Criniti’s – Manly

Service is terrible, so bad after waiting 20minutes to actually take our coffee order we walked. It was not busy there was only one other table being used inside. Never again.

This is one of those places that is just ok. The look of the place is modern and funky. Ducati motorcycles and Ferrari engine are a nice Italian touch. The service was fast and relatively efficient except when we couldn’t find anyone to take the desert order. But the main reason you go to a restaurant is for the food and this is where they fail. The pizza crust starter was reasonable if a little doughy. The pasta had way too much gluggy spaghetti with a sauce that was tasteless. The seafood that went with it was obviously of a low quality and there was no fish in it even though mentioned on the menu. The other meals were not much better. Desserts, slightly better but odd. The profiteroles turned out to be one giant one and the canoli pastry tasty but hard as a rock. All in all not a good experience and we won’t be back anytime soon.

Not really impressed at all.
The service is like a slug trying to walk slower than usual. The staff run around like headless chickens and ask if you need help and send someone else. Maybe the staff need training!!!
The coffee is so burnt and tastes terrible like mud puddle water. We all had one sip, threw it in the bin and left to go to jellyfish. Seriously not worth anyone’s time. Teach your staff how to make coffee! Barista courses are not that expensive!!!
The food is over priced for what you get. It’s not that good either. It’s actually below par. «I love Pizza» their pizza is 10x better than here! The food is salty and yuck!
The decoration however was ace and the location gave this place 2 stars! Apart from that don’t bother.

We had high expectations after hearing good things about it from friends. Unfortunately we were disappointed. It is a handy location on a busy corner opposite the Manly Ferry wharf and had a good vibe with energy. It also had 2 Ducati motorcycles on display and at times Ferrari and Lamborghini cars.
Unfortunately the food was just average. A good selection from antipasto and salads to pasta, pizza and calzone. It seems that the huge range and quick turnover mean not enough care for each dish. Presentation was good but the taste was a let down. My pasta dish labeled as hot had barely any zing at all, it certainly did not rate a chili next to it on the menu.
The service by comparison was excellent. Quick and helpful. No issues there at all.
Come for the range, location and quick service. Just don’t come for the food.

A large open air restaurant just across the road from the ferry terminal in Manly. The place has a great energy and we stopped in for lunch on New Year’s Eve and got seated right away.
This place has a huge menu of authentic Italian specialties including about 50 kinds of Neapolitan style pizzas that come in a tradition size (T) for one up to a 3 or even 6 meter size for large groups. It took some time to work our way through the list but we each finally settled on a different pizza: Margherita, pizzicia (Italian sausage +), BBQ chicken and a forth with goat cheese and prosciutto and figs.
All of us were more than satisfied with our choices and none of the group was able to completely finish the «T» size. Probably would have best to share 2 – 3 for our group. Like every restaurant in Australia we have visited this past week, you will find prices significantly higher than in the states. Each pizza was around $ 25 but you have to keep in mind that already includes tax and tip.
Bottom line: high quality and tasty food. Definitely would recommend for lunch.

This place looks great inside, has a vibrant atmosphere and excellent quality food & drinks. However, we had a poor experience at this restaurant, we experienced a number of errors in our order (wrong food being delivered). We also experienced long wait times for food being delivered and in between waiter visits.

If only I could give zero stars…
Had a booking for 615pm (quiet time) took 15minutes and three different staff to seat us as they’d put us outside near the road when we had a 2yr old and I’d specifically requested inside seating.
Took another 10 min for anyone to come over for drinks.
Food was less than average quality and extremely salty. Bill came out with another tables entrees which they had to rectify twice.
Overpriced, bad food and even worse service.
Do not come here!!! There’s so many lovely restaurants around manly this is a tours it trap for the brand name.
What a waste of money and time.

As a group of four we had two coupons, 2 for $ 69. There were no restrictions on what we could order and the choice of wine was «red or white». There was plenty of choice on the menu and there were also «deals» starting at $ 44 pp. The coupon was definitely the best value for 3 courses and a bottle of wine for two.
Unsurprisingly, the place was crowded for a Saturday night. It was noisy and bustling. Despite this, our wait staff were attentive and our meals were delivered in a timely manner.
There were groups of kids sharing monster pizzas, groups of adults celebrating birthdays (one wait person banged a drum whilst another delivered dessert with sparklers) and couples just having a meal.
Our food was good and plenty of it. We were there for over 2 hours and it was a relief to walk out and out of the noise.
We were obliged to drive there so had to use a nearby parking station. Parking in the street is nearly impossible. The parking station cost $ 11. The restaurant is directly opposite the Many ferry terminal and there are plenty of buses so public transport is a better option.
I can see why tourists would roll up here for a meal as Criniti’s is a chain and follows a formula. However, there were plenty of locals enjoying their meals too.
Without a voucher the cost was too high per plate and whilst the food was good and plentiful it wasn’t great.

Decided to go there for after-​lunch coffee with friends. We sat outside in front of the coffee, ice-​cream bar.
After 5 – 10 minutes waiting there a staff came over asking if we were there for food or drink. After responding we were here for drinks she just left — then why bother asking???
10 mins later: still no one and as there is no sign saying if you have to order over counter we asked a waitress. Response: this is not my area but I’ll send someone over.
10 more mins later: a waiter comes over and apologise for the wait and start taking our orders. After realising we only wanted drinks he tells us it would be best to go and order over the counter. Sure but why the 2 other staff didn’t mention this…
Going to the counter: I wanted to order a Vienna Nutella hot chocolate. Staff advised you can’t order that at the counter as the Nutella is on the restaurant section… Additionally, we had to wait near the counter to get the other orders as staff couldn’t be bothered giving us a number since they were overwhelmed by number of people waiting in line.
Later one of the staff came around asking how was everything so we told him about above. He kindly offered us complimentary biscuits in some nicely wrapped boxes. We saw a lot of people leaving with those boxes… Looks like we were not the only one unimpressed by service.
The venue was not like packed so not sure why all the staff were looking like super busy especially when some of them were just walking around asking question to customers but not doing anything after…

This was one of the better restaurants on our Australian trip. Food was very good. Tables are a bit cramped. Get the antipasti plate, it was big and delicious. Risotto was very good.

Absolute rubbish TOURIST TRAP. Busy because tourists come off the ferry and it’s one of the first restaurant’s you see — but do yourself a favour and keep going.
Noisy, slow, lousy service, average over salted food, stale pastries and overpriced.
With so many options available in Manly it’s too bad that this ripoff restaurant is where unsuspecting visitors will end up.

A really fun mod level Italian, an outpost of the same restaurant in Wooloomooloo. Featuring a gorgeous real Lamborghini in the middle of the restaurant and a couple of Ducatis along the back wall. It’s a big noisy place but the food was both fairly innovative and very tasty. Clever idea of making pizzas by the meter which is especially great for big groups. Decent house wine at a gold price. Killer desserts including canolis. Service could be a bit more prompt. We’ll be back.