Ciao Cielo

This place serve such delicious food! We had lunch in the pizzeria which was nice, cost spot next to the open kitchen. We had the confit duck arancini which was very yummy and the zucchini flowers which was also pretty good. The porchetta pizza was surprisingly the standout, really good flavour combinations and very well baked. The big boy salami was spot on and super delicious. The spanner crab spaghetti was very nice also, Al dente and quite tasty (missing something punchy to bring it all together). The cocktails were also all very nice, the Basil Bello was refreshing and unique and I really enjoyed the non-alcoholic peach and lemon float. Definitely worth a return visit, especially the pizza.

Great Italian Restaurant near the Port. Located at the heart of Port Melbourne it’s a nice surprise as the local offers a cozy Italian room. Food was delicious and the menu offered a bit of everything, from great entrees with Italian classics , to pasta or pizzas. Made from the oven , the pizza dough was delicious, we tried the caprisosa . As well as the bread accompanying the Burrata, you could taste the woodfire. Burrata was nicely paired with caponata, which made the entree remarkable. As the other main we tried tagliatelle a la ragu, with a delicious sauce and pasta well cooked. And we couldn’t leave with trying Tiramisu. It was clearly homemade and delicately balanced with enough coffee and liquor.

Ciao Ceilo Italian Restaurant is an absolute must-go! The food was divine, with a fantastic menu selection honestly so hard to choose. A big shout-out to our wonderful waiter Zac for his exceptional service and warm hospitality. Highly recommend! 😊

I recently dined at Ciao Cielo and opted for the outdoor seating, hoping for a relaxed and atmospheric experience. Unfortunately, the first impression did not quite meet expectations. Despite the restaurant being only semi full, the outdoor area felt surprisingly loud due to constant traffic noise. Rather than offering a charming or cozy al fresco setting, the space lacked the ambience I was looking forward to. It felt more exposed than intimate. For food, I ordered the “Big Boy Salami” pizza. While the flavours themselves were enjoyable, the execution left something to be desired. The tip of the pizza was noticeably sloppy, with toppings sliding off rather than holding structure. This usually points to a pizza that has not been cooked quite right in a wood fired oven, where a well balanced base should support the toppings cleanly. On a positive note, the drinks were well prepared and enjoyable, which helped round out the experience. Overall, it was an okay visit. There were some enjoyable elements, but the outdoor atmosphere and pizza execution did not fully live up to expectations.

Loved our dining experience at Ciao Cielo! Also liked the idea that it also caters to a more casual dining experience outdoors too. We didn’t make a booking and were lucky to have an available table! The venue itself has a beautiful ambience with its fittings, lighting and soft background music. Staff were friendly when they greeted us and shown to our table. Our food also came out in good time and I loved the flavour of the Inked pasta with spinner crab and chilli! I highly recommend it. Thank you for a wonderful evening and will definitely be back! Compliments to the team 💓

I had a dinner here on a Friday night. The staff were extremely friendly and lovely. The restaurant is very wheelchair and pram accessible. We started off with the beef tartare and the freshly shucked oysters. The entree’s were so fresh and delicious. We ordered the shhh! Pizza and the organic gnocchi with oxtail ragu. Both were fantastic. We finished our meal with their tiramisu, which was amazing! 10/10 for food and accessible. For my see my full review in Instagram @adventurewheels_melb

We’ve dined at Ciao Cielo regularly for many years, but this most recent experience will be our last. The man who “greeted” us at the door — the one with the undercut and man-bun — was an absolute embarrassment to the venue. Greeted is far too generous a word, actually. His manner was hostile, dismissive and dripping with contempt, as though our mere presence was an inconvenience. The way he spoke to me was sneering and nasty, delivered with a tone so openly disrespectful that I genuinely considered walking out on the spot. It was as if he took pride in being offensive. Despite having a booking, we were made to wait 45 minutes for a table. He initially instructed us to stand outside in the cold, wind and rain, and then bizarrely warned us that if we waited inside, we would “lose our booking”. Completely absurd and frankly insulting behaviour. Once seated, the service did not improve. Two visibly understaffed employees were left to do everything — drinks, orders, food service — moving at a snail’s pace. The food itself was decent, but the portions were disappointingly small for the price, and the pizza arrived lukewarm. This was, without exaggeration, one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had in Melbourne in many years — and that is almost entirely due to the vile, disrespectful individual at the door who single-handedly ruined the evening.

Extremely disappointing and disgraceful service. It was my friends birthday and they completely forgot about our food which is usually not a big deal but the staff didn’t care at all and even seemed annoyed when an hour and a half later we tried to remind them we’d ordered. Multiple times we had to remind our serving girl that we’d ordered a drink and she still did not care. A few hours on we were ready to go home and her drink still didn’t come from when she ordered it at the start. We know they were busy but it got so bad we just had to refund the drink. I was really hungry so I asked the same waitress if the pasta portion sizes were good and she completely lied to me and said it was great for two people instead of recommending something more hearty and when it came out on a small flat people I realised it was barely was enough for one which was disgusting for a $30 pasta. So called fine dining but the entire table had to wait upwards of 30 minutes and multiple back and forth just to get our measly food. The only good thing about the restaurant was the lovely lighting. The waitress had the nerve to look at laugh when we asked if they were so busy they forgot about us. I am never EVER coming back here again. Worst dining experience ever.

Stepping inside Ciao Cielo, you are awed with the great decor. It's gorgeous inside and was possibly an old small church or something. It's quaint and pretty and not too loud, which always is a big help when making conversation. I did find the menu a little limiting. There's not a super wide variety of items, but we made our minds up and dug in. Some of the entrees were really big, and some tiny and pricing doesn't always reflect that when ordering. The mains began to take forever to come out, and tables that ordered after us got theirs first, and eventually when anyone cared to offer an explanation, there were two different answers (which always makes me think they forgot a table). In spite of that, the food was good all around. I had the smoked barramundi croquettes, the margherita pizza and the most delicious brownie with an orange mascarpone. It was SO good. I'd come back again for that alone. Overall ... parking was good, staff were friendly, service slow and spotty, very small pours of wine, staff wearing masks under chin (either wear one or don't), clearing plates away while some are still eating, but the food - which is what you come here for - is really good. I wish there were a few more pastas to choose from, but whatever you order, you know it's going to be delicious. I'd definitely come back again.

A classic Italian restaurant in Port Melbourne! Their decor is absolutely beautiful with high ceilings, and on top of that, the service provided is always above and beyond. We come here quite often to take clients out for lunch. The latest dish we had from here was the grilled fish fillet and it was, as usual, delightful to savour. Their house made pasta and wood fired pizza are also of high quality and delicious. We highly recommend for people to visit Ciao Cielo to catch up with important people as the food and ambience is perfect!

Unfortunately this place suffers from a bit of an identity complex. It wants to position itself as high end dining, but just doesn't have the follow through to pull it off. The food here is really yummy, I gotta say that. We all loved our dishes. But the seating environment and service and prices just don't add up. For example, our six seater table was made up of different sized tables meaning people had to sit in awkward positions and we had to be careful to stop glasses falling off. The chairs and tables were also all uneven and rocking about, which is really annoying. When I raised these things, one waitress kept telling me "mate, they're two tables" as if I was stupid and didn't understand that we were six people sitting at two tables brought together. I mean, sure, usually I would be willing to laugh that off or overlook it if she just straightup said "hey sorry we don't have standard sized tables". However, why the attitude/sarcastic remarks? And also at $75+ per head, you expect a little more quality/attention to detail than a bunch of mix-matched cafe tables. This sort of inadequate vibe/experience applies to everything in the place, except the food. Just incompetent and half-way service, which really put a damper on everything. Small dish adjustments would really confuse the waiter. The waiter insisted on keeping our wine bottle in the back but we sat with empty glasses for most of the night. Just stuff like that, a lack of attention to detail, constantly. That said. We had a variety of steaks and pastas for mains, and they were all pretty good. However, the bread was hard and seemed like it was straight out of the refrigerator, at which point I couldn't be bothered interacting with the staff anymore and just wanted to enjoy our meal. Basically, at the end of the day, my issue with this place boils down to the pricing. You're paying premium prices for really basic service/ambience and some above average (but not jaw dropping) food. I wouldn't come back I don't think, but we had an okay night all in all.

This place is FANTASTIC !! Best meal and service in Melbourne. I have been walking past here for years and never noticed this little restaurant (big mistake for me) The service has always been brilliant and the food is amazing Highly recommend that everyone has a meal here at least once !!

How have I been bypassing this amazing restaurant all this time? What a little gem. Beautiful, classic Italian / modern European meals, perfectly presented, beautifully fresh and so beautifully balanced. Fresh Italian style bread made on site with house made herb butter & black salt flakes. Yes please... Delicious wine list. Delicious desserts. Flawless & friendly service. Intimate space, beautiful Art Deco style interior, lovely atmosphere. Beautiful lunch menu, an absolute steal at $35 (two courses including wine). Will be bringing friends and family here for sure. x

Ciao Cielo is one of my favourite finds of this year. I have been quite a few times. They do modern European / Italian executed perfectly. It has a relaxed ambient atmosphere and top quality amazing food. At nights they have a Diner menu of which I have sampled a number of dishes; the Prawn Pasta, lamb rack, and the and the Glazed spitchcock Quail stand out in memory. All of the dishes have been fantastic. The Wine List is really great and the staff are more then happy to help in selecting the best drop to go with my meal. Also on weekends they do a great Brunch. The Duck Arrancini balls are a staple I always order. There is a breakfast and lunch menu available on the weekends, with really good coffee to go with it. The service is always friendly and professional. I keep going back as every time I know it will be a consistently good, enjoyable experience.

My partner and I were after a quick coffee before I headed off to the airport and found Ciao Cielo. An amazing little Italian cafe. I ordered my usual hot chocolate and I have to admit after travelling through Europe and never thinking Australia could top my tasting experiences, this by far was the most delicious and mouth watering hot chocolate I have ever had. I cannot wait to go back there again... I think it has become my new local and I am definitely looking forward to trying some of their food on the menu!

The place has moved but largely the same. Good food but totally underwhelmed by the lack of service; we had to continually ask for drinks throughout the night". They had to come back to retake our food Ofer because they threw out the order. The head server has a bit of an attitude being rather indifferent to the poor service. Would I go back again? Well the food was good but not that compelling to outweigh the rest of the experience. Melbourne has a lot of better experiences very close by on offer.

You shouldn't yelp during a meal - it's generally considered impolite. But I couldn't help yelping at Ciao Cielo, especially when I tasted the Beetroot and Ricotta Ravioli with Moreton Bay bugtails. This was summer on a plate and showed cooking skills at the highest level. It's a fresh, light dish and this is a fresh, light restaurant, with service and a welcome to match. Whether you are passing through Port Melbourne or live nearby, I would really recommend a visit.