49 Willoughby Rd
Crows Nest, Sydney
Pino's is one of those suburban Italian restaurants that we all secretly hope to have in our own suburb. It's the kind of place that serves simple good quality food, with a few daily specials, that you could have often and not get bored.
It's a bustling place that has that Italian vibe we know and love - including a nice al fresco area out the front. You can get a decent choice of starters, mains - including pizza, pasta and other dishes, as well as desserts and drinks. It's not expensive either - which is a big attraction for the repeat visits from locals.
We always seem to head towards arancini as a starter and this night was no exception. We did consider some of the other choices but the thought of a nice crispy crumbed coating on a soft, warm and moist rice filling kept drawing us back.
As we'd had the arancini here at Pino's before we also knew what to expect - and we weren't disappointed. It was again a great way to start our meal and went well with the rich tomato dipping sauce that came with it.
Mains for us were again a challenge of choices. We decided not to have pizza and Mlady grabbed a gnocchi as she often does. It was bright, colourful and most importantly tasty. Sir chose a seafood pasta dish that he also loved. Both were decent sized servings at very decent prices.
For our finale we both chose the same dish - tiramisu. What arrived was an unusual presentation of this classic dessert. It looked almost like profiteroles - and we even had to ask if we'd been given the wrong dish. It turned out to be right and actually tasted lovely. It was even better paired with a cheeky glass or two of limoncello!
Pino's is certainly a good reliable place to drop in for a good reliable meal and low prices. Service was fast and friendly and its a pleasant place.
