Teatro Vivaldi - Acton

This campus restaurant is a nice break from typically university fare. It has a nice menu -- pastas, sandwiches and the like. The desserts are tasty. Service is fast. The food is well-made and delivered quickly. There on downer is that the staff do not appear to enjoy their jobs very much. They are prefunctory and unhelpful -- and they rarely engage with customers, many of whom come regularly. So, it is a step up from the university cafeteria, but sa step down from a classy restaurant.

On Thursday night we went to Teatro Vivaldi to celebrate my husband's birthday. Once again we had an outstanding meal. The meat from the lamb shank fell of the bone, salmon cooked to perfection, garlic mash to die for and the brisket melted in your month. We have yet to have a dissapointing meal here. I believe that Canberra needs to get behind this little resturant as it is legendary and certainly a major piece of canberra's history.

This review is from a slightly different perspective. As a musician I have performed at Vivaldi's a number of times now. The staff are wonderfully accommodating and go out of their way to help us as a band. In terms of food; we are always well fed. Many of my family and friends have come to the shows and always rave about the quality of the food and service.

I seem to get to Vivaldi about once a year but I should go more often. Yesterday I went for Sunday lunch with a cabaret performance by the outstanding Michael Cormick. I had forgotten the charm of the place with well spaced tables, velvet and gilt decoration, linen serviettes, antique pieces and cabinets of show business books. Licensed for only 45 diners it is always a pleasant place to be cocooned for a few hours. The food yesterday, for me, began with a calamari salad. The calamari were soft and flavoursome. The salad had zing and a touch of aioli making for a pleasant complexity. A very well cooked grilled salmon, a largish size at that, followed with beans, potatoes and leaves of basil and other herbs. This was excellent. Wines by the glass bought at the bar from a classy but reasonably priced list added to the enjoyment. Michael Cormick then presented 2/3 of his show and we had intermission dessert, coffee and complimentary chocolate and port. The dessert for me was a lemon crème brulee tart which again was well cooked, generous and quite delicious. The flat white coffee was equal to Canberra's best. Vivaldi offers entertainment every few weeks and I am going to take more notice as of now of what the shows are. This place, and its entertainment, is one of the rare gems of Canberra.

The complete restaurant was taken over for this occasion . Very well organised, food pretty good, lovely salmon dish, service very good considering the numbers staff had to cope with. A pleasant evening had by all.