Papa Gino's

221 Lygon St, Carlton 3053
Date visited: 1st July 2013

It's been a long, long time since we've been to Papa Gino's.  It was way back then during our Melbourne uni years when we still lived in Carlton.  Even then, we had never been regulars, so I couldn't remember much about the food, only that it had been decent the last time we went.  

Papa Gino's was packed with people at lunchtime as it always was.  MerlinFan and I got a table for two outside, under the blasting heaters, on a table that rocked away like a rocking horse.  @_@

We both had refreshing Lemon Lime & Bitters.

Lemon Lime & Bitters $3.50 each

Out came our complimentary basket of bread with Western Star Butter.

MerlinFan and I decided to share a pizza and a pasta.  The pizza choices are pretty standard Australian-Italian, no fancy schmancy gourmet pizzas.  We chose the Aussie Pizza.  Man, I don't think I had one of those in years.

Aussie Pizza (small) $11

We didn't enjoy this quite as much as other ones we had in the past.  This Aussie Pizza erred on the dry side.  There was very little cheese to the point where we questioned if there was any on the pizza at all - that meant to our disappointment, no stringy cheese when you pulled apart the pieces.  <sob, where was our mozzarella?>  The egg was a bit more well done than how we would have liked, and although the crust was nice and thin, one side was a little charred.

On the bright side, the pasta fared better.

Cheese ravioli (entree) $12.90

We chose a Cheese ravioli with carbonara sauce.  The square parcels were slightly thick but the ricotta filling was yummy.  It was delicious with the creamy, cheesy carbonara sauce.  

Quick service, reasonable prices, not bad for a casual eat and a quick bite.




<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1449402/restaurant/Melbourne/Papa-Ginos-Carlton"><img alt="Papa Gino&#x27;s on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1449402/biglink.gif" style="border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>