Tappo Osteria - Pyrmont

We arrived late on a Friday night, close to 9pm, and they were close to fullI think they were still turning over tables close to 10pm.

This place is the younger sister of La Disfida in Haberfield.

My last visit to this restaurant a few years ago was disappointing. Despite having a reservation, we had to wait a long time for our table and ended up sitting at the counter. The food was once known as the best Italian in Sydney, but that is no longer the case. On a recent visit last Saturday, we were surprised to get a reservation as the restaurant was nearly empty. The service was poor, with the waitress seeming clueless and the menu looking mediocre. The dishes we ordered, like the Calamari and Zucchini and the crab pasta, were disappointing and lacked flavor. The only enjoyable part of the meal was the sourdough bread and the bottle of Rochford Chardonnay. The chef and kitchenhand seemed disinterested, and it was clear that the restaurant had recently changed ownership. Overall, I would not recommend this restaurant as the quality of the food, service, and ambiance has severely declined. Don't waste your time or money here. The photos shown do not accurately represent the current state of the restaurant.

This is a cozy, locally-owned pizzeria with a small menu of classic toppings. The dough is hand rolled and cooked in a wood fire oven, resulting in a deliciously large pizza. The restaurant also offers a selection of quality wines and provides fast and friendly service. Overall, a wonderful dining experience.

A very disappointed evening. This is the first review I have ever written because it was the worst meal & experience I’ve had in a long time. I am not normally abrupt or harsh dealing with or talking to the waiters, but this time was different. The chefs in the kitchen were particularly bad, standing around, mucking about, missing our orders for the mains and making us wait for an hour and half from entrée for cold, disappointing, badly mad dishes that everyone was disappointed in. Further, the 4 pasta dishes came out 5 minutes prior to the 2 meat dishes, which came out 10 minutes before the sides. By the time the sides arrived (which was one minute away from when the pastas arrived apparently), half the table had finished their main meal. What was the point then?Walking into the Osteria looked promising. It was casual, buzzy, and loud, with an open long kitchen and a corner where the pizzaiolo and woodfired oven resides. The man who appeared to be the owner and several of the waitresses were speaking Italian with each other. Another promising sign that we were in for a convivial, relaxed & tasty evening with good hearted Italian hospitality, tasty, traditional food and fast & efficient service. But it was not to be. Or perhaps high expectations generate a greater crash in disappointment.We were ignored for a fair while prior to catching the attention of the owner / manager to place our orders. The pizza arrived first and promptly. It was warm with a thin crust, good layer of creamy fior di latte mozzarella and generous amount of toppings. This was a great start. We devoured a slice each, and despite its look, it lacked in taste. The sausage was more like thinly sliced meat with a squishy texture which almost felt slippery like the wild mushrooms that accompanied it. The addition of chilies in oil though really lifted the pizza. The crust was thin but had no chew at all and definitely no woodfired taste, which was a pity, as all the pizzas that the pizzaiolo was churning out both for dine in and takeaway, looked amazing.After 15 minutes, we were a little curious why our shared antipasti of fritto misto di pesce has not arrived, even though we had indicated upon ordering that the entire table would like to share the pizza and fritto misto to start. The waitress turned to enquire in the kitchen and only after then we received our dish. Again, it was a generous serve of lightly coated, deep fried calamari rings, zucchini, 3 prawns and unfortunately only 1 piece of barramundi. It was crispy, well-seasoned and delicious especially with a generous squeeze of lemon and pleasant to eat without the oily coating left in one’s mouth as sometimes badly made deep fried dishes go.The positives stop here. Although we were in the company of friends, an hour passed with nothing at all on our table is still a long time to talk continuously and everyone was getting restless from hunger and being a little tired. There was also no one who came to check on us to see if we were ok. The restaurant was beginning to thin out at this stage as it is 9.05pm on a weeknight. I caught the attention of the waitress walking past who was lovely and helpful, and after checking with the chefs standing around in the kitchen, she came back and apologised and said that it will be 7 minutes. Hmm... I wonder why as all the other tables who had come and ordered after us had already had their meals and some had even left. I saw the chefs frantically looking at various tickets and I think they have missed our order.7 minutes passed... then 15minutes... we were all getting very agitated and looking around in frustration as nothing has happened at all since my enquiry. The owner saw our restlessness and went up to the kitchen bench to ask the chefs what was going on (in Italian). After some responses from the chefs, he was screaming at them in Italian, which has indicated to us that nothing is progressing. 25 minutes later after my initial enquiry, 4 pastas arrive and looking not what we expect it to look like.The special Capsicum Gnocchetti was described to us sounding absolutely divine, hand rolled and filled with mascarpone inside. What were given to us were 6 large doughy dumplings of giant gnocchi, not mini like how it is described. It had haphazard shapes and no filling at all. The sauce of braised cabbage and shallots were pleasant enough and almost like a rich cabbage soup.The Cappellini of crab was the most disappointing of the pastas. A massive bowl of sauce-less pasta, topped with the crab shell and a couple of legs, but no meat visible at all. Even the cherry tomatoes were not tossed through the pasta and were simply laid on the sides of the dish.The Casoncelli looked most promising with 6 generously filled dumplings sitting in a pool of burnt butter and sage sauce with a sprinkling of crispy pancetta on top. However, the filling was extremely stodgy, as if the meat has been massaged for too long. There was hardly any sage taste in the sauce and the butter was not burnt or caramelised enough to deliver the nutty taste.Our friends look hungry and want to dig in, but we were still waiting for the veal, lamb and our sides. I asked the owner again at this point where our mains and sides were and he said 1 minute Ma’am. Another 7 minutes passed and we receive the 2 mains. No sides. I ask again and was told 1 minute so I said not to worry as half the table looked like they were already half way through their main dish. He insisted that it will be here in 1 minute and it’s not a problem, but 10 minutes later, we receive the 2 disappointing looking sides. By this time half the table had already finished their main meals.The veal and lamb both looked a mess of carnage. Not to mention it was cold. What the hell were the chefs doing all this time? If they cooked it fresh, it should at least be hot! I’m not sure if it was even lamb rump that was served, as it had a thick layer of fat going through it. It was plonked messily onto the plate on a bed of overcooked broccolini and wild mushrooms. There was no red wine reduction but in it’s place was a watery brown liquid. It tasted pleasant enough to eat when you’re ravenous and served your meal at 9.30pm when you placed your order at 7.45pm.We expected a traditional plating of tagliata of veal on the bone, where by the bone is laid on the plate next to slices of well-charred, tender, juicy meat, especially given that it’s veal, which is typically juicy and sweet. However, this plate came with 2 bones standing up like a rack with the meat being sliced and dumped on the plate on top of lettuce and mushrooms. The lettuce was so wilted as it was cooked together with the mushrooms, both of which produce a lot of water. The meat was not rested and the **** juices were mixed with the moisture from the vegetables, creating a pool of blood looking brown liquid.The baby cos salad was another complete mess with the bowl overflowing with chunks of cos leaves, cherry tomatoes and carrot ribbons. It was a little too oily but at least the vegetables were refreshing compared with the poor main dishes. The roast potatoes was the only dish that looked decent and tasted like a good roast potato should be, with nice seasoning and a slightly crunchy exterior.We were so glad to get out of this place when we finished and there was no way we would order dessert from here. What, risk waiting for another 45 minutes??? When we got the bill, there were absolutely no apologies or any offers for discounts from the bill. And we still left a small tip. We must’ve been crazy or just too nice. Had the service been better, even if the food were disappointing, it would have made our evening more pleasant.What a disappointing evening when everyone was so looking forward to it. The only positive besides seeing friends was the Messina gelato we devoured after this horrible experience.