Pepe's Italian & Liquor 275-285 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000

"Great venue - wonderfully designed and decorated. The waiter offered us a table inside even though we had booked an outdoor. Really appreciated the flexibility offered by the restaurant because we would have been freezing outdoors! Service was quick and the coffee was amazing."

"Everything we ordered tasted good but I felt my seafood pasta was slightly overpriced for what I got. It was $43 and only had one prawn and some chopped up calamari. I couldn’t see or taste any puppies. The dish was flavourful though, just slightly oily for my taste. The truffle fries were delicious! And very generous portion. Service was amazing. Staff were friendly, welcoming and attentive. Overall, it was a great experience and I’ll return and order something else. Keen to try the pizzas next time."

"We had a gorgeous meal, standout dish was the veal and beef bolognese. We finished our meal the salted caramel profiteroles and espresso martinis - both 10/10. Service was excellent, everyone is really bubbly making the atmosphere really relaxed and fun. Perfect restaurant for group of friends or a date."

"I don’t know why it’s taken me so long to finally go to Pepe’s. However it was well worth the wait. My friend and I went for dinner and cannot fault the meal. We had the rigatoni and it was delicious. Our waiter Matt was the most helpful and accommodating server possible, he helped us with meal choices, kept the evening light with jokes it was by far the best customer service I’ve seen in a long time. The mocktail was delicious however a little overpriced for not being alcoholic. Due to being such a nice place to go, it did feel a little bit crowded because everyone wants to go there but that’s a sign of a good restaurant. Overall we had the most wonderful time and I will be going here over and over again."

"A large group of us came to Pepe's Italian & Liquor on a Thursday evening for a birthday celebration. There was about 20 of us, and we opted for the set menu at $65 per head. They were very accommodating and provided us with alternative vegetarian options for those with dietary preferences. The food was delicious, and consisted of an entree, main course, and dessert. I particularly enjoyed the arancini, macaroni, roasted vegetables and tiramisu. There was quite a long wait time between each course, but we were happy to wait as that meant we had more time to celebrate the birthday party. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed at the end of the evening when we tried to order a round of shots for everyone at the table. The waitress came up to the table and blankly stated that we were being 'too loud and inappropriate' and therefore they were going to refuse selling us shots. We were all so shocked at her words, because we were a large group of people celebrating a birthday, so no doubt we were making some noise. I believe that our noise level was proportional to the number of people we had, and we were never being inappropriate or disrespectful to other patrons at the restaurant. This was an upsetting way to end the evening, as we simply wanted to have a round of shots to celebrate the birthday girl. But instead, we left the restaurant feeling as though we had been kicked out and told to leave. We had just spent thousands of dollars and we were prepared to spend hundreds more, but instead were refused service without a noise warning or anything. Disappointed about the service."