When we first walked in here, we were impressed. It's one of those classy, upmarket places where you go when you want a really nice meal. And apart from some minor quibbles, we really enjoyed it.
As the name suggests, Centro Citta is an Italian place, which might explain why the staff were much more friendly ("familiar" might be a better term) than the somewhat formal decor would suggest. It was almost like being down at your local pizza place. Whatever the reason, there seemed to be quite a few regular customers, which is always a good sign.
To start, we split a serving of Bruschetta ($7), which is not really adventurous in an Italian place, but at least the waiter pronounced it correctly (with a "sk" sound, not a "sh" sound). I've had better bread under my Bruschetta before, but the toppings were very nice. For my main I had the Pescespada Gratiano, or the fish of the day ($17.90), which was swordfish prepared with a very nice, thin crust and served with a side of fresh vegetables. It wasn't the best swordfish I've ever had, but it was honest and far from disappointing. Dave had the Tortelloni Di Casa All'Aragosta ($22.50, main) which was a house specialty of tortelloni filled with tomato and lobster. Very subtle and a nice surprise.
Desserts got more interesting. Mine was the Soffiato Di Nocciola (16.50), a rather pricy version of my commonly sampled chocolate soufflé/pudding type thing (one day I'll be Melbourne's resident expert on this kind of dessert). This was a chocolate and hazelnut variety, and it was very good but a little too weakly flavoured for the price. Perhaps you enjoy your desserts subtle; I like my chocolate to pack a wallop, so I'm either too picky or maybe just unrefined. Anyway.
Dave's dessert was definitely worth writing home about. The closest I can come to describing it is "hot eggnog martini". Tasted much better than that sounds, actually. It was officially called Zabaglione Alla Marsala, cost $14.90, and was worth it. Made with egg yolks, sugar, and marsala (a fortified wine from Western Sicily), it was zesty and spicy and frothy and creamy and packed a bit of a punch (maybe that's why I thought my dessert was too weak).
Service was friendly, as I mentioned, but unfortunately the quibbles started near the end, when we were seemingly ignored for about fifteen minutes after I requested a water refill (they had already failed the test), and also after we requested the bill. One waiter seemed surprised, as if he hadn't realised he forgot to give us the bill after we first asked.
And wouldn't you know it, we forgot to check out the restrooms. I would imagine them to be clean and nicely appointed, based on the style and decor of the dining room.
Dave originally wanted to give a 40. I wasn't quite as pleased but was willing to give the benefit of the doubt, so we settled on 39. By the time we finally got our bill, it was down to 36.
----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Dave's summary: (Before the meal:) "This is a classy place." (After the meal, while we waited and waited and the rating was dropping:) "Can they do anything to make it go back up?"
Probability that we will return: 36 / 42
Note that the probability rating is affected by the fact that there are hundreds of places to eat around here.