlic? Rosemary? Something please! The eye fillet sits atop blanched spinach which surprise surprise is not seasoned, then scattered along the plate slices of mushy zucchini tossed in grey smashed peas very unappetising and not advertised on the menu, the steak itself was cooked a little more over the requested medium rare and had a funky off taste to it like it had been sitting in its own blood in a vacuum bag too long. Poor dish. The rigatoni the pasta was cooked to the tooth and was perfect that’s where the positives end, the tomato sauce lacked flavour and needs rescuing salt again! Some garlic fresh basil and to be cooked out to achieve a richer taste it was literally like eating tomatoes straight out of a tin wasn’t reduced or cooked at all tasted of water, the pancetta was like panning for gold, you’d be lucky to find any and if you did it was small, there was also a weird fishy taste? Overall this dish left you disappointed and feeling ripped off. When we finished our mains we contemplated whether we continue in this journey of disappointment and try our luck With dessert, we were crazy enough to give them a chance to redeem them selves and rolled the dice on dessert. We ordered the creme brûlée and apple stuffed crepes, needles to say our gamble did not pay off I’ll save the long winded review and finish with the gamble on pre cooked rubbery crepes was a mistake. The food was a big disappointment but I can not take away the welcoming, smiling and attentive service that was had.

After a six week touring holiday we wanted our last night to be good and tried Rinaldos We were very happy best food of the trip. Seafood spaghetti and a gnocchi done to perfection. Highly recommended

Service was great, food was very good, and a good wine list. Being a larger group we were seated at the rear of the restaurant overlooking the Ovens River which has a lovely outlook; only negative was that we had to ask that the heat be turned down!

We had a sensational Saturday lunch with friends and our kids. Food was stunning, great service and wine list and amazing venue. Loved the quail entree and sesame crusted salmon followed by pear crepes. Very reasonable priced and something for everyone.