Centra Hotel - East Geelong

Very enjoyable lunch with the only concern the placement of our table so close to the kitchen. Service was excellent with friendly and helpful staff.

Menu too specialised, not enough choice. Male waiter was too noisy with his shoes on the wooden floor!!

Great food and well set up. One small issue with the service after I saw a chip in my glass and very nearly swallowed a bit of glass. Mentioned it to the waiter who said he would get me another drink. It never appeared. My fault for not mentioning it further, but … apart from that this place was really good.

Centra is a welcoming bistro that provides classic Italian staples. While I was there I got to try their arancini, seafood linguine and rocket pizza. The arancini had a neat little chilli hit that I wasn't suspecting. They gave us quite a few arancini balls, which was great since the serving sizes of the pasta and pizza are small. The seafood linguine was nice enough but it was a little bit bland. Fortunately, the prawns were cooked perfectly. The pizza dough was delicious and fresh. The tomato sauce was overly salty and the toppings were very light (even for a traditional Italian pizza), yet it was still pretty good. The acoustics in the venue are attrocious. We could barely hear each other from a foot away. The staff were exceptionally friendly though. Our waiter was very helpful with choosing our drinks. Overall, I enjoyed some of the food but felt like there was a little more to be desired considering the high price point.

This place was not our first choice but what a great find. From the get go, the service has been outstanding. The staff is always smiling and very attentive. We started with arancini balls with peas and mint. It tasted better than it sounds and the combination works! We also tried the pancetta pizza grilled swordfish. The stand out was the seafood linguini which was jam packed with flavour of the sea. It was a satisfying meal.